Year-end items that are easier to fix in October

Some money decisions are cheap to fix in October and expensive to fix in December. By the last week of the year, most of the good options are gone, because they need payroll cycles, paperwork, or a custodian that’s already buried.

That’s the case for looking at the whole year now, while there’s still room to move. What’s been withheld, what’s been contributed, what’s been sold or vested. None of it is hard to add up. The hard part is that each piece lives in a different account or a different payroll system, and no one of them is looking at the total. A person who finds a problem in October has choices. The same person finding it on December 28 usually has one.

Markets this week

For the trading week ending Friday, October 2, 2026:

• S&P 500: closed at 7,722.72, down 20.69 points (0.3%) for the week
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: closed at 51,176.96, down 651.66 points (1.3%) for the week
• Nasdaq Composite: closed at 27,190.86, up 122.14 points (0.5%) for the week

Closing levels from the Associated Press for September 25, 2026 and October 2, 2026.

Changed jobs and maxed both 401(k)s?

The 2026 limit on your own 401(k) deferrals is $24,500, and it belongs to you, not to each plan (IRS, 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026). Neither payroll system sees the other’s total. Whether you’re over comes down to the box 12 deferral amounts on your W-2s, added together. Fixing it in the fall is a rate change at your current employer. Fixing it in the spring means a corrective distribution by April 15.

How an excess gets taxed twice, and what the April 15 fix involves

Giving appreciated shares in 2026

Shares held more than a year can be donated at fair market value without selling them, so no gain is recognized (IRS Publication 526). What’s new this year is a floor. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, only the part of your charitable gifts above 0.5 percent of adjusted gross income is deductible, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025 (IRC section 170(b)(1)(I)). Whether the gift still makes sense depends on your own numbers.

The ordering rules and what the floor does to a gift of company stock

A question that came up this week

Searches this week asked, in so many words: I’m comparing a smaller advisory firm to a big national name for a $2 million portfolio. How do I tell who will actually give me attention?

In my experience, large firms often sort clients into tiers by assets, and the tier decides who you talk to and how fast they call back. That can mean a team, or a contact who changes when the firm reorganizes. “Boutique” describes a service model, not a guarantee, so check it on paper. Registered firms have had to give retail clients a Form CRS since 2020, a short summary with the same headings at every firm covering services, fees, conflicts and disciplinary history (SEC, Investor.gov). Read two side by side. Then ask each firm who your day-to-day contact would be and what its fee comes to in dollars. The right answer depends on your individual circumstances.

A longer comparison, including when a large firm is the better fit

Worth a look this month

Roth conversion decisions get made in the fall for a reason. A conversion made on or after January 1, 2018 can’t be recharacterized, which means it can’t be undone (IRS, Retirement plans FAQs regarding IRAs, reviewed November 16, 2025). A conversion you complete this year is a 2026 decision, so it has to be made by December 31. October gives you time to project the year’s income first.