Direct answer: The complete annual review checklist for a casual investor at Ages 90-99: contribution rate, allocation drift, expense ratios, beneficiary designations, and nothing else.
What a Once-a-Year Investor Should Check at Ages 90-99
What Does the Annual Review Cover?
The annual review has six items. First: contribution rate versus your savings goal. Confirm you are saving at least enough to capture the full employer match, and ideally 10-15% of gross income toward retirement. Second: allocation drift. Check whether the current equity-to-bond ratio matches your target. Rebalance if any asset class is off by more than 5 percentage points. Third: expense ratios. Confirm no fund in the portfolio exceeds 0.20% expense ratio. Fourth: beneficiary designations. Log into every account and confirm the designated beneficiaries reflect your current wishes. Fifth: Whether account titling, beneficiary designations, and powers of attorney are current and whether any accounts should be simplified or consolidated. Sixth: the emergency fund level. Confirm you have 3-6 months of essential expenses in liquid savings.
Total time for the annual review: 1-3 hours. That is the complete investment management workload for a casual investor in a year. Everything beyond this is optional and more likely to reduce returns than improve them.
What Should You Not Do at the Annual Review?
Do not change your target allocation based on how the market performed in the past year. Do not replace funds because another fund had higher returns recently. Do not add complexity by introducing new fund types (sector funds, factor tilts, alternative investments) unless you have a clear written rationale and at least a 10-year commitment to the strategy. Do not react to news or predictions about the coming year. The annual review is an administrative event, not a strategic pivot. If you find yourself making structural changes at every annual review, you are treating it as an active management exercise, which defeats its purpose.
How Do You Run the Beneficiary Designation Check?
Log into every financial account: employer 401(k), IRA, brokerage accounts, life insurance, annuities, and bank accounts with payable-on-death designations. For each account, verify that the listed primary and contingent beneficiaries match your current intention. Common errors include: former spouses still listed as primary beneficiary, children born after the account was opened not yet added, and charity names that have changed or merged. Beneficiary designations override your will. An outdated beneficiary designation can direct assets to the wrong person regardless of what your will says. This check takes 15-20 minutes and may be the highest-value task in the annual review.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if my allocation has drifted significantly during the year?
A drift above 5 percentage points from your target warrants rebalancing. In tax-advantaged accounts, rebalance by selling the overweight asset class and buying the underweight one: there is no immediate tax cost. In taxable accounts, rebalance primarily by directing new contributions to underweight asset classes first. Only sell taxable assets to rebalance if the drift is extreme (more than 15 percentage points) and you have offsetting losses or a low tax rate on the gains.
Do I need to review more than once a year if markets are volatile?
No. Increasing review frequency during volatility increases behavioral risk without improving the portfolio outcome. If you are checking quarterly or monthly during a downturn, you are more likely to make a change that hurts long-term performance. Stick to the annual schedule and the 30-minute monthly contribution check described in the companion guide. Volatility is not an exception to the rule; it is exactly when the rule is most important.
Is this personalized financial advice?
No. This content is educational. It cannot account for your specific tax situation, income, debts, family obligations, or risk capacity. Consult a qualified financial professional for advice tailored to your circumstances.