A Seasonal Check-In

As the last green leaves turn to brilliant shades of red and orange, we’re reminded that summer days are well behind us. It’s time for Friday night football and pumpkin spice everything. The change of seasons can also be an ideal time to revisit your tax, insurance, estate and retirement plans, along with other important documents, to make sure they continue to reflect your long-term financial goals and priorities.

As you review these plans and documents, consider whether your personal circumstances, financial situation or priorities have changed since your plan was first established. Perhaps major life or world events, or the needs of younger generations have shifted your focus.

You can also use this review as an opportunity to start or continue important discussions with family members about your financial plan and long-term investment objectives. These conversations may help younger generations better understand your intentions and create space to discuss family values and charitable interests.

To help get started, here are several areas that may be worth revisiting:

1. Explore available tax credits and deductions

With the availability of an increased state and local tax deduction, a deduction for certain car loan interest through 2028, and other potential tax benefits, it may be worthwhile to review your tax strategy. Your tax advisor can help determine if itemizing deductions might offer greater benefit than the standard deduction.

2. Make the most of transfer tax opportunities

If reducing estate taxes is one of your goals, now may be the time to look at available transfer tax strategies. Taking advantage of federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax exclusions could help preserve or freeze the current taxable value of your estate so that future appreciation of those assets will go to your heirs estate tax-free.

3. Is tax-loss harvesting an option?

Unrealized losses in your portfolio may present an opportunity to reduce your income tax liability. Selling assets that are currently worth less than what you paid for them generates a capital loss which can be used to offset capital gains recognized during the year. Nota: if you plan to repurchase the asset as some point, you must wait at least 31 days to do so to avoid triggering wash-sale rules; otherwise, the tax loss will be disallowed. If your realized gains exceed your realized capital losses, you may want to consider adjusting your income tax withholding or quarterly income tax payments to take capital gains into consideration.

4. Consider year-end gifting

Annual gifts can be a simple and meaningful way to help support family members or other loved ones while also reducing the value of your estate. The gift tax exclusion amount is indexed to inflation and may change from year to year; thus, it is important to review your gifting plans each year.

5. Plan charitable giving

If charitable giving is part of your plan, consider if your strategy is achieving both your personal and tax-related goals. Strategies such as “bunching” your charitable gifts into a single year may increase the potential tax benefits of your giving.

6. Maximize retirement savings

If you can, consider contributing to your employer’s qualified plan. At a minimum, contributing enough to receive the full employer match can help maximize a valuable workplace benefit.

7. Review life insurance coverage

Life insurance needs can evolve as your family, career and financial circumstances change. Regularly reviewing your life insurance coverage can help confirm that it remains appropriate and that policies are performing as expected.

8. Review and update estate planning documents

Life events such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces, or changes in health may call for updates to your estate planning documents. It’s also important to confirm that the people named in key roles, such as executors or trustees, are still the best choices. Keeping your documents current allows for your wishes to be carried out as intended.

9. Check beneficiary designations and account titling

Beneficiary designations and account ownership details can significantly affect how assets are transferred and impact your estate plan. Reviewing accounts such as IRAs, bank accounts and insurance policies periodically may help simplify the transfer process for loved ones.

PNC Private Bank® has professionals who can work with your legal, tax and other advisors to help you achieve your personal and financial goals. Para acceder a cualquier recurso de PNC, comuníquese con cualquier miembro de su equipo de PNC.

El material presentado en este documento es de carácter general y no constituye la provisión, por parte de PNC, de asesoría de inversión, legal, fiscal o contable a ninguna persona, ni una recomendación para comprar o vender ningún valor o adoptar una estrategia de inversión. Las opiniones expresadas aquí están sujetas a cambio sin previo aviso. La información se obtuvo a partir de fuentes consideradas confiables. No se garantiza la precisión de dicha información. Debe asesorarse con un profesional de inversiones para que formule un plan financiero personalizado de acuerdo con sus necesidades particulares. Para obtener más información, por favor, póngase en contacto con PNC llamando al 1-888-762-6226.

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (“PNC”) utiliza los nombres comerciales PNC Private Bank^® y PNC Private Bank Hawthorn^® para proporcionar consultoría de inversiones y administración patrimonial, servicios fiduciarios, productos y servicios bancarios asegurados por la FDIC y préstamos de fondos a clientes individuales a través de PNC Bank, National Association (“PNC Bank”), que es un Miembro FDIC, así como proporcionar información fiduciaria específica y servicios de agencia a través de su subsidiaria, PNC Delaware Trust Company o PNC Ohio Trust Company. PNC no proporciona asesoría legal, fiscal ni contable, a menos que, con respecto a la asesoría fiscal, PNC Bank haya firmado un acuerdo de servicios fiscales por escrito. PNC Bank no está registrado como asesor municipal en virtud de la ley de reforma y protección del consumidor de Dodd-Frank Wall Street (“Ley”).

Inversiones: No asegurado por la FDIC. No están garantizados por el banco. Podrían perder valor.

“PNC Private Bank” y “PNC Private Bank Hawthorn” son marcas registradas de The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.