By Gene Walden

Another year is nearly over, so it’s a good time to look at your investments and financial situation and consider some options for reducing your tax burden. Where should you look for tax savings? There are several areas to consider:

Take some losses in your portfolio. It’s no secret—this has been one of the worst years we’ve seen in the stock market for a long time. If you have some big losers in the portfolio, you might want to sell some of those stocks or mutual funds to take a loss which would help reduce your taxes.

Gifting appreciated assets. If you plan to make a donation to your favorite charity or place of worship, do it before the end of the year in order to claim it on your taxes for the current year. You can catch an even bigger break if you give an appreciated stock or mutual fund rather than cash. For instance, if you have a stock that you bought years ago for $5,000 and it is now worth $20,000, you can donate the $20,000 in stock to a qualified charity and get a tax credit for the entire sum without paying a capital gains tax on the appreciation. If you really like the stock you’re donating, you can buy it back at current prices, which will give you a higher cost basis for tax purposes if you decide to sell it later.

Allocate the maximum amount to your retirement plan. Whether you’re contributing to your personal IRA or investing in your company’s 401k plan, you should try to contribute the maximum amount, including catch-up contributions. Tax-sheltered retirement plans are one of the best savings plans ever offered to working Americans. By taking full advantage of your qualified, tax-sheltered retirement plan you can save for the future while reducing your taxable income today.

Sell some winners and take the tax now. If you believe that the next administration is going to raise income taxes or the capital gains rate, you might be able to save some taxes for the long-term by selling some of your winning investments now to pay taxes on those gains at the current low rates.

Before you make any moves to try to reduce your taxes, you should consult your financial advisor to make sure those actions would really make sense for you. But by being proactive now before the end of the year, you may be able to keep a few more of your hard earned dollars out of the hands of the IRS.