Financial Resolutions for 2023

DID YOU START the year focusing your New Year’s resolutions on your health? You aren’t alone. The most popular resolution for 2022 was living healthier, followed closely by personal improvement.*

This new chapter is here, and with it, we welcome a new name that we believe embodies who we are: SageSpring. Our new name reflects our desire to offer wise guidance and cultivate a long-lasting relationship with you, because our priority is your well-being.

Our name has changed, but our team and our values have not. Everything we do for our clients is based on our shared beliefs in our duty as financial stewards, the collaborative effort of teamwork, and the importance of treating both our co-workers and clients like our family. We can’t wait to see what the next 20 years will bring.

Financial goals are listed way down at number five? Granted, finance is our life, but may we humbly suggest that your financial goals should be number one on the list? That if they are your main focus, they will help with everything else listed? It’s not too late! Take a moment to review the suggestions below and have 2023 be the year you take full control of your financial health.

Update your beneficiaries

If you don’t correctly document your beneficiary designations, who gets what may be determined by federal or state law or by the default plan document used in your retirement accounts? When did you last update your designations? Have life changes (divorce, remarriage, births, deaths, state of residence) occurred since then?

Create flexible liquidity

Cash has inflation and opportunity tradeoffs, but a lack of access can cause greater problems if you find yourself needing to draw from your invest ments. Finding a balance in line with your life and goals is important to avoid disrupting your long-term plans.

Develop a charitable strategy

Giving comes from the heart, but you can also do well when doing good. For example, consider whether or not it’d make sense to donate low-basis stocks in lieu of cash, or learn about establishing a donor advised fund to take an upfront deduction for contri butions made over the next several years. Give, but do so with an eye toward reducing your tax liability.

Check in with your advisor

Your advisor can offer specialized tools, impartiality, and experience earned by dealing with many market cycles and client situations. Communicate openly about what’s happening in your life today and what may happen in the future. It’s difficult to manage what they aren’t aware of, so err on the side of over-communicating and establish a regular check-in schedule for the year ahead.

Travis Cullman, CFP®, CPFA

identical, so reach out to your advisor for more specific guidance about progressing toward your goals in 2023. If you don’t have an advisor, or if you would like to get a second opinion, we would love to talk with you.

If any of those resolutions left you with questions for a financial advisor, estate attorney, or CPA tax preparer, call our office at 865-686-5202 and we would be glad to help or get you in touch with an attorney and CPA who we know and trust.

Denton & Lori Lesslie love to eat. They are Knoxville natives who have fun finding and experiencing local food and drink spots while sharing their adventures @somewhere.inthe.south.