December is the single highest-leverage month in personal finance. Contribution deadlines, tax-loss opportunities, benefit elections, and spending decisions all cluster in the final weeks — and most are irreversible after December 31. A focused 30-minute year-end review, run before the holidays consume your attention, can save meaningful tax, capture contributions you'd otherwise miss, and set up a cleaner, better-planned year ahead. Here's the checklist.
Maximize the registered accounts
RRSP contributions for the current tax year can be made until the deadline in the new year, but TFSA and FHSA room doesn't carry the same urgency to delay — and unused room is easy to forget. Confirm your contribution room, prioritize the accounts by tax bracket, and make the contributions before the calendar turns. If you expect a refund, plan now to direct it straight into next year's TFSA.
- Confirm and use TFSA and FHSA contribution room.
- Make RRSP contributions to manage this year's taxable income.
- Plan to direct any refund straight into next year's savings.
Review tax-loss and deduction opportunities
If you hold non-registered investments with losses, harvesting them before year-end can offset capital gains and reduce tax — but the math depends on your overall position and the superficial-loss rules. Likewise, check whether any deductible expenses — charitable giving, certain medical costs, professional development — are worth accelerating into this year or deferring to next. These are moves that expire with the calendar.
Set the system for the year ahead
With the deadlines handled, spend the last few minutes on direction: name one financial goal for the coming year, confirm your automated savings and debt payments are set, and schedule a mid-year check-in now so it actually happens. The best year-end review doesn't just close out December — it sets the system that runs the next twelve months. We coach clients through this checklist every December, and the ones who do it start January already ahead.
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