Checks and Balances
I love a New Year. It’s a great time to evaluate your current situation and make changes as necessary. Here’s what I’ve been up to recently:
1. We adjusted the tax withholding for our Social Security payments. Current withholding options are 0%, 7%, 10%, 12% and 22%. We reduced our withholding from 15% to 7% since our income is lower than when we were working and refunds were getting too large.
2. We opened a new checking account with a $500 sign-up bonus and couldn’t be happier with the improved service. It was a big job to make this change as our direct debits and deposits had to be moved to the new account and, since we pay all of our bills electronically, I needed to set that up as well.
For a couple months, we had both accounts open as we couldn’t close our old checking account until everything had properly changed over. Social Security took around two months to make the switch. Luckily, everything went seamlessly.
3. I decided on new tax software for this year. Thanks to Marjorie, Dan and Andrew for their endorsement of FreeTaxUSA. I did a little research of my own and couldn’t find a bad word about it.
4. I did my usual review of our 2025 year-end account balances and everything did well. I might change the asset allocation a bit in our IRA’s. For those who take RMD’s, it’s great to use those to rebalance your retirement accounts.
5. Jonathan wrote a great article last January called “Spending It”. I chose the Fixed Withdrawal Rate option with the goal of withdrawing up to 5% annually for living expenses. Last year, we used 4.8% which is almost exactly the same as the year before.
6. I read a non-financial resolution in a recent Kiplinger article that I’d like to share. It says to “Let go of old habits, relationships and commitments that no longer serve you.” That resonated with me.
Francine Duke
1. We adjusted the tax withholding for our Social Security payments. Current withholding options are 0%, 7%, 10%, 12% and 22%. We reduced our withholding from 15% to 7% since our income is lower than when we were working and refunds were getting too large.
2. We opened a new checking account with a $500 sign-up bonus and couldn’t be happier with the improved service. It was a big job to make this change as our direct debits and deposits had to be moved to the new account and, since we pay all of our bills electronically, I needed to set that up as well.
For a couple months, we had both accounts open as we couldn’t close our old checking account until everything had properly changed over. Social Security took around two months to make the switch. Luckily, everything went seamlessly.
3. I decided on new tax software for this year. Thanks to Marjorie, Dan and Andrew for their endorsement of FreeTaxUSA. I did a little research of my own and couldn’t find a bad word about it.
4. I did my usual review of our 2025 year-end account balances and everything did well. I might change the asset allocation a bit in our IRA’s. For those who take RMD’s, it’s great to use those to rebalance your retirement accounts.
5. Jonathan wrote a great article last January called “Spending It”. I chose the Fixed Withdrawal Rate option with the goal of withdrawing up to 5% annually for living expenses. Last year, we used 4.8% which is almost exactly the same as the year before.
6. I read a non-financial resolution in a recent Kiplinger article that I’d like to share. It says to “Let go of old habits, relationships and commitments that no longer serve you.” That resonated with me.
Francine Duke
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