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The end of the year comes with no shortage of festive activities. While tax planning isn’t exactly one of them, when you take the time to develop your tax planning strategies now, you might find that you save more than anticipated on your next tax bill. These are a few key moves to consider:

Identify Roth Conversion Opportunities

Unlike 401(k)s and other tax-deferred retirement accounts, Roth accounts are funded with post-tax dollars. This means that in retirement, they can offer you tax-free income.

If you’re in a lower tax bracket now than you expect to be in the future, this might be a good time to convert pre-tax retirement savings into a Roth IRA. Many of our clients do this during the “sweet spot” of retirement. This is the time after they’ve retired but before they must start taking required minimum distributions (RMDs).

Choose Your Tax-Loss Harvesting Strategy

Tax-loss harvesting involves selling underperforming investments at a loss to offset capital gains taxes. All tax-loss harvesting trades must be completed by December 31, so this is one tax move you’ll want to prioritize before the end of the year.

Not sure which investments to sell? Our team can meet with you and help you create an optimal strategy.

Maximize Deductions With Charitable Giving

For many of our clients, their long-term financial planning strategy includes charitable giving. Donating some of your wealth gives you an opportunity to support causes you care about, and it also can help you maximize your tax deductions. These are three tax planning strategies that can result in major savings:

“Bunching” Donations

With this tax planning strategy, you combine multiple years’ worth of charitable gifts into one. Bunching donations can be a smart move if you’re close to the standard deduction and want to save more by itemizing. For 2025, the standard deduction is $15,750 for individuals and $31,500 for married couples.

Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs)

Not sure how you want to distribute your charitable donations? A donor-advised fund might be right for you. With this tax planning strategy, you get an immediate tax deduction when you open the fund and deposit assets. Over time, you can direct money to qualifying charities of your choice.

Donating Appreciated Securities Instead of Cash

This tax planning strategy offers a double benefit:

• You can deduct the full appreciated value at the time of donation.
• You won’t owe capital gains tax on the appreciated amount.

Donating appreciated securities makes your charitable dollar stretch further. If you donate an appreciated stock directly to charity, the charity gets more than it would if you sold the stock, paid capital gains tax, and donated the cash.

Plan Your Required Minimum Distributions

If you’re turning 73 and have a tax-deferred retirement account, required RMDs start next year. We can help you calculate how much you’re required to withdraw and when you need to start.

Creating a plan for your RMDs is particularly important. If you don’t withdraw the amount you’re required to, you could owe a 25% penalty tax on the total amount you failed to withdraw.

Need Help Building Strong Tax Planning Strategies?

It takes focus, dedication, and smart strategy to build considerable wealth. And it takes careful tax planning to preserve it. At McGregor Wealth Management, we’ve helped our clients grow their assets and create bright futures for more than 25 years. We aim to help you identify and implement tax-efficient strategies throughout the year.

We understand that no two clients are alike, and no two tax planning strategies should be, either. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. If you’d like to get in touch, call 303.681.0113, email mark@mgswealth.com, or schedule a meeting online.

About Mark

You probably have people helping with your investments, legal matters, and taxes…but who makes sure you are getting all the benefits you’re owed? I do. My name is Mark McGregor. I scour federal, state, local, and corporate databases to find benefits you are owed but NOT receiving. That’s what I do. Yes, we do all the other things as well, such as providing investment management, tax planning, long-term care planning and other services. Those are the big things, but I also help to make sure the little unknown things are taken care of for you. It’s also making sure that the little things don’t become big problems for you down the road.

I got into this business to fill a void I noticed after the passing of one of my friends’ parents who was experiencing hardship due to poor planning. I saw the issues they had to deal with firsthand, and this left me feeling that there were lots of financial salespeople, but not many true advisors making sure people were getting all the available benefits they had worked so hard for. I use the skills I gained from my bachelor’s degree from California Polytechnic State University and 24 years of industry experience to get all the benefits my clients are owed. I live in Castle Rock, and we are actively involved in sports and charitable organizations, such as Unbound, which provides personal attention and direct benefits to children, youth, the aging, and their families so they may live with dignity and achieve their desired potential and participate fully in society.

Disclaimer: Information provided is not intended as tax or legal advice and should not be relied on as such. You are encouraged to seek tax or legal advice from an independent professional.Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Wealth Advisors, LLC (BWA), a registered investment advisor and an affiliate of Brookstone Capital Management, LLC. BWA and McGregor Wealth Management are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BWA but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.

Mark McGregor and/or McGregor Wealth Management are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency.