On January 1 of the new year, MaxiFi will display small flags for settings needing your review. This does not always mean that data needs changing, but it might. After review and updating any data or information, you can mark the review as complete by saving the form or editing and saving the form. Flags may call attention to something that needs review, but not changing. To make such flags go away, resave that particular data item.
These are the areas that you should review at the start of the new year.
Update account Balances
Your retirement accounts and regular asset balances should reflect those balances as of January 1 of the current year. Do not normally update them as those balances change due to market changes through the year.
Events that Start in the Past
Many of the flags you see will be for current earnings, receipts, expenses, contributions, real estate items, etc. that start in the past. A series of such items can't start in the past, so if earnings, for example, are marked as 2021 continuing through retirement or 2028, and if the current year is 2022, then that 2021 begin date needs to be changed to the current year, 2022 in this example and saved.
Social Security Record
Check your earnings history. You can now enter your earnings for the previous year. It may take SSA several months to update your official earnings record, but you probably know your SS wages for the previous year and can enter that amount in your earnings record and fine-tune later if needed when SSA reports your official earnings for last year.
Home Change
Did a home change in the past year? If so, that can be removed and the current home entered as the current home.
Mortgage
Check your mortgage balance and years remaining on the mortgage. There will typically be a lower balance and one less year remaining on the term of the mortgage.
Home Market Value
Your home may have gone up or down in current market value.
Special Receipts and Expenses
If you had special receipts or expenses that are marked to begin last year, you'll need to change the start date to the current year.
Retirement Accounts
- Check employee contributions. Are they still the same for the new year?
- Check employer contributions. Are those still the same?
- Do you have any special withdraws set up in retirement accounts? Are those still part of the plan?
- Do you have Roth conversions set up? Are those conversions still part of your plan?
Current and Future Earnings
- Are your labor earnings for the new year still correct?
- Any change in contingencies you need to reevaluate?
Real Estate
- Check receipts and expenses to make sure there are no changes from the previous year.
- Review all real estate data and make sure your plans for sale or not still look correct.
Social Security
Social Security annual percentage change update for inflation will be updated automatically and made effective on the first day of the new year. In the new year you should return to your Social Security Record (for each spouse/partner) and enter the SS earnings for the prior year. It could be several months before that amount is updated at SSA.gov but you probably know your earnings for the previous year and can enter that manually in the earnings history table if you are using that table of past covered earnings.
Defaults for Inflation and Safe Rate of Return
The default Inflation and Rate of Return Data are updated in the first week of the new year. We base our default Inflation rate and nominal rate of return on the 30-year nominal Treasury bond and the 30-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). If you are using defaults, those changes will appear automatically. But if you have changed your inflation rate or return rate percentages, the new defaults will not overwrite your entries.