Getting your accounts organized can seem an insurmountable task. By the time they reach age 40 and beyond, many people have accumulated a couple of 401(k)s or other employer-sponsored accounts from previous jobs, a few IRA accounts, several savings and bank accounts, and maybe a stock option account, employee stock purchase plan, or cash balance plan from an old pension. But the time spent getting your accounts and records organized will pay dividends as you work though your retirement planning and will give you the chance to make your account more tax efficient.

Direct Purchase

Most people originally start investing by purchasing individual investments directly — that is, without the help of a broker. They buy mutual funds from the fund company itself. They might invest in stocks through a direct investment program — known as a DRIP account — or they might own the stock certificates themselves. Investing separately may save them commissions or fees associated with a brokerage account. But by the time they're in their 40s or 50s, this can translate into a large number of small accounts to track.

Brokerage Services

Brokerage services have become popular, in part because they help organize accounts and records. Brokerages provide a single account that aggregates a variety of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and index shares, and other investments. You must keep separate registrations — or ownership — for accounts under their special ownership or tax rules, but at least you can minimize the number of individual accounts you hold.

Organizing accounts by ownership rules means separating assets into accounts such as joint, individual, and transfer-on-death accounts. Joint accounts are held by more than one individual and can be accessed equally by any of the owners. Individual accounts are only accessible by the owner. Transfer-on-death accounts are handy because they become readily available to the beneficiary upon the death of the owner. There's no probate process for beneficiaries to go through, so money is available quickly, while the value isn't exposed to the risks and liability of a joint account.

Organizing by tax rules means that you combine all of your retirement assets into accounts that are divided by special tax rules for how deposits are treated. Your IRA, rollover IRA, Roth IRA, SEP, SIMPLE IRA, and other similar accounts have to stay separate from one another, in most cases, because of tax rules, but if they are at least held by one broker, your account and tax statements will come from one provider — and in most cases on one statement. Holding more assets at one provider will usually gain you lower fees and maybe even waivers of some fees altogether.