Every December, Katie and I grab a great breakfast, fire up the laptops, and do the big one: our annual finance review.

The aim? Know what happened, celebrate wins, and decide what we’ll do differently next year.

We’re going to guide you step-by-step how to do your annual finance review and there’s even a handy checklist at the end that you can check off as you complete each step.

Donegan principle: What gets measured gets improved. If you track it, you’ll change behaviour. This is where you see net-worth change, spending patterns, the Gap (income minus spending), and Freedom Rate, so you can adjust course upstream and avert crises.

• Your net-worth tracker (download from our Net-worth tracker page) and logins for your bank, pensions, ISAs (401k, Roths and brokerage accounts for our American friends and KiwiSavers for our Kiwi friends!).
• Your spending tracker (Donegans template or your app of choice).
• Year‑end statements: savings, investments, debts, mortgage, insurance or just log into your mobile apps. That’s how we do it.
• Last year’s numbers if you’ve done this before. The purpose is so you can see if you are heading in the right direction or not!
• Coffee. Possibly pancakes. Or if you aren’t into breakfast then do it with a takeaway curry and a glass of wine! Definitely bring the good vibes.

If you’ve done Rebel Finance School and you’ve been doing monthly finance meetings this should be super easy to pull together. If this is the first time you are doing this allow some time and have patience with yourself and anyone you’re doing this with!

The common definition of net-worth is assets minus liabilities. We don’t like common definitions around here because if you do what everyone else does you’ll get the same results as them and most people’s finances are in a pickle!

Katie and I define net-worth as things you own minus money you owe.

We split things you own into Freedom Fund, Valuable Liabilities and Cash & Planned Spending.

Money you owe is debts.

Net-worth is a snapshot in time of these figures.

Update every account to the year‑end value and record the total. You can use our template if you like! This gives you the “blue dot” for net-worth.

Pull the spending tracker totals: what did you spend this year, and did you get value from what you spent?

There’s a couple of levels of detail you can go into here…

• High level: Total your spending for the year
• More detail: Categorise your spending so you can understand where it went. Get guidance on how to do this here.

We recommend doing both levels but if this is the first time you’re doing this exercise, the high level might be enough for now! Go easy on yourself!

If you choose to categorise your spending, this is where you’ll discover subscriptions, “ghost costs,” and impulse upgrades and where you decide what actually made life better.

This can be a shock number if you haven’t tracked every month. Katie and I normally spend 20 minutes discussing where our money went, what added to our lives and what we’ll cut out or dramatically reduce in the next year.

Donegan Tip: Your annual spending is needed for the next step!

Once you’ve done this step you’ll no longer find yourself saying “where does all the money go?!” You’ll know exactly where it goes!

• Gap = Income − Spending. This is a super-important number. When the gap is positive, you’ve got fuel for the Freedom Fund. If it’s negative, you’re spending more than you earn and it’s a wake‑up to help you course‑correct (we had one of those years when we first started). Find out how to work out your gap and download a gap calculator.

• Freedom Rate = How much of your income you use to buy freedom (investments). Freedom Rate is the number that determines how long it will take you to get to financial freedom. You just need two numbers to work it out, how much you put in your Freedom Fund this year and your total income…
  Freedom Rate = Amount You Invested This Year ÷ Your Total Income This Year (After Tax)

Donegan Tip: Investments are not expenses. This is money you are investing for your future, don’t include them in your spending.

If you’ve got debt, this is the moment to check your progress and sharpen your plan. Debt is like a leak in your financial boat – plugging it faster means you sail toward freedom sooner.

• Review the debt attack strategy. Go through each of the steps to see how you can get out of debt quicker
• Check to see if any 0% interest rate deals are coming to an end.
• Review your list of debts and update them.
• Celebrate any reductions you have made year and progress made.

Katie and the Ninjas also produced a debt attack calculator to help you see the fastest way out.

Year‑end is perfect for:

• Investment fee audit: platform and fund fees; move to lower‑cost where appropriate. If you don’t know what any of this means, check out the investing weeks of Rebel Finance School!
• Asset mix check & rebalance: We check we are happy with the funds we are in and everything is in the right place. Generally we just check and do nothing as we invest like dead people (learn more about this at Rebel Finance School)
• Housekeeping: beneficiaries, emergency fund, and upcoming large expenses. Are you in a good spot coming into the new year?

We love visuals. You could build:

• Net-worth by year. There’s a template for the monthly version in the net-worth tracker.
• Spending by category. There’s a template in the spending tracker.
• Gap trend. There’s a template in the gap calculator.
• Freedom Rate over time. There’s a template in the gap calculator.

Katie geeks out over the charts and visuals! We have so much fun with them. If creating the visuals is not your thing then some of the AI tools are now starting to really create some amazing charts! Have a go and see what you can get it to create for you.

Then write a one‑page summary: 3–5 observations and 3 actions for the start of next year. This is exactly how we turn data into decisions, and it’s how we’ve kept improving each year.

Below is the net-worth all time chart Katie created for us in 2024 at our annual finance review. A good chart tells an entire story! We’ll be updating our chart for 2025 at our annual finance review tomorrow!! Katie is too EXCITED!!

Money is one of the biggest causes of divorce. The antidote? Open, regular conversations and shared vision, start with the “life we’re building,” then gently introduce the numbers. Make it fun: hot chocolate, a movie after, and let the kids ask questions.

Use our Monthly Finance Meeting questions as the core and expand for the annual version (same ritual, more in-depth)

The key thing is to do this with the people you love. Share what is happening, discuss the ups and downs and get excited about the future. If they aren’t in for doing the numbers maybe at least you could bribe them with a beer to listen to you, tell them about the numbers and allow them to ask questions!

Let’s break the taboo around money and create stronger relationships.

Option 1: Invite them into the “why,” not the spreadsheet.

• Start with the vision (“What kind of year do we want next?”)
• Share your money story & fears.
• Ask curious questions, listen, and keep it light. Then introduce one chart.

Script:

“I’d love us to feel calmer about money next year. Can we dream for five minutes – holidays, home, fun – then I’ll show one chart that helps us make that happen?”

Option 2: Do the figures solo, then present a friendly PowerPoint to the family.

• Build 6 slides:
  • Vision
  • Net-worth trend
  • Spending total and highlights
  • The gap & Freedom Rate
  • 3 wins
  • 3 suggested actions
• Keep it visual, brief, and end with shared choices (“Which two actions should we start with?”).

If all else fails remember bribery is a wonderful thing. Offer food, wine, beer, chocolates and a brighter future for you all!

You’ll get more tips from our guide to how to talk to your partner about money.

1. Could you automate investments to raise the Freedom Rate.
2. Trim one recurring cost and redirect the saving to your Freedom Fund.
3. Check the fees on your investments in January.
4. Schedule monthly finance dates (same café, same time, same people).
5. Add one joyful family spend that you consciously choose. Value matters as much as frugality.

Do your annual review and tell us how it went in the comments. Share a percentage change (net-worth or Freedom Rate) and how you felt during the review. No exact numbers needed if you don’t want to. Your story will inspire us and the other people on the journey!

Also: if your partner wasn’t interested and now is involved, which route, invite or present, worked best? By sharing your tips you might help other couples who are struggling.

Look out for our 2025 annual finance review Article in the next few days!

Happy New Year and here is to a brighter financial future for us all.

Peace and Pineapples

Katie and Alan