Why we review portfolios once a year, not once a quarter

It's tempting to think more frequent portfolio reviews mean better outcomes. In practice, for a diversified, goal-based portfolio with a horizon of five-plus years, quarterly check-ins mostly surface short-term noise that has no bearing on whether you'll hit your goal.

We review every client portfolio annually, tied to a specific calendar date rather than to market conditions. That single discipline removes the temptation to react to a bad month, and it forces a genuine look at whether your goals, income, or risk tolerance have actually changed — which is the only thing that should trigger a rebalance outside the annual cycle.