The Year-End Personal Finance Moves You Should Make

Here's a great piece from Morningstar that lists the year-end personal finance moves you should make. They list 10 items as follows (along with my summary of each item):

1. Supercharge Your Portfolio -- take actions needed to make the most of investments.
2. Shore Up Your Retirement Savings -- contribute as much as you can.
3. Set a Holiday Budget -- develop a plan so you don't overspend.
4. Get Estate Documents in Place -- we all need a will.
5. Earmark Money for the Kids' Education -- save in a 529 or Coverdell.
6. Plan Year-End Giving -- to both people and charities.
7. Take Required Minimum Distributions -- if you're at the proper (retirement) age.
8. Do a Year-End Tax Projection -- estimate what you owe/are due.
9. Consider a Roth Conversion -- from an IRA.
10. Plan Year-End Stock Option Transactions -- if you have them.

Here's where I stand on each of these:

1. I've been working on my portfolio most of the year and I've got it into a fairly decent shape. A couple things I have left to do is to move two Ameritrade accounts to Vanguard.

2. I fully fund my 401k and have done so for years. I've put in the paperwork for the same next year.

3. We set our holiday budget when we planned our overall budget last January.

4. I need to get our wills updated. It's my one remaining New Year's financial resolution to complete.

5. We just completed setting our college savings number. We've been saving in two Coverdells for years now, but we need to get into some 529s soon.

6. Done. We have a monthly budget for giving and now it's just a matter of selecting the right charities to fund.

7. Not applicable to me.

8. Personally, I don't bother with this. I'll be mired in taxes soon enough -- why torture myself twice? ;-)

9. Not applicable to me.

10. Not applicable to me.

Comments

[Ben]

Another solid year end financial move (for those with a mortgage) is to make your January 07 payment in Dec 06. It will result in added interest that you can deduct on your 06 tax bill. Granted, you will (potentially) have less to deduct next year, but a dollar today is worth more than a dollar a year from now!