Once you’ve started contributing to your 401(k) plan and funded it with investments that are appropriate for your needs, you might think you’re in good shape and that your 401(k) is now on “autopilot.”  

But that type of thinking can actually be counterproductive, because to get the maximum benefits from your 401(k), you’ll need to revise it over time to reflect changes in your life and in the investments that make up your plan.

That’s why it’s a smart move to review your 401(k) holdings annually — and when this year is winding down is as good a time as any to see what you’ve got, where you’ve been and where you might be headed.

What should you look for when you review your 401(k)?

First and foremost, make sure you’re saving enough to help reach your retirement goals — or that you’re at least putting away as much as you can possibly afford.

Next, evaluatewhether your investment mix is still suitable for your individual goals, risk tolerance and time horizon. You might be surprised at how much your holdings can “evolve” without your having done anything to them.

For example, during long bull markets, the value of your 401(k)’s stock-based accounts may have risen substantially, and you might find that these accounts now make up a greater percentage of your portfolio than you had originally intended. As a result, you’re now taking on more risk than you’d like.

Conversely, during a bear market, the percentage of conservative investments in your plan — such as bonds and other fixed-income vehicles — may grow to such an extent, relative to your stocks, that your 401(k) may not be providing you with the growth opportunities you need to pay for the retirement you’ve envisioned.

To prevent either of these scenarios, you may need to periodically “rebalance” your 401(k). Your life’s circumstances provide you with another reason to review your 401(k)’s investment mix.

When you begin your career, you may decide to invest more aggressively in your 401(k) because you have many years to go until you retire. Consequently, you have time to potentially overcome the “down” markets that will inevitably occur.

But as you get closer to retirement, you obviously have fewer years to make up for lost ground, so you might decide to lower your risk level by shifting some of your assets out of stock-based accounts into more conservative ones.

Still, you could be retired for two or three decades, so you will still need some growth elements in your 401(k) to help stay ahead of inflation.

As you review and rebalance your 401(k) over time, become familiar with the rules governing your plan. Your 401(k) might allow you to reallocate your investment dollars as often as you like, but if you change investments too frequently, you could be charged redemption fees. If you rack up a bunch of these fees, you may well end up lowering your overall rate of return.

So, review your 401(k) at least once a year and make changes whenever necessary — but don’t go overboard.

By making the right moves at the right time, you can help ensure that your 401(k) will be a key element of your retirement savings.

Yvonne Shanklin is a Crestview financial adviser. This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones financial adviser.    

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FINANCIAL FOCUS: Time for your annual 401(k) review

As 2014 draws to a close, you may want to look back on the progress you’ve made this past year in various areas of your life.

And that certainly includes progress toward your financial goals.

At the same time, you may want to make some end-of-year moves that can close out 2014 on a positive note while paving the way for a productive 2015.

Here are a few such moves to consider:

• Boost your retirement plan contributions. This actually isn’t an “end-of-year” move because you have until April 15, 2015, to contribute to your Roth or Traditional IRA for the 2014 tax year.

Nonetheless, the sooner you get extra dollars working for you in your IRA, the better. You can put in up to $5,500 to your IRA (or $6,500 if you’re 50 or older) for 2014. If you are self-employed, or run a small business, you also have until April 15 to contribute to a retirement account, such as a SEP IRA or a SIMPLE plan.

In addition to helping you build resources for retirement, these types of plans can offer you some tax advantages —  so if you haven’t established a retirement plan yet, consult with your financial and tax professionals

• Sell your “losers.” If you own investments that have lost value since you purchased them, you can sell them before 2014 ends and use the tax loss to offset some capital gains you may have earned in other investments.

If you don’t have any capital gains, you can use up to $3,000 of your tax losses to offset other ordinary income. And for a loss greater than $3,000, you can “carry over” the excess and deduct it from your taxes in future years.

If you still liked the investment that you sold at a loss, and you want to keep it in your portfolio, you could repurchase it, but you’ll have to wait 31 days to avoid violating the IRS’ “wash sale” rules.

Keep in mind that these suggestions only apply to investments held outside your employer-sponsored retirement account; you can’t take a tax deduction on capital losses in a 401(k) or similar plan.

• Evaluate your 401(k) investment mix. You may be able to adjust the investment mix in your 401(k) as often as you like.

So when evaluating your 401(k), make sure your holdings aren’t concentrated in just a few investments, and try to determine if your portfolio is still appropriate for your risk tolerance — not too aggressive or too conservative.

Also, if your plan offers a “Roth” option, consider taking advantage of it — with a Roth, you won’t be able to deduct your 401(k) contributions from your taxes, but once you retire, you won’t be taxed on your withdrawals.

• Review your insurance coverage. If you’ve experienced any changes in your life in 2014 — new spouse, new child, divorce, new job, etc. — you may need to review your life insurance coverage to make sure that it’s still sufficient for your needs and that you have the correct beneficiaries in place.

By making these and other moves, you can say a fond farewell to 2014, knowing that you’ve done what you could to help bolster your financial position — for 2015 and beyond.

Edward Jones, its employees and financial advisors are not estate planners and cannot provide tax or legal advice. You should consult your estate-planning attorney or qualified tax advisor regarding your situation.

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by Yvonne Shanklin, a Crestview financial adviser.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FINANCIAL FOCUS: Check out this year-end financial checklist

At its Nov. 21 meeting in Key Largo, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved draft rule proposals aimed at managing Florida’s white-tailed deer at a local level by establishing deer management units (DMUs) throughout the state, each with its own set of antler regulations and antlerless deer harvest days.

Commissioners will take a final vote on the proposals at their next meeting in February. If passed, the changes would go into effect for the 2015-2016 hunting season.

The purpose of the proposals is to manage deer on a more local scale, tailored to habitat quality, characteristics of the local deer herd and preferences of local hunters and other stakeholders.

Two DMUs have already been created in northwest Florida’s Hunting Zone D (which includes Okaloosa and Escambia counties) and have been in effect during this current hunting season. If these proposals pass, there would be 10 additional DMUs in the rest of the state, seven in Northeast and Central Florida, and three in South Florida.

These rules were proposed because hunters had been asking the FWC to manage deer at a smaller geographic scale, the way many other states do. Many hunters surveyed wanted larger deer populations, more bucks in the population and a better chance to see and harvest heavier and larger-antlered deer.

These new antler regulations would protect most 1.5-year-old bucks and, if passed, would apply to all lands (private property, public land, wildlife management areas) within each DMU. However, youth (15 years old and younger) hunters in all DMUs would be exempt from the increased antler restrictions and would be able to continue to take antlered deer with at least a 5-inch antler.

According to the proposal, antlerless deer season on private lands would be modified in all of the 10 new DMUs. These newly proposed antlerless deer days reflect public input from farmers, landowners and hunters on how they would like to see the deer population managed in their unit.

For more details on these proposed changes and to learn more about deer management units, go to MyFWC.com/Deer.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Deer management units, new antler measures may expand statewide

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is rolling out nine new Grand Slams Nov. 29, which is the last Saltwater License Free Fishing day of 2014. The requirement to have a saltwater recreational fishing license when fishing for saltwater species is waived for Florida residents and visitors on license-free fishing days.

Catch any of the new Saltwater Grand Slams on Nov. 29 and use #FWCSlam to share a photograph collage of your catches on Instagram or Twitter, and you could receive a prize bag filled with goodies for your next fishing trip.

“Rolling out the new Saltwater Grand Slam program on a License Free Fishing Day is just one more reason to get out there and explore all the wonderful fishing opportunities Florida has to offer,” said Nick Wiley, FWC executive director. “These challenges encourage new anglers to participate and give seasoned anglers an exciting goal to reach for.”

Grand Slams challenge anglers to catch three specific fish species in a 24-hour period. By encouraging anglers to target multiple species during fishing trips, the grand slam program entices anglers to learn more about Florida’s vast recreational fishing opportunities.

NEW CATEGORIES

•Inshore Grand Slam: red drum, spotted seatrout, flounder

•Family Slam: any three fish in the same family (example: red drum, black drum and spotted seatrout)

•Blue Water Slam: dolphinfish, sailfish, wahoo

•Florida Grand Slam: permit, tarpon, bonefish

•Shoreline Slam: sheepshead, kingfish(whiting), Florida pompano

•Reefs and Rubble Slam: black sea bass, gag, gray triggerfish

•Nearshore Slam: cobia, tripletail, king mackerel

•Bay and Estuary Slam: gray (mangrove) snapper, snook, Spanish mackerel

•Small Fry Slam (for children 15 and under): pinfish, grunt, catfish

Anglers who share their Grand Slam with us on Twitter or Instagram are also encouraged to submit their catch information to the official Grand Slam program.

For more information or to apply for a Grand Slam, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater” and “Angler Recognition,” or send an email to AnglerRecognition@MyFWC.com.

All catches, past and present, are eligible as long as they can be documented. Successful anglers will receive a certificate signed by both the executive director of the FWC and the president of the International Game Fish Association, as well as a colorful shirt in recognition of their achievement. "Grand Slammers" may also be recognized on the FWC website, Facebook page or the Saltwater Regulations publication.

As always, the FWC encourages responsible angling. Remember proper fish handling techniques when fishing. Anglers do not have to harvest their fish to be eligible, and are encouraged to release their catches alive.

The next freshwater license-free fishing days are April 4 and 5. The next saltwater license-free fishing days are June 6 and 7. All bag limits, seasons and size restrictions apply on these dates.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Commission announces license-free fishing day, Grand Slam details

Camellias can serve several functions in the landscape: as foundation plantings, screens, accent plants, background groupings and hedges.

Northwest Florida's growing conditions are well suited for many camellia varieties, but maximum benefit can be achieved by mass plantings or groupings. Single plants should be a focal point in beds rather than randomly placed throughout the lawn. 

BLOOMING SEASON

Camellias flower in the fall and winter, when their display of colorful blooms is most appreciated.

During the rest of the year, their evergreen foliage, interesting shapes and textures, and relatively slow growth make camellias excellent landscape plants. 

Some camellia growers enjoy competing in flower shows and manipulate the flower buds to achieve larger and earlier flowers.  This involves removing competing flower buds and applying gibberellic acid (a plant hormone).

Individual cultivars can be selected for size and form ranging from small and irregular to large and upright. 

Texture and foliage color also differ among the various species and multiple varieties. Midseason flowering varieties that bloom from November through January are best suited for Florida conditions. 

BULL-NOSING

Warm fall temperatures may prevent early varieties from flowering properly. Late-blooming selections may attempt to send out new leaves before the end of the flowering period, which results in “bullnoses."

Bull-nosing is characterized by poor quality flowers that do not open fully, and may even drop while still tight buds. Extended dry periods while in the bud stage can make the condition more likely.

While flowering, camellias need 1 inch of water applied each week. Camellias perform best in partially shaded locations that are enhanced by good drainage and air movement.

Fertile, acidic soils high in organic matter are preferred. The soil must be well drained because camellias will not grow in wet areas. 

WHERE TO PLANT

Do not plant camellias in areas with a high-water table and/or hard pan. This will result in a shallow root system more susceptible to injury during dry periods.

Camellias should be installed where cold air can move in and out freely, but the area should be protected from strong northwest winds.

Plantings under established trees or in areas that have structures to block the wind are usually injured less by cold temperatures. These conditions enable the plants to gradually thaw or warm in the morning before being exposed to direct sunlight.

Dense shade may result in sparse foliage and poor flowering. Camellias exposed to full sun may appear yellow-green, but may yield more flowers. 

Either situation is stressful to the plants and can lead to pest problems. Tea scale is the most common insect on camellias. Scales generally feed on the underside of leaves and may not be noticed until large populations have developed.

Symptoms include very small elongated white and/or brown raised “flakes” on the underside of leaves that turning yellowish in color.

DID YOU KNOW?

•Camellias have been a part of the Southeastern United States' landscape for over 200 years. They are native to Asia and were introduced near Charleston, S.C., in 1786.

•The common name camellia refers to varieties and hybrids of Camellia japonica and to lesser known varieties of C. sasanqua and C. reticulata.

Sheila Dunning is an agent at the University of Florida's Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EXTENSION CONNECTION: Camellias provide color during cold season