One of the best, and cheapest, ways to prevent theft of your information is to obtain a paper shredder. In recent years, growing numbers of consumers have been buying document shredders for personal use. Paper shredders can now be found at just about any office supply store and you may also come across them at an affordable price at your neighborhood Wal-Mart store. A paper shredder was formerly a gadget that one only saw at large corporations, such as banks.

By purchasing a paper shredder, you can pretty much destroy any such documents before throwing them away, as documents that have been shredded can no longer be read. Documentation that should be shredded could include regular bills, charge card statements, old tax returns, receipts or just about anything else that you might discard that contains information that pertains only to you. The purpose of a document shredder is to hold off would-be scam artists from seeking and finding your personal information on any personal documents that you might throw away. Going through someone's garbage might seem to be a lot of trouble, but dishonest people do it every day.
 

You should retain business receipts, earnings statements, W-2 forms and any other similar documentation until such time that you can be reasonably sure that you won't need them any longer. It is usually a good idea to keep some financial or personal documents for up to seven years for income tax reasons. You should only get rid of financial paperwork when you are sure that you will no longer need them. You should not discard all important documents. You never know when the Internal Revenue Service may determine, out of the blue, to audit a tax return you filed several years ago.

Low cost document shredder models are so-called "straight cut" document shredders; in theory, a thief with all of the parts could assemble the pieces of paper back together. Shredders are not particularly costly; you can purchase small models for only thirty dollars or so. Inexpensive models will do just fine, but for a bit more cash you can buy a "confetti" style shredder, which cuts the paperwork to substantially smaller pieces.

The criminals who would steal your financial information are going to use a multifaceted means of attacking you, so you should use a varied means of protecting yourself. You ought to safeguard your information when shopping on the Web and watch out for financial scams from telemarketers and e-mailers engaged in phishing attacks. Destroying papers is just one part of the prevention process for identity theft. It’s not the complete solution, of course. You must remain ever vigilant in keeping these crooks at bay.