This year, we've spent a lot of time focusing on financial planning. An often-overlooked part of a well-rounded financial plan is making sure your estate plan is current and aligned with your goals.

You may find yourself in one of these situations:

• You've been meaning to create or update your estate plan but haven't gotten around to it yet.
• You'd like more control over how your assets are passed on to your beneficiaries.
• Your family or personal circumstances have changed, and you're wondering whether your documents still reflect your wishes.
• It's been a while since you've reviewed your estate planning documents, and you'd like a refresher.

Whatever your situation, periodic review can help ensure your estate plan continues to support the people and priorities that matter most to you.

To help you evaluate where things stand, we've put together a checklist covering 19 key estate planning considerations: What Issues Should I Consider Before I Update My Estate Plan. As you review the checklist, consider whether any of the items apply to you. You may decide it’s time to create an estate plan, update existing documents, address changes in your life, or simply gain confidence that your current plan remains appropriate.

If you'd like to discuss any questions that come up, we're happy to help. Feel free to reach out to schedule a conversation, or use our online calendar: 30 Minute Call with Align Financial.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Do you remember leaving anonymous baskets of flowers on your neighbors’ doorsteps on May Day? I did it a few times, though I have even stronger memories of making paper flowers for our moms back in elementary school. May 1 always felt special — it carried the promise of the school year winding down and long summer days ahead, filled with bike rides, crawdad fishing, and games of tag that lasted until dark.

At Align, we’re just as grateful for this seasonal shift, the close of tax season and the arrival of summer. This year, we’re working toward meeting face-to-face with each of you at least once in 2026, reviewing tax returns to fine-tune your investment strategies, and continuing to elevate the level of service we provide. On May 9, we’ll be sponsoring the Cruisin' for a Cause Car, Truck & Cycle Show at Stonebridge United Methodist Church in McKinney. If you’re out and about, we’d love for you to stop by and say hello.

One way we’re enhancing our service is through comprehensive financial planning. We now offer interactive software that allows you to adjust goals or income inputs and immediately see how those changes could affect your long-term financial outlook. Building an accurate plan does take some time and effort in the first year as we gather the necessary information, but once it’s in place, annual updates are much more streamlined. When you’re ready to get started, just let us know — we’re here to help.

Market Minute:
What a year it’s been so far. We’ve seen record highs, sharp drops, and then another climb to new highs again. (Of course, by the time you read this, the market may have shifted yet again — it’s been quite a ride.) While we believe that 2026 returns will be more modest than 2025, the truth is no one has a crystal ball that tells the future. What we do have, however, are disciplined, well-founded investment strategies designed to help you navigate whatever the market brings.

Finally, if you have friends, family members, or colleagues who could benefit from a thoughtful, personalized approach to financial planning, we would be honored by your introduction. Your referrals mean a great deal to us, and we appreciate the trust you place in Align.

Now that another tax season is behind us — congratulations! Before you file away your tax return, please take a moment to send us a copy.

Reviewing your full tax return helps us better understand your financial picture. It allows us to:

• Confirm your tax bracket to better assess investment selections
• Evaluate capital gains and applicable tax rates
• Identify whether IRMAA applies to you
• Explore opportunities like Roth conversions

This information plays a key role in helping us refine and personalize your financial plan. With your most recent return, we can ensure our recommendations are accurate and aligned with your goals.

Please upload your full tax return (all pages) via this secure link: Secure Uploads

Please note that our software is only effective if you attach the entire return.

If you have any questions or need assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out — we’re happy to help.

We wanted to take a moment to let you know that we are closely monitoring how current geopolitical and domestic events are affecting the markets.

From a human perspective, this has been a significant and emotional week. From a market perspective, activity has increased, but movements so far remain within relatively recent ranges. Markets tend to dislike uncertainty, and military developments, particularly in the Middle East, naturally introduce more of it. While the current U.S. actions appear broader than some of the more limited operations undertaken in the past, the long-term scope and impact remain uncertain.

Importantly, events like these do not change our long-term outlook or the strategic plans we have in place for your portfolio, and they shouldn’t change your investment approach either. Our investment philosophy is built around long-term discipline. Short-term market reactions to important events are a normal part of investing in securities; sometimes to the good, sometimes not. And it’s also normal to be a bit unsettled during the “not” times.

At times like this, market movements may create opportunities for us to rebalance portfolios. Keep in mind, as part of our daily processes we monitor allocations and evaluate adjustments when positions move outside their target ranges. If recent declines persist and shift the balances, we will continue as planned and evaluate any changes with an eye on your specific situation.

Market fluctuations are also one of the reasons many of you maintain a “safe bucket” to fund regular distributions. We typically replenish those reserves when they reach approximately 11 – 13 months remaining. If replenishment is needed during a period of elevated uncertainty, we may wait for a clearer near-term picture before selling assets, when possible.

To provide some additional context, the first chart below shows the level of the S&P 500 Index (SPX) over the past year.

• The purple line represents the day-to-day movements of the index.
• The orange line shows the 50-day moving average, which smooths out short-term fluctuations and highlights the market’s intermediate trend.
• The blue line shows the 200-day moving average, a longer-term measure often used to understand the market’s broader direction.

The second chart presents this same information over the past five years, providing a longer-term perspective.

Short-term news events, such as those we’ve seen recently, and similar periods like April/May 2025 and COVID, tend to affect the purple line most noticeably. However, our long-term investment strategies are guided much more by the broader trend represented by the blue line, which reflects the market’s direction over time rather than day-to-day headlines.

S&P 500 Daily Levels and Moving Averages – One Year

S&P 500 Daily Levels and Moving Averages – Five Year

We will continue to monitor events closely. Like you, we hope that global leaders and those they represent can move toward a peaceful and lasting resolution.

As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would simply like to talk through what you’re seeing in the news.

Love is in the air — and here at Align, we love connecting with our clients. If you haven’t heard from us yet, you will soon! We’re committed to meeting with each of our clients at least once a year (and more often if needed) to make sure your plan stays aligned with your goals.

Open House Update Thank you to everyone who braved the lingering sleet to attend our Open House. It was a wonderful evening, and we truly enjoyed seeing so many of you there. The votes are in for our Build Your Wealth Path Wall!

• First Place: Build a Lasting Legacy
• Tied for Second: Fund a Comfortable Retirement & Pay for Vacation

Thanks to everyone who participated and collected golden tickets for our door prize drawings. All prizes — including restaurant gift cards and a $100 Visa gift card — have been delivered. We had such a great time that we’re already looking forward to doing it again!

1099s
No one loves taxes, but tax season is here. Schwab issues composite 1099s only for accounts that meet one of the following conditions:

• $10 or more in dividend income
• $10 or more in interest, royalties, or original issue discount income
• A reportable buy/sell transaction

If you have an IRA and did not take a distribution, you will not receive a 1099.

The first batch of 1099s, primarily for IRAs with taxable events, is largely available now. The next batch is available today, February 13. If you want to download your tax information into your tax software, that feature, for any already-produced tax documents, is also available today. The third batch will be available on February 27. Custodians like Schwab generally file an extension to the February 15 deadline for producing tax documents, which means it is possible your tax documents will not be available until March 15.

Here’s the tricky part: we at Align do not know which “batch” your 1099 will be in. Schwab generates 1099s as they receive final tax information from the investment funds, and there is no way to predict when that information will arrive. As we mentioned, most IRA accounts should have been available in the first batch. However, accounts holding investments such as REITs or UITs may not have finalized information until the second or third batch.

The key is patience — and good communication with your tax preparer. Schwab has also added a “1099 Dashboard” in Schwab Alliance to help you track the progress of your forms.

Additional Senior Deduction
Our clients of a certain age may love this temporary but significant deduction from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Additional Senior Deduction allows an extra $6,000 deduction on your federal income tax return if you are turning 65 or older in 2025. The deduction applies for tax years 2025 through 2028.

Here’s how it works:

• The deduction begins to phase out at a Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) of $75,000 for single filers and $150,000 for those married filing jointly.
• It is reduced by 6% of the amount over the threshold and is fully phased out at $175,001 for singles and $250,001 for joint filers.

Why does this matter? The years between retirement and age 72, when Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) begin, can offer a unique window for strategic Roth conversions. Balancing a Roth conversion strategy with the MAGI requirement for the Additional Senior Deduction during this period may help reduce your tax burden and enhance the efficiency of your retirement savings.

We’re already working with many of our clients nearing retirement to incorporate these changes into their plans. If we haven’t connected with you yet, rest assured — we will soon. And as always, if you’d like to get a head start or have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We're here to help you make the most of every opportunity.

Blueleaf
As promised in January we will be rolling out access to Blueleaf, a secure platform that provides account aggregation, on-demand investment performance information, a secure document portal, and a view into your current financial plan in RightCapital. Look for your invitation to Blueleaf the week of February 23.

As we start the new year, we want to thank you for the trust you’ve placed in our firm. Our first year of operations has been a strong one — focused on serving our clients well while also making meaningful improvements to our processes, tools, and overall experience. We’re proud of the foundation we’ve built and are excited about what lies ahead.

For 2026, we’ve set several goals aimed at deepening our relationships and continuing to enhance the value we provide:

• Regular check-ins: We plan to meet with you at least twice during the year — once in the spring and once in the fall — to review progress, answer questions, and ensure your plan remains aligned with your goals.
• Expanded portfolio opportunities: We are actively investigating and performing our due diligence on additional investment options. These include foreign investments as well as select alternative investment funds that can complement a diversified portfolio.
• Greater focus on tax strategies: We intend to place more emphasis on tax-aware planning and coordination, helping you consider strategies that may improve after-tax outcomes over time.
• Enhanced AFA operations: We will continue strengthening our infrastructure and internal processes to deliver smoother operations, clearer communication, and an even better overall client experience. As an initial enhancement in

2026, we are introducing Blueleaf — a secure platform that provides account aggregation, on-demand investment performance information, a secure document portal, and a view into your current financial plan in RightCapital.

We’d also love to hear from you. Please tell us how things are going in your life, especially if you anticipate needing additional services in 2026 or in the future.

Your input helps us plan proactively and serve you more effectively.

Mark your calendar! Join us for our first Open House on Thursday, January 29, from 4:00–7:30 PM at our main office, 6401 Eldorado Parkway, McKinney, TX 75070.

List of services

• Financial Planning
• Retirement planning or retirement income analysis
• Tax planning coordination or strategy discussions
• Education funding planning
• Cash flow or savings strategy reviews
• Investment management
• Investment or portfolio strategy reviews
• Financial planning support for major life transitions (career changes, business events, inheritance, etc.)

We look forward to another year working together and wish you and your family a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year.

As we approach the end of the year — and before the holiday season is in full swing — now is a great time to review time-sensitive financial planning opportunities. You might be:

• Thinking about making year-end gifts to charitable organizations or family members and need help determining the most effective funding strategy;
• Looking to reduce your 2025 tax liability through loss harvesting or other income-reduction tactics; or
• Hoping to step back and take a high-level look at your financial picture to ensure you're not missing opportunities that expire with the calendar year.

Whatever your goals, this is a critical time for us to connect.

With so many deadlines and distractions this time of year, it’s easy to overlook important planning windows. To help keep you on track, we’ve created a year-end planning checklist that highlights 15 key considerations.

This checklist is meant to spark ideas and guide your thinking — it’s broad by design and not every item will apply to your situation. That’s why we’re here to help you identify what’s most relevant to your goals and make any necessary adjustments before year-end.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to schedule a time to talk.

Schwab sent out a lengthy list of deadlines which can best be summarized by saying schedule or write your checks for any year-end distributions, tax payments, or charitable contributions by December 1, 2025. This will give them time to be processed for the 2025 year end. Also, please note that due to some changes happening at Schwab, they have set a deadline of December 1 for year-end wire transfers. We will be contacting clients we know are impacted by these deadlines, but if you are changing or adding something this year, please reach out to us so we can help you set things up prior to December 1.

We look forward to helping you close out the year on the right financial footing.

Back in early April, “Liberation Day” jolted the markets — stocks plunged, bonds wobbled, and safe havens briefly had their moment. But just as quickly, Washington hit pause on tariffs, and investors drove a sharp rebound that erased losses within weeks. Fast-forward to September, and the story feels different. Instead of a single shock with a quick recovery, markets are navigating steady bouts of volatility, sticky inflation, and uncertainty about the pace of rate cuts. The encouraging part: even with the bumps, corporate earnings have held up, investors are adjusting to the new backdrop, and markets are showing resilience. Think of April as a sprint through turbulence; September feels more like a long hike on uneven ground — but one that’s still trending uphill.

Then there’s the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Behind its shiny name are a number of changes that touch individual investors directly — adjustments to retirement account contribution limits, new rules around required distributions, tweaks to how investment income is reported, and even some potential tax credits for savers. While the fine print isn’t exactly bedside reading, it does create opportunities to revisit how you’re saving, investing, and planning for the years ahead. That’s where we come in: helping you translate legislative jargon into smart decisions for your portfolio and financial plan.

On a more “personal” level, we recently changed the registration for our firm from the SEC to the Texas State Securities Board and have attached our new regulatory documents as a result. Registering initially with the SEC allowed us to get up and running much more quickly (4 ½ weeks vs 5 months), but it required us to reach a specific level of assets under management within the first four months of being registered. We are close (thanks to you!) but not quite close enough to remain SEC registered (and we expect to be required to change back within the next year). This change has no effect on our relationship with you or how we serve you, just on whose regulatory rules we follow (and most are the same) and by whom our firm can/will be examined for compliance.

Next month marks one year since we opened our doors. In that time, we’ve grown from little more than a vision and a lot of determination into a firm serving clients across multiple states. We’ve added new planning tools, broadened the ways we can support you, and — most importantly — built relationships we truly value. Think of it as compounding, but with trust instead of interest.

Thank you for being part of this first chapter. As we look ahead, one of the best ways you can help us grow is by sharing your good experiences with friends or colleagues who might benefit from working with us — we’d be honored to extend the same care and guidance to them. We’re excited for what’s ahead (and promise to keep reading the “beautiful” bills so you don’t have to).

Shouldn’t we be DOING something? Why am I invested in these funds that are losing money? Can we invest in something that isn’t affected by all this volatility? I’m planning to retire; I can’t afford to lose all this money!!!

Take a deep breath. And another. How about one more for good measure?

Ok, we absolutely know the anxiety brought on by seeing “red” when you check your accounts. It’s not necessarily our favorite thing to see for many reasons, most importantly because we know it’s causing you no small measure of concern.

We share this concern and would like to offer some perspective on the recent market volatility and hopefully put your mind at ease a bit. The last time “the market” (we’re using the S&P 500 index to represent “the market” here) was around the same level at which it closed yesterday (March 13, 2025) was around September 10/11, 2024 – roughly six months ago. Try to think how you felt about your portfolio balances back then? We realize that seems like a long time ago, but you can do it!

By the end of the year, it was up about 7% from early September and a bit over 20% since the first part of 2024 – not bad!

Things continued to get better through January and until February 19, 2025, when the S&P closed at $6,144.15, just below its all-time high of $6,147.43, which it had reached earlier that day.

In the 16 completed trading days since then, we’ve seen more down than up – about twice as many days where the S&P 500 closed lower than the day before than those where it closed higher. And the increases on those “higher” days generally haven’t been as large as the decreases on the “lower” days.

Given yesterday’s closing prices, your account balances should be somewhere around what they were in September 2024 (excluding additions and withdrawals, of course).

We get it, you aren’t investing to maintain the status quo, but thinking about your balances today in relation to where they were just six months ago may help with some of the anxiety over the recent declines from all-time highs. If you were feeling ok about them just a few months ago, you should be able to use that perspective to let go of some of the worry.

If you still have some concern, you may be considering “getting out” until things get better. However, please consider that getting out when the market is down makes the recent decline in paper value a real permanent loss. This would likely end in a counter-productive “buy” when the market rises and is the opposite of “buy low, sell high.”

One of the reasons you work with us is to help you through these times. Please remember we have a plan that includes investments with a long history of coming back after they go down and having a plan helps us take the emotion out of buy/sell decisions in a portfolio. It makes us make smart decisions, rather than reactionary ones. Best of all, it keeps us from buying high and selling low.

We are watching your accounts – every market day. Checking to see if your holdings are too far from their targets and adjusting when the plan says we should. Making sure the funds we’ve selected are doing what we expect them to do. And, hopefully, minimizing the worry about your investments – you have enough other things on your plate!

A few final thoughts. As part of our strategic approach, we regularly set aside two years’ worth of anticipated withdrawals in cash or securities that are not affected by market volatility. We “refill” this bucket as opportunities arise throughout the year, helping us avoid needing to sell when the market is down. So, rest easier if you are concerned about having cash for the more short-term needs we’ve already discussed and planned for.

For those of you who may subscribe to the adage of never letting a crisis go to waste… perhaps this is a good time to discuss investing more. If you have some funds sitting on the sideline and were considering investing them, let us know and we can help put that money to work for you.