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Another year ends in just 16 days. The older I get (I’m now 82), the faster time seems to fly! Given the huge changes made in the tax code for this year and the always good advice to plan wisely for a new year, I thought it might be helpful to list 10 possible ideas for year-end consideration.
.... Some interesting ideas. Linksters will implement couple of ideas from this list although has not quite rwch 82 yo yet
Suggestion #3 “If you have given significant amounts this year to charity but still don’t have a total that exceeds the standard deduction, you might want to make next year’s contributions this year. Or, you can set up a charitable gift account at local offices of Fidelity or Schwab.”
But be careful to avoid the scam charities:
(New York AG) Underwood said that the Donald J. Trump Foundation is dissolving as her office pursues its lawsuit against the charity, Trump and his three eldest children Underwood said Tuesday that her investigation found “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation ...”
The shuttering comes after The Washington Post documented apparent lapses at the foundation. Trump used the charity’s money to pay legal settlements for his private business, to purchase art for one of his clubs and to make a prohibited political donation.
It may be a little late for this, given that many funds have already made distributions, but if you have taxable funds projecting large distributions, you may be better off selling right before the ex-date (so that you don't get the divs).
For example, you may have purchased shares at $10 that are now worth $12. If the fund is projecting distributions greater than $2, it's worth selling the shares (with a $2 cap gain), instead of taking the divs.
If you like the fund, then you can buy it back almost immediately. If you would have had a loss (quite likely with the current state of the market), it's a wash, but you've avoided getting taxed on the divs. If you have a gain, but it's less than the divs you would have gotten, you're still better off - you've reset your cost basis at a higher value and still paid less in taxes than you would have otherwise.
Of course if you've got gains that are large relative to the distributions and you like the fund, just hang in there.
Meanwhile, if there's a fund you've been meaning to dump, now may be a good time, while prices are low. The taxes you'll get hit with will be lower (because your gain is less), and by swapping in a replacement fund you won't be selling off at a low point.
Comments
But be careful to avoid the scam charities:
(New York AG) Underwood said that the Donald J. Trump Foundation is dissolving as her office pursues its lawsuit against the charity, Trump and his three eldest children Underwood said Tuesday that her investigation found “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation ...”
The shuttering comes after The Washington Post documented apparent lapses at the foundation. Trump used the charity’s money to pay legal settlements for his private business, to purchase art for one of his clubs and to make a prohibited political donation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-agrees-to-shut-down-his-charity-amid-allegations-he-used-it-for-personal-and-political-benefit/2018/12/18/dd3f5030-021b-11e9-9122-82e98f91ee6f_story.html
For example, you may have purchased shares at $10 that are now worth $12. If the fund is projecting distributions greater than $2, it's worth selling the shares (with a $2 cap gain), instead of taking the divs.
If you like the fund, then you can buy it back almost immediately. If you would have had a loss (quite likely with the current state of the market), it's a wash, but you've avoided getting taxed on the divs. If you have a gain, but it's less than the divs you would have gotten, you're still better off - you've reset your cost basis at a higher value and still paid less in taxes than you would have otherwise.
Of course if you've got gains that are large relative to the distributions and you like the fund, just hang in there.
Meanwhile, if there's a fund you've been meaning to dump, now may be a good time, while prices are low. The taxes you'll get hit with will be lower (because your gain is less), and by swapping in a replacement fund you won't be selling off at a low point.