Annual Activities
January
January is an important month financially, here are a few things you will be doing:
- Enter all the important dates into your calendar.
- Create or update your Personal Financial Plan for the year.
- Check your Equifax Credit Report through AnnualCreditReport.com, see How to Get Free Credit Report.
- Check your Credit Score, see How to Get Free Credit Score.
- Create or update your Budget for Q1.
01: First day to fund your IRA for the current tax year. If you’re on an automatic investment plan, be sure to adjust your contribution amount to max out your IRA if possible.
15: Pay your Q4 Quarterly Estimated Taxes for income earned between September 1st through December 31st of previous year
February
February is the month to organize your tax documents for filing in March and April
March
15: Corporate Income Taxes filing deadline
April
- Review your Asset Allocation and Rebalance your portfolio
- Review and adjust your Personal Financial Plan.
- Check your Credit Score, see How to Get Free Credit Score.
- Review and adjust your Budget for Q2.
15:
- Last day to fund your Traditional and/or Roth IRAs and Health Savings Account (HSA) for the previous tax year, e.g., April 15, 2019 is the last to fund your 2018 IRA and HSA.
- Personal Income Taxes filing deadline. If the tax day falls on the weekend, it is bumped to the next business day.
- Pay your Q1 Quarterly Estimated Taxes for income earned between January 1st through March 31st
16: Adjust your tax withholding amounts
May
01: Check your Experian Credit Report through AnnualCreditReport.com, see How to Get Free Credit Report.
June
15: Pay your Q2 Quarterly Estimated Taxes for income earned between April 1st through May 31st
July
- Review your Asset Allocation and Rebalance your portfolio
- Review and adjust your Personal Financial Plan.
- Check your Credit Score, see How to Get Free Credit Score.
- Review and adjust your Budget for Q3.
August
Since this is a light month financially, it is the perfect time to review your beneficiary designations for your bank accounts, 401(k) plans, IRAs and insurance policies.
September
01: Check your TransUnion Credit Report through AnnualCreditReport.com, see How to Get Free Credit Report.
15: Pay your Q3 Quarterly Estimated Taxes for income earned between June 1st through August 31st
October
- Review your Asset Allocation and Rebalance your portfolio
- Review and adjust your Personal Financial Plan.
- Check your Credit Score, see How to Get Free Credit Score.
- Review and adjust your Budget for Q4.
15: If you filed for a tax extension, this is your new filing deadline
November
November is usually the month for your Open Enrollment Period. The exact dates varies by employer. Here are a few additional things to do:
- Adjust your 401(k) contribution amount to max out your 401(k) if possible.
- Reevaluate your FSA and HSA contribution amounts for the next year.
- Plan on how you’ll be using up your current year FSA.
- Review and shop for new home and auto insurance rates if needed.
- Plan for capital gains distributions. Many funds distribute capital gains in December. This is a good time to check the distribution estimates and dates. You might want to sell your losing funds before distribution date to maximize tax-loss harvesting, and avoid buying a fund just before it makes a distribution.
December
December is another important month with a lot of things to do:
- Review your Asset Allocation for the following year and Rebalance your portfolio with tax-loss harvesting in mind. Create or update your Investment Policy Statement
- Max out your 401(k) plan
31 or last business day of the year: Last day to take the Required Minimum Distribution for your IRAs and 401(k) plans.
31: Last day for charitable donation