Why You Need a Yearly Financial Check-up

Start Your New Year on a Strong Financial Foundation

The new year is just around the corner. It is a natural time to reflect on the year gone by and plan for the future. We think about aspirations, resolutions, and the person we want to become.

Yet, in the rush of becoming the “New You,” one critical link between today and tomorrow is often overlooked: money.

Every plan whether it is getting back in shape, eating healthy, travelling more or buying a home, pursuing higher education, taking a break or retiring early needs financial readiness. That is why, before getting caught up in new year resolutions, it is wise to pause and conduct a yearly financial check-up.

Just like an annual health check-up helps identify issues early, a yearly financial check-up is a powerful habit that keeps your financial life on track. It helps you understand where you stand today and map a realistic route to where you want to go, before decisions are made by default.

A financial check-up doesn’t have to be complex. At a high level, it involves three simple steps:

1. Review Your Current Financial Position

Take stock of your investments across asset classes, assess your income, expenses and savings, check your loans and liabilities, review your emergency funds and insurance coverage and check your progress towards short-term and long-term goals.

The objective is to be aware of your financial situation.

2. Schedule a Review with Your Advisor

A review meeting with your financial advisor brings an external, objective perspective. It helps you to understand risks, test your assumptions, and ensure that your financial plan is still relevant for your life stage and market conditions.

3. Take Corrective Actions

Based on the review, if required you may adjust your savings rate, rebalance investments, adjust asset allocation, update goals, timelines, or contribution levels and overall fix gaps from your current level to desired financial destination.

Doing this before the new year begins ensures that your resolutions are built on a solid financial base.

Plus, you get additional three months to adjust and settle in the new plan before the financial new year and salary increment season begins.  

Introducing the Financial Report Card by VeridianFin

To make this process structured and simple, I have created a Financial Report Card for your personal financial check-up.

It is a guided workbook which will help you pause, reflect, and document your financial position so that you can make informed decisions.

To get the most value from the report, use it thoughtfully:

• Do not rush. Read the entire report first before filling anything. Spend a day or two thinking about each section.  
• Discuss it with your family, involve your partner and children. These conversations are important to ensure alignment, transparency, and shared ownership of financial goals.
• Take a printout, or note down responses in a separate notebook. Fill it honestly, without trying to “optimise” numbers. It is a snapshot, not a judgement.
• Reflect if your financial habits are aligned with your life goals.  
• Your financial position evolves constantly. Income changes, expenses creep up, goals shift, and markets move. So, revisit it every year to observe progress and drift.

If at any point the process feels overwhelming, calculations feel tedious, or the results feel unclear, that is exactly where professional guidance adds value. Feel free to contact us for your queries or feedback.

Before you commit to new goals and resolutions this year, invest a little time in building the right foundation.

Your future self will thank you for it.