Smart Mid Year Money Moves

Tune in for a comprehensive mid-year financial checkup that could revolutionize your money management. From revisiting your investment mix and budget to optimizing taxes and retirement savings, our expert, Leisl Langevin, breaks down essential steps to keep your finances on track.

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Transcript

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Mid year is a great time to review your finances across the board. And that means looking back at original financial goals that you set at the beginning of the year. Reviewing your investment mix to make sure that it's still on track with you know, what your intended investment goals are. Looking at your budget, making sure you're on track there, and then reviewing taxes. Because the goal here with all of this is to create as much efficiency as you possibly can with your finances. And as I say this, I'm hoping listeners have a financial plan. And if you don't, you should consider working with an advisor to create one. So there's several actions that we recommend people take now that could have them working on that progress towards goals through the end of the year. All right, let's break it down. What's first on your list? Well very basic, but reviewing your financial plan, reminding you of what your financial goals were that you set for the year. And so that could be traveling abroad buying a home, or maybe it was to build up your emergency savings. So let's say you wanted to have$10,000 in your savings account. Have, you know, midway through the year. Do you have 5000 in there? Are you working towards that $10,000 number? And if you need to, maybe you have to spend less on wants and try to save more. So those are some things you can do to change that. All right, what about investments? Well, of course, reviewing your investment mix is always important. I know I mentioned having a long term strategy and sticking to that, but midway through the year, making sure that investment mix is on track and making sure that you have the right amount of stocks and bonds. And as I mentioned, so stocks have done really well on a year to date basis. Bonds are flat or in some cases negative. So you want to make sure that you haven't tilted too far towards stocks and you may need to rebalance and assess that against your risk tolerance. But another thing that we also look at midway through the year is capital gains and losses. And we definitely look at this at the end of the year. But there's something called tax loss harvesting. So you can take losses to offset some of the gains that you might have taken. Like I said, markets are up on a year to date basis, so those are things to be aware of. Any other tax related moves that we can make now? Sure. So mid year, it's a great time to project your income and deductions for the full year. So especially if you're a small business owner and your cash flow and your income is maybe not as well known. Its good to check in on that, see where you are and understand how much income you'll have for the year and then take steps to make sure that you keep more in your pocket versus the government's pocket. So that's always, you know, either checking in on estimated tax payments that you're making, those types of things. So another thing we talk about here too is bunching charitable donations and just seeing if you can get above that standard deduction amount. So that's a good one there. What about reviewing retirement savings accounts? How can we reduce taxes there? Sure. So, and this is another if you are halfway through the year and your goal was to max out your retirement accounts. So a 401K, you can save 23,000 if you're under 50. So that would mean you'd have to have at least half of that in your 401K. In an IrA, you can save 7000 on an annual basis. So 3500 would be the number you should have saved year to date. So and if you're over 50, don't forget about those extra catch up contributions. So in a 401K, you can save an extra 7500 and an extra 1000 in an IRA. So those are helpful. Tips there, too. Pretty thorough review there. Anything else we should consider at the mid year? Yes, definitely. And this is part of the overall you know, being able to pay for needs and wants and savings, but checking in on your budget and looking at what you were projected to spend versus what you were actually spending, that's always a good one. I know sometimes it kind of catches me off guard. So you just want to check in on that. And if you have extra cash flow, consider how you might save that. Or if you're spending above your means, consider how you're going to reduce some of the overages on that. And then one other thing it's a good thing to check in mid year is on your estate plan and beneficiary designation. So this is sort of a, I mean, life changes happen throughout the year, whether you're married, divorced, there's a death in the family. But just checking in on those important documents and just making sure that they're accurate, so. All right, any parting thoughts for our listeners? Gosh, I know that was a lot. Yeah, covered pretty much everything. But I encourage everyone to take time to review finances instead of waiting till the end of the year. We always get that end of the year rush. And so if you need help, reach out to a financial advisor. And at WHZ, we're always happy to help people create that plan. I know I mentioned it in the beginning but it's helpful when you have it written down and then you can refer back to it. For more information regarding wealth management and customized financial planning with Weiss, Hale & Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors, please visit whzwealth.com Weiss, Hale & Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors offer securities and advisory services through Commonwealth Financial network member FINRA SIPC, a Registered investment advisor, fixed insurance products and services offered through CES Insurance agency. They practice at 697 Pomfret Street Pomfret Center, Connecticut 06259 392-A Merrow Road, Tallinn, Connecticut 06084 They can be reached at 860-928-2341 Weiss, Hale & Zahansky Strategic Wealth Advisors do not provide legal or tax advice. The tenured financial services team strives to support clients in achieving their financial life goals while providing absolute confidence and unwavering partnership for life.