6 year-end financial tasks

There's never a bad time to check financial tasks off your to-do list. That said, there are a few tasks you must complete by the end of the calendar year to take advantage of their full benefits. And the earlier you start, the better.

“Some things have to be done in the calendar year versus the tax year,” says Isaac Taylor, a Thrivent financial consultant in Arcadia, California. “Plus, the end of the year is a good time to refocus back on finances. Rather than being reactive, you can be proactive.”

“Life can get in the way,” says Nick Lawson, a Thrivent financial advisor in St. Louis, Missouri. “We have Thanksgiving in November, we have Christmas in December and New Year’s, and then all of a sudden, it’s Tax Day. If you start early, especially in September or October, you can get a head start, and you’ll feel a lot better about your financial position.”

Optimizing your finances now also means you’ll be in a better place to give generously next year and beyond, whether it’s to your family or to the organizations and causes you care about.

Here are six financial tasks you should aim to complete before Dec. 31 each year.

Employer-sponsored retirement accounts like 401(k)s offer compelling tax benefits, so you should take full advantage of this option if you can.

In 2025, the annual contribution limit to employer-sponsored retirement plans is $23,500—and if you’re 50 or over, you can make an additional catch-up contribution of up to $7,500. Plus, thanks to the SECURE 2.0 Act, you’ll be able to make another $3,750 in contributions if you’re 60, 61, 62 or 63 years old on December 31, 2025.

However much you’re contributing, these funds must be deducted from your paycheck by Dec. 31 of each year.

Even if you can’t contribute your full 401(k) limit for the year, try to meet your employer’s 401(k) match limit, if they offer one. “In general, a 401(k) match is one of the only ‘free lunches’ in all of investing,” says Taylor. “If you put $1 in your savings account, that’s only $1, but if you can put $1 toward a 401(k) and your employer matches it dollar for dollar, you just made 100% on your money with that match.”

Contributions to Roth IRAs are made after tax, and withdrawals are tax- and penalty-free after you turn 59½, provided you’ve had the account for five years or longer. This makes Roth accounts an important part of a tax-diversified investment portfolio.

“As long as you have a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) of less than $150,000 as a single filer or $236,000 as a married filer, you can put money into a position that grows tax free for as long as you live,” Lawson says.

If you have funds in a traditional IRA, one option that might make sense from a tax planning perspective is a Roth IRA conversion. This is when you convert some or all of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. You’ll owe taxes on the amount you convert, but it means you won’t pay tax when you make a qualified withdrawal from your Roth account in retirement.

“It’s worth talking to your financial advisor about what makes the most sense,” says Ron Lutes, Senior Advice Services consultant at Thrivent. “Our proprietary What-if Tax tool can help someone assess if they should look at a Roth conversion.” He notes that conversions must be done by Dec. 31 and can’t be backdated.

There are charitable tools that make it possible to both support the causes you care about and get something in return, so you can keep giving for years to come.

You can itemize your deductions and include your charitable contributions—but if you won’t surpass the current standard annual deduction of $15,750 for an individual or $31,500 for a married couple, you might want to look for other ways to support the causes you care about.

One option is a charitable donor-advised fund (DAF). With a DAF, you make a charitable contribution to create your fund, potentially enjoying tax benefits. Your money is invested with long-term growth in mind, and you make grants to your favorite charities from the fund.

“A donor-advised fund can sound intimidating,” Taylor says, “but you don’t have to have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to use one.” He points out that Thrivent Charitable’s DAF has no minimum investment.

Another option is a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). If you’re 70½ or older, you can make a tax-free donation from your IRA of up to $108,000 in 2025 to a qualified charity. Once your required minimum distributions (RMD) kick in at age 73 (or age 75 if you were born in 1960 or later), QCDs can satisfy some or all of them, and your favorite causes benefit, too.

“I think a QCD is one of the best distributions of IRAs that’s possible,” Lutes says. “It satisfies your RMDs if you have them, but it does not create any additional income on your tax return, and all the money goes to your favorite charity.”

Contributions to both DAFs and QCDs must be made by Dec. 31 to qualify for the current tax year.

Gifting to family doesn’t just feel good. It can be tax smart, too. For example, if you’re likely to be in a higher tax bracket, you may want to gift assets to your family members, so they incur the reportable income instead of you. This could take advantage of the annual gift tax exclusion. In 2025, single people can gift up to $19,000 tax free, and married couples can gift up to $38,000 per recipient.

“Grandparents specifically tend to use this to help their grandchildren or their children out,” Lawson says. This may transfer the taxation to the family members. However, you may want to make sure that the transfers are made before the dividends or capital gains are declared. Work with your financial advisor and accountant to maximize your tax efficiencies.

Something to keep in mind is the lifetime basic exclusion amount (BEA), which applies to estate and gift taxes. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) more than doubled this amount, from $5.49 million in 2017 to $13.99 million in 2025. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law in July, increased this amount to $15 million for 2026 and beyond.

There’s no real deadline for rebalancing your portfolio, but it can make sense to group it with more time-sensitive financial tasks. Toward the end of the year, you and your financial advisor will understand the impact of market changes on your portfolio over the past year, as well as any life events that mean you should consider adjusting your investment mix.

“It’s kind of like tidying your financial house for the new year,” Lawson says.

Having a clear picture of your finances at the end of one year can help you plan for the next one.

For example, you could set financial goals if you haven’t already done so, review your existing goals to make sure you’re on track, or adjust anything that doesn’t feel realistic for your current circumstances.

“If you’ve written down goals, you want to make sure that you’re working on those and not letting it become January 1st and then say, ‘Oh, I should have done this. I should have done that,’” Taylor says.

The end of the year is also a good time to get organized for Tax Day. You won’t receive some forms until the new year, but compiling receipts, property tax statements and other documents now means there will be one less thing on your to-do list in the spring.

Molly Bennett is senior content director for Thrivent Magazine.

While you’re looking at your other financial tasks, don’t forget security. “Identity theft is on the rise,” says Thrivent’s Nick Lawson, a financial advisor in St. Louis, Missouri. “There are a lot of criminals out there, and there’s AI technology now that criminals can leverage.”

Secure tools like Apple Passwords and Google Passwords can create and store strong passwords for you. And if it’s available, turn on two-factor authentication for your email and other accounts. This requires you to sign in using not just a password but also a code sent to your email or phone, making it harder for criminals to gain access to your accounts.

“Think of it as changing the lock on your front door of your financial house,” Lawson says. “That's something that you want to do, because there are bad people outside who want what you have.” See page 31 for tips on avoiding financial scams.

Christmas spending can easily get out of control. Set a budget and stick to it with these tips.

• List all your likely Christmas expenses. These might include decor, food, travel and gifts. 
• Set a dollar amount. If you start shopping in October, you could estimate your available income, minus expenses, for October through December to get a ballpark figure of what you can spend on gifts. 
• Divide your Christmas budget among your likely expenses. Make a list and assign dollar amounts to each person or item. 
• Track your expenses. Keep a list with you, and every time you spend money on a Christmas item, make a note of it. 
• Plan for next year. Christmas spending feels less overwhelming if you set aside some money each month throughout the year. You could even make a list of potential gifts for your loved ones and grab them when they’re on sale.