Eight great year-end moves
These financial steps will help you save more money, get better insurance coverage and pay less tax.
By Ellen McGirt, Fortune senior writer

(Fortune Magazine) -- Nathaniel Hawthorne understood the temptations of the season. "I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine," he wrote. "So I spend almost all daylight hours in the open air." Nice work if you can get it.

These days fall is also an ideal time to assess your financial security - before the inevitable ramping up of workplace pressures and in time to affect this year's tax filings.

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Here's a painless eight-step program - from retirement and insurance planning to health care and philanthropy - that not only protects your future but also helps you take advantage of new tax twists (kiddie tax trap; see No. 8) that can save money and reduce anxiety. Getting your financial house in order casts its own warm glow, freeing you to enjoy falling leaves with the peace of mind Hawthorne sought long ago.

1. Rebalance your 401(k)

2. Revisit your estate plan

3. Sock it away

4. Give smarter

5. Review your health plan

6. Clean up your taxable account

7. Do a property insurance checkup

8. Check the new credits and taxes

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.