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Financial Literacy

Tax Season Is the One Time a Year Your Whole Picture Is on the Table

Not tax advice, a checklist. Once a year every statement you need is already in front of you. Here is what to look at while it is.

6 min read
A couple sit on a sofa looking at a laptop on the coffee table, a notebook and papers open beside it.

There is exactly one time a year when every document you need is already in one place. Use it.

A note before we start: we are a licensed insurance agency, not a tax adviser or an accounting firm. Nothing here is tax advice. This is a checklist for a conversation with your CPA, not a substitute for one.

Why this window

You are already gathering W-2s, 1099s, mortgage interest statements and retirement account summaries. That is most of the picture. Reviewing it while it is in front of you costs an hour and catches things that otherwise wait another year.

The checklist

1. Retirement accounts

  • Are you getting your employer match? A pay change can quietly change it. Take it if it makes sense for you.
  • What did the account actually return, net of fees?
  • Is the allocation still what you chose, or has drift changed it?

2. Coverage

  • What is the actual number on your life insurance? Not "some through work."
  • Does it survive you leaving that job? For most group plans, no.
  • Does the amount still match what you owe? A policy sized before the second child, the bigger mortgage or the raise is not sized for now.
  • Is there a disability or critical illness gap?

3. Beneficiaries, the ten-minute job nobody does

On every policy and every retirement account. A beneficiary form overrides your will. An out-of-date form can send money to a completely different chapter of your life.

It takes ten minutes to check and years to discover. If you do nothing else on this list, do this one.

4. The refund

A refund is not a bonus, it is your own money coming back. Worth deciding deliberately rather than by default. In rough order of usefulness for most households:

  1. High-interest debt
  2. Emergency fund up to three to six months
  3. Any employer match you are missing, if it makes sense for you
  4. Then, if there is a long horizon, longer-term accumulation

We walk the list with you in that order, and write the coverage that fits when the ground is ready.

5. Anything that changed

New child, marriage, divorce, a house, a job change, a health event, a business started or sold. Each of those changes what the plan should look like, and each is easy to miss until you sit down with the paperwork.

What to bring to your CPA

  • Whether you are getting your employer match
  • Whether your coverage still matches your obligations
  • Whether any beneficiary form needs updating
  • Anything that changed this year

Four questions. One hour. Once a year.

If you would like a second pair of eyes on the coverage half of that list, we do it at no cost and with no obligation; and if everything checks out, that is exactly what we will tell you.

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Where to go from here

Three free steps, in order, and a person when you want one.

  1. 1. Read thisThe Leaky BucketWhy doing everything right still feels like you are one emergency away.
  2. 2. Then score yourselfThe Waterfall Wealth AssessmentTwenty-five questions across the five pillars, in about five minutes.
  3. 3. Then get the orderThe Waterfall Wealth Creation BlueprintTen practical steps, in the only order that works.
  4. If you want to sit down with somebodyThirty minutes, free, by video or phone. We will look at your actual situation and tell you the truth about it.Book a strategy session