Investing Checklist: Things to Do by Year-End

As we count the days left in 2024, some people might be ready to create fresh financial goals for 2025. But there are still plenty of opportunities left in 2024 to enhance your investment portfolio.

Before you hit restart, go through our checklist and see if any strategies could maximize your money before the year’s end.

Review your retirement plan

Before the year ends, investors should take a look at their 401(k) or Roth and traditional IRAs and see if there’s anything that needs adjusting, and that includes your contribution amount.

Max out your accounts

If you haven’t yet maxed out your retirement accounts, that’s also something to do before the end of the year.

The maximum contribution limit for IRA accounts is $7,000 in 2024 and 2025 ($8,000 if age 50 and older). For 401(k) accounts, the limit is $23,000 in 2024 and $23,500 in 2025. (In 2024 and 2025, people age 50 and older can contribute an extra $7,500 as a catch-up contribution. In 2025, due to the Secure 2.0 Act, those ages 60 to 63 get a higher catch-up contribution of $11,250.)

You have to fund your 401(k) account for the year by December 31. However, for IRA accounts, you usually have until the tax-filing deadline (typically April of the following year) to contribute for the previous year. That means you can work toward maxing out your IRA for 2024 until April 2025, then focus on maxing out the 2025 amount after that.

If you’ve already maxed out your accounts

If you qualify and your 401(k) plan allows after-tax contributions, you may be able to contribute even more in after-tax dollars to a mega backdoor Roth IRA or Roth 401(k). For those who earn too much to contribute to a Roth IRA, you could try a strategy known as a backdoor Roth. The process includes putting money into a traditional IRA, paying taxes on that money, and then rolling it into a Roth IRA.

Take care of any payroll deductions

Some investment contributions are made through payroll deduction, such as health savings accounts.

Delia Fernandez, a Certified Financial Planner and investment advisor based in Los Alamitos, California, recommends contributing to these before the end of the year. Fernandez suggests you find out your payroll deduction contribution deadlines before the cut-off date passes. She also suggests checking where you stand with your health savings accounts.

“If you realize you didn’t take advantage of all the health savings account contributions that you wanted to make, you want to go ahead and take advantage of that by contributing,” she says.

You can contribute up to $4,150 to your HSA for individual coverage and $8,300 for family coverage in 2024. You can leave any money you don’t spend on health-related expenses in the account for tax-free growth. When you turn 65, you can withdraw money from your HSA for use on medical or non-medical expenses with no tax penalties.

Consolidate investment accounts

If you have several accounts in different places, keeping track of your investments might be difficult. If you have extra time, you may want to consider consolidating those accounts now.

Consolidation can be simply moving the money in several traditional IRAs into one or doing a 401(k) rollover from an old employer retirement account.

» Best places to roll over your 401(k)

Check on your taxable investments

Just like you gave your retirement portfolio a once-over, do the same with any taxable accounts so that your investment portfolio stays aligned with your goals and your desired asset allocation.

If you notice any significant losses or gains, tax-loss harvesting — a strategy to offset investment gains with losses and save money on taxes — could be a good solution.

Fernandez recommends matching short-term losses with short-term gains and long-term losses with long-term gains.

If your capital losses exceed your capital gains, you may be able to claim some of those losses on your taxes.

Review your estate plan

Although your estate plan isn’t an investment, it determines what happens to your investments once you die. So here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself:

• Have you included all of your assets in your estate plan, especially ones you recently acquired?

• Do you have the most recent appraisals of any properties you own?

• Do your will and beneficiaries still align with your wishes?

• Are you setting up your estate in the most tax-efficient way?

Fund investing accounts for dependents

Remember to put any investment accounts you have for your dependents on your end-of-year list, too. If you have 529 plans, ABLE accounts, custodial IRAs or other custodial accounts, fund them.

You’ll benefit from compounding interest, plus you may also be eligible for tax deductions if you have a 529 plan. Some states offer state-level tax deductions on 529s. If your state offers tax deductions, consider funding the account so you can get that tax deduction this year.