生财有道:2011年理财指南

With the clock ticks towards the end of 2010, there's still some time to make some smart money moves to start the new year off right. And here with Finance Tips for your future is the founder of FutureSuper.com, Jennifer Openshaw. Thanks. Happy to have you here.

You bet.

Happy post-Christmas, as Santa said. So you say when you are reviewing your portfolio, you wanna keep your eye on two things. What are they?

Well, the first is that if you have some dogs in your portfolio, Bianca, you wanna think about getting rid of them at the end of the year. The reason is that you can take those losses to offset your gains on other stocks or mutual funds, that you might have sold through the year and reduce your taxes. The other thing is a lot of people aren't sure, well, "what kind of investment should I have in my retirement accounts versus my other taxable accounts?” If you've got actively trading mutual funds, so those are funds that put off a lot of earnings and therefore generate tax dollars for you to pay. Then think about putting those in your retirement accounts, because it shields some from those taxes.

And you also advise that people should go ahead and max out their retirement 401K accounts. With the past few years, we've seen some companies withdraw from doing that, given the economy. You say now it's time to go back in.

Well, absolutely. It's still 401K, 403B, one of the best ways to save money. More companies are now coming back to matching your dollars. The max amount that you can put away every year is 16,500 dollars. If you're 50 or older, another 5,500 dollars that you can put away. So very important to take advantage of that.

And you should also check how much is being withheld by your employer?

Yeah, you know, a lot of people don't realize that the amount that you have withheld can obviously determine how much you owe at the end of the year. And new tax source now are gonna probably increase people's paycheck next year, because fewer social security taxes are gonna be withheld. So it's a great time to take a look "how much am I having withheld?", and if I had any life changes, like a baby or marriage. That's a good time to think about that too.

And this next tip is something that's gonna make people happy. Tax break, specifically around the holidays. What are they? And where are they? And how can we find them?

Well, a lot of people think about doing things, like paying their January mortgage payment in December to get a mortgage tax deduction even more. But if you pay gifts for co-workers or other people you're doing business with, up to 25 dollars is tax deductible, as are those holiday parties. So if you threw a party, you had bands, and you had food, and even, you know, chocolate pretzels. That's all tax deductible as long as it was a business purpose like networking.

That's great advice. Also, giving gifts and money to relatives without paying taxes. Tell us about that. That sounds exciting.

Well, you know, a lot of people are struggling with the cost of college today. And so it's a great idea for grandparents or parents with or relatives that have money, to think about giving it to a needy relative who's struggling to cover those college costs. You can gift up to 13,000 dollars in any one a year without any taxes or if you are married, 26,000. But if you put it into a 5/29 college savings program, you can actually gift up to 5 times that amount or 130, 000 dollars, if you are married. And what it means for the older parents is they are reducing their taxable estate, they are giving to an important cause and get to enjoy rather a life. The other thing I say is that if you've got a young teen that's heading off to college next year, make sure those college dollars aren't wasted. SuperFutures.com is introducing new programs to provide career guidance to people in January, SuperFutures.com

Some great tips. Thanks so much for joining us, Jennifer. Happy new year to you.

Happy new year.