1. Your income has crossed a threshold
The tax system has cliffs. Above £100,000 your personal allowance starts to disappear, which makes the effective rate on the next £25,000 or so around 60%. Above £60,000, child benefit is clawed back. Above the higher-rate threshold, dividend and capital gains rates step up. Each cliff has a legitimate way round it, usually involving pension contributions or the timing of income, and each one is easy to miss if nobody is looking.
If you've had a pay rise, a promotion, or a good year in your business, a review will often find tax that didn't need paying.
2. You have pensions you've never looked at
The average person has several workplace pensions by their fifties. Each has its own charges, its own default fund and its own paperwork. Some older schemes carry valuable guarantees; others carry charges that quietly compound. An adviser can tell you which is which, whether consolidating makes sense, and whether what you're contributing will get you to the retirement you have in mind.
From April 2027 most unused pensions will also count towards inheritance tax, which changes how many people should think about drawing on them. That alone is reason enough to have the conversation this year.
3. Something big has happened, or is about to
An inheritance, a bonus, the sale of a business or a property, a divorce, a redundancy, a child leaving home. Big events change your numbers and your priorities at the same time, and decisions made in the first few weeks tend to stick. A review before the money lands, or soon after, is worth more than one a year later.
4. The allowances are frozen, and inflation isn't
The personal allowance, the higher-rate threshold and the inheritance tax nil-rate band are all frozen for years to come. As wages, house prices and investments rise, more of what you have drifts into tax without anything changing on your side. The ISA allowance, pension annual allowance and capital gains exemption are tools for pushing back; most people don't use them fully, and some don't use them at all.
5. You've been meaning to sort the paperwork
A will that predates a marriage or a grandchild. A pension nomination that still names an ex. No power of attorney. Life cover from a mortgage you've since repaid, or none at all. None of this is complicated, and all of it matters enormously to the people you'd leave behind. A review is a natural moment to tidy it up.
What a review involves. A conversation about where you are and where you'd like to be, a look at what you already have, and a plain explanation of what, if anything, is worth changing. If you decide to take advice, the adviser will set out their fees before any work starts. If you don't, you'll still leave knowing more than you did.
How to get one
Tell us what's on your mind and we'll match you with an FCA-regulated adviser who works with people in your position. The first consultation is complimentary, held on Microsoft Teams, and carries no obligation.
This article is general information, not financial advice. WealthWise Connect is not authorised or regulated by the FCA. Tax rules depend on individual circumstances and may change. For advice on your own situation, speak to a regulated adviser.