Financial planning is something that is best done often. What better time to update yourself than halfway through the year. You have the first half to see how you stack up against the goals that you made for yourself, and the second half of the year to make any needed changes if you’re falling behind. Here are 6 pieces of your financial plan you should be looking at.
- Cash flow
You started the year setting a budget for what you planned on spending month to month and now you have some data to actually see how you have been doing. You can look at the first 6 months to see if you have stayed close to the budget and identify anything that may come as a surprise. Maybe there’s new recurring subscriptions, or maybe that dining out bill is just a bit higher than you thought. - Retirement savings
It never hurts to take a look at what you are currently saving to see if there should be any changes. You are likely contributing to some mixture of a 401(k), 403(b), 457, or IRA. Hopefully you have been getting raises over time and the savings rate you set 5 years ago may be a bit low for how much you can afford now. Even a 1% difference in your contributions can have a large impact on your savings when you retire. - Investment portfolio
It’s important to review your portfolio over time to make sure it is balanced in a way that you are comfortable with. How you should be invested will change over time, whether it is just due to getting older or if there have been any major life events. You should consider rebalancing your portfolio to match your needs to keep up with these changes. - Tax planning
Similarly to your cash flow, you now have data for 2026 that will show you how you stand with your taxes. Whether you have a business and need to make quarterly estimates or if you updated your W-2 withholdings and need to make sure that they are now correct, reviewing your taxes mid-year gives you time to make changes for the rest of the year. If you wait until the end of the year, you won’t leave yourself any room to correct anything. You can also review the holdings in your investment accounts to see if you can make strategic use of any sales. Stocks with losses can be used to offset any gains from other stock sales. - Insurance
Insurance isn’t something you need to necessarily deep dive into twice a year or even every year, but you should take a moment to consider if there is a reason you should be looking at what you currently have. Do you have kids that will be buying a car this year? Did you build a workshop in the year? Did you have a baby and now you might need life insurance? Have you increased your umbrella coverage to keep up with your net worth over the years? These are the type of events that likely suggest a change in one of your policies may be needed. - Major goals
Lastly, now is a good time to see where you are in reference to any big goals you have. This might be when you plan on retiring, buying a new home, or traveling. All of these take a lot of consideration and planning ahead to make sure you can afford them. Tracking how well you are reaching these goals is important and mid-way through the year is a logical time to figure that out.
It can be hard keeping up with financial planning as life gets busy and time tends to sweep by us. It’s hard to believe that the year is halfway over already, showing that it would be easy to lose track of your personal finances without proper planning. Using the midpoint of the year as a natural benchmark to review your financial plan helps you stay on track and gives you time to make changes.