Many people look at their finances once a year, usually during tax season or at year-end. They are missing valuable opportunities to improve their long-term financial results.
While doing an annual review is better than nothing, that schedule tends to limit your options, coming too late to make certain adjustments or too early in the year to account for the realities in the market.
A late-summer financial checkup is one of the simplest habits you can adopt and gives you time to make any necessary adjustments well before the year ends. It’s not about making dramatic changes or trying to predict what the market will do next. Instead, it’s about making sure your financial plan still reflects your life, your goals, and the reality of where you stand today.
Life changes. Markets change. Tax laws evolve. Your financial plan should evolve along with them.
With that in mind, we have put together this 8-step checklist for conducting a practical mid-year review.
And on a final note, because this checklist intersects with tax and retirement planning, make sure you speak with an accountant or tax professional for individual guidance.
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Step 1: Has Your Life Changed?
Start with the most important question: Has anything in your life changed since you last reviewed your financial plan?
Many people focus on their portfolios while overlooking changes that matter far more.
Even positive events can require financial adjustments.
A paid-off mortgage, for example, may free up thousands of dollars each year that can now be invested. A new grandchild might prompt you to begin funding a 529 education savings plan. Retirement could shift your focus from accumulating assets to generating reliable income.
These life events often have a much larger impact on your financial future than short-term market movements.
Step 2: Revisit Your Goals
Once you’ve reviewed your current situation, revisit your financial goals. Are they still the same?
Perhaps your retirement timeline has changed. Maybe you’re now saving for a second home, planning more travel, or helping children with college expenses.
Goals should be specific and measurable. Instead of simply saying, “I want to retire comfortably,” define what that means.
How much annual income will you need?
When do you hope to retire?
How much flexibility do you want for travel, hobbies, or charitable giving?
Your investment strategy should support your goals, not the other way around.
Step 3: Review Your Asset Allocation
Markets rarely (never?) move evenly. At this point in the year, your portfolio may no longer reflect the allocation you originally intended.
If your target allocation was 60% stocks, 35% bonds, and 5% cash, your portfolio might now be closer to 68% stocks and only 27% bonds. That means you’re taking more risk than you originally planned.
Rebalancing simply means bringing your investments back toward your desired allocation. This often involves trimming positions that have grown significantly and adding to areas that have become underrepresented.
While selling recent winners can feel uncomfortable, disciplined rebalancing helps investors avoid becoming overly concentrated after strong market runs.
Step 4: Look Beyond Asset Classes
Asset allocation is only part of the picture. Also review your exposure across sectors and industries. Sometimes investors unknowingly become heavily concentrated in one area.
Technology, for example, has dominated market performance for much of the past decade. As a result, many portfolios now have much larger technology exposure than planned.
Likewise, strong gains in AI, semiconductors, or large-cap growth stocks may have created hidden concentrations.
It’s easy to become overly dependent on one sector if you own multiple funds that all hold the same stocks. Your international exposure is often affected by different trends, so it’s good to check that your current allocations are still appropriate.
It’s also a good time to check that you have enough diversification across different industries. Diversification isn’t exciting during bull markets, but it can become invaluable when leadership changes.
Step 5: Consider Your Tax Picture
This is an excellent time to think about taxes, well before December arrives. Waiting until year-end often limits your options.
Check to see if you’ve realized significant capital gains this year or have losing positions that could be harvested to offset gains. Consider what charitable gifts you plan to make and whether a Roth conversion makes sense this year. And if changes in your income moved you into a different tax bracket, it may affect your planning.
Tax-loss harvesting is one strategy worth considering. Selling investments trading below your purchase price can generate capital losses that offset realized gains elsewhere in your portfolio, potentially reducing your tax bill.
Make sure you understand the IRS wash-sale rules before repurchasing substantially identical investments.
Tax planning is often most effective when it’s done proactively rather than during the final weeks of December when time is short.
Step 6: Prepare for Required Distributions
If you’re retired or approaching retirement, now is a good time to plan for required withdrawals.
Many retirees must take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from traditional retirement accounts once they reach the applicable IRS age.
Rather than waiting until December, calculate your expected distribution now.
Early planning allows you to manage tax withholding, coordinate your withdrawals with other income, and spread withdrawals over several months if appropriate. And of course, advanced planning always helps you avoid the stress of year-end deadlines.
Even investors who aren’t yet subject to RMDs should review their anticipated cash needs for the remainder of the year. Large expenses, vacations, home improvements, or family gifts can all influence withdrawal planning.
Step 7: Review Your Savings Progress
If you’re still working, summer is an excellent time to evaluate retirement savings.
Are you on pace to maximize your 401(k) contributions or fully fund your IRA? Are you contributing enough to your Health Savings Account (HSA), if eligible? Has your emergency fund remained intact?
If you received a raise earlier this year, consider directing part of that increase toward retirement savings before lifestyle inflation absorbs it. Small increases today can have a meaningful impact over decades thanks to compounding.
Step 8: Update Your Documents
Finally, make sure the documents of your financial life are still current. These include beneficiary designations, estate planning documents, powers of attorney and healthcare directives, as well as insurance coverage.
Remember that beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance policies generally override instructions contained in a will.
These are easy to overlook as they don’t seem pressing. But they can become critically important when life changes unexpectedly.
A Healthy Financial Habit
A mid-year financial review doesn’t require predicting interest rates, forecasting elections, or guessing where the stock market will finish the year. It focuses on the things you can control:
Your goals.
Your savings.
Your risk level.
Your diversification.
Your tax planning.
Your spending.
Your financial and legal documentation.
Successful investing is rarely the result of one brilliant decision. More often, it’s the product of consistently making small, thoughtful adjustments over many years.
Think of your financial plan the way you think about your health. An annual physical is important, but regular checkups help catch small issues before they become major problems. A mid-year financial self-checkup can provide the same benefit.
By taking an hour or two to review your situation, rebalance where necessary, plan for taxes, and confirm that your investments still align with your goals, you’ll finish the year with greater confidence and be better positioned for whatever comes next.
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