December · The Decision Calendar

The Year in Review

Alex Alston

Close the year, then look back at it properly — at the decisions rather than the balance. Keep this sheet. Next December it goes beside this one, and that is when the trend starts telling you things no single year could.

01Close it Confirmed against a statement, not from memory

Every year somebody discovers in February that a request never processed — and by then nothing can be done. Check each against an actual statement.

02The year, in numbers Fill the right column now; add prior years if you have them
03Where you stand
04What you decided Worth more over twenty years than any single year's return

The balance moved for reasons that had nothing to do with you. These didn't.

05Three questions Answer them honestly, they're the input for next year
06Three things for next year Three. Not twelve — the calendar handles the rest

One last thing

The balance is not the scorecard. It moved for reasons that had almost nothing to do with you, and it was never what any of this was for.

The scorecard is whether the money did its job — whether it paid for the life you wanted while you were well enough to have it. Whether you took the trip. Whether you helped when you wanted to help. Whether you stopped worrying about something because it was actually handled.

A plan that produces a large balance and a small life has failed at something, even if every calculation in it was correct.

Save this sheet. The teaching repeats each year; your numbers do not. Two or three years side by side show a trend that no single reading can — a coverage ratio climbing, a spending pattern settling, a pretax balance coming down on purpose. That record only exists if you keep it.