Knowing when a document is shredder ready

You probably just received some bank, investment or retirement quarterly statements in the mail, which makes it a perfect time to fire up the shredder and organize that stack of documents piling up on the table.

--Birth/death certificates and Social Security cards

-- Marriage licenses and divorce decrees

-- Pension plan documents

-- Copies of wills, trusts, health care proxies/living wills and powers of attorney (attorneys/executors should also have copies)

--Military discharge papers

--Copies of burial deeds and plots

--Safe-deposit box inventory