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What Issues Should You Consider Before the End of the Year?

The end of the year provides a number of financial planning opportunities and issues. These include tax planning issues, issues surrounding investment and retirement accounts, charitable giving, cash flow & savings, and insurance & estate planning issues.

We use the checklist below to proactively scan for many actionables to help serve our clients. In this checklist, we cover a number of planning issues that you need to consider prior to year-end to ensure you stay on track, including:

Various issues surrounding your investment and retirement accounts including matching capital gains against any investment losses in taxable investment accounts and ensuring that all Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) are taken.
Tax planning issues including moves dependent upon your prospects for higher or lower income in the future. You will also want to review where you sit relative to your tax bracket as this is a good time to make moves to fill out your tax bracket for the current year that also might prove beneficial down the road.
For those who are charitably inclined there are several strategies that will also help reduce your tax liability that can be considered based upon your situation.
For those who own a business, tax reform has created some opportunities surrounding pass-through income from your business to your personal return. Accelerating or deferring business expenses presents another solid planning opportunity.
It’s wise to review your cash flow situation as you near year-end to see if you can fund a 529 plan for children or grandchildren or to see if you can save more in an HSA or employer-sponsored retirement plan like a 401(k).

This is a comprehensive checklist of the types of year-end planning issues that you should be discussing with your financial advisor to ensure you maximize cash flow and tax opportunities in the current year and beyond.

Issues You Should Consider Before the End of Year

ASSET & DEBT ISSUES

Do you have unrealized investment losses?
If so, consider realizing losses to offset any gains and/or write off $3,000 against ordinary income.

Do you have investments in taxable accounts that are subject to end-of-year capital gain distributions?
If so, consider strategies to minimize tax liability.

Did you inherit an IRA or 401(k) from someone who passed away last year but have not split the account yet (assuming there were multiple beneficiaries)?
If so, consider splitting the account before the end of the year to avoid calculating the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) based on the oldest beneficiary.

Are you over the age of 70.5, or are you taking an RMD (from an inherited IRA)? If so, consider the following:
– RMDs from multiple IRAs can be aggregated.
– RMDs from multiple 403bs can be aggregated.
– RMDs from an employer retirement plan must be calculated and taken separately. No aggregation is allowed.
– RMDs from inherited IRAs can not be aggregated with Traditional IRAs.

TAX PLANNING ISSUES

Do you expect your income to increase in the future?
If so, consider the following strategies to minimize your future tax liability:
– Make Roth IRA and Roth 401(k) contributions and Roth IRA conversions.
– If offered by your employer plan, consider after-tax 401k contributions.
– If over age 59.5, consider accelerating IRA withdrawals to fill up lower tax brackets.

Do you expect your income to decrease in the future?
If so, consider strategies to minimize your tax liability now, such as Traditional IRA and 401(k) contributions instead of contributions to Roth accounts.

Do you have any losses for this year or carryforwards from prior years?
If so, consider the following:
– There may be tax-loss harvesting opportunities.
– You may be able to take the loss or use the carryforward to reduce taxable income by up to $3,000.

Are you on the threshold of a tax bracket?
If so, consider strategies to defer income or accelerate deductions and strategies to manage capital gains and losses to keep you in the lower bracket. Consider the following important tax thresholds:
– If taxable income is below $160,724 ($321,449 if Married Filing Jointly [MFJ]), you are in the 24% percent marginal tax bracket. Taxable income above this bracket will be taxed at 32%.
– If taxable income is above $434,550 ($488,850 if MFJ), any capital gains will be taxed at the higher 20% rate.
– If your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is over $200,000 ($250,000 if MFJ), you may be subject to the 3.8% Medicare surtax on the lesser of net investment income or the excess of MAGI over $200,000 ($250,000 if MFJ).
– If you are on Medicare, consider the impact of Medicare’s Income-Related Monthly Adjusted Amount (IRMAA) surcharges.

Are you charitably inclined and want to reduce taxes?
If so, consider the following:
– If you expect to take the standard deduction ($12,200 if single, $24,400 if MFJ), consider bunching your charitable contributions (or contributing to a donor-advised fund) every few years which may allow itemization in specific years.

Will you be receiving any significant windfalls that could impact your tax liability (inheritance, Restricted Stock Units vesting, stock options, bonus)?
If so, review your tax withholdings to determine if estimated-payments may be required.

Do you own a business?
If so, consider the following:
– If you own a pass-through business, consider the Qualified Business Income Deduction eligibility rules.
– Consider the use of a Roth vs. Traditional Retirement plan and its potential impact on taxable income and Qualified Business Income.
– If you have business expenses, consider if it makes sense to defer or accelerate the costs to reduce overall tax liability.
– Some retirement plans, such as a Solo 401(k), must be opened before year-end.

Have there been any changes to your marital status?
If so, consider how your tax liability may be impacted based on your marital status as of December 31st.

CASH FLOW ISSUES

Are you able to save more?
If so, consider the following:
– If you have an HSA, you may be able to save $3,500 ($7,000 for a family) and an additional $1,000 If you are over the age of 55.
– If you have an employer retirement plan, such as a 401(k), you may be able to save more but must consult with the plan provider as the rules vary as to when you can make changes.
– For 2019 the maximum salary deferral contribution is $19,000, plus the catch-up contribution if over the age of 50 of $6,000 per year.

Do you have a 529 plan? If so, consider the following:
– You can contribute up to $15,000 ($30,000 if a joint gift is made) each year without filing a gift tax return.
– Alternatively, you can elect the Five Year Accelerated Gift of $75,000.

INSURANCE PLANNING ISSUES

Will you have a balance in your FSA before the end of the year?
If so, consider the following options your employer may offer:
– Some companies allow you to roll up to $500 in your FSA account over the previous year.
– Some companies offer a grace period up until April 15th to spend the unused FSA funds.
– Many companies offer you 90 days to submit receipts from the previous year.
– If you have a Dependent Care FSA, check the deadlines for unused funds as well.

Did you meet your health insurance plan’s annual deductible?
If so, consider incurring any additional medical expenses before the end of the year at which point your annual deductible will reset.

ESTATE PLANNING ISSUES

Have there been any changes to your family, heirs, or have you bought/sold any assets this year?
If so, consider reviewing your estate plan.

Are there any gifts that still need to be made this year?
If so, you can make gifts up to $15,000 ($30,000 if a joint gift is made) per year to an individual without filing a gift tax return.

OTHER ISSUES

Do you have children in high school or younger who plan to attend college?
If so, consider financial aid planning strategies, such as reducing income in specific years to increase financial aid packages.

Money Lessons for Professional Athletes

“Many NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball players have a penchant for losing most or all of their money. It doesn’t matter how much they make. And the ways they blow it are strikingly similar.”
— Sports Illustrated

Barry Ritholtz gives a good run down on how professional athletes go broke:

Youth and inexperience: Most professionals see their salary gradually increase over the course of their career. By the time they are making the big bucks, age and experience has taught them (more or less) how to manage their finances.

Not so for the pro athlete. After being an unpaid student athlete in college, they suddenly have access to millions of dollars. I don’t know about you, but I am fairly certain that if someone gave me $2 million when I was 21, I would have died in a fiery Ferrari wreck or some other foolish thing. It is a simple formula: Youth plus inexperience with money equals bad outcomes.

Athletes have short careers: Injuries, trades and the sheer quality of competitive talent means a twenty-year sports career is the exception, not the rule. On the other hand, white-collar professionals enjoy careers that last 30, 40, even 50 years — more time to amass their wealth, as well as a much longer period to figure out how to manage it.

Young athletes spend too much money: Suffice it to say they spend lots and lots of money, often more than they actually have. Divorce, child support and the costs of an entourage all eat into the cash flow.

Dazzled by the lifestyles of veterans — whose longevity and endorsement deals put them way ahead of the average player in terms of income — these professional competitors may feel pressure to compete off the field. Trying to keep up is a recipe for disaster.

Everyone takes home much less than they realize: Holding aside the issue of unwise spending, let’s look at nondiscretionary spending. GQ analyzed the finances of the typical athlete making $5 million a year. Right off the top, Uncle Sam and the resident state where he plays takes a hefty share — about half for someone in that top tax bracket. Then you have the professional managers, lawyers, accountants, etc. The agent takes $250,000, while the manager may take up to twice that amount. Trainers, nutritionists, travel and courtesy tickets all eat into the net.

Before spending the first discretionary dollar, the typical $5 million player is already down about 70 percent of the gross, to $1.5 million. That sounds like a lot of money, but a naive kid who has a $5 million dollar budget in his head can quickly find himself way behind.

Barry’s five simple steps that athletes (and non-athletes!) can take to avoid financial crisis:

1 Be involved: It is important that a young investor becomes involved with financial planning from the beginning of a career. He should understand what his take-home pay is (after taxes and fees) — and know what he is spending money on.

Be aware of the other numbers involved: What your career expectancy is. How much you are likely to make. What it is going to cost to live a certain lifestyle.

2 Have a plan: A young athlete should plan for three phases of a career: rookie years, top earning years and the life after sports.

In the first part of a career, the emphasis should be on improving your game, and saving money. Don’t worry about indulging in luxuries; you have the rest of your life to do that. Once you enter your prime earning years, you can loosen up a touch and spend more — but always within your means.

The last part of athletes’ careers is often the longest: when they are no longer playing professional ball. Having enough saved to carry them for the next 40 years is important. So, too, is having a second career — whether as an entrepreneur or a color commentator on TV sports broadcasts or as a coach.

Mapping out a workable plan for these three phases is crucial to avoiding that “other” phase: Bankruptcy.

3 Keep your costs low early in your career: Investors learn that costs, taxes and excessive fees are a killer of portfolios over the long term. So, too, are all of the small costs that eat into a professional athlete’s financial pie.

It helps to find a more seasoned and experienced teammate to walk you through what you should and should not be paying for.

4 Avoid debt and leverage: Learning to live within your means is a crucial financial skill for anyone. It is especially valuable for someone earning big bucks for what is likely a few short seasons. Debt simply means you are living beyond your means, even at those big salaries.

The latest snare waiting to trip up the unwary and impatient young athlete is the payday loan. For a very large fee, professional athletes can get huge advances on their salaries. These loans can be usurious, with fees and interest adding up to annual rates of 25 percent or higher. These are to be avoided at all costs.

5 Keep your investments simple: What most people think is the hardest aspect of finance is in reality the simplest: Avoid complex (private placements) or expensive (hedge funds or private equity) investments. Don’t make loans to friends or family. Don’t back start-ups. Don’t invest in new technology. Never buy fancy financial “products.” And whatever you do, for God’s sake, don’t put money into a restaurant.

Instead, have a simple asset allocation model of broad indices (U.S. equities, emerging market stocks, corporate bonds and Treasuries). You are in your early 20s, so you should have a 40- to 50-year time horizon for these investments. Don’t waste your time stock-picking or timing, just let the markets work for you. Build a portfolio of high quality, tax-free municipal bonds (especially if you live in a high tax state). These will pay you an income as long as you hold them.

Source:
Barry Ritholtz / WP

Inherited IRAs

Inheritances received via an IRA can be advantageous since you can choose to stretch the required distributions across your life expectancy, giving the assets more time to grow (plus taxes aren’t due until withdrawals are made). Here are key best practices to keep in mind:

When you inherit an IRA from anyone other than your spouse, you can’t roll it over into your own IRA
Instead, you have to retitle the IRA so it is clear the owner died and you are the beneficiary
If you move the account to a new custodian, make sure it is a “trustee to trustee” transfer”
If the check is mistakenly made out to you, the IRS will consider it a “total distribution” subject to tax and if you are anyone other than the surviving spouse, it would effectively end the IRA
Be aware there are deadlines for all of these actions
If the IRA owner dies after age 70 1/2 (when required withdrawals start) and didn’t yet take a withdrawal for the year, the heir has to do so by December 31
(if you miss the deadline, you are subject to a 50% penalty on the amount you should have withdrawn!)
If you are a nonspouse beneficiary, determine the required distribution by looking up your life expectancy on the single-life table in IRS publication 590
(most IRA custodians will calculate the required withdrawal amount for you but you need to make sure they are using the inherited IRA calculation)
Once you receive a 1099 form, confirm that the custodian properly indicated the distribution as a code “4”

HSA = Tax Triple Play!

Tis the season to select your health insurance plan either through your employer’s offering or the private insurance market. If you’re considering a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), keep in mind that many (but not all!) come with the fantastic opportunity called a Health Savings Account (HSA).

We love HSAs because they do two things:

They help you pay for your medical costs either today or in the future
They are triple tax advantaged

The government makes these accounts triple tax-advantaged because they want to incentivize you to save for your future medical costs. We know as the nation greys and gets older, we need to have a pot of money set aside to cover our potential out-of-pocket costs.

Here’s the triple tax saving advantage:

When you have an HSA account attached to a high-deductible plan, you get to take a tax deduction on your current your contribution. For families, it’s $7,000 in 2019 ($7,100 in 2020). This means you get to lower your adjusted gross income by $7,000, a tax savings of potentially around $2,000 if you take into account state and federal income taxes. That’s $170 of savings each month if you do a little rounding. That’s pretty incredible. That’s step 1 – you get a tax deduction in current year. If you’re age 55 or older, you eligible for a $1,000 “catch-up contribution” so your can lower your AGI by $7,900 (thus lowering your tax bill by ~$2,300 or $190 a month).
Layer two of the triple tax advantage is it grows completely tax deferred meaning it is growing without taxation on any appreciation, any dividends, or any income that’s going on a long as that money is sitting in the HSA account.
Here’s the third layer and really the knockout that makes it an awesome savings tool for the future. If you use the money in the future for medical expenses, your HSA distributions are completely tax free.
(Here’s another cool thing. Once you reach retirement, you don’t have to use your HSA for medical expenses, but if you want them to be tax free, it needs to be medical expenses.)

Be careful when you select a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) to make sure it qualifies for HSA eligibility:

HDHP minimum deductibles: self-only $1,350 in 2019 ($1,400 in 2020); family: $2,700 in 2019 ($2,800 in 2020)
HDHP maximum out-of-pocket amounts: self only $6,650 in 2019 ($6,900 in 2020); family $13,500 in 2019 ($13,800 in 2020)

HSAs can be one of your best friends for the future.

Know More, Make More

A new academic study finds that more financially knowledgeable people earn a higher return on their 401(k) retirement savings.

Dr Robert Clark (NC State University), Dr. Annamaria Lusardi (George Washington University), and Dr. Olivia Mitchell (University of Pennsylvania) analyzed a unique dataset that combined 401(k) performance data for 20,000 employees plus financial literacy data for the same workers.

Investors deemed to be more financially knowledgeable than peers enjoyed an estimated 1.3% higher annual return in their 401(k)s or other defined contribution plans than those with less knowledge.

According to the study’s authors:
“We show that more financially knowledgeable employees are also significantly more likely to hold stocks in their 401(k) plan portfolios. They can also anticipate significantly higher expected excess returns, which over a 30-year working career could build a retirement fund 25% larger than that of their less-knowledgeable peers.”

Financially savvy people tend to save more and are more likely to invest those savings in the stock market. But past studies haven’t clearly demonstrated that these people necessarily make better investment decisions. The authors look at patterns in 401(k) retirement accounts and find that more sophisticated investors do indeed get better returns on their savings.

Source: “Financial Knowledge and 401(k) Investment Performance”

Elite Colleges Don’t Buy Happiness or Extra Money for Graduates

Attention high school graduates that were rejected by their first-choice college

A new Gallup survey of 30,000 college graduates of all ages in all 50 states has found that graduation from an elite college provides no discernible advantage over Podunk U.

“It matters very little where you go; it’s how you do it” that counts, said Brandon Busteed, executive director of Gallup Education.

Gallup’s data demonstrate that people that feel the happiest and most engaged are the most productive. Those successful people got to that point by developing meaningful connections with professors or mentors, and made significant investments in long-term academic projects and extracurricular activities.

This new study’s results are well aligned with the existing body of academic research. For example, economist Stacy Dale published an insightful paper in 2004 that found that students who were accepted to elite schools, but attended less selective schools, went on to earn just as much money as their elite counterparts.

“Individual traits matter more than where you went,” Ms. Dale said. “It’s a lot more important what you learn later in life than where you got your undergraduate degree.”

Source: WSJ

Class of 2019: Financial Advice That will CHANGE YOUR LIFE

The following is a brief excerpt from the commencement address by Dr. Chris Mullis (Financial Planner & Founding Partner at NorthStar Capital Advisors) to the graduating class of Providence Day School on May 31, 2013. The full text of Dr. Mullis’ speech, that includes career advice, financial guidance, and a few pearls of wisdom, can be found here.

At our financial advisory firm, we developed complex computer algorithms and use them to manage our clients’ investment portfolios. But the basic steps you need to take to manage your own money well are deceptively simple. First, live within your means and avoid being caught up in rapid lifestyle inflation. You will not live like your parents when you first start out. Second, save and invest your money wisely. Let me elaborate on this point.

Wealth accumulation depends on three factors: how much you save, the rate at which your money grows, and how long you save. That last factor, time, is very, very important. There’s an urban legend that Albert Einstein once said that compounding interest is the most powerful force in the Universe. That quote is likely misattributed but the message is spot on. If you save $5,000 a year for 40 years and earn 8% annually, you will eventually have $1.3M. But if you delay starting for merely 5 years, your results after 35 years will be only $860k. That 5-year delay preserved $25k of short-term capital but ultimately cost you >$400k in the long run. Time is the most powerful lever in the machinery of investing. Nothing else comes close to it.

So what do you need to do? Start saving and investing right out of high school regardless of how hard you think it hurts or how unpleasant the tradeoffs. Even if you set aside only 5% of your paycheck starting out, do it to get into the habit of saving. Delaying getting serious about investing until my 30s was a significant financial mistake on my part. No one ever sat me down and explained how important it is to start investing early. Now that we’ve had this little talk, you’ll never be able to say that no one told you.

When promised quick profits, respond with a quick “no”

Warren Buffett is one of the most successful and sage investors alive today. Students of investing anxiously await his annual letter to shareholders to glean pearls of the wisdom from this master.

Here’s one of our favorite Warren Buffett quotes from the 2014 letter:

“You don’t need to be an expert in order to achieve satisfactory investment returns. But if you aren’t, you must recognize your limitations and follow a course certain to work reasonably well. Keep things simple and don’t swing for the fences. When promised quick profits, respond with a quick ‘no.’”

Unfortunately there are many people that are victimized by financial fraudsters. It happens everywhere and all the time. For example, in 2014 a Charlotte, NC man, Mitchell Brian Huffman, was ordered to a pay $2.1 million civil penalty for operating a Ponzi scheme that bilked clients out of about $3.2 million.

Huffman told his 30 victims that he was generating outrageously high annual rates of return of 100% to 150% using a proprietary trading program. Huffman used their money to fund a lavish lifestyle including classic cars and luxury vacations.

Sir Isaac Newton: Monumental Scientist, Terrible Investor

Most people recognize Sir Isaac Newton as one of the most influential scientists of all time, but did you know he was a horrible investor?

Newton’s experience with the South Sea Company vividly demonstrates the financial perils of chasing hot markets, getting caught up in investment bubbles, and not maintaining a diversified portfolio.

In the early 18th century the South Sea Company was established and given a monopoly on trade in the South Seas in return for assuming England’s war debt. Investors liked the idea of that monopoly and the company’s stock began to take off.

Newton hear the siren call of the South Sea Company, invested his cash in early 1720 and managed to turn a nice profit. But then the stock kept soaring after he had gotten out. So Newton jumped back into the stock with a lot more money than his original investment.

Newton subsequently lost 20,000 pounds, almost all of his life savings! From this terrible outcome, Newton supposedly decreed, “I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.”

No warning on Earth can save people determined to grow suddenly rich.
— Lord Overstone

Source: Sovereign Man

Great Expectations

Expectations are very important. If you know what to expect, you shouldn’t be surprised. And if you’re not surprised, you won’t panic.

Coaching clients on what to expect and how (not) to respond to extraneous events is our defining role as a real financial advisor.

We invest in stocks because of their superior returns. Those historically higher returns are a reward for tolerating volatility (i.e., the “volatility premium”). But what does stock volatility look like in the real world? What pattern of price variability should we expect?

Well, here it is in its most elegant of graphical forms (click image for a bigger view).

Here’s how to read this chart:

The intra-year decline versus the annual return of the S&P 500 are plotted vertically with years running horizontally from 1980 through year-to-date 2019.
The annual return (grey bars) show the calendar year price increase. For example, in 1980 stocks climbed 26% for the year.
The intra-year decline (red dots) is the largest market drop from peak to trough during that year. For example, in 1980 we experienced a 17% drawdown.
Putting these together, in 1980 the stock market dipped 17% before closing up 26% by the end of the year.

It’s not hard to see that short, intra-year declines are the norm.

In fact, the average intra-year drop is 13.9%. But despite these temporary declines, the annual returns are positive in 29 of 39 years (74% of the time). During the charted time period 1980 to 2018 the average annual return was 8.4% This pattern is persistent. If you look back to 1946, the average drawdown is a remarkably close 13.8%, and the price return was positive 51 of the 73 years (70% of the time).

History shows the declines are temporary, the advance is permanent.

Think about how the average person responds to these intra-year declines. The financial media is screaming about the crisis du jour which is consistently characterized as the end of the world (“I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which have actually happened.” — Mark Twain ). Data shows the average investor, without the support of a caring, empathetic coach/advisor, consistently sells at the worst of times – i.e., during one of these perfectly normal and temporary pullbacks.

Volatility does not equal a financial loss unless you sell.

In our humble opinion, possessing an informed expectation, one that allows you to ignore short-term gyrations to capture long-term gains, is a Great Expectation.

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