Tag: taxes

Wrapping Up The Year

It’s that time of year again. Holidays are approaching and the end of the year is winding down. Before you get in full on holiday mode, make sure you wrap up any loose ends before the end of the year so that you can spend your time relaxing and being present with your loved ones. Here’s a quick list of items that may be helpful.

If there is anything that you need to do for taxes for this year, now is the time to do it. There are only a few retirement contributions that you can make after December 31st that will still be counted for this tax year. Everything else needs to be done during the tax year for it to count.
Have some extra money and you didn’t maximize your 401k this year? You have until December 31st to make any additional contributions for the year.
Employee Benefits—have you confirmed your employee benefits for next year? Don’t forget that you need to re-elect any FSA and HSA contributions, they do not automatically carry forward.
Gifting—the annual exclusion amount for gifts is $16,000. This means that you can gift anyone up to $16,000 without having to pay any gift tax.
- Charitable gifts are included on Schedule A-Itemized Deductions. Remember that in order to take your itemized deductions, they need to be more than your standard deduction. Check here to see what your standard deduction is.
- Because standard deductions are relatively high, some options for taking your tax benefit for your generosity could be to lump several years’ worth of gifts into one tax year by utilizing donor advised funds.
- If you are age 70.5, you are eligible to make gifts directly from your IRA to a qualified charity and never take that money into income at all. This is called a qualified charitable distribution.
- See this blog post for more charitable giving ideas.
Insurance Plan Deductibles—if you have met your insurance deductible for the year, try to squeeze in any last appointments that you can before your deductible resets on January 1.
Tax Loss Harvesting—do you have large capital gains that you may want to offset? Review your holdings to see if any changes should be made in your taxable accounts.
Address Changes—don’t forget to update your address, if necessary, with all of the people that may send you something in the mail—particularly any tax forms.
RMD’s-Required Minimum Distributions-you must take your RMD’s by December 31st to avoid penalties. Wondering who is required to take RMD’s? See this article.

Financial Journey LLC is a registered investment advisor offering advisory services in the states of Florida, Alabama, Virginia and in other jurisdictions where exempted. Information provided is for educational purposes only and not, in any way, to be considered investment or tax advice.

How Much Money it Takes to Purchase a Home

Buying a home is the American Dream and it is also the largest purchase we will make during our lives. Buying a home isn’t quite as simple as having a down payment and getting a loan. There are several pieces to the puzzle, especially when you are obtaining a mortgage. The goal in this post is to touch on the most common costs so that you are well prepared and know about how much it’s going to cost to get into a home.

The first thing I want to mention is that buyers do not pay their real estate agents a commission. The seller of the home is the one who pays the selling commission that is split between the buying and the selling agents for a transaction. That being said, there are a lot of different fees for buyers that come together for your closing costs.

Let’s take a closer look. I like to break the costs up into 4 categories based on when you actually have to have the money:

Down Payment
- Earnest Money Deposit–this is the money you put down when you are making an offer. Typically 1% or so of the offering price, but if you are in a competitive market, you may put more money down to show the seller that you are serious. When writing the contract, you can put certain contingencies in the contract such as home inspection and financing contingencies–basically you can get out of the contract and get your earnest money deposit back within these contingency deadlines. Otherwise, if you don’t follow through with the contract, then the seller gets to keep your earnest money deposit.
- Down Payment–this is the down payment on the entire purchase. This isn’t due until closing time and your earnest money deposit counts towards this. It is worth mentioning, that if you put 20%, you shouldn’t have to pay any mortgage insurance premiums. You can put less than 20% down, but you will usually have mortgage insurance costs on a monthly basis. Talk with your lender because there are so many different lending options available.
Up Front Costs–you pay these after you have a contract, but before closing. These costs are the ones that you cannot get back if you do not make it to closing.
- Appraisal–if you are getting financing, you will be required to have an appraisal because the lender is not going to lend you money on a house that costs more than what it is worth. If the appraisal comes back for less than the contract price, then you will have to make some adjustments in either price or more money down to meet the lender’s requirements. If you have a contingency built in, then this is where you can walk away as well.
- Home Inspections–even if the lender isn’t requiring a home inspection, most people want a thorough inspection to know what they are actually buying. Some insurance companies require certain reports from the home inspection in order to obtain insurance as well.
- Surveys of the land–this depends on the type of property
Closing Costs–these are the most shocking costs that buyers face. There are so many different things that need to happen in order to transfer ownership. These differ from state to state and typically range from 3-4% of the sales price of the home. Some of these costs may include the following:
- The remainder of your down payment
- Title search fees
- Initial escrow amounts like a year’s worth of homeowners insurance and/or half a year’s worth of property taxes
- Transfer taxes–city, county, state, any special assessments
- Lender costs–all fees associated with getting the loan which includes the commission for the lending agent, credit checks, document processing fees, etc.
- Settlement agent representation fees–these are the people preparing the settlement documents between the buyer and the seller.
Monthly Costs–this is what your monthly payment will consist of which is PITI (Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance)
- Loan–PI–this is the monthly payment for the term of your loan. If you have a fixed rate and term, such as a 30 year fixed loan, then your P&I stays the same for the life of the loan. You don’t have to worry about inflation, because this is fixed.
- Escrow–TI–this is your annual taxes and insurance. These items do change on an annual basis and your mortgage company typically ‘escrows’ this and pays it on your behalf. This way you are paying a little every month, then when your annual insurance or semi-annual property taxes are due, then money is in the escrow account and the lender pays this directly. Each year, you will get a notice of how much the taxes and insurance are estimated to increase and the TI portion of your monthly payment goes up a little.
- Association Fees–these are HOA (Homeowners Associations) or Condo Fees. Your lender does not escrow these payments, you will pay these directly to the association
- Maintenance & Repairs–you’re a homeowner now, so this means you will have to maintain the property yourself and fix anything that breaks

Hopefully this information gives you a better idea of what home ownership costs. There’s a lot of other information that comes into play with these costs and planning to prepare for these.

If you need help navigating one of the biggest purchases in your life, please schedule a call and see how we can help.

Financial Journey LLC is a registered investment advisor offering advisory services in the state of Alabama, Virginia and in other jurisdictions where exempted. Information provided is for educational purposes only and not, in any way, to be considered investment or tax advice.

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Tax Planning

It’s hard to believe that we’re already winding down the first quarter of 2022, it’s important to start thinking about your tax planning. While there are many things that can be done to reduce your taxable income, there are a few key steps that should be at the top of your list. Did you know we offer annual tax planning?

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How is my ESPP Taxed?

Some employees that work for large companies have an employee benefit where they can purchase company stock at a discount. This is known as an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP).

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Deductions vs. Credits on Your Tax Return

Now that tax season is in full swing and we are all preparing out tax return, you are probably seeing the words deductions and credits. What are they and how do they work?

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Pre-retirement vs. Retirement Income Taxation

When thinking about taxes in retirement—surprise you still must pay taxes in retirement—most people look at their pay stubs and see how much they are paying in taxes. However, there are some taxes on your paystubs and W-2 that you do not have to pay.

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Tax Time!

We are now in January of 2022, which means you have to start thinking about completing your taxes for 2021. Your W-2’s and 1099’s are required to be sent to you by the 31st of January, but other forms have more time to be issued and may have multiple versions due to corrections.

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Give Smarter and Make a Greater Impact with Philanthropy

What inspires you to give? Most of us give for the same basic reasons. We want to help others, make a positive difference in the world—and giving feels good. It makes us happy and connects us to the causes we care about. Studies show that most charitable folks give according to their values or to support causes they care about. But they don’t always have a strategy around giving or a way to monitor for impact.

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Capital Gains Distributions

As we are approaching the end of the tax year, you may start seeing some capital gains distributed by some of the investments you hold-mainly mutual funds.

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Charitable Giving

If you are charitably inclined, what is the most tax efficient way to give to those charities?

Let us start with standard deduction versus itemized deductions. Your itemized deductions must exceed your standard deduction for any tax benefit. There is a caveat for 2021, cash donations up to $300 for single filers and $600 for Married Filing Joint are allowed as above the line deductions.

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