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5 Financial Decisions to Consider Before Year-End

Buckingham Strategic Partners • November 13, 2024

Year-end deadlines are coming up fast. In this episode of Buckingham Perspectives, Chief Investment Officer Kevin Grogan discusses five key financial moves you can make now that could pay off in the long run.

In this episode of Buckingham Perspectives, Chief Investment Officer Kevin Grogan covers five key financial items that may need your attention before the year is up.

  1. Make intended retirement plan contributions. For employer-sponsored accounts, like a 401(k) account, be sure to make your contributions before December 31, especially if your employer offers a match. The match offered by your employer is a investment return. For IRAs and Roth IRAs, you have until Tax Day, April 15, 2025, to contribute.
  2. Consider tax-loss harvesting. Within your taxable investment account, you can sell an investment that is at a capital loss and reinvest the proceeds into an investment that is similar to the one you sold. This allows you to use that realized capital loss to offset capital gains in other portions of your portfolio.
  3. Make your required minimum distributions (RMDs). If you have an IRA and are required to take distributions this year, make sure to do so before the end of year, otherwise you’ll face tax penalties that can eat into your account’s returns.
  4. Complete charitable giving. A great tool for charitable giving is a donor-advised fund, which you can make a large contribution to now but decide on the recipient later. This still allows you to reflect the contribution on your tax return for 2024.
  5. Perform a Roth conversion. Converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA might make sense for some individuals who expect to have low taxable income this year. By converting a traditional IRA to a Roth, you pay taxes on the amount you convert, but once it is in in the Roth, it will grow tax-free.

If you have any questions, please drop us a  note.

For informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as specific investment, accounting, legal or tax advice. Certain information is based upon third-party data, which may become outdated or otherwise superseded without notice. Third-party information is deemed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Indices are not available for direct investment. Their performance does not reflect the expenses associated with the management of an actual portfolio nor do indices represent results of actual trading. Information from sources deemed reliable, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Performance is historical and does not guarantee future results. Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nor any other federal or state agency have approved, determined the accuracy, or confirmed the adequacy of this article. Please be advised that Buckingham only shares video and content through our website, Facebook, LinkedIn page, and other official sources. We do not post investment advice on WhatsApp, Telegram, other interactive applications, or other similar platforms. Rather, Buckingham provides investment advice only through individualized interactions. R-24-7905.

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