Year-End Review -- Shining a Spotlight on Your Finances May Brighten Your Future A year-end financial review can be instrumental to your future financial success. However, you may not want to wait until the end of the year to review your financial affairs. Consider doing it during the fall so you’ll have ample time to take any corrective action before year’s end. Here’s a quick look at some of the key issues you should consider when conducting your review. Review your retirement assets. Whether your retirement is a long way off or right around the corner, it is likely that you’ll have to make periodic adjustments to your retirement portfolio. Make sure the investments you’ve chosen are still an accurate reflection of your risk tolerance and time horizon Keep tabs on college funding plans. With college costs reaching astronomical heights, you need to utilize every available college funding resource. Financial aid and scholarships, as well as the Lifetime Learning Credit and Hope Scholarship Credit may help alleviate the college cost crunch. However, aid and tax credits alone generally will not fund your child’s college education. Make sure you’re saving and investing enough to help meet your goals. At a minimum, take advantage of the tax savings offered through an Education IRA. Assess your income tax picture. You may be able to reduce your tax burden -- sometimes significantly -- by making strategic tax decisions before the end of the year. Your tax professional can alert you to any tax planning strategies that might make sense for your situation. Review critical documents. Because life’s circumstances continually change, you should review your legal documents and beneficiary designations every year. This will entail carefully combing through any wills, trusts, retirement plan documents and life insurance policies to make sure they’re up-to-date. Seek the assistance of a qualified adviser if any modifications are necessary Set goals for next year and beyond. A year-end review is an excellent time to start thinking about next year and setting some long-term goals. Take a close look at your day-to-day finances to see if you can reduce expenses and save more. Then make an honest assessment of which goals are most important to you and then commit to meeting them. Article by McGraw Hill and provided courtesy of Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor. The author(s) are not employees of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“MSSB”). The opinions expressed by the authors are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of MSSB. The information and data in the article or publication has been obtained from sources outside of MSSB and MSSB makes no representations or guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of information or data from sources outside of MSSB. Neither the information provided nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation by MSSB with respect to the purchase or sale of any security, investment, strategy or product that may be mentioned. Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor(s) engaged Schneps Communications feature this article. Corey Lev and Judy Lev may only transact business in states where they are registered or excluded or exempted from registration. Transacting business, follow-up and individualized responses involving either effecting or attempting to effect transactions in securities, or the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation, will not be made to persons in states where The Lev Group is not registered or excluded or exempt from registration. Investments and services offered through Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, member SIPC. CRC 418082 (11/11) The Lev Group are Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney located in Garden City, NY and may be reached at 516-227-2899. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and its affiliates do not provide tax or legal advice. To the extent that this material or any attachment concerns tax matters, it is not intended to be used and cannot be used by a taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed by law. Any such taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayer’s particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor. © 2009 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. Wealth Planning You Can Build On Corey Lev CFP®, CRPC® Vice President Financial Advisor Judy Lev Senior Vice President Investment Management Specialist Financial Advisor 855 Franklin Avenue Garden City, NY 11530 516-227-2894 [email protected] http://www.morganstanleyfa.com/thelevgroup/ World-Class Vascular Surgical Care Close to Home Gregg S. Landis, MD, FACS has joined the North Shore-LIJ Health System as Vice Chairman, Surgery and Chief, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at our Long Island Jewish Medical Center. With over 18 years of experience, Dr. Landis, a board certified vascular surgeon, specializes in state-of-the-art treatments for prevention of stroke, peripheral arterial disease and minimally invasive vascular interventions, as well as comprehensive wellness care. As an Associate Professor of Surgery, North Shore-LIJ Hofstra School of Medicine, Dr. Landis is helping to advance medical education in vascular and endovascular healthcare. Now as part of the North Shore-LIJ Medical Group, Dr. Landis and his patients have access to the extensive resources of the North Shore-LIJ Health System and the experts at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. For an appointment, call (516) 233-3607. North Shore-LIJ Vascular Surgery 1999 Marcus Avenue, Suite 106B Lake Success, New York 11042 For more information on Dr. Landis and the North Shore-LIJ Medical Group, go to nslijdocs.com. WWW.QUEENSCOURIER.COM | MAY 2013 | CRYDER POINT COURIER 9 World-class investment advice is an important part of a comprehensive wealth plan. So is advice about your estate, your business, your philanthropic giving, your restricted stock position and your lending needs. At Morgan Stanley, we offer a full range of services to help you grow, protect and transfer your wealth. To discover more about wealth planning you can build on, please call today. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. This material was not intended or written to be used for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. Clients should consult their tax advisor for matters involving taxation and tax planning and their attorney for matters involving trust and estate planning and other legal matters. © 2013 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. NY CS 7181623 WP001 07/12 2010-PS-1725
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