10 Year-End Money Moves to Make

Here's a piece from Yahoo that lists 10 year-end money moves to make. Their list:

1. Supercharge Your Portfolio
2. Shore Up Your Retirement Savings
3. Set a Holiday Budget
4. Get Estate Documents in Place
5. Earmark Money for the Kids' Education
6. Plan Year-End Giving
7. Take Required Minimum Distributions
8. Do a Year-End Tax Projection
9. Consider a Roth Conversion
10. Plan Year-End Stock-Option Transactions

Here's what I do with each of these:

1. I have a pretty good handle on my portfolio throughout the year and since I'm in the process of a major rebalancing, this isn't something that I do just at the end of the year.

2. My retirement savings are on automatic pilot, so nothing to do here.

3. Did this last January. We adjusted it a bit last month. Now, let's see if we can stick to it. ;-)

4. We're working on this right now. I've talked to an attorney and my wife and I are in the "who gets the kids" discussion phase.

5. We make our 529 donations at the beginning of each year.

6. I'm actually ahead on my giving goals since we're giving in big chunks to readjust our portfolio, and I'm done for the year.

7. Doesn't apply to me.

8. I do this a bit, but my taxes are fairly regular each year and if I don't expect anything much different, then I skip this tip (as I will this year.)

9. I don't meet the criteria.

10. I do look at my stocks at the end of each year and see if there are any losers I want to dump. But I'm down to only a few stocks at this point (most of my money is in index funds), so there's not much to look at.

This is a pretty good list, but since I'm a money nut, it looks as if I have most of them handled. That said, I'm sure there are some of you out there who appreciate a year-end reminder, so consider yourself reminded. ;-)

Comments

[That One Caveman]

I would venture to add a #11: Re-evaluate Your Emergency Fund

With an uncertain economy ahead (too many analysts saying too many different things), you never know what the market will do. You may find yourself in need of a job or you may be faced with medical surprises. There are a number of different recommendations on how much to save for an emergency fund, but now is the time to analyze your spending over the previous year and then use that data to determine your budgets and how much of a cushion you need to keep afloat if something happens.

I'm aiming for a 6-month emergency fund since I'm trying to start a business of my own. If the business fails to meet my expectations or if I am suddenly not able to work, I will need some time to work things through.

[Jon]

I like to run my budget projections in MS Money for the coming year, and archive expenses from earlier years. I usually keep the previous year's expenses active in Money, just in case I need historical information in a hurry. So I'll archive the 2006 entries and leave 2007 in place through 2008.

[Tim]

#8 is very important especially with the AMT Tax. Congress hasn't passed a plan to give relief this year (at least as far as I know) and it looks like it will hit my by over $2k. What a bummer. So I'm actually delaying my property taxes until January as they won't count as a deduction this year due to the AMT. If you haven't been hit by the AMT yet, this could be the year! Ouch!