The yearly money date: a one-page agenda

A yearly money date gives the planner the full picture and gives the other partner a clear end time and a reward. Both matter. A review that's thorough but dreaded won't happen a second year. A review that's fun but skips the important checks won't help. The agenda below is built to cover what genuinely changes from year to year, and to finish in about two hours.

Print it, or copy it into a shared note. Same page every year.

Before the date (about 30 minutes, split)

• Year-end balances for every checking, savings, retirement, investment and debt account, in one sheet.
• Free credit reports for both of you from AnnualCreditReport.com, the site the three bureaus run under federal law.
• Last year's action list, if you have one.
• One goal each for the coming year, written on a sticky note. Don't compare yet.

The agenda

1. Wins (10 minutes)

Each of you names two things that went right with money this year. A paid-off card, a fund that held through a car repair, a month you stuck to the budget. Starting here sets the tone.

2. The snapshot (15 minutes)

Look at the balances sheet together.

• What do we own, and what do we owe?
• Did the total move in the right direction?
• Anything surprising?

Look at the totals, not the line items. This is not the receipt audit.

3. Last year's list (10 minutes)

What got done, what didn't, and does anything that didn't still matter?

4. The protection check (20 minutes)

The stuff that's easy to forget and expensive to get wrong:

• Beneficiaries. Still the right people on retirement accounts and life insurance? See beneficiary forms.
• Life insurance. Does coverage still match whose income needs covering?
• Emergency fund. Still sized to your essential month?
• Wills and guardians. Up to date with any new kids or a move to another state?
• Credit reports. Anything you don't recognize?

5. Next year's big costs (15 minutes)

List anything predictable over the coming twelve months: a wedding to attend, a car nearing replacement, a lease renewal, open enrollment changes, a planned trip. Put a rough cost and a month next to each.

6. Goals (20 minutes)

Now share the sticky notes. Talk about each goal, then agree on two or three shared goals for the year. One for each of you, plus one together, is a good shape. Make each specific enough that you'd know whether it happened.

7. Personal money (5 minutes)

Does the amount each of you spends without asking still feel right? Adjust if incomes changed.

8. The action list (15 minutes)

Write every task that came up, with a name and a month next to each. Keep it short. Five to eight items is plenty.

9. Done (the rest of the evening)

Close the laptop and go do the thing you booked.

A few ground rules

• Look forward more than back. The year is over. The useful question is what to do differently.
• No ambushes. If either of you has a money concern, mention it in the week before so it isn't a surprise on the day.
• Same time each year. Early January, a birthday month, or the week after taxes are filed all work.
• Keep the page. File each year's agenda and action list together. In a few years, flipping through them is one of the more satisfying things a couple can do.

If two hours sounds like a lot

Start with sections 1, 4 and 8 only. That's under an hour, and it covers the parts with real consequences. Add the rest next year. If talking about money at all is hard for one of you, talking about money with a partner who avoids it is a gentler place to begin.