How often should you meet your financial adviser?
There is no universal meeting frequency. The review schedule should follow the complexity and changes in your financial life, not an arbitrary calendar.
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Why are annual reviews common?
An annual review can provide a regular point to update goals, spending, investments and major personal changes. But the value depends on what the adviser actually does between and during reviews.
When might you need more frequent contact?
Retirement withdrawals, a business sale, major tax planning, bereavement or other significant transitions can justify more frequent work for a period.
When might ad-hoc advice be enough?
If your situation is simple and you mainly need help with occasional decisions, a permanent annual service may be unnecessary. Ask whether one-off advice is available.
Match the fee to the recurring work
If you pay an ongoing percentage every year, ask what work, monitoring and access you receive in return and whether it still fits your needs.
Let the decisions determine the useful rhythm
A meeting schedule should reflect what the adviser is responsible for. Someone implementing a retirement transition may need several conversations around a specific change; someone with a stable plan may have fewer scheduled meetings. Frequency alone does not reveal the quality of the service.
Ask what happens at a normal review. Useful work might include revisiting objectives, income needs, risk, contributions and important assumptions. Receiving a valuation is not the same as reviewing whether the plan still fits. The service agreement should explain the review offered and how additional work is handled.
Clarify the difference between access and proactive monitoring. Being able to phone with a question does not necessarily mean the adviser watches every change in your circumstances. Agree what you must report and what the firm will identify through its own reviews.
Events that can justify an earlier conversation
A change in work, health, relationship status, dependants or planned spending can affect a plan before the next scheduled review. A large withdrawal, pension access decision or intended gift may also deserve attention in advance. Contact the adviser with the decision and deadline rather than waiting to present a completed transaction.
Market movement needs context. Ask how the agreed strategy handles falls and what would trigger a review of the plan. Frequent meetings prompted only by short-term price movements can distract from longer-term decisions, while ignoring a changed income requirement can be equally unhelpful.
For illustration, a retiree with unchanged spending might keep the normal review date. If the same person plans to help a child buy a home, the proposed withdrawal can change tax, liquidity and future income assumptions. The reason for an extra meeting is the new commitment, not simply the size of a recent market move.
Leave each review with a record of decisions
Agree an agenda beforehand and bring updates to figures that matter. Afterwards, retain a brief record of what changed, what stayed the same, what action is required and who owns it. An effective review can conclude that no change is needed, provided the relevant questions were actually assessed.
If you are paying for ongoing advice but cannot describe what the reviews accomplish, ask the firm to map its work to the agreement. Discuss a more suitable service where necessary. The objective is a review process that supports your decisions, with a frequency and cost you understand.
Sources and further reading
MoneyHelper - Do I need a financial adviser? ↗
