Taxes are only one aspect of your financial life – What about the rest?

Cash/debt management

Investments
Are your investments working hard for you?  Have you coordinated and reviewed your portfolios from an overall perspective?  Are they properly allocated to meet their objectives, i.e. short-term savings goals or longer-term, such as retirement?  Are you taking undue risk by over-concentrating in any one class, sector, category, style, stock, etc.?  What rate of return should you target in order to meet your objectives?  Can you afford to invest more conservatively or do you need to invest more aggressively to reach your nest egg goals?  Are your portfolios tax-efficient?  Are they kicking off taxable interest or dividends that you don’t need right now or mutual fund capital gain distributions? 

College Education Funding
How much should you save for your children’s college education without putting at risk your own retirement security?  Where should you put it without jeopardizing financial aid possibilities?  Should you invest in a 529 college savings plan?  Which state’s plan?  Who should own it?  How should it be invested?  Are you taking advantage of free college savings dollars at upromise.com?

Retirement
Are you on track to have the life in retirement you envision after factoring in health insurance costs, taxes, inflation and possibly a longer life expectancy?  Should you cut back on retirement savings temporarily to meet more immediate priorities or do you need to save more?  Where should you save it to – your employer’s 401(k) plan, a Roth IRA, or if you own your own business, what type of retirement plan makes the most sense?  If you own a business, what do you need from your business at retirement in order to meet your retirement objectives?

Employee Benefits
Have you refreshed yourself on the employee benefits that are available to you and how they fit in with the rest of your financial picture?  Do you fully understand them as a resource?  Have you reviewed beneficiary designations on group life coverage?  If you have stock options, do you have a game plan on how to manage them from an income tax, investment, cash flow, and estate tax perspective?

Estate Planning
Have you reviewed who your beneficiaries are on retirement plans, IRAs, life insurance and annuities?  Do you have a will, power of attorney, healthcare proxy and living will?  Are they up to date and do they factor in the difference between federal and state estate taxes, especially in light of the new estate tax law?  Do they fit your financial situation?  If you have trusts, how should the trust assets be invested from a cash flow, estate/gift tax, Medicaid eligibility (if applicable) and income tax perspective?  Are your assets properly titled?  Are you sure that they pass to your heirs as you intend?  Are guardians named for minor children?  Do you have sufficient liquidity in your estate to cover final expenses (medical, burial, etc.), probate fees, and estate taxes?  Should you do any gifting, whether to family or to charity?  If so, how much can you give without jeopardizing your lifestyle and financial security?  What assets should you gift and how?  Does a Roth IRA conversion make sense for IRA money you may not need?  If you own a business, have you properly planned for what would happen to your business if something happens to you?  Would your family be taken care of?  Can you afford to give your business to family members or must you sell it in order to meet your personal needs?

Risk management
Have you reviewed the adequacy, quality and suitability of your life insurance coverage?  How about long-term disability or long-term care insurance?  Would you or your family be in trouble if something were to happen?  Is your homeowner’s insurance based on replacement cost?  Do you have the maximum automobile insurance coverage?  Do you have maximum uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage?  Do you need umbrella liability coverage?

These are some of the questions you should regularly ask yourself, at least annually, to make sure you are “on track” and “protected.”