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It\u2019s your last chance to lower your tax bill \u2013 find out some last-minute moves to save on taxes before year-end. Plus, how are your assets titled? Joe Anderson, CFP\xae and Alan Clopine, CPA explain why making the wrong move could cost you big time in YMYW podcast episode 90. Original publish date December 17, 2016 (hour 1). Note that content may be outdated as rules and regulations have changed.

13:52 \u201cThe market magnet has begun to pull the long dormant mutual fund investors, so domestic stock funds have seen an estimate net flows of $35.8 billion in the past four weeks (Investment Company Institute).\u201d

14:40 \u201cHistory tells us that money tends to flow near market peaks\u2026it\u2019s interesting how that tends to happen.\u201d

15:12 \u201cNow is a really good time to take a look at your overall portfolio, and look at a rebalance strategy. There are a lot of people who set it and forget it, and then the other side of the spectrum is people who day-trade the heck out of their 401(k) plans.\u201d

20:44 \u201cI\u2019ve got five ways to lower your tax bill now, this is from Nerd Wallet and came out on December 14\u2026when it comes to tax planning, a majority of strategies need to be accomplished by December 31st for that tax year.\u201d

23:30 \u201cThere\u2019s a special account called a donor advised fund, where you can set up the account, put your own money into it, and that money will ultimately go to charity, not necessarily this year. Here\u2019s the key \u2013 the year that you put the money into the account is the year you get the tax deduction.\u201d

24:15 \u201cIt\u2019s a great way to take a deduction when your tax bill is higher.\u201d

27:26 \u201cOffset your capital gains with losses.\u201d

28:21 \u201cWhen you tax-loss harvest, here\u2019s how you do it properly: you sell the position that\u2019s down to create that loss, and then you buy something that\u2019s very similar so you\u2019re still in the market because the market because the market may come zooming right back.\u201d

29:37 \u201cIt\u2019s important to realize how things are titled when it comes to your assets, especially your retirement assets.\u201d

29:55 \u201cA lot of you have named your living trust as the beneficiary of that retirement account\u2026there are pros and cons to this. There\u2019s so much misinformation on what people should do. I would say the majority of you who are married should not name your trust the beneficiary of your retirement account unless a) it\u2019s a second marriage and you want to preserve those assets if you had kids from a previous marriage; b) second of all, if you\u2019re not married and have children and those children might not be able to handle the type of wealth that is inside your retirement account.\u201d

34:59 \u201cIf I just named my spouse as the beneficiary, she could keep it in my name and take a required distribution if she wanted to, or she could roll it into her own and avoid any type of income coming out of it and being taxed on it and let it grow tax-deferred until her retirement date.\u201d

36:54 \u201cA retirement account is completely different than say your brokerage account or checking or savings account. A retirement account has to have a required distribution from it\u2026so be careful with how you name your beneficiaries.\u201d

37:12 \u201cThe death of the stretch IRA could happen as early as next year.\u201d