08/05/2026
Wasn't it just January when we were all complaining about the brutal cold? Now it's August and brutally hot.
Before the rest of 2026 flies by, it's worth taking stock of your tax picture. A few questions we're asking clients right now:
→ Are your quarterly estimated payments on pace with what you'll actually owe?
→ Have any life changes (a new income source, a job change, the sale of an asset) shifted your tax picture?
→ Are there positions with unrealized losses you could harvest before year-end while staying aligned with your long-term investment strategy?
Tax planning works best when it happens throughout the year, not in a Q4 scramble when your options are already narrowing. A check-in now gives you room to adjust.
And taxes are only part of the picture. Has your portfolio drifted from the allocation you actually chose? Are you on pace to max out your retirement accounts and capture your full employer match? When did you last look at your beneficiary designations?
None of it needs to happen in a single afternoon. But a few focused hours now can prevent the scrambling that shows up in October and November.
Read the full mid-year checkup and what to review before December:
Jim Joseph of FSA Wealth Partners, a financial services advisory in Rockville, MD, discusses the important review items of your mid-year financial check-up.
