Get a jumpstart on year-end planning with this useful checklist

Get a jumpstart on year-end planning with this useful checklist

October 30, 2024 | Bill Cass CFP®, CPWA®

It’s important to assess personal finances before the end of the year to determine if action is needed. This may include reviewing portfolios, funding retirement accounts and making gifts to family members or charities.

Review this checklist for opportunities to minimize taxes and other potential benefits.

It can help uncover for opportunities to improve your financial plan for the coming year.

Year-end planning checklist

Here are a few highlights from each area:

Keep investments on track

  • Adjust or rebalance portfolios to make sure asset allocation reflects current risk profile
  • Be aware of mutual fund distribution dates before making purchases

Identify opportunities to minimize taxes

  • Estimate your projected income for the year to determine your marginal tax bracket
  • If a low tax bracket applies, consider accelerating income before the end of the year; if a high tax bracket applies, consider deferring income into next year if possible
  • Be aware of important tax-related income thresholds (e.g. income limits applying to the 3.8% net investment income tax, higher Medicare premiums and taxation of Social Security benefits

Focus on retirement planning priorities

  • Maximize retirement savings including catch-up contributions if age 50 or older
  • Remember to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) if age 73 or older
  • If concerned about higher taxes in the future, consider a Roth IRA conversion

Understand options for charitable giving

  • Make charitable gifts before year-end to lower taxable income (if itemizing deductions)
  • If age 70½ donate to charities from your IRA using a qualified charitable distribution (QCD)
  • Lump several years of charitable gifts into one year to itemize deductions on the tax return

Create a legacy for family members

  • Utilize the annual gift tax exclusion before year end ($18,000 per individual or $36,000 for married couples electing to split gifts)
  • Make sure important documents (e.g., wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care directives) are in place and up to date
  • Make gifts into 529 college savings plans

Consult with an advisor

It is important to discuss tax, charitable giving, retirement and estate planning strategies with a tax and financial advisor to determine if they are appropriate for your overall financial plan.

More in: Taxes

Any Putnam funds referenced in the above articles are not available for sale outside the United States.

Services provided by Putnam may not be available in all countries or to all investors. This content is not an offer to any investor who is not qualified under local law.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the fund manager above, are subject to change with market conditions, and are not meant as investment advice.

This material is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a recommendation of any specific investment product, strategy, or decision, and is not intended to suggest taking or refraining from any course of action. It is not intended to address the needs, circumstances, and objectives of any specific investor. Putnam, which earns fees when clients select its products and services, is not offering impartial advice in a fiduciary capacity in providing this sales and marketing material. This information is not meant as tax or legal advice. Investors should consult a professional advisor before making investment and financial decisions and for more information on tax rules and other laws, which are complex and subject to change.

All funds and investment products involve risk, and you can lose money. See the prospectus for details. Any economic and performance information is historical and not indicative of future results.

If you are a U.S. retail investor: Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of a fund before investing. For a prospectus, or a summary prospectus if available, containing this and other information for any Putnam fund or product, contact your financial representative, call Putnam at 1-888-4-PUTNAM (1-888-478-8626), or click on the prospectus section to view or download a prospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Putnam Retail Management, LP and Putnam Investments are Franklin Templeton companies.

In the United States, mutual funds are distributed by Putnam Retail Management.