As the end of the year approaches it may be a good opportunity to review financial progress and forecast new financial goals. There are several things to consider when contemplating the end-of-year financial checklist.

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are an important component of retirement savings, and the end of the year is a great time to review workplace retirement plans and personal contributions into them. It can also be beneficial to review Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) before the end of the year. Those 70.5 and older are required to take RMDs from traditional IRAs. If RMDs are left unallocated, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can assess a penalty of up to 50 percent of the RMD amount on top of the standard taxes derived from that income.

GCSB Investment Center Financial Adviser Kristen Crouthamel has some advice regarding distributions. “Uncle Sam doesn’t care where you take it from, as long as you take it from an IRA; as long as he gets his chunk.”

Another financial topic for year-end consideration is charitable giving. One tip is to make financial contributions to education accounts. A maximum of $14,000 per individual or $28,000 per married couple can be given tax free to any number of individuals. These gifts can help reduce the size of taxable estates. Charitable donations are also a common way to allocate RMDs directly from IRAs.

To hear more on end-of-year financial tips, including tax loss harvesting and Roth IRA conversions, listen to today’s Let’s Talk Guthrie County program featuring Crouthamel.