What Issues Should I Consider Before the End of the Year?

The end of the year provides a number of planning opportunities and issues for you. Year-end topics can include tax planning, investment and retirement accounts, charitable giving, cash flow and savings, insurance and estate planning.

In this checklist, we cover a number of planning issues that you need to consider prior to year-end to ensure they stay on track, including:

• Various issues surrounding investment and retirement accounts including matching capital gains against any investment losses in taxable investment accounts and confirming that all RMDs are taken

• Tax planning issues including strategies dependent upon your prospects for higher or lower income in the future. You will also want to review where you sit relative to your tax bracket as this is a good time to make moves to fill out brackets for the current year that also might prove beneficial down the road

• If you are charitably inclined, there are several strategies that will also help reduce your tax liability that can be considered based upon your situation.

• If you own a business, tax reform has created some opportunities surrounding pass-through income from your business to your personal return. Accelerating or deferring business expenses presents another solid planning opportunity for business owners

• It’s wise to review your cash flow situation as you near year-end to see you they can fund a 529 plan for children or grandchildren or to see if they you save more in an employer-sponsored retirement plan like a 401(k).

• This is a comprehensive checklist of the types of year-end planning issues that you should be discussing with your financial advisor to ensure you consider and take advantage of opportunities in the current year and beyond.