List what to check in each layer of your system during a yearly review.
A financial setup that nobody looks at slowly goes out of date. Nothing breaks, but the system keeps running on the numbers you gave it when you set it up. This is drift. A yearly review is an annual check of your setup, layer by layer, that catches drift before it turns into a gap. It should take about an afternoon, and it should not miss anything that matters.
Darren (an invented example) set up his payday transfers in lesson 2.4. He has not opened the settings since, which was the intent: a system that runs without him. A year later his rent has gone up by S$150, he got a pay rise in April, and his insurer raised a premium. His emergency fund target is still based on last year's costs. Nothing has broken, but his system is quietly running on old numbers.
The review has nine layers, with two or three questions for each. Work through them in the order below.
Start with cash flow and your buffer, because every other layer is paid for from there.
Update your cash flow statement (the one you built in lesson 1.4) with the last three months of figures and compare it with your spending plan. Check whether your take-home pay has changed. Check whether fixed costs such as rent, a premium or a loan instalment have moved. Check whether day-to-day spending is above the plan every month. If spending keeps going over the plan, change the plan, because a plan you keep breaking is not a plan you are following. Then check that every payday transfer and GIRO arrangement still runs, for the right amount, to the right account. The screenshots you took in lesson 2.4 are your reference.
For the buffer, work out your essential spending again the way you did in lesson 3.1 and multiply it by the number of months you chose. If the new figure is higher than your current target, raise both the target and the transfer. If you used the emergency fund during the year, check that it was refilled under the refill rule you wrote in lesson 3.3.
For Darren, the S$150 rent rise takes his essential spending from S$2,630 to S$2,780 a month. He chose five months of cover, so his target rises from S$13,150 (S$2,630 x 5) to S$13,900 (S$2,780 x 5), an extra S$750.
Insurance needs change with life events far more than with the calendar, so each year ask what changed. Did you marry, have a child, start supporting a parent, buy a home or change jobs? Each of those events can open a protection gap. As lesson 4.2 explained, a child or a new mortgage raises the amount of life cover your family would need. A new job changes your group cover and may end it. After a pay rise, disability income cover replaces a smaller share of your salary than before.
Update each row of the insurance map you made in lesson 4.4. Check that premiums are still being paid, and note any premium increases. Rank any new gap alongside your existing gaps and take it to a licensed adviser, the same way you did the first time.
For CPF, repeat the checks from lesson 5.4. Confirm that every contribution arrived, and look at your balances, last year's interest and your nomination. Pay close attention to the months around any job change.
For debt, update the debt list from lesson 6.1 with today's balance on each loan. Check whether the expensive debt is gone, or going down at the pace you planned. Check whether any new debt has appeared, such as an instalment plan or a card balance carried over a month.
The investing layer has two checks. First, did the monthly amount you set in lesson 6.4 actually go in every month? Second, does that amount still fit? If your surplus has grown, the monthly amount may be able to grow too. If the buffer or a new insurance premium needs the money first, the amount may need to shrink for a while. This check is only about how much goes in, so don't use it to switch funds because of how markets did that year.
Update the housing plan from lesson 7.3. Check whether the price range has moved, and whether your cash and CPF savings are on track for the target date. If you already own a home, check the outstanding loan and how much CPF you have used.
For retirement, look up your CPF LIFE estimate again on cpf.gov.sg and compare it with the retirement target you set in lesson 7.2. Note whether the gap is growing or shrinking, and whether you are actually saving the planned monthly amount.
Go down the estate plan from lesson 8.4, one document at a time, and check whether each one is done. Then check that the names in your will, your CPF nomination, your insurance nominations and your LPA still match your life. A marriage, divorce or birth since last year means at least one of those documents needs attention. Lesson 9.3 covers these events.
Written out, your own version should fit on a single page, one block per layer, with two or three questions in each block. Open the layer list you made in lesson 1.1 and start turning each layer into its own short set of checks.
Write a review checklist for yourself with at least two checks under each layer.
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