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Creating an effective financial plan takes thought and careful preparation. Once your plan is complete, and the steps towards your goals are set in motion, it’s tempting to check the proverbial box of financial planning off your list and move on. But the truth is that the most impactful financial plans are those that are reviewed at least once a year and tweaked according to a number of factors. Times change, people change, legislations change. As a result, many of our clients are shocked to learn that even the best laid plans require frequent maintenance to remain effective in the long term.
It’s always best to revisit your financial plan. Here are the top reasons you don’t want to miss your annual review:
Laws Change
Financial plans are built on the foundation of current legislation – but when that foundation shifts, those plans must evolve. A clear example is the 2025 reduction in the federal personal income tax rate, which lowered the lowest tax bracket from 15% to 14% as of July 1, 2025. It is expected that nearly 22 million Canadians will benefit from this adjustment. [1]
In 2024, the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) framework was overhauled: the basic exemption threshold was raised from $40,000 to approximately $ 173,200, and the flat AMT rate increased from 15 % to 20.5 %. At the same time, deductibility of most non-refundable tax credits (aside from charitable donations) was limited to 50%. These changes impact investment planning, capital gains strategies, charitable giving, and other high‑income financial decisions, requiring review and potential restructuring to maintain tax efficiency.[2]
One big legislative change that caught a lot of people off guard was the introduction of mandatory trust reporting rules at the end of 2023. Under these updated rules, most Canadian trusts – including bare trusts – now have to file a T3 return and Schedule 15, even if there was no income that year. While the CRA did offer some temporary relief for bare trusts in 2023 and 2024, the new requirements still brought added complexity. For families and business owners who use trusts as part of their estate or tax planning, it meant taking a closer look at their setup to avoid unnecessary penalties.[3]
Finances Change
Changes to your income and financial situation can impact your achievement of both long and short-term goals. Reviewing your financial plan annually allows you to check in on your progress. What course adjustments might you need to make in order to reach those goals in the intended time frame? Have you factored in inflation for the long-term goals? The unpredictability of markets and personal financial situations makes it imperative that goals are kept flexible, and reviewed often.
Life Situations Change
Market volatility, inflation, and unexpected life events like retirement, job changes, or health issues require periodic adjustments to investment, debt, and savings strategies.
Getting married or divorced, having children, changing jobs, and losing a parent are all normal life changes that take place over the years. But each of these events can directly impact your financial goals, necessitating tweaks to your financial plan.
Objectives Change
As we age, our priorities naturally shift. While in your twenties, you may have thought that the ideal retirement would take place on a remote tropical island. But in your forties, you may have a completely different ideal. Going over the details of your financial plan through the lens of your current self can help you to evaluate whether your objectives have changed enough to impact your plan.
How Zeifmans Can Help
At Zeifmans, relationships are at the core of everything we do. We began as a family-run firm, and while we’ve evolved beyond that model, our history gives us unique insight into the challenges and opportunities facing family businesses today. Our depth of knowledge about each individual case, combined with our subject matter expertise in the financial planning sphere enable us to make the right yearly adjustments to ensure that our clients remain on track to achieve their goals, both long and short term.
To schedule your review, feel free to get in touch with us at info@zeifmans.ca.
[1] Government of Canada, “Delivering a middle-class tax cut” https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2025/05/delivering-a-middle-class-tax-cut.html
[2] CIBC, “The new Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)”, https://www.cibc.com/content/dam/cibc-public-assets/personal-banking/smart-advice/tax-savings-tips/pdfs/amt-changes-en.pdf?msockid=1995e8b412bb6df034a9fd7c13116c96
[3] Government of Canada, “Enhanced reporting rules for trusts and bare trusts: Frequently asked questions”, https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/trust-administrators/t3-return/enhanced-reporting-rules-trusts-bare-trusts-faq.html
