Year-End Financial Planning: Nine Essential Steps to Take

Brian emphasizes the importance of planning and maximizing financial opportunities before the year ends.

### Year-End Financial Planning: 9 Essential Steps for 2024
* 📅 As we approach the end of 2024, it's crucial to take proactive steps that can **significantly impact your financial future**, starting with subscribing to the Money Guy Show for **continuous insights**.
* 💰 The first step is to ensure you have **adequate cash reserves**, including covering your **highest deductibles** and fully funding your **emergency fund** to manage unexpected expenses effectively.
* 📈 Next, maximize the free money available through your employer's retirement plan by contributing enough to **receive the full match**, as many individuals miss out on this opportunity.
* 📊 Reviewing your liabilities is essential; create a net worth statement to identify and prioritize **paying off high-interest debts**, such as credit cards, to **improve your financial health**.
* 💳 Consider utilizing tax-free savings accounts like HSAs and Roth IRAs, ensuring you **maximize contributions** to benefit from **tax-free growth and withdrawals for qualified expenses**.
* 🏦 If you've maxed out your tax-advantaged accounts, explore after-tax brokerage accounts for additional savings, as they offer **flexibility without contribution limits**.
* 🌱 As you plan for the future, focus on **abundance goals**, such as funding your children's education or investing in real estate, while ensuring your own financial stability comes first.
* 🎁 Finally, embrace generosity by considering charitable donations or utilizing donor-advised funds to give back, reinforcing that **wealth is a tool for greater purpose** beyond mere accumulation.

nine things to do before we close out [Music] 2024. Brian, I am so excited about this because we know just how powerful a little bit of planning can do, and there are some significant decisions that you can make right here at the end of the year that can have large impacts, not just this year, but well into your financial future. But Bo, I think there's actually, before we get into all these tips, tricks, and things that they should do, everyone should subscribe to the money guy. Oh, that is one thing you should do right now before another moment passes. CU, we love knowing that you are out there so that we can continue creating content just for you. All right, Bri, you want to talk about some things that should happen before the year, and as a tax guy, I got to believe that this is like near and dear and true to your heart. Well, look, we've evolved because we used to do this year-end show, and we would, let me go ahead and give you the cliff notes version, is we'd say defer income if you

can accelerate your deductions 'cause all of it was the purpose of minimizing the taxes to be paid. But we realize a lot of this stuff needs to be mindset stuff because we go through the, we close out years, we hit New Year's resolutions. People need something bigger that actually brings you into focus, what's going on with your financial life. And once again, we land on the foundation of all good financial decision-making with the financial order of operations. That's exactly right. So, as we walk through some of these steps, we're going to talk about how it falls into the food. So, even as we dive into the very first one, we think about the things you ought to do before year-end. The very first thing we think you should do before you begin thinking about building wealth and growing and moving towards the future is you want to make sure that you have your risk covered. So, have you yet this year counted your cash? And cash is such an important thing for the financial order of operations. It's not just one step, it's two steps. And if you read

millionaire mission, and you really want to see the origin story. You'll see why this is such an important thing is because cash is actually that margin, that buffer that's going to keep you safe and sane through the chaos that the world's going to throw at you. So, as you think about this, have you done step one? Do you have your highest deductible cover? Do you know what your deductibles are? What's my health deductible? What's my auto deductible? What's my home insurance, homeowners deductible? Do I have that highest amount in cash? And then, if I've done that, and then I've gone to step two, and I've gone to step three, is my emergency fund fully funded? Do I know what it would cost me to run my household for 3 to 6 months, covering my living expenses? And do I have that in liquid cash, readily available, should I need to get access? And by the way, cash is also one of those things if you have any upcoming big things. I've often when people tell me they have a goal that is

3 months, 6 months, nine months in the future. I'm like, that needs to be liquid. So, if you've got an engagement ring, if you've got the family vacation, that's not investment money. That's money that needs to be liquid and in cash. And the last question you should answer is, if you're going to hold cash, you might as well have it working for you. Where is it sitting? Do you just have your cash sitting in a checking account, earning next to nothing? Or do you have it working for you? Because realistically, Brian, if you let your cash work for you, it can have a huge impact. Yeah, don't sleep on this. I'm always amazed at how many very smart people, they just take their cash for granted. You can make over 4%, close to 5% still on your cash if you take an active role in choosing to let your money work for you. Yeah, you can think about if you just let it sit there and you're earning interest and it's in like a standard checking account.

only earning something like half a percent, you might make 100 bucks, 140 bucks a year. If instead, you had that emergency fund, let's say it was $30,000 sitting in that account, you're talking about making over 4.5%. That could be $1,300. Now you're talking about like vacation money just for your cash sitting there. Don't sleep on it. Make sure that your cash is working for you. Now let's talk about if we're going to take advantage of cash working for you. Let's talk about actually getting that free money. If you talk about step two of the financial order of operations, everybody's always curious why in the world we know credit card debt is over 20 plus percent for a lot of people. How in the world can you guys have you investing in your employer plan before you even pay off the 20 plus percent credit card debt? Well, it's easy. If your employer is offering you 50% for those 50 cents on every dollar or 100% for the dollar for dollar.

contributions. You got to get in there and get that free money from your employer. And don't just get some of it, get all of it. I'm amazed at how often Bri and I go do 401K presentations, and the employer might say, If you put in 5%, we'll put in 4%. And we ask the party, Oh, how much you do in your 401K? Oh, I'm doing 3%. And we're like, What? You 3? You're leaving money on the table. It is literally free money. So, have you reviewed how your 401K works? Do you know what the maximum contribution you can put in to maximize that match is? And are you doing that? If you're not, you should consider changing that right now. Yeah, and by the way, it's not just our clients that we're talking to when we go do these 401Ks. Vanguard recently found out 34% of people are not maxing out their 401Ks, meaning getting the match. So, get in there, get that free money, and by

the way if you don't have a matching contribution, maybe your plan, your employer is not caught up to the time. Do that, it's okay. Skip to step three. You can pay off that high-interest step now. And don't forget free money. We're talking a lot about like retirement plans and 401K contributions. Free money is not just that. You may participate in or you may work for a company that has an employee stock purchase plan where you potentially can buy your employer stock at a discounted price. Well, if you can buy something that's worth $100 and you only have to pay $85 for it, that $15 savings is free money. So, if you have access to an employee stock purchase plan through your employer, you may want to consider that too. And you may want to prioritize that because that's likely a step two item inside the financial order of operations. Now, remember, we do want to keep you safe on this though. Don't let all of your employment income, your net worth income, I mean your net worth and

everything resides only with your employer. This is one of those things. If you lean into this, make sure you are diversifying it, create a process, but take advantage of that free money. And then, as you're even just doing the minimum contribution to get that full match, have you done the research, have you done the analysis to determine should I do pre-tax contributions or should I do Roth contributions? If you're looking for how to decide, it's pretty simple. You just want to look at your marginal tax rates, both on the federal side and the state side. If you add them up and they're under 25%, then you may want to consider doing the Roth contributions inside of your retirement account. If it's between 25% and 30%, it gets a little more nuanced based on your unique account structure, time horizon, age-specific items. But if you're over 30% when you add up your marginal federal and marginal state, that tax savings is so valuable this year that you may want to consider doing pre-tax because every dollar that you

put in can save you 30 cents in taxes. It's a huge tax savings. You want to make sure you're optimizing and maximizing when you make your contributions, and you're hoping you have an arbitrage situation when you retire. CU, we know retirees, when you have less earned income, a lot of times you pay a lot lower taxes. So, that's why you're taking advantage of that tax planning opportunity. But if you are hearing us talk about this, you go, I don't even know what my marginal tax rate is. I would encourage you to go to money.com resources, and you too can download our tax guide. All right, Brown, we're talking about some things that you ought to do before we get to the end of 2024. This next one is an important one because, again, we're talking about the foundation, we're talking about taking care of the necessary things to take care of. Have you gotten your liabilities under control, or do you even know what your liabilities are? We love this time of year because this is the time that we

get to do net worth statements. It's like our Christmas morning because it is so exciting to line up everything that you own and then line up everything that you owe and see where you stand this year. Well, specifically when it comes to what you owe and you're doing your net worth statement, you might uncover you have some bad actors on there that you should potentially be knocking out. Look, we're so into this we like let's give away a free resource to everybody. So if you go to money.com resources, you can download a free template that will help you do your Networth if you need to get on this annual tradition. And by the way, if you're wondering what item should I track on this network statement, how about the changes? Because maybe I'm in year two, I'm in year three, and I want to have a dashboard view. Am I paying down my debt? Is my net worth growing? How does that compare to my income? We'd encourage you to take it a step further, maybe go to learn.money.com, and we actually have

a net worth tool that will help you take it to the next level and actually be able to look at the data and have that dashboard view. And the second question, as you look at all of those different liabilities, as you're thinking through this, you ought to answer the question: how much bad debt can you get rid of by year-end? I mean, you've heard us say this all the time: if you have credit card debt, that is an absolute nonstarter. You have to knock that out. But there are other types of debt that you want to figure out: how do I prioritize? What do I think about car loans? What do I think about student loans? How should I attack those? And do those even belong in step three of the financial order of operations? Yeah, I mean, car loans, we actually put together some specific rules for every one of these things, and I think it's interesting. Like car loans, we did have a spread on this because we understand, yes, cars are going to be a necessity for a lot of people to get to

their job to start that wealth-building process, but we're like, let's give some guidelines. Age does come into play, the interest rate comes into play, and we even put out some rules that tie into if you get those offers from the manufacturers where it's 0%. It still doesn't change the fact that we want you to respect 238. You're going to want to pay these cars off within 3 years because cars depreciate rapidly, and you don't want to be driving around in your wealth. But it's not just cars that might be showing up on your net worth day. You might also have student loans, and you're trying to figure out how do I prioritize that. And again, we have a rule of thumb to help you navigate this. If you're in your 20s and your student loans are greater than 6%, you may want to consider prioritizing paying off those student loans. If they're below 6%, we would argue that your money could work harder for you elsewhere, so you may want to consider

that in your 30s, the number drops down to 5%. In the 40s, it drops down to 4%. Again, it's all about commanding your army of dollar bills. So, have you done a net worth statement? Have you lined up all of your liabilities, and you know which ones you should be attacking right now and which ones are okay to persist on the net worth statement into future years? Yeah, get that debt under control. We talk about it all the time. I feel like Americans have gotten way too comfortable with debt. That's one more reason if you do the net worth statement. I think you're going when you see it front and center, and then you even compare that to the wealth multiplier and seeing what every dollar has the potential to become. You'll look at it a little differently, and you won't fall into that trap. All right, Brian, the next thing that we want to talk about as it comes to year-end. There are things we want to think about, and I think this is maybe probably your favorite year-end planning.

item at least one of them have you reviewed. Have you maximized all of the tax-free savings opportunities that are currently available to let me give you a clue. If the government is going to restrict who can put money into these types of accounts, if they're going to restrict how much you can put into these things, you probably ought to perk up and go, Wow, this must be something pretty sweet. If I'm going to potentially, yes, I don't get a tax deduction on Roth contributions, but I get tax-free growth. And then you think about if you love tax-free growth HSAs because they actually take what Roth accounts do to a whole new level 'cause they're triple tax advantage with a health savings account. As long as you have that high deductible health plan, because that is a requirement, you're going to get a deduction on the contribution, you're going to be able to watch it grow tax-free, and if you use it on qualified medical expenses, you're going to be able to pull it out completely tax-free.

that's an amazing opportunity. Some of the questions, if you have access to an HSA, that you may want to be thinking about this year is: Have I maxed it out? The single contribution limit is $4,150 this year. The family contribution is $8,300. Well, not only have I maxed out this year, but as I think about going into next year and I get into open enrollment, what is the best health insurance for my family or for me in this next year? Do I want to stay on the high deductible plan to be able to be HSA eligible, or might there be another opportunity? Might I ought to take advantage of one of the other health insurance options at my employer? Just because you did something this year does not mean that you should default to it next year. You want to make sure you think through this again so you can be maximizing your dollars. By the way, this is a year in planning show. Unfortunately, end of the year, fourth quarter, is when most of you have open enrollment on your

health insurance takes an active role. B said, Don't just assume what you did last year is going to be good for this year. I want you to think about, do the homework and figure out, is there going to be some family changes, meaning are you doing family planning to the fact that you think you might have children next year. Pay attention, are you reaching a certain age. Hey, I crossed over the Big 5. I knew that there were going to be some medical requirements. I took an active role and said, 'Hey, let's look at our health insurance and choices a little differently,' knowing I'm going to be leaning a little extra to make sure I do all that pre-preventative stuff. And then, obviously, we want you to be, if you're going to take advantage of an HSA and you're going to consider this part of your financial order of operation, we want you to be part of that 4% that actually invests those dollars to grow for the future so that you're truly getting that tax-free growth and ultimately those tax-free distributions.

health savings accounts are one type of tax-free account we want you to maximize. But then there are also Roth IRAs. As we're coming up to the end of this year, have you maximized? Do you? Are you set up to put the full $7,000 into your Roth IRA? Or if you're over 50, are you doing $8,000? Or are you even going to be eligible for Roth this year? This might be a great time to figure out, Oh wow, I'm getting a year-end bonus I was not anticipating, or I got RSU that vested that I had not counted on. Man, I put money in a Roth I was not eligible to do that. Do I need to start unwinding that? Do I need to go back and re-roll out those contributions so that I don't run afoul of the Roth IRA contribution thresholds? Yeah, this is don't sleep on the Roth and the tax-free growth, tremendous opportunities for wealth building with this step. All right, BR, so as we're thinking about that, we're

maxing out step five. We're doing the Roth IRAs. We're doing the HSAs. Another thing you might want to think about once you've kind of worked through these is, Okay, one of the single greatest tools in my tool belt to legally hide money from the government to save for the future is my employer-sponsored retirement account. Have I hit the max? What am I doing inside my 401k, 403b, 457? And should I be doing more before we get to year-end? This is worth sharing and reminding everyone. The first account that most people cross into seven-figure status with is that employee 401K. This one is because you can put so much into it, and you also get some incentives from your employer. Guys, this is a year-end planning show. You might have some bonuses coming up, and it's worth the extra homework to reach out to your employer. Say, Hey, can I put a different savings percentage on my upcoming bonus versus what I've put on my normal compensation? And you might be

able to max out those retirement contributions as that year-end bonuses pays out. So, some accounts let you go back in time, like a SEP IRA if you're a small business owner, or your Roth or your HSA. You can fund them for a prior year. 401ks, if you're a participant in the 401K, don't allow that. If you're going to max it out, if you're going to hit the 23,000 or the 30,500, it has to happen before December 31st because it has to be reflected on your W2. So, if you don't get those dollars in there this year before the end of the year, you're not going to get them in there. So, make sure you're doing the math, recognize what is it that you need to be putting into max out. Is that something you can squeeze in there before we close out this year? And I have one little nerdy tax comment. Is that year-end bonuses, you might want to do a little pre-preemptive homework to figure out how close are you.

to the next tax bracket because you might be able to look at your year-end bonus, load up to traditional 401k to keep yourself in that lower tax bracket, or maybe you're at the point you can no longer do Roth IRA contributions without doing backdoor gymnastics to get it in there. This could be another planning opportunity. Don't sleep on that. Take an active role in being a participant in maximizing your retirement opportunities. Now, a lot of people ask us this question: Okay guys, I'm going to max out. I'm going to do it. And by the way, when I do that, I'm going to cross over 25%. That's great. That's awesome. You don't have to go to step seven. You don't have to continue saving more if you're hitting 25%. But if you max out and you've not hit your 25% yet, then we want you to go to step seven. Then we want you to go to hyper-accumulation. Just 'cause you filled up that 401k, 403b, 457 bucket does not mean that

you cannot do additional savings above and beyond that in a regular normal after-tax account, and that leads us to the next thing that we want to make sure you're doing. Make sure as you close out this year, you finish the drill. Have you hit your 25%? Yeah, I mean, we titled this hyper-accumulation, and people go, What in the world? What is hyper-accumulation? I always remind people this means that we are taking life and our savings behavior beyond 25%. And this is the part I get excited about this because a lot of what is driven steps one through six of the financial order of operations is maximizing not only the cash reserves, not only maximizing the employer free money, but it's also just all the tax-favored ways that you can save money. Step seven, what I love is this lets you as the commander of your army of dollar bills start to think about how am I actually going to use this money. It's not just about the saving; it's also where are we going. Begin with the end in

mind. I love that we get to be so strong and deliberate with what Beyond 25% means. So let's talk about what counts in that. What counts towards the 25%? Well, obviously, we're talking about employer-sponsored plans: 401ks, 403bs, 457s, IRAs (Roth or traditional), HSAs. If we're investing those dollars, if we're putting money in HSA and immediately using those, that does not count as part of our 25%. It's only if it's growing for the future. We have pension contributions going in, employer match. If your income is at such a place that you're allowed to include that in the 25%, maybe you have an ESOP that you participate in or an employee stock purchase plan. And then exactly what you said, Brian, your taxable account, just regular normal after-tax brokerage account, is a great place to be putting money for the future. You can add up all of these different accounts that you're able to save to, and that was where you want your

25% to be and the question people all ask. Okay guys, I get this, but I've listened to other folks, and they tell me 10% will be, dude, just do 10%. We don't think 10% should be the goal. We think that 25% should be the goal, and there's a reason behind that, by the way. Don't just take our word for it. Take an active role in actually figuring out. We give you the tools. This is why I love what we do here at the Money Guys Show, is we actually put pen to paper and create plans and show the numbers to you. We're very transparent. We eat our own cooking. But if you go to moneyguy.com/resources and you ask yourself how much should you save, we actually have a resource that'll show you what can 25% do for you. And what it takes into account is what's your age, meaning how much time do you have ahead of you, what's your savings rate, what can you expect that to produce in income replacement or retirement replacement.

ratios in the future. Don't just take somebody's word for it; take the active role and actually look at the data and see what you need for your financial life. Okay, Brian, so I'm sold. I'm gonna save 25%, but I happen to be a higher-income individual. So, I've done the Roth IRAs, and I've done the HSAs, and I've done the max out the 401K, and I still haven't hit my 25%. The next question you need to answer is, Okay, well, do I need to open a broker account, or why might that be something exciting to open? Because it's not tax-advantaged and tax-free like a Roth necessarily, and I don't get a tax deduction for money I put in there. So, what are the benefits of a brokerage account? Well, what I like is, first of all, there are no limits. So, if you're playing catch-up and you need to put extra money into an account, you know, with Roth IRAs, even your 401ks

they're all going to get to a point where they say no more. You can't put any more money in this. The good thing is with after-tax money, you get to load it up. There's nobody's going to limit how much you can put in these accounts. That's a powerful opportunity. Another big benefit is while you don't get a tax deduction when you put money in, and it doesn't necessarily grow tax-free, there are still some tax advantages. If you save into an investment account, into a brokerage account, and you invest those dollars, and you hold the things that you invest in long-term, those holdings will be subject to long-term capital gains rates, which are currently lower than ordinary income tax rates. So, even though it's not growing tax-deferred necessarily, and you're not going to be tax-free, it is still tax-favored and tax-advantaged. So, it still might make sense to save money here because you can still do it in a pretty tax-efficient way moving forward. And I like that there's no early withdrawal penalty, and what

this is going to serve you in multiple ways. If you're one of these people that is part of the FIRE movement, or I like to call the FINE movement, the next endeavor, not necessarily retiring early, you might need access to this money pre-55 for 401ks or 59 and a half for the IRAs. Well, if that's you and you need the bridge account, you're going to love that these don't have an early withdrawal penalties. If you're somebody who considers yourself a fancy investor and wants to get into real estate, you're going to love the after-tax account because you can get access to these assets for future investment opportunities without penalty. That's a powerful thing. Super. Another little small tax tidbit is there is a unique opportunity that if you happen to be in a certain income threshold, if your AGI is under $47,000 for single individuals or under $94,000 for individuals that are married filing jointly, you might be able to recognize capital gains inside of

your taxable account and pay a 0% tax rate. That's right, 0% long-term capital gains tax rate if you fall in those income thresholds. So, as we come to the end of the year, you're going to want to look and say, Okay, where was my income for the year? Where do I fall? Might it make sense for me to think about accelerating some of those gains, paying 0% tax, resetting my bases, reinvesting, redeploying those dollars? It's a great benefit and tool that's available inside of taxable brokerage accounts. All right, Brian, so now let's talk about the excite. So, we talked about a lot of the blocking and tackling, a lot of logistics. Now, let's talk about some of the, I don't want to say more fulfilling 'cause it's all fulfilling, but some of the exciting stuff, what you like to call the abundance goals. Yeah, these are prepaid future expenses is the official title, but I do like to call them the abundance goals because this is the

exciting thing you know. Often, if you have your favorite dance move, this is the time to probably celebrate because you are walking into that abundance phase of life. Do you have a favorite dance move? I mean, I actually have put some thought into this, and I could do the backwards worm, but now that I'm old, I think I'd hurt myself. I honestly wish I'd have learned a better move. Like, if I'd have learned Running Man, it would have served me much better than doing the worm. If you subscribe right now to the channel and we get to 1 million subscribers, Bri will do a backwards worm. We'll put it on the socials. Make sure you subscribe right now. But it is one of those things where I think about because a lot of people, we take some flack for this, is that we put in Step 8 or these prepaid future expenses. This is when you get to take care of the kids. This is because, look, your kids can get student loans. Your kids can get

scholarships can get grants. There's no grants for retirement. There's no scholarships for retirement. So, you got to make sure you take care of your financial life. Just like on the airline, the flight attendant says, Put on your mask before you help out your children. It's the same way with your personal finances. Do not miss out on this moment. And so, as you're thinking about taking care of your kids, assuming that you've taken care of yourself first, might mean saving in a 529 for future college expenses. Or it might be getting them excited about building their financial future and opening a custodial Roth IRA and teaching them the power of tax-free growth. Or maybe it's just to fund future expenses like wedding rings or like first homes or like first cars. And you might just want to open an UPMT mugman account so that you can begin teaching your children how to become financial mutants. Because one of the greatest gifts that you can give them, more than money, more than resources, more than inheritance, is teaching them

how to build their own wealth for the future. So after you take care of the kids, I do like in Step eight, it's the abundance goals. If this is where you fancy yourself wanting to get into real estate, you're not faking it now. So you know, because the thing is with real estate, a lot of times it's leveraged debt, meaning you are borrowing money to buy the real estate. You need to have a good financial foundation underneath you in case things just got ugly. And that's why I love this is a great stage to consider real estate. This is also if you want to increase your lifestyle. This is the one where you're not faking it until you make it. You actually can afford to drive the nicer car, maybe have a little bit nicer house. You can make these consumption decisions because you didn't sacrifice building wealth because you had steps one through seven working in the background. And as you're doing that, you get to begin to have the question begin to answer the question, what is

abundance for me. What does that look like? What are the things that I do value? What are the goals I am working towards? What do I want my financial life to look like, both now and in the future? As you worked through the financial order of operations, you're getting into step eight. This is where you begin to focus on some of those things. This is where those types of things that can begin to take shape, and one of those things that may come up that you may be interested in is the very next step. Okay, should I consider, now I've done all the stuff that I've wanted to do, now should I just start risking my life? Should I consider paying off that low-interest debt, thinking about knocking out the mortgage, being completely debt-free? Yeah, this is definitely one of those risk analyses, and a lot of people at year-end do get bonuses and other things, so you have a little bit more windfall money or margin to make this decision. My thing is I just want to make sure it ties into

the financial order of operations. The majority of you still have mortgages with interest rates that are less than what cash is paying, meaning they're less than 4.5%. If you were maximizing that cash moment, well, that's the point where you better make sure you're checking the list off. And here's the two things that we always share. Financial order of operations. This is step nine. I know that that differs from some other systems out there. It's because I think you've got to make sure you make the wealth before you focus on maintaining the wealth by risking. And a lot of people never get through the make or get wealthy phase. They're already trying to risk, and that breaks my heart when they're in their 20s, when they're in their 30s. That's why the second thing we always share with people is it needs to be age 45 plus. And you say, Why? Well, here's why. Every dollar for a 20-year-old has the potential to become $88. Every dollar for a 30-year-old has

potential to become $23. Every dollar for a 40-year-old is $7. Every dollar for a 50-year-old is $3. Do you see what happens? The degradation of compounding growth is going to be rapid. So, there's a time to make and build, and then there's a time to maintain and keep safe. I just want to make sure you get that in the right order so you don't shortchange your future self. I love it. And as we're thinking about nine things that you may want to do before 2024 ends, or before, or nine things you may want to think about, one that we always want to remind you of is remember generosity. Remember, if you are in a place where you've done all the stuff that you've wanted to do, if you've been able to build the life that you want to build, are there ways that you can give back? Are there ways that you should begin thinking about not only making the wealth, not only maintaining the wealth, but ultimately multiplying the wealth and

specifically as it relates to year-end. Are there unique strategies you could be employing? Should you think about using a charitable giving fund? Should you donate appreciated security so that you can itemize your deductions this year? Are there tax-favor, tax-advantage ways that you could even satisfy your goal of being generous? Hey, and don't forget, let's clean out the closet. We're year-end here. You still got a little time ahead of you. Go ahead and save you a fews and do some good. Go donate some clothes, donate some things that are laying around the house. And this is one of those things. When I was writing Millionaire Mission, I made sure, because I think generosity is such a powerful thing, that this is a ground rule. This isn't step 10 of the financial order of operations. This is actually something you should put. It's an umbrella that sits on top of the financial order of operations. Generosity should be something we all practice because here's what I like about when you're generous, is in a lot of ways, it lets you get

outside side of being selfish, and it lets you focus on the selfless. Because a big thing that I hope all Financial mutants realize is that money is a tool; it's not a goal. If you don't tie into what's your why, what's abundance for you, and have purpose with everything that you're doing in your financial life, I think you're missing out on a lot. Make sure you go to money.com to just check out all the things we have. If you want free stuff, because I love giving out the free stuff, go to money.com/resources. But we love loading you up. I'm your host, Brian Preston, Mr. Bo Hansen, Money Got Team Out.

9 Things to Do Before 2024 Ends

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Nine Things to Do Before Closing Out 2024

Planning at the end of the year can significantly impact your financial future.

It's important to cover your risks by counting cash, knowing your deductibles, and fully funding your emergency fund.

Additionally, making your cash work for you and taking advantage of employer-sponsored plans can provide extra financial benefits.

Maximizing Employer Benefits and Financial Planning

It's crucial to take full advantage of your employer's 401K match, as many people are leaving free money on the table by not maximizing their contributions.

Employee stock purchase plans can also offer discounted stock, providing additional free money.

It's important to diversify your investments and consider whether to make pre-tax or Roth contributions based on your marginal tax rates.

Maximizing Your Net Worth and Tax-Free Savings

A net worth tool can help you analyze your liabilities and prioritize paying off bad debt by year-end.

Car loans and student loans have specific guidelines for repayment, with age and interest rates playing a crucial role.

Maximizing tax-free savings opportunities, such as Roth accounts and HSAs, is essential for financial growth and should be reviewed during year-end planning.

Year-End Financial Planning for Health Insurance and Retirement Accounts

Taking an active role in health insurance is crucial, especially with potential family changes and age-related medical requirements.

Maximizing tax-free accounts like HSAs and Roth IRAs is essential for future financial growth, with specific contribution limits to consider.

Employer-sponsored retirement accounts, such as 401ks, play a significant role in wealth building, and it's important to maximize contributions before the year-end deadline.

Maximizing Retirement Savings: The Importance of the 25% Goal

Maxing out contributions to retirement accounts like 401ks and IRAs can help keep you in a lower tax bracket and provide additional savings opportunities.

If you haven't hit the 25% savings mark after maxing out, consider hyper-accumulation through regular after-tax accounts.

The 25% goal includes contributions from various sources, and the Money Guys Show offers resources to help determine the impact of this savings rate on your future.

The Benefits of Opening a Brokerage Account

A brokerage account offers no contribution limits, making it ideal for individuals looking to catch up on savings.

While it doesn't provide tax deductions or tax-free growth, long-term capital gains from investments in the account are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income.

Additionally, there are no early withdrawal penalties, providing flexibility for those needing access to funds before retirement age.

The abundance phase of life is a time to celebrate and focus on financial stability, including taking care of future expenses for children.

Teaching kids about building their own wealth, through methods like a 529 plan or custodial Roth IRA, is crucial.

This phase also offers the opportunity to consider real estate investments and lifestyle upgrades, as well as making important decisions about debt management and financial goals.

The financial order of operations emphasizes making wealth before focusing on maintaining it, with a recommended age of 45+ for risk-taking.

The potential growth of each dollar decreases significantly with age, highlighting the importance of timing in wealth building.

Generosity is encouraged as a key practice, with suggestions for year-end giving and using unique strategies for tax advantages.