6 Money Moves Wealthy People Always Make Before New Year’s
While the poor and middle class might be stressing about how to afford upcoming holiday expenses like gifts and celebrations, wealthy Americans are planning ahead right now for a prosperous 2026. And experts say a large part of that involves tax planning.
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But tax planning isn’t only for the wealthy. If you have any investments or are planning for retirement, you should also consider these year-end money moves suggested by experts.
Year-End Tax Planning
“Year-end is the moment for savvy investors to sharpen their after-tax outcomes before the calendar resets,” said Bill Harris, CEO and founder of Evergreen Wealth.
This is especially important heading into 2026, as President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act extended provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act most favorable to those in higher tax brackets.
“High-income earners in the US should proactively conduct year-end tax planning to optimize their 2025 liabilities,” said Brian Gaister, co-founder and CEO of Pennington Partners, a multi-family office with around $4B in AUM. “Effective planning can result in significant tax savings and optimal positioning for future years.”
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Tax-Loss Harvesting
Tax loss harvesting involves selling investments at a loss to offset capital gains. Harris called it “your last chance to impact the 2025 tax year.”
In preparing for next year, he suggested setting up an automated program to harvest losses daily, avoiding a year-end scramble. “If you’re a high-income taxpayer in a high-tax state, you can increase your cumulative after-tax return by 20% to 30% with automated daily tax loss harvesting,” he said.
Monish Verma of Vardhan Wealth Management added that you can carry forward losses to offset future gains or offset a gain this year with a loss from the past. “We want to know about those losses and gains so we can trim their portfolios before year-end,” he said.
Max Out Retirement and Health Savings Account Contributions
Whether you are one of the 24 million millionaires in the US, or fall solidly into the middle-class, if you’re working, you should be maxing out your contributions to your 401(k), IRA, health savings accounts and other pre-tax accounts.
“For 2025, 401(k) employee limits are $23,500 (plus $7,500 catch-up for 50+), and the IRA limit is $7,000,” Gaister said.
Consider Roth Conversions
Experts also recommended using Roth conversions for tax-free growth with no required minimum distributions after retirement. As an advanced strategy to bypass direct income limits, high-income earners should also consider the Backdoor Roth strategy: First transfer money into a traditional IRA and then convert the funds to a Roth IRA.
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