Learn/Budgeting
BudgetingIntermediate5 min read

The annual money review

Once a year, 90 minutes, with coffee. The single most valuable money habit you can adopt.

Monthly check-ins are for day-to-day awareness. The annual review is for big-picture recalibration. It's where you notice patterns the monthly view misses, update goals that have gotten stale, and celebrate wins you've forgotten about. Pick a consistent date — New Year's Day, your birthday, the day you started your current job — and treat it as non-negotiable.

The agenda

  1. Update net worth. Record the single number and compare to last year.
  2. Review income. Did you earn what you expected? Where did it come from? Did it grow?
  3. Review spending by big category. Any categories that ballooned? Any you'd cut going forward?
  4. Review savings rate. Percentage of after-tax income saved this year vs. last year.
  5. Retirement check. Are contributions on track? Does the account balance align with your age-appropriate targets?
  6. Goals review. Which did you hit? Which still matter? Which need updating?
  7. Insurance review. Has your life changed in ways that require more or less coverage?
  8. Set 3 specific money goals for the year ahead. Not resolutions — goals with numbers and dates.
Keep a one-page log
Start a simple document — net worth, savings rate, salary, biggest wins, biggest lessons, goals for next year. One page per year. Ten years from now, it's a financial autobiography that took 90 minutes a year to create.

Put this into practice

Worth tracks your accounts, budgets, and goals — so the concepts in this article aren't just theory.

Get started free