Everybody knows that year-end planning can yield meaningful tax savings and better investment outcomes. And yet, it’s one of the most commonly skipped items on the calendar. Over the holidays, year-end planning can feel emotionally overwhelming, tedious, or simply like another chore that’s competing for your time during an already busy season.

With the right guidance, it doesn’t have to feel that way. We’re here so that you can close out the year feeling confident. Here, we’ve provided a quick checklist of critical items for individuals and families to consider at year-end.

Overview

Before you dive into spreadsheets and statements, it’s smart to zoom out and revisit the basics. Are you taking advantage of every opportunity available to you? Are there strategies you’ve overlooked?

A few good questions to ask yourself:

• Are you fully aware of your eligibility for tax deductions?
• Could you be a candidate for tax-loss harvesting?
• What’s your strategy around Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)?
• Would you like to convert any traditional IRAs into Roth IRAs?
• Do you feel organized and ready for next year’s tax season?
  
  

Making the Right Tax Moves

If you want to finish the year strong, you’ll want to make sure you’re maximizing available tax deductions. The recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) reshaped several key areas of the tax code, making it especially important for businesses and individuals to stay proactive.

Here are some strategies worth discussing with your advisor:

• Capital gains: If you expect higher taxes in the future, you can reduce your liability by selling assets and realizing gains while you’re still in a lower tax bracket.
• Bunching charitable donations: Grouping several years of charitable giving into one tax year can increase your deductions and maximize your impact.
• Bonus depreciation: Businesses can claim 100% bonus depreciation on qualifying capital expenditures such as equipment, software, and certain property improvements.

These strategies work best when explored with a fiduciary who understands your full financial picture.

Tax-Loss Harvesting

Market volatility does not automatically mean a setback. If you’ve had investments drop in value over the past year, a strategy called tax‑loss harvesting is an easy way to turn those losses into a tax advantage. With harvesting, your losses can offset other gains you’ve realized this year — or, if losses outweigh gains, you can even use up to $3,000 per year to reduce ordinary income (with any leftover loss carried forward for future years).

When done thoughtfully, tax-loss harvesting can be more than just a tax-saving trick — it becomes part of a larger, tax-aware investment plan. Over time, using losses to offset gains or income, and carrying forward unused losses, can help keep more of your money working for you. It’s especially powerful for investors who expect major capital gains in the future — such as from the sale of a business or highly appreciated assets — and want to plan ahead to reduce the eventual tax hit.

Required Minimum Distributions

Once you reach age 73 (or 70½ if you hit that milestone before 2020), the IRS generally requires you to begin taking RMDs from your traditional retirement accounts, such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans. The deadline for most people to take an RMD is December 31^st, which means that those withdrawals will be counted in your year-end taxable income.

An advisor will know the specific rules that apply to your situation, such as:

• How much you have to withdraw each year (based on a life expectancy factor, along with the account balance).
• If you have multiple IRAs, whether or not you’re allowed to combine the RMD amounts and withdraw the total from one account.
• The pros and cons of a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD).

Increasingly, people are taking advantage of QCDs in their year-end planning. QCDs allow you to transfer your RMD directly to a qualified charity — and if done properly, that distribution will not count as taxable income. For retirees concerned about tax liability or who want to give back, this can be a smart, tax-aware way to handle these required withdrawals.

Roth Conversions

Many high earners assume they’re shut out of Roth IRAs because of income limits. In 2025, individuals earning more than $150,000 and couples earning more than $236,000 faced contribution restrictions. But those limits only apply to direct contributions.

That’s where Roth conversions come in.

By moving funds from a traditional IRA into a Roth, you pay taxes now and enjoy tax-free withdrawals later. For many high-income individuals, it’s a powerful way to unlock long-term tax benefits.

Year-End Cleanup

This one’s simple. December is the perfect time to clean up and organize your financial records: eliminate the clutter, preserve what’s necessary, and build a better system for next year — before things pile up again. Maybe it’s time to finally create a dedicated filing system (physical or digital). Maybe you review old records and toss all duplicates, or, if nothing else, evaluate your regular bookkeeping habits so next year’s end feels less chaotic.

The Next Step

The end of the year can feel overwhelming for many reasons, but your financial life doesn’t have to with an experienced financial advisor by your side. At Faubourg, we have a proven track record of helping our clients maximize their year-over-year income while also realizing their long-term goals. Right now is an ideal time to consider taking the next steps with your own financial strategy.

Reach out to us today to schedule a meeting!