Good morning. Open Enrollment just closed, and if you’re anything like me, you let out a sigh of relief. Now onto the next deadline — and this one involves your money.
In this issue:
- Your year-end financial checklist (don’t wait)
- Worth Knowing: selling your home, holiday decorating, winter fall prevention
- From the Archives: a grandmother’s legacy
- Slice of Life: a December tradition
December 31 isn’t just New Year’s Eve. For your finances, it’s a hard deadline — and missing it can cost you thousands.
Here’s what to check off before the ball drops:
1. RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions). If you’re 73 or older, your annual withdrawal from IRAs and 401(k)s is due December 31. Miss it and the IRS penalty is 25% of what you should’ve withdrawn. That’s not a typo. If your RMD is $10,000 and you forget, you owe $2,500 in penalties alone. Contact your financial institution now — they need processing time to get the distribution out before year-end.
2. Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs). If you’re 70½ or older, you can donate directly from your IRA to a qualified charity — up to $105,000 in 2025. It counts toward your RMD AND you don’t pay income tax on the amount. The catch: Your IRA custodian has to send the check directly to the charity. You can’t withdraw, deposit, then donate. Call them this week and tell them exactly where to send it.
3. Tax-loss harvesting. Got investments that lost money this year? Selling them before December 31 lets you offset capital gains on your 2025 tax return. Your brokerage can walk you through it in 15 minutes.
4. Max out HSA or IRA contributions. If you’re still eligible, topping off these accounts before year-end reduces your taxable income.
5. Check your beneficiary designations. Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by beneficiary designation, not by your will. If you’ve had a marriage, divorce, or death in the family and haven’t updated these, the wrong person could inherit your money. It takes five minutes to check.
The takeaway: Call your financial advisor or IRA custodian this week, not next week. Every one of these items takes processing time, and financial institutions slow down over the holidays.
Call your financial advisor or IRA custodian this week →
🏠 Thinking about selling your home?
The tax rules for selling a home in retirement are different than when you were working. The $250,000 capital gains exclusion ($500,000 for married couples) helps — but there are traps around residency requirements and timing that catch people off guard. Benjamin Wells walks through property transfers, tax strategies, and how to protect your family from probate headaches.
→ Read Benjamin’s estate planning guide
🎄 Holiday decorating on a budget.
You don’t need to spend $200 at the store. Most of the best holiday decorating is stuff you already have — seasonal throw pillows, a few candles, rearranged photo displays. Victoria Sinclair’s guide covers budget-friendly ways to make your home feel festive without dipping into savings. One idea I liked: switch out your everyday lampshade with a seasonal one for under $10.
→ Read Victoria’s decorating guide
⚠️ Winter slip-and-fall prevention.
Ice-related falls send 17,000+ seniors to the ER every winter. Keep rock salt or sand by your front door. Wear shoes with rubber soles outside — not slippers, not dress shoes. If your driveway is icy, ask a neighbor or hire someone. A $20 driveway salting is cheaper than a $40,000 hip replacement. And keep your phone in your pocket every time you step outside, in case you fall and need help.
Southern Roots and Starry Skies: My Grandmother’s Legacy — by Victoria Sinclair
This is the most personal article on our site. It’s not about legal legacy or estate plans — it’s about the kind of legacy that lives in the stories we tell. Victoria writes about her grandmother: baking together on humid Southern afternoons, dancing in the rain, rebuilding a garden after a hailstorm.
There’s a line in it — “Life will bring storms, but we must choose to sow again” — that I’ve thought about more than once since I first read it. During the holidays, when family is close and memories are closer, this is the kind of piece that hits differently. I’ve sent it to two people in my family.
My neighbor puts up the same three strands of lights every December. They’re older than her grandkids. Half the bulbs are out. She doesn’t care. She told me once that her husband put them up the year they moved in, and every December she plugs them in and stands in the driveway for a minute. “I’m not decorating,” she said. “I’m remembering.” Some traditions aren’t about how things look. They’re about who put them there.
Until next Tuesday,
Nino
P.S. If this helped you check something off your list, forward it to someone who could use the reminder. I read every reply.
