--- title: "Annual Financial Review: Checklist and AI Prompt | Candor" description: "A year-end money review prompt for ChatGPT or Claude, the checklist it should work through, and an example of a review that ends in decisions." url: "https://candor.money/explore/annual-review" updated: "2026-10-19" --- # A year-end money review prompt, with the checklist behind it An annual review compares the year you had with the plan you made, then turns what changed into a short list of decisions for next year. Ask your AI to cover income, spending, debt, savings, and goals, plus the paperwork a new year brings: benefits, insurance renewals, and tax documents. [Get the prompt↓](#try-prompt) What your agent needs Your financial history and any relevant tax, insurance, or benefits documents. What you get back A concise review and an organized list of decisions and professional questions. When to use it A focused review when this question comes up. ## The prompt: How did this year go, and what's next? Copy the prompt into the AI agent you use with Candor. It works from your Candor records and asks for anything it's missing. New to Candor? [Connect your agent first.](https://candor.money/connect) Your prompt Help me prepare for an annual financial check-in using Candor and our previous decisions. Review how income, spending, debts, savings, and goals changed. Ask about life changes, benefits, insurance, or tax questions that need context beyond connected accounts. Organize the documents and questions worth taking to the relevant professional, and identify useful follow-through for us to revisit. Nothing runs until you send the prompt to your agent. ### New to Candor? Set up and start in one message Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, or the agent you use. It sets up Candor and walks you through approving its access and connecting your accounts, then runs the prompt from your records. Set up Candor from https://candor.money/START.md and walk me through connecting it here. Help me prepare for an annual financial check-in using Candor and our previous decisions. Review how income, spending, debts, savings, and goals changed. Ask about life changes, benefits, insurance, or tax questions that need context beyond connected accounts. Organize the documents and questions worth taking to the relevant professional, and identify useful follow-through for us to revisit. ## Not on Candor yet? Versions for ChatGPT and Claude. A year-end review is only as good as the records behind it. With Candor, your agent has every month since you connected, plus the goals, budget, and decisions you made along the way, so it can say what changed and whether what you decided in March still fits. ### For ChatGPT Help me do a year-end review of my finances. Use the accounts I've connected in ChatGPT if there are any, or the yearly totals I've pasted below. Compare this year with last: income, spending by category, debt balances, savings, and progress on my goals \[list them\]. Tell me the three biggest changes and why they happened. Then make a checklist for January: benefits to check, insurance renewals, tax documents to gather, and any goal that needs a new number. Ask about life changes before you draw conclusions. [Use ChatGPT with Candor](https://candor.money/connect/chatgpt) ### For Claude It's the end of the year and I want an honest look back. Here are my numbers for this year and last: \[income, spending, debts, savings, goals\]. Here's what changed in my life: \[new job, move, baby, anything\]. What went well, what slipped, and what should change next year? Turn it into no more than five decisions, each with the figure it depends on, plus a list of documents and questions for my tax preparer or benefits team. [Use Claude with Candor](https://candor.money/connect/claude) ## What will the agent ask you? A good agent asks before it answers. Expect questions like these, and answer the ones that matter to you. * What changed this year: job, home, family, health? * Which goals still matter, and which would you drop? * Did anything happen that the accounts won't show, like a gift or a loan to family? * Are any accounts not connected, like a 401(k) or an HSA? * When do your benefits and insurance renew? * Who prepares your taxes, and what do they usually ask for? ## What does a good answer look like? A worked example on sample data: one earner who got a raise in September, with an emergency fund goal, a few new subscriptions, and a review in early December. You Can we do a year in review? I think I did fine, but I'm not sure. Your agent You did better than fine in places. Take-home pay went from about $6,000 to $7,000 a month in September, but savings transfers stayed at $500, so most of the raise went to everyday spending. Nothing wrong with that, but it's worth deciding on purpose. Your agent The emergency fund is the bright spot: $9,100 of $12,000, with $500 a month going in against the $291 it needs. At this pace it's full around the end of May, four months ahead of the September date. Your agent Recurring charges crept from $510 to $640 a month since July, mostly a new gym and cloud storage. Is the gym getting used? Your agent Three decisions for January: whether part of the raise goes to savings or a new goal, whether to keep the gym, and what the emergency fund money does once it's full. Your W-2 should arrive by February 1. Illustrative example with sample data, not a customer result. ### What Candor's weekly review raises for this household Once a week, Candor reads the records and notes and raises what's worth talking through, with why it matters and the records behind it. These are the areas it would raise from the sample records. Your agent brings each one up with you and works out the figures. * Pay from Acme Payroll went up Pay from Acme Payroll rose, and the savings transfers stayed where they were. A raise that nobody decided on tends to disappear into everyday spending. Candor raises it so the choice is made on purpose. * Recurring charges crept up Gym and Cloud storage started since July, and the monthly total of recurring charges went up with them. Each new subscription is small; a year of them isn't. The review is a natural time to look at the total. * The emergency fund is ahead of its pace More is going into the emergency fund each month than it needs to finish by September 2027. Good news is worth raising too. A goal running ahead frees up money to decide about. The review also names what would change the picture. Your agent may ask about: whether the raise changed what goes to retirement; what the December performance review might change. ## What does a weak answer look like? > This year you earned $76,000 and spent $70,000\. Your biggest categories were housing (32%), food (14%), and transportation (11%). Next year, try to spend less and save more! * Totals without the why. It doesn't notice the raise went to spending, or that the emergency fund is ahead. * No link to the goals and decisions you made during the year. * Nothing turns into a decision or a January checklist. ## Bring the financial year and the life changes together An annual check-in is a chance to revisit decisions that made sense months ago. Your agent can compare Candor's income, spending, debt, and goal history with earlier notes. Connected accounts will not explain every life change, benefits election, or insurance term, so the review should also produce a focused list of questions and missing documents. ### Check the answer * Confirm how much of the year is covered and distinguish incomplete history from a real change in activity. * Separate decisions you can discuss with your agent from questions that need an insurer, employer, tax preparer, or other professional. ### Choose a next step Choose the questions that matter now and keep their context in Candor. Use the benefits, insurance, or tax-preparation guides for a more focused follow-up. ## Where Candor fits Your agent works through the question with you, builds the plan, and keeps you on it. Candor gives it your real accounts, exact figures, and the goals, budget, notes, and decisions from earlier sessions, in whichever agent you use. Every week its review raises what's worth talking through and tells your agent why. Candor is not a licensed advisor and gives no advice; your agent does the advising, and the decisions are yours. * Read-only: Candor cannot move money. * Candor never sells your financial data or trains models on it, and you can export or delete it. * Every agent read and change is recorded with its reason. [Start free trial→](https://app.candor.money/signup)[Connect your agent](https://candor.money/connect) $0 today · card required · cancel anytime ## Common questions What should an annual financial review include? Income and spending against last year, debt and savings balances, progress on each goal, recurring charges that crept up, and the paperwork for the new year: benefits elections, insurance renewals, and tax documents. End with a few decisions, not a report. When should I do an annual financial review? Late in the year works well: enough of the year is in to see it whole, and decisions can land before January bills, open enrollment deadlines, and tax season. Which tax dates come right after year end? Employers must furnish 2026 W-2s by February 1, 2027, since January 31 falls on a Sunday. The last 2026 estimated tax payment is due January 15, 2027, and most 2026 returns are due April 15, 2027, per the IRS. What does Candor keep from year to year? The goals, budget, notes, and decisions your agent saved with you, and your records since you connected, so next year's review starts from them. Candor is read-only and records every agent read and change with its reason. ## Sources 1. [Employment tax due dates](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/employment-tax-due-dates) Internal Revenue Service, April 21, 2026 2. [Estimated tax: individuals (FAQ)](https://www.irs.gov/faqs/estimated-tax/individuals/individuals-2) Internal Revenue Service 3. [When to file](https://www.irs.gov/filing/individuals/when-to-file) Internal Revenue Service, May 22, 2026 ## Keep exploring. [HouseholdAm I choosing the right benefits?Connect enrollment decisions to your household needs and cash flow.One-time reviewFull guide](https://candor.money/explore/benefits-review)[HouseholdAm I paying the right amount for insurance?Review costs and coverage alongside what has changed in your life.One-time review](https://candor.money/explore/insurance-review)[HouseholdWhat does my tax preparer need from me?Bring income, possible business expenses, and missing documents into one checklist.One-time reviewFull guide](https://candor.money/explore/tax-preparation) ## Ask it with your own numbers. Connect your accounts to Candor, then send this to the agent you already use. It answers from your real records and keeps the plan for next time. [Start free trial→](https://app.candor.money/signup)[Connect your agent](https://candor.money/connect) $0 today · card required · cancel anytime