Now is the time to take the necessary actions if you want to make 2020 a great year for your personal finances.

In this episode, we share 6 major considerations you can use to help guide your year-end financial planning — along with a few suggestions for what to focus on in 2020 to make it a financially successful year.

We dive into the importance of the following year-end planning topics, and explain exactly how to execute on each one:

1. Reflect on the progress you’ve made in the last 12 months

• What did you accomplish?
• What do your “financial stats” look like for 2019 — how much did you save, spend, and invest?
• What went well? What didn’t go as planned?

2. Make plans for the new year ahead

• Check in on your priorities. What the direction is your momentum currently taking you — and does that align with your long-term version or do you need to do some course correcting?
• Do you need to make any adjustments to stay on track for what you want to accomplish?
• Do you need to make changes to your goals themselves, or your approach to them?
• What do your goals look like in 2020? How about the next 1-3 years after that? What do you need to plan to save in the new year to have the money you need, when you need it, for these goals?

3. Max out your retirement accounts

• Have you fully funded your 401(k) for 2019?
• How about IRAs and HSAs?
• Will you hit your savings rate goals before the end of the year?

4. Evaluate your investment accounts

• Do you need to rebalance?
• Should you do any tax-loss harvesting?
• Check in with your equity compensation — should you exercise any qualified stock options? Sell ESPP or RSU shares?
• Is it time to get someone to help you with your investments?

5. Plan your charitable giving

• Should you give a lump sum every few years, or a smaller amount each year?
• Do you itemize your taxes or take the standard deduction? How will that impact your donations?

6. Use year-end planning as a trigger

• Communicate!
• Talk with your partner or your family about your finances
• Discuss goals, challenges, needs, concerns, wins, and even failures — acknowledge what worked and what didn’t
• Look at what you can learn from mistakes or missed targets… then together, recommit and regroup to make 2020 a financially successful year

As a bonus, we’re also throwing out some suggestions of clear, useful resolutions for your finances in 2020 if you’re not sure where to start to make progress.

Jump into the episode here:

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