Some people read tons of articles for year-end guidance to deal with retirement planning decisions. Lots call their accountant, money manager or advisor for advice.
My advice is no advice – it’s too late.
Too many of us spend the final month of the calendar year assembling our files of financial documents and making sure we take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from our 401(k) or rollover IRA accounts. We figure out our realized capital gains from mutual funds or stocks to date, and see if we should realize more gains or losses. We estimate our taxes for the year and consider converting a rollover IRA to a Roth IRA. Then we squeeze in tax-reducing donations to charity or the kids, along with any number of additional important actions. More