There are some special tax breaks for members of the military and their families. If you're in this group, here are some tips:

Moving expenses. Service members who are on active duty and move because of a permanent change of station can deduct the reasonable unreimbursed expenses of moving.

Combat pay. Enlisted persons and warrant officers who serve in a combat zone for any part of a month can exclude all military pay for that month from their income. Officers also can exclude a limited amount of pay.

Joint returns. Spouses who are not available to sign a joint income-tax return due to military duty may use a power of attorney or IRS Form 2848 to file the return.

During the transition to civilian life, you may be able to deduct certain job search and/or moving expenses. You should also remember to meet with your financial professional to make sure you have adequate insurance coverage.

FINRA Reference #FR2012-1030-0152/E 02/04/13

If you're considering starting a family, your focus may be on cribs, strollers and car seats. While all these items may be necessary, it's also important to make sure you are financially prepared. Here are a few financial preparations you may want to make before you welcome your bundle of joy.

Check your health care coverage 
It's a good idea to check your health care plan's maternity and pediatric coverage. You'll want to know if there are any out-of-pocket expenses you should budget for. And to avoid a gap in coverage, find out if you need to add your child to your policy within a certain number of days of his or her birth.

Figure out child care 
If one parent plans to stop working to stay home with the baby, you may need to adjust your spending now to accommodate a future change in income. If you intend to hire a child care provider, you may want to start your research well in advance since some providers have waiting lists. Also find out if your employer offers a dependent-care flexible spending account that would allow you to set aside pretax dollars for qualified expenses.

Do you have adequate disability income insurance? 
Having a family means greater financial responsibilities. What if you weren't able to work due to an illness or injury? Short- and/or long-term disability income insurance could help replace all or a portion of your earnings for a period of time. If employer-provided disability income insurance isn't adequate, consider purchasing an individual policy.

What about your will? 
It will be important to update your will to name a guardian for your child and provide instruc­tions on who should manage any inheritance. Without a will, state law and a court might make these decisions.

Look at your life insurance
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates it could cost the average U.S. family about $235,000 (in 2011 dollars) to raise a child through age 17. And this estimate doesn't include the cost of college. You'll want to make sure you have enough life insurance to provide for your child's future. Also make sure a stay-at-home parent has sufficient coverage since, if something happened, the surviving parent would likely need extra money to cover the cost of child care.

FINRA Reference #FR2012-1030-0144/E 02/04/13

Americans born between 1957 and 1964 held an average of 11 jobs between the ages of 18 and 44.* As people in this group approach retirement, they could potentially have upwards of 11 different employer-sponsored retirement plan accounts to keep track of and manage.

Even if you have only a couple of accounts in former employers' retirement plans, now may be the time for you to consolidate them into one individual retirement arrangement (IRA) — for several good reasons.

Advantages of consolidating 
Rolling over assets from multiple retirement plan accounts to an IRA helps maintain tax benefits while consolidating the accounts into one, easy-to-monitor account.

Also, having your retirement assets in one IRA can simplify the process of periodically rebalancing your investment mix to reflect the asset allocation** you have worked out with your financial professional. You can view all your retirement assets in one account, rather than as several accounts that have to be considered together but rebalanced separately.

Direct rollover is best 
The most tax-effective way to move your employer retirement plan assets to an IRA is to have the retirement plan transfer them directly to the custodian of the IRA. That way, you won't have to worry about tax withholding and can keep all your assets tax deferred. (You can have money that's in a designated Roth 401(k), Roth 403(b) or Roth 457(b) account transferred to a Roth IRA.)

You can also transfer assets from a pretax plan account to a Roth IRA, but you'll have to pay current income tax on the taxable portion of the transfer. See "Would a Roth Conversion Work for You?" on the back page for more details.

Before consolidating your retirement plan accounts, touch base with your financial professional and tax advisor to compare the costs of the current plan, the rollover (if any) and the new IRA to help ensure you receive the maximum benefits of such a move.

* U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics News Release, September 10, 2010

** Asset allocation does not guarantee a profit or protect against losses.

FINRA Reference #FR2012-1030-0152/E 02/04/13