Tag: Trusts

Your Q4 Financial Checklist: 5 Things You Should Know Before Year-End

Written by Minich MacGregor Wealth Management on October 7, 2026. Posted in Posts.

“To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.”
— Confucius¹

This quarter’s checklist is all about increasing your knowledge…by examining what it is you know to find out what you do not know.

Your financial life is vast and complex. Almost everyone’s is, to a degree. There are so many things to keep track of. So many things that need doing. So many boxes to check, dates to remember, and bits of data to organize.

Our job is to handle as much of this for you as possible. However, it’s easy to sometimes realize:

I don’t know why I do X.

I don’t know whether I’ve done Y.

I’m not sure where to find Z.

Figuring out what you don’t know (and then taking steps to close those gaps) is one of the best ways to feel clarity about your financial present and confidence in your financial future. So, this quarter’s checklist is designed to help you bridge those gaps, if and where they exist. Some of the items may not apply to you; some you may be able to check off instantly. For any you can’t check off, let us know, and we can work together to fix it!

In the meantime, we wish you a great fourth quarter and a happy holiday season!

Q4 Financial Checklist for 2026
▢ I Know How Much I’m Contributing to My Retirement Accounts Many people treat retirement accounts — especially 401(k)s, but Roth and Traditional IRAs can apply here too — with a “set it and forget it” mindset. That means they often don’t know how much they are actually contributing each year. Are you contributing the maximum permissible amount? Are you contributing enough to take advantage of employer matching? Or to reach your retirement goals on time? If you can’t think of your number, or if you don’t know how to find out very quickly, it’s time to change that. ▢ I Know Exactly Why I’m Invested the Way I Am Notice the word “why” as opposed to “what” or “how.” While it’s always important to know what investments you own, the real knowledge here is why you own them. The philosophy behind your asset allocation. The thinking behind your level of risk. The tax consequences and implications for your income in retirement. Is it necessary to know every detail? No. But the more you truly understand the why, the greater your confidence and peace of mind can be during market ups and downs. The acid test: Can you explain your portfolio to someone else? If not, that suggests we can work on this. ▢ I Know Where Everything is Located The totality of your financial life is expressed in documents. (So, so many documents.) Tax forms and receipts. Quarterly statements. Deeds and titles. Wills, trust agreements, medical directives, power of attorney. All of them are important. Some tend to sit, unread, for months or years at a time. All may be required at a moment’s notice. Do you know where to find each one? Do you know the account logins and passwords for each? And does a loved one know, too, in case they ever need them on your behalf? Organization is an important part of financial success, so if you can’t recall where something is or how to access it, we’ll help you figure it out! ▢ I Know Who My Beneficiaries and Executors Are This one is less about remembering and more about doing. Have you actually decided on your beneficiaries? Have you officially designated them? Have you settled on an executor? Do you need more than one? Have you told them? Have you discussed their responsibilities and compensation? And have you reviewed all these people in the last few years to make sure they are still the right fit? If the answer to any of these questions is “No” or “I don’t know,” let’s address it. ▢ I Know How Much I Pay in [X] Each Month Let’s face it: The days of balancing a personal checkbook are pretty much over. Everything is online and often automated these days. That’s great for convenience, but it does insert a kind of distance between us and our money. As a result, it can be easy to let our cash flow become inefficient. To waste money on unnecessary expenses. To pile on debt. That’s why the final bit of knowledge to gain this quarter is exactly how much you are paying in the following areas: * Interest (on credit cards, personal loans, student loans, etc.) * Subscriptions * Fuel and energy * Insurance premiums * Fees, fines, and penalties When you know what you are paying in these areas, as opposed to simply paying them automatically, we can look for ways to optimize your monthly finances, sacrificing less on the short-term altar so that more can be reserved for the long. We can also look for alternatives that may potentially help you do more, get more, and save more. Let us know if we can help!

Q4 Financial Checklist for 2026

Tip: Print this out and stick it on the fridge or somewhere else it will be seen. That way, you can check off the items one by one as you complete them!

▢ I Know How Much I’m Contributing to My Retirement Accounts
Many people treat retirement accounts — especially 401(k)s, but Roth and Traditional IRAs can apply here too — with a “set it and forget it” mindset. That means they often don’t know how much they are actually contributing each year. Are you contributing the maximum permissible amount? Are you contributing enough to take advantage of employer matching? Or to reach your retirement goals on time? If you can’t think of your number, or if you don’t know how to find out very quickly, it’s time to change that.
▢ I Know Exactly Why I’m Invested the Way I Am
Notice the word “why” as opposed to “what” or “how.” While it’s always important to know what investments you own, the real knowledge here is why you own them. The philosophy behind your asset allocation. The thinking behind your level of risk. The tax consequences and implications for your income in retirement. Is it necessary to know every detail? No. But the more you truly understand the why, the greater your confidence and peace of mind can be during market ups and downs. The acid test: Can you explain your portfolio to someone else? If not, that suggests we can work on this.
▢ I Know Where Everything is Located
The totality of your financial life is expressed in documents. (So, so many documents.) Tax forms and receipts. Quarterly statements. Deeds and titles. Wills, trust agreements, medical directives, power of attorney. All of them are important. Some tend to sit, unread, for months or years at a time. All may be required at a moment’s notice. Do you know where to find each one? Do you know the account logins and passwords for each? And does a loved one know, too, in case they ever need them on your behalf? Organization is an important part of financial success, so if you can’t recall where something is or how to access it, we’ll help you figure it out!
▢ I Know Who My Beneficiaries and Executors Are
This one is less about remembering and more about doing. Have you actually decided on your beneficiaries? Have you officially designated them? Have you settled on an executor? Do you need more than one? Have you told them? Have you discussed their responsibilities and compensation? And have you reviewed all these people in the last few years to make sure they are still the right fit? If the answer to any of these questions is “No” or “I don’t know,” let’s address it.
▢ I Know How Much I Pay in [X] Each Month
Let’s face it: The days of balancing a personal checkbook are pretty much over. Everything is online and often automated these days. That’s great for convenience, but it does insert a kind of distance between us and our money. As a result, it can be easy to let our cash flow become inefficient. To waste money on unnecessary expenses. To pile on debt. That’s why the final bit of knowledge to gain this quarter is exactly how much you are paying in the following areas:
* Interest (on credit cards, personal loans, student loans, etc.)
* Subscriptions
* Fuel and energy
* Insurance premiums
* Fees, fines, and penalties
When you know what you are paying in these areas, as opposed to simply paying them automatically, we can look for ways to optimize your monthly finances, sacrificing less on the short-term altar so that more can be reserved for the long. We can also look for alternatives that may potentially help you do more, get more, and save more. Let us know if we can help!

Plain English: Translating the Language of Trusts

Written by Minich MacGregor Wealth Management on May 14, 2026. Posted in Posts.

As financial advisors, one of our “unofficial duties” is acting as a sort of translator: Taking financial terms, jargon, or legalese that may be important but are hard to understand and explaining them in plain English. We really enjoy this part of our job, because it helps provide clarity…and the more clarity people have, the more confident they feel.

Helping people feel confident is one of the most important things any financial advisor can do.

One related group of financial terms that we are often asked about involve trusts.

Since trusts are widely used for a variety of estate planning purposes, we have prepared a simple primer of trust terms that should help with the translation.

First, a trust is simply a legal document that acts as a container to hold or own property, cash, securities, or other items of value.

There are three parties to a trust. The first is the maker of the trust, called the trustor or grantor, who establishes the trust. The second is the trustee who manages and carries out the terms of the trust. Finally, there is the beneficiary who receives the benefits of the trust, either in the form of income or outright distribution of assets.

Now, here is where many people sometimes get a little confused if they are setting up or dealing with a trust for the first time. You see, there are two forms of trusts: revocable and irrevocable. What’s the difference? A revocable trust can be changed by the grantor. For example, if the grantor ever wants to change which assets are inside a trust, or who the beneficiary is, a revocable trust enables them to do that.

An irrevocable trust, on the other hand, cannot be changed. Once established, it is fixed, with most details set in stone except under very specific circumstances. For this reason, most people only choose an irrevocable trust if they are trying to avoid triggering the estate tax or to protect assets from creditors, although there may be other reasons.

Two more types of trusts include a living trust and a testamentary trust. A living trust (also known as an inter vivos trust) is considered a revocable trust since it can be changed by the grantor. A trust created by a person’s will, known as a testamentary trust, is generally irrevocable. A living grantor may also establish an irrevocable trust by making an irrevocable decision to change title to property into the name of the trust. A typical example of such a trust would be an education trust fund set up by grandparents for a grandchild or a life insurance trust.

In a revocable trust, the grantor, the trustee, and the beneficiary may all be the same person. In most irrevocable trusts, each will be a different person.

When a grantor establishes a trust, it is funded by changing property titles to the name of the trust, which makes the property subject to the terms and control of the trust. For example, when a person establishes a living trust and changes the title of a home into the name of the trust, they have funded the trust with the retitled home. This asset now becomes part of the principal, or corpus, of the trust.

A grantor of a trust may reserve for themselves the power to manage the trust as a trustee. Alternatively, they may give those powers to another person. Commonly, a corporate trustee is named as the primary trustee, especially if the trust is expected to last many years. Banks with trust departments are most often named as a corporate trustee, since it is assumed the bank will be in existence for the life of the trust.

Trusts are often defined by their purpose. For example, a charitable remainder or charitable lead trust is used, as the name suggests, in charitable planning. Life insurance trusts allow the proceeds of a large amount of life insurance to pass, tax free, to beneficiaries. A Qualified Principal Residence Trust (QPRT) can be used to pass on a family or vacation home while allowing the grantor to live in the home.

As you can see, there are many terms related to trusts, and trusts themselves rarely make for light summer reading. But hopefully this makes the language of trusts easier to decipher in case you ever need to speak it in the future! As always, please let us know if you have questions, or if we can ever help you with anything related to trusts, estate planning…or finance in general.

Have a great week!