Make Your End-of-Year Financial Checklist

With 2008 right around the corner, now is a good time to get your finances in order.

There's still time to take advantage of ways to save yourself money on 2007 taxes and to get yourself in good habits for the coming year and beyond.

Here are some things to consider:

Flexible spending accounts: If you participate in your company's flexible spending account programs for medical expenses or dependant care, check to see if you have a remaining balance in the account and make sure you use up any of this money. While flexible spending accounts have the excellent tax advantage of letting you pay for these expenses with pretax dollars, any money that is not used by the end of the year will be forfeited, which can easily negate these advantages. For example, if you still have money in your flexible medical account, there are a wide variety of items that you can purchase -- such as over-the-counter drugs -- rather than lose the money.

Charitable contributions: If you will be itemizing your taxes for 2007, it's a good time to make charitable contributions for a tax writeoff. When making these contributions, think beyond money. If you have stock that has appreciated in value, the appreciated stock may be a wiser choice to donate since you will receive a tax deduction for the market value of the stock while avoiding paying the capital gains taxes associated with selling the stock. It can also be a good time to do a pre-new year's clean-up around the house and donate any items you no longer need to such charities as Good Will or the Salvation Army for the tax writeoff.