Cortburg Speaks Retirement

12 Days of Year-End Planning

• Miguel Gonzalez, MBA, AIF®, CPFA®, CRC® • Season 2024 • Episode 219

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Wrap up the year with confidence!  Miguel Gonzalez, CRC, shares 12 quick, actionable steps to get your finances in order before the year ends.

Cortburg Retirement Advisors is a boutique financial planning firm committed to helping you grow, protect, and preserve your assets from your first job to retirement. We specialize in wealth management, estate and tax planning, group retirement, employee benefits, insurance, and retirement planning to navigate any economic climate.

Miguel Gonzalez, a Retirement Specialist with 20+ years of experience, offers expertise in retirement income planning, investment management, and retirement plan design. With an MBA from Columbia Business School, and professional experience with JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, and more, Miguel is a trusted advisor for his clients.


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Welcome to Cortburg Speaks Retirement Podcast
with Miguel Gonzalez, MBA, AIF®, CPFA®, CRC®

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Welcome to Cortburg Speaks Retirement

An audio podcast about investing in the stock market, financial planning, money management and retirement planning.  Each Wednesday, we help investors at all stages of life learn how to potentially grow and preserve their money from first job through retirement.

Now here is your host, Miguel Gonzalez.

Good morning and welcome to the CORTBURG SPEAKS RETIREMENT audio podcast.   

At the end of the year, it is necessary to reflect on your financial picture, review the last 12 months, and plan for the future. With all that is involved, it can seem overwhelming. Consider breaking up the responsibilities over 12 days, focusing on one each day, and ensuring it gets a comprehensive review.

 

☐ DAY 1 – Reviewed my financial plan in preparation for meeting with a financial professional

  • Conducting a review of your financial plan (at least annually) allows you and your financial professional to evaluate your financial condition, make necessary modifications to any accounts, create strategies to approach the new year, and set goals.

☐ DAY 2 - Conducted my year-end tax review

  • To stay on top of your taxes, you may want to consider a year-end tax review to clean up your books and evaluate your tax liability for the New Year, if you should have one.
  • Determine what is taxable income.
  • Assess all filing deadlines.
  • Did any rule changes affect your filing?

☐ DAY 3 – Reviewed my retirement accounts

  • Life is regularly changing, occasionally requiring modification of your retirement accounts. An annual review of these accounts helps to assess your current situation and to plan for the future.

☐ DAY 4 - Reviewed my investment portfolio and rebalanced it if necessary

  • Reviewing your portfolio may help you to evaluate your progress based on your investments and your asset allocation.
  • Rebalance if necessary. Rebalancing has the potential to help you adhere to your investing plan regardless of how the market fluctuates.

☐ DAY 5 – Reviewed my spending and modified my budget

  • Conducting a comprehensive review of your spending allows you to see where the money is going and may offer insight into what you may want to cut out that is unnecessary.

☐ DAY 6 – Reviewed my debt repayment plan – evaluated my progress

  • Make a list of your remaining debts from largest to smallest amounts.
  • Prioritize debt you want to pay off the fastest first.
  • Determine the best payment schedule.

☐ DAY 7 - Contributed to my 401(k) (deadline is December 31st)

  • 401(k) Plans: The limit on employee tax-deductible elective deferrals is $22,500 for the 2023 tax year. Anyone age 50 or older during the calendar year can make additional “catch-up” contributions of up to $7,500 for 2023.
  • Non-401(k) Plans: For 2023, the standard contribution limit for Traditional and Roth IRAs is $6,500. For those 50 years of age or older, you can make additional “catch-up” contributions of $7,500.

☐ DAY 8 – Reviewed my beneficiaries

  • Review the beneficiaries for your will, trusts, insurance policies, retirement accounts, or any other account, and modify them as you see fit.
  • Consider taking this time to designate contingent beneficiaries.

☐ DAY 9 - Claimed a 529 Plan deduction

  • Rules and tax benefits vary by state.
  • If you use the funds for non-qualifying expenses, you will have to pay income tax and a 529 withdrawal penalty of 10% on the earnings portion.
  • Nine states offer tax parity, allowing investors to deduct their taxable income on contributions to 529 plans from any state. These include Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Ohio & Pennsylvania.

☐ DAY 10 - Withdrew my required minimum distributions (if applicable)

  • If you fail to withdraw an RMD by the application deadline, fail to withdraw the full amount of the RMD, or fail to withdraw an RMD altogether, the amount not withdrawn is taxed at 50%. SECURE Act 2.0 lowers the excise tax rate to 25%; potentially 10% if the RMD is corrected in a timely fashion within two years.
  • Distribution in excess of the RMD for one year cannot be applied to the RMD for a future year.
  • Roth IRAs do not require distribution withdrawals until the account owner has passed away.

☐ DAY 11 - Reviewed tax deductions for donating to charity

  • Deductions for donations to public charities are typically limited to 60 percent of your AGI for cash contributions held for over a year and 30 percent of your AGI for appreciated non-cash assets kept for more than one year.
  • Contributions must be made to a qualified organization and your total deductions must exceed the standard deduction for your tax filing status.
  • The more common deductions include medical and dental expenses that are unreimbursed and greater than 7.5% of your AGI, home mortgage interest depending on eligibility criteria, state and local taxes on personal property up to $10,000, and interest from a home equity loan (HELOC) if the money was used to build, buy, or improve your home.

☐ DAY 12 – I scheduled a consultation with a financial professional to discuss where my

family and I stand financially and how we can make improvements.

 

Make sure to visit our website, www.CortburgRetirement.com. Our site is filled with educational videos, eBooks, publications, and financial calculators designed to help you learn more about your finances.  As you search our site, send us a note regarding any questions you may have about any particular investment concepts or products. We will get back to you quickly with a thoughtful answer.

This is Miguel Gonzalez, Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC) and Managing Partner, with Cortburg Retirement Advisors signing off for this week’s educational podcast.  

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Miguel Gonzalez, MBA, AIF®, CPFA®, PPC®, CRC®

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