There are only eleven days left in 2008. If you had plans for this year—things you were absolutely going to get done before 2009—you are quickly running out of time to do them. This doesn’t only include your 2008 picks from the 1000 Places to See Before You Die, this includes smaller things, more prosaic things, like tax write-offs or charitable deductions.
The New Year is generally a time for people to look to the year ahead and make their plan of action, but before you do that, you must review the year that is coming to a close. What were your goals for this year? Did you achieve any of them—or all of them? Especially important is to review all of your expenditures, both business and personal, to ensure that you’ve taken advantage of any opportunities for tax relief. Once you know you’ve put yourself in the very best position possible to close out 2008, then it is never too soon to start planning for 2009.
And the nice part is that should you choose to create or update your estate plan before the end of the year, and if your plan helps you protect income-producing property, you may be able to deduct a portion of the cost of planning your estate from your 2008 taxable income.
Don’t let 2008 slip away!