Your 2025 Year-End Planning Guide

November 21, 2025

The final weeks of the year tend to blur together in a whirlwind of pie orders, last-minute shopping, school concerts and cross-country flights. But amid the bustle, it is worth pausing to take stock of your financial picture. A few thoughtful steps now can help you optimize your tax situation, strengthen your savings and position yourself for a confident start to 2026.

Mind the Evergreens

Balsam and holly are not the only evergreens worth considering as December rolls around. Some financial tasks never go out of season, including maximizing retirement contributions, making charitable gifts and managing capital gains and losses.

Retirement Accounts: December 31 is the final day to make 2025 contributions to your employer-sponsored retirement plan. This year, you can contribute up to $23,500 to a 401(k), plus an additional $7,500 catch-up contribution if you are 50 or older. There is a big change here for 2025: a higher catch-up limit of $11,250 for individuals ages 60 through 63. In 2026, the annual contribution limit rises to $24,500 and catch-up contributions increase to $8,000. The higher catch-up contribution for those 60 to 63 remains the same.

IRAs and HSAs offer slightly more breathing room. Their 2025 contribution deadline is not until April 15, 2026. But the earlier you contribute, the longer your investments can benefit from compounding.

While you are reviewing retirement accounts, consider increasing your contribution rate for next year or enabling automatic annual increases if you have not already. Small boosts add up meaningfully over time.

Capital Gains and Losses: If you have sold investments at a gain this year, you may be able to reduce your tax bill by realizing losses elsewhere in your portfolio. Through tax-loss harvesting, losses can offset gains, and if your realized losses exceed your gains, you can deduct up to $3,000 against ordinary income. Losses must be realized by year-end.

Charitable Contributions: If you plan to deduct charitable contributions for the 2025 tax year, gifts must be made by December 31. (More on charitable strategy below.)

Give Thoughtfully (And Tax Efficiently)

The charitable giving landscape is set to shift in coming years. The recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) permanently extends the higher standard deduction with further increases in coming years. Rules will change for itemizers as well. In 2026, if you itemize, you will only be able to itemize charitable deductions on contribution amounts that exceed 0.5% of your adjusted gross income. Finally, top earners will see the deduction value of gifting capped at 35% instead of the full marginal rate of 37% in 2026.

Together, these changes mean a more complex charitable giving environment. In some cases, smaller donations may not offer the same tax impact next year as they have in previous years, including this one. It may make sense to increase your giving this year to take advantage of the current rules, perhaps consolidating several years’ worth of giving into a single large gift.

A Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) can be a strategic way to do this. By contributing to a DAF before December 31, you receive an immediate tax deduction while preserving flexibility to recommend grants to charities over time.

Lock in Home Efficiency Tax Credits, While You Still Can

Thinking about upgrading insulation or installing solar panels? Two valuable credits are set to expire at the end of the year in the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit and the Residential Clean Energy Credit.

To qualify, improvements must be placed in service (fully installed and ready for use) by December 31, 2025. The purchase date does not matter, but the installation date does. If energy-efficiency upgrades are on your list, do not wait to try and line up an installer who has the capacity to complete the work before year end.

Enjoy Some Breathing Room

Beyond its effects on charitable giving, the OBBB also includes broader tax implications worth noting.

The bill preserves the income tax rates and brackets established in 2017 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Had those expired, the brackets would have reverted to the higher pre-2018 rates. What does this reprieve mean in practice? You may not need to rush to realize income (such as a year-end bonus) before December 31 to avoid being taxed at a higher rate. The extra time could provide more runway for strategic planning.

Allow Yourself to Do Nothing

Year-end planning is not only about getting things done. It is also about protecting your time, energy and emotional bandwidth. Between office gatherings, family obligations, travel and shopping, these weeks can feel overfull. And while holiday obligations can be fun, they can also be draining.

Be honest about what you can take on. Practicing saying “no” when you are stretched thin is an act of self-care. Doing so often allows you to say “yes” to the experiences that actually bring you joy, like finding time to exercise, curl up with a good book or watch a cheesy Hallmark movie.

If you are wondering about other financial steps you can take as 2025 draws to a close, please feel free to reach out. We would love to hear from you.

This post was written and first distributed by The Writing Company.

DISCLAIMER

Shore Point Advisors is an investment adviser located in Brielle, New Jersey. Shore Point Advisors is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Registration of an investment adviser does not imply any specific level of skill or training and does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the Commission. Shore Point Advisors only transacts business in states in which it is properly registered or is excluded or exempted from registration. Insurance products and services are offered through JCL Financial, LLC (“JCL”). Shore Point Advisors and JCL are affiliated entities.