Spring Cleaning

Hello again! As the end of the first quarter of 2024 is around the corner, spring has sprung and it marks not only the peak of allergy season for some of us, but also a perfect time to do some Financial Spring Cleaning.  

If you are new to White River: Welcome! We’re so happy that you have joined us. If you have been here for a while, you know we’re about to share a few reminders to keep the accounts we manage on your behalf up-to-date. 

First things first: Let’s schedule some time together! Pencil in a meeting so we can take a look at a summary of your accounts and make any adjustments necessary. Think not only about balances, but also primary and contingent beneficiaries if you have insurance policies, retirement accounts or transfer on death instructions, as well as ACH or money-links we have on file for you.  

Please take a look at your accounts and verify that the beneficiaries listed are still in line with your intentions. If anything has changed in your life during the last year that should be reflected in how your accounts are set up, this is a perfect time to make any updates (marriage, divorce, births, passing of a close family member).  

And as we are mentioning the topic of beneficiaries, if you have your minor children (any person under the age of 18 in Texas and most other states) designated as beneficiaries or you intend to do so for a new baby, keep in mind they cannot inherit funds directly until they turn 18. But don’t fret! We can go over the strategies that need to be put in place so your wishes can actually be implemented if needed, just give us a call.  

Next: How are you doing with your tax return preparation? Last month we talked about tax planning and we hope you're well underway in the process of finalizing your 2023 tax return. If that’s the case: Congratulations! If not, what are you still waiting for? Tax Day will be here sooner than you realize it so better get on with it.  

Also, March is typically a month when your CPA will mention the topic of retirement accounts. Depending on your personal circumstances, you might have to think about contributing to your retirement accounts or taking a required minimum distribution. We will talk about this topic in more detail later in the year, but since a few key deadlines applicable to the year 2023 are approaching, we wanted to mention it briefly. The deadline for regular IRA contributions for individual taxpayers is the week of April 8th, and the deadline for required minimum distributions is April 1st (check with your account manager for the actual date applicable to you since it might take a few days for them to process any instructions.) 

So there you have it! No spring cleaning strategy is complete without considering your financial accounts. The sooner you do it, the sooner we can start looking into other key topics like estate planning and cash flow planning (coming next in our pipeline so stay tuned!) 

We look forward to chatting with you soon!