How Often Should I Meet With My Financial Advisor?

This is one of the most common questions we hear, and the answer depends on your situation, the complexity of your finances, and how proactive you want to be with planning.

For most people, meeting with their financial advisor at least once per year is the minimum. An annual review gives you the opportunity to revisit your goals, review investment performance, update assumptions, and make sure your plan still reflects your priorities. Even if nothing major has changed, confirming that you’re still on track matters.

At Seaside, we believe most clients benefit from two meetings per year. The first is the traditional planning and investment review. The second is a forward-looking tax planning meeting, which we see as one of the most valuable conversations we have with clients.

This tax planning meeting focuses on multi-year tax planning, looking ahead at future income, required minimum distributions, Social Security timing, Roth conversions, Medicare premiums, and how today’s decisions impact taxes years or even decades from now. When done correctly, proactive tax planning can save clients significant amounts in taxes over their lifetime.

After this meeting, we coordinate directly with the client’s CPA to make sure everyone is aligned and working from the same strategy. That coordination is critical, because good tax planning doesn’t happen in isolation.

There are also times when additional meetings make sense. Major life events like selling a business, receiving an inheritance, a health issue, or the loss of a spouse are all good reasons to meet sooner. 

Ultimately, the right meeting frequency is one that keeps your plan current and gives you confidence in the decisions you’re making. A good advisor will help set expectations, stay proactive, and make sure you’re not navigating important financial moments alone.