The 7 Financial Decisions Worth Revisiting for 2027

You’ve put time and effort into building a comprehensive financial strategy across your investments, retirement, taxes, and estate plan. But even the most carefully researched decisions can become outdated over time.

Ameriprise Financial believes personalized financial advice should evolve along with your life. The start of a new year offers a natural opportunity to pressure-test the decisions you’ve already made to ensure they still reflect where you want to go. As you prepare for 2027, here are seven areas worth another look.

1. Are you on track for retirement?

When people first set their retirement timeline, they usually pick an age decades away. It’s a rough target at best, like circling 65 when Medicare starts or the age when your parents retired.

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As time goes by and you get closer to retirement, the timeline deserves another look. You can now test the assumptions you first made against where you are today.

Do you have a better sense of how much money you’ll need? Are your savings on track to support your ideal retirement? Have changes at work or in your personal life shifted your timeline?

You could rerun the numbers with a retirement calculator to see whether your current savings and income goal still work on the timeline you have in mind. The sooner you determine if you need to make changes, the more options you’ll have.

2. Does your portfolio still match your risk tolerance?

The portfolio you built years ago was designed for a different point in your financial life, when you may have had a different tolerance for investment losses.

Over time, your portfolio's asset allocation can drift. Strong performance in one asset class can leave you with more risk than you intended, even if your preferences stayed the same. For example, during a strong market run, you could become overweight in stocks versus bonds.

If you’re approaching retirement, what you already have may matter more than it once did, especially since you have less time to recover from a major market decline. Your risk tolerance may have changed, and your investment mix should reflect that.

Review whether your current allocation still matches your time horizon and tolerance for volatility. If the mix no longer fits, work with your financial advisor to rebalance and bring your portfolio back in line.

Secure digital tools can also help you stay close to your investments between conversations and work together when your allocation needs attention.

3. Are you missing opportunities for tax efficiency in retirement?

You likely already know the importance of diversifying your portfolio across different investments to help manage risk — in other words, not keeping all your eggs in one basket. As you review your retirement strategy for 2027, ask whether you’re doing the same on the tax front.

Retirement assets can sit in taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts, and each plays a different role. If most of your savings are concentrated in one tax category, you may have less flexibility when deciding where to draw income from in retirement.

For example, withdrawals from tax-deferred accounts such as traditional IRAs and 401(k)s are generally taxed as ordinary income. If your retirement income comes primarily from tax-deferred accounts, that can push you into higher tax brackets, increase the portion of Social Security benefits subject to tax, and raise Medicare premiums.

Review your current mix and consider whether strategies such as Roth contributions or conversions could give you more tax flexibility in retirement.

4. Are you prepared for healthcare and long-term care costs?

Health insurance deserves a fresh look each year, even if you were satisfied with your past coverage. Premiums, out-of-pocket costs, provider networks and other important plan details can change. During open enrollment, compare the options available through your employer or the individual market based on the care you and your family need.

Also check whether you can use any tax-advantaged accounts. If you’re enrolled in a high-deductible health plan, you may be eligible for a health savings account (HSA). HSAs offer a tax deduction for contributions, tax-free growth and tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses. If your employer offers a health care flexible spending account (FSA), you can also set aside pretax dollars for eligible medical expenses.

Looking further ahead, consider how you would pay for long-term care in retirement. Medicare generally does not cover extended custodial care, and long-term care insurance is one option for helping cover those sizable costs.

5. Have you updated your estate and legacy plans recently?

Creating key estate planning documents such as a will, living will, and financial power of attorney is an important step. But those documents only work as intended if they continue to reflect your life and wishes.

Changes in your family or financial situation can create reasons to update them. For example, getting married or divorced, having a child or a loved one passing away can all affect who you want to inherit your assets or make decisions on your behalf. Moving can also be a reason to revisit your documents, since estate planning rules vary by state. However, those updates are easy to overlook when life is busy.

Make 2027 an opportunity to review your wishes , including the beneficiaries named on your retirement accounts and insurance policies. Those designations typically take precedence over your will, so it’s especially important to keep them up to date.

6. Is your family financially aligned?

A successful financial strategy also depends on being on the same page with the people closest to you.

Make sure you and your spouse or partner share an understanding of your major goals and what you’re willing to give up or spend differently to reach them. Include them in meetings with your financial advisor so you can make important decisions together.

Children should also be part of family conversations when appropriate for their age. That can start with simple household budgeting and expand to college planning and, later, estate and caregiving decisions.

Open discussions about financial values, goals and the overall plan can help avoid misunderstandings and conflict later.

7. Is your financial team helping you see the whole picture?

As your finances become more complex, you may rely on several professionals for different needs: your accountant for taxes, your attorney for estate planning, and a financial advisor for your portfolio and financial guidance. Each brings something important, but the decisions they help you make often overlap.

A change in one area of your financial life can ripple into others. For example, deciding to retire earlier could affect your investment strategy, taxes, and healthcare planning at the same time. Comprehensive financial advice from a financial advisor, working together with your dedicated professionals, can help you see those connections and make decisions with the broader strategy in mind.

As you revisit your priorities for 2027, an Ameriprise financial advisor can help you take a fresh look at your full financial life, with guidance tailored to what matters most to you.