A structured yearly review — emergency fund, savings rate, insurance, asset allocation, costs, nominations and tax. Fifteen checks with the thresholds to aim for.

Most people track their portfolio value and nothing else. Portfolio value is a poor health indicator — it moves with markets, which you do not control, and it says nothing about whether your finances would survive a job loss or a hospitalisation.

Here are fifteen checks that do describe your financial health. Set aside one afternoon a year. April, after the financial year closes, is a natural slot.

Section 1: Resilience

1. Emergency fund coverage

Emergency fund ÷ monthly essential expenses

Target: 6 months. Nine to twelve if your income is variable, commission-based or from a single client.

Essential expenses means rent or EMI, groceries, utilities, school fees, insurance premiums and transport — not discretionary spending.

Where it should sit: liquid funds, sweep-in fixed deposits, or a separate savings account. Not equity. The purpose is availability during exactly the conditions when equity markets are usually down.

2. Term insurance cover

Sum assured ÷ annual income

Target: 10–15 times annual income, adjusted upward for outstanding loans and downward for existing assets.

A pure term plan only. If you have dependants and no term cover, this is the highest-priority item on the list, ahead of any investment decision.

3. Health insurance adequacy

Target: ₹10–15 lakh for a family in a metro, through a base policy plus a super top-up. Employer cover is not sufficient on its own — it disappears the day you change jobs or retire, which is also when you are least insurable.

Check: does it cover your parents separately, are pre-existing condition waiting periods complete, and is the room rent capping realistic for hospitals you would actually use?

4. Debt-to-income ratio

Total monthly EMIs ÷ monthly take-home income

Target: below 40%, with home loan EMI ideally below 30%.

Above 50% is a fragile position. One income interruption forces either default or asset sales.

5. High-cost debt

Target: zero.

Credit card revolving balances at 36–42% annualised, and personal loans in the high teens, are guaranteed negative returns. No investment reliably beats them. Repaying a 40% debt is a risk-free 40% return.

Section 2: Momentum

6. Savings rate

(Income − expenses) ÷ income

Target: 20% minimum, 30%+ if you want early financial independence.

This is the most important number in personal finance and the one most people have never calculated. Investment returns operate on whatever this produces. A 30% savings rate at 8% returns builds wealth faster than a 10% savings rate at 15%.

7. Investment rate

Amount actually invested ÷ income

Distinct from savings rate, because money sitting in a savings account is saved but not invested. Target: most of your savings rate, after the emergency fund is full.

8. SIP step-up

Did you increase your SIP this year in line with your income increment?

Target: 10% annual increase. Over 25 years, a 10% step-up on a ₹10,000 SIP produces roughly double the corpus of a flat SIP at the same return. This single habit is worth more than most fund selection decisions.

9. Lifestyle inflation check

This year’s expenses ÷ last year’s expenses, versus your income growth.

If expenses grow as fast as income, your savings rate is static and your financial independence date does not move closer regardless of promotions.

Section 3: Portfolio Structure

10. Asset allocation drift

Compare current equity, debt, gold and cash weights against your targets.

Rebalance if any sleeve has drifted more than 5 percentage points. Rebalance with new contributions first, to avoid triggering capital gains.

A common blind spot: EPF and PPF are debt. Include them. Many people who believe they hold 80% equity are closer to 55% once retirement accounts are counted.

11. Concentration risk

Check: is any single stock above 8% of your equity portfolio? Any sector above 25%?

A specific and under-recognised case: employee stock options. If your employer’s shares are a large holding, your salary and your portfolio depend on the same company. That is a concentrated bet on one organisation.

12. Total cost of investing

Add up for the year: expense ratios paid, brokerage, demat annual maintenance charges, demat debit charges, advisory or subscription fees.

Express it as a percentage of your portfolio. Above 1.5% for a simple portfolio warrants investigation. Are you in regular plans where direct plans exist? Are you paying AMC on idle demat accounts?

13. Goal funding status

For each major goal — retirement, education, home — compare the current corpus against what it should be by now. Adjust the contribution, the timeline or the goal. Reviewing this annually prevents a shortfall from being discovered when it is too late to fix.

Section 4: Administration

14. Nominations, will and documentation

• Nominations current on every bank account, demat account, mutual fund folio, insurance policy, EPF and PPF account
• A will, if you have assets and dependants — nomination is not the same as inheritance
• One person who knows where the records are kept

This section takes an hour and is the highest-return hour in the entire review. It costs nothing and prevents years of difficulty for your family.

Also: log in to any dormant account at least once a year. Unclaimed financial assets in India run to substantial sums, largely because families did not know they existed.

15. Tax position

• Realised capital gains for the year — short-term equity at 20%, long-term equity above ₹1.25 lakh at 12.5%
• Whether you have used the annual long-term gains exemption deliberately
• Loss harvesting opportunities: short-term capital losses can be set off against both short-term and long-term gains; long-term losses only against long-term gains. Unabsorbed losses can be carried forward for eight years provided the return is filed by the due date
• Old versus new regime comparison for the coming year

Confirm specifics with a chartered accountant. Rules change and individual circumstances vary.

A Simple Scorecard

Score under 10 out of 15, and the fix is almost certainly in Sections 1 and 2 — resilience and savings rate — not in your fund selection.

One Habit Worth Adding

Before paying anyone for financial advice, verify their SEBI registration number on the SEBI intermediaries list. Registered Investment Advisers and Research Analysts have public registration numbers. SEBI’s January 2025 circular restricted regulated entities from associating with unregistered finfluencers, and enforcement has been active — including a December 2025 order impounding ₹546 crore in a matter involving unregistered advisory services offered under the label of education.

Anyone promising assured returns is not compliant, whatever else they may be.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I do this?

Once a year is sufficient for the full review. Quarterly, glance at Sections 1 and 2 only.

What is the single most important number?

Savings rate. Everything else operates on what it produces.

Should I check my portfolio value monthly?

Not necessary and often counterproductive. Frequent checking increases perceived risk and correlates with unnecessary trading.

What if I fail several checks?

Fix in order: high-cost debt, then emergency fund, then term and health insurance, then savings rate, then everything else. The order matters more than the speed.

Sources and Further Reading

• SEBI Investor Education portal — investor.sebi.gov.in
• AMFI investor resources — amfiindia.com
• Income Tax Department, capital gains provisions — incometax.gov.in