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How to Do a Personal Investment Year-End Review: A Step-by-Step Checklist
Key takeaways
- An annual review reveals where you met your plan and where you fell short — before it's too late to course-correct.
- Compare performance against a benchmark, not just in absolute return terms — that's what reveals the real picture.
- Check the actual costs of your portfolio: fund TERs, broker fees, and hidden spread costs.
- Review your tax situation: do you meet the conditions of the time test or value test for tax exemption?
- Every good review ends with a concrete plan for the coming year — otherwise it's just a rear-view mirror.
A personal investment review is a systematic overview of what happened in your portfolio over the year, where the plan worked, and where to adjust it next year. You don't need to wait for a bank statement — an hour, a spreadsheet, and this checklist will do.
Step 1: Compare Against Your Plan and Benchmark
Start by looking at what you planned at the beginning of the year. Did you have a target allocation, a regular contribution amount, or a specific time horizon? Compare your portfolio's performance to a suitable benchmark — a global equity portfolio should be measured against a World ETF index, not a savings account rate. Did you beat the benchmark? Fall short? Why?
A one-year number tells you little on its own — track a rolling three-to-five-year average instead. For a closer look at choosing a benchmark, see the article on active vs. passive investing.
Step 2: Contributions and Actual Costs
Add up how much you actually invested. Then check:
- Fund TERs — management fees are deducted from performance automatically, but knowing them matters
- Transaction costs — broker fees for each buy and sell
- Spreads and currency conversions — especially for less liquid ETFs or purchases in foreign currencies
Total costs below 0.3% per year are a realistic target for a passive portfolio.
Step 3: Tax Situation
In the Czech Republic, the three-year time test applies for exemption from capital gains tax on security sales. Since 2025, a value test of CZK 100,000 in annual sales proceeds is also available. Dividends are taxed at 15%. Review which positions meet — or will soon meet — this test, and consider whether it makes strategic sense to sell anything before year-end. Details are in the article ETF Taxation in the Czech Republic.
Step 4: Plan for the Coming Year
A review without conclusions is just bookkeeping. Close it by answering four questions:
- Is my investment horizon or risk tolerance changing?
- Is the allocation still in line with my plan, or is rebalancing needed?
- Will I increase or decrease regular contributions?
- Do I need to change fund selection or switch brokers?
Write down your answers — come back to them next year and repeat the full cycle.
FAQ
How do I know whether my portfolio performed well?
Compare your return to a suitable benchmark, such as a global World ETF index. If a passive fund outperformed your active strategy, that's a signal to reconsider. A positive absolute return on its own is not enough.
What should I not forget in my year-end tax review?
Check which sales are taxable: in the Czech Republic, proceeds up to CZK 100,000 per year are tax-exempt, and so are securities held for more than three years. Dividends are taxed at 15% regardless of how long they were held.
How do I find out the total actual costs of my portfolio?
Add up fund TERs, broker fees for buys and sells, and estimated spread costs. Subtract the result from the benchmark return — the difference is your real cost of investing.