33 Essential Year-End Financial Tasks

Written by Scott P. Frush


The end ofrepparttar year is a traditional time of celebration, excitement, reflection and planning – not withstandingrepparttar 112222 hectic holiday shopping of course. However,repparttar 112223 end ofrepparttar 112224 year also holds another, lesser-known but more significant, importance -repparttar 112225 optimal time ofrepparttar 112226 year to complete year-end financial tasks. A new booklet inrepparttar 112227 Financial Booklets Series from Marshall Rand Publishing revealsrepparttar 112228 most essential of these tasks.

Managing your personal finances always begins with you. By not completing certain essential tasks, you risk making costly mistakes and placing your financial independence, control and security at risk. The benefits of completing these financial tasks typically include protecting and growing your investments, cutting your tax bill, jump starting your retirement savings, improving your credit rating and reducing your insurance costs.

“The end ofrepparttar 112229 year is not onlyrepparttar 112230 optimal time to address all personal finances, but also isrepparttar 112231 deadline for completing some specific tasks,” says Scott Frush, president of Frush Financial Group and author of 33 Essential Year-End Financial Tasks (available at www.FinancialBooklets.com). “For example,repparttar 112232 last trading day in December isrepparttar 112233 final opportunity to sell losing investments and offset resulting capital losses against existing capital gains for that tax year.”

Here Frush shares seven ofrepparttar 112234 essential year-end financial tasks revealed in his new booklet.

1.MINIMIZE CAPITAL GAINS: Capital gains taxes can significantly reduce total portfolio performance and increase your tax bill. As a result, harvest appropriate capital losses to offset against existing capital gains. 2.REBALANCE YOUR PORTFOLIO: Due to fluctuating market prices overrepparttar 112235 year, your portfolio and respective holdings may have changed. To ensure that your portfolio remains optimal - or aligned to achieve your goals and objectives - you may need to sell some investments and buy other investments withrepparttar 112236 proceeds.

Pay off debt now: 5 steps to getting your finances in order

Written by Drew Harris


In our world of dizzying change, nothing is more true thanrepparttar time honored statement that circumstances always change.

No where is this more true than with financial issues.

Have you ever borrowed money, or charged uprepparttar 112221 VISA card at Christmas, allrepparttar 112222 while telling yourself that you would pay everything off with a coming tax refund or bonus?

Sound familiar. And then what happens whenrepparttar 112223 bonus money arrives?

Let me guess….circumstances changed,repparttar 112224 car needed brakes (orrepparttar 112225 kids needed braces, etc), andrepparttar 112226 VISA debt and interest charges keeps piling up.

Unless you have a plan, you will always be caught inrepparttar 112227 unpredictable grip of “changing circumstances.”

This is a slippery slope that can very quickly can become serious financial stress. Considerrepparttar 112228 fact that Americans are declaring bankruptcy at record rates. One in every 100 families is affected by a bankruptcy.

I was on this slope 10 years ago. Declaring personal bankruptcy and filing for divorce went hand in hand.

One ofrepparttar 112229 most insiteful moments ofrepparttar 112230 process was preparing a written log forrepparttar 112231 trustee of all of our spending forrepparttar 112232 5 years leading up to bankruptcy.

While all ofrepparttar 112233 individual decisions made sense inrepparttar 112234 moments that they were made, they looked totally foolish inrepparttar 112235 context ofrepparttar 112236 “bigger picture”

In other words, constantly changing circumstances drove us off our financial roadmap.

Consider this five step plan for getting on, and staying with, your financial roadmap.

Step No. 1: Make a list of what you owe & prioritize: Put all your bills in a pile. Then list your debts in order, starting withrepparttar 112237 largest balance first. Then prioritize your repayments (ie paying downrepparttar 112238 highest interest rate first).

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