Why One-Time Financial Planning Isn’t Enough: A Q1 2026 Case Study

It’s probably the most common thing we hear from prospective clients: “I get that financial planning is important, but my situation is simple. Can we just do a once-over to make sure I’m on track?”

It’s a fair question. On paper, a one-time financial plan sounds efficient. You sit down, map out your goals, build a strategy, and go execute it. Done. What else is there to do? In fact, I was also convinced that this was an appropriate route when I first launched my firm, and I offered a “one-time plan” as a product.

Here’s the thing, though: life doesn’t stop generating financial decisions once the plan is written. Over time, things come up. Some are predictable (tax season is always coming). Some aren’t (a surprise car purchase; a job transition; a missed 401(k) contribution that needs to get fixed before it becomes a problem).

If you’re a BigLaw attorney billing 2,000+ hours a year, you likely don't have the bandwidth to deal with that stuff yourself. And if no one’s dealing with it, it’s not getting done.

Instead of telling you what ongoing financial planning looks like in theory, we’re going to show you what it looked like in practice for real clients in a single quarter. Every item below is real. Names are anonymized. This is Q1 2026.

Part One

Ongoing Planning

Q1 is tax season, which means it's one of the busiest quarters of the year. These are the services we proactively provided to every client household this quarter:

401(k) Review & Investment Update
Internal Portfolio System Update
2025 Tax Liability/Refund Projections
2026 Tax Withholding Analysis
2025 Backdoor Roth IRA Contributions
2026 Backdoor Roth IRA Contributions
2025 Tax Document Organization
2025 Tax Letter for Clients' Tax Professionals
Ongoing CPA/Tax Professional Coordination

Part Two

Bespoke Projects

These are one-off projects that came up in Q1 2026. They're the kinds of things that pop up in life and require actual planning work, not just a quick answer. This quarter we handled 30+ distinct projects across our client households:

N. & L. C.

Mortgage loan application and document coordination
New car purchase analysis and loan modeling
Auto financing review
Auto warranty cancellation and refund
Updated financial plan with new car loan built in

S. N. & G. P.

Direct real estate investment deal analysis
401(k) rollover to Schwab coordination
Financial plan update and ongoing advisory

N. A. & R. W.

Student loan deep-dive: SAVE plan ended, PAYE analysis, projected savings calculation for 2026
Married filing separately vs. jointly analysis for student loan payment reduction
Life insurance quote forms and application
Vanguard 401(k) to Schwab consolidation
Paystub gathering and income verification

E. & M. B.

2025 and 2026 tax projections from paystubs
Car purchase analysis: Model Y, 0.9% rate, 72-month term financial breakdown

Z. & A. M.

2025 tax projection ($52,425 remaining federal liability identified)
CPA coordination
Draw Statement investigation
2026 SECURE 2.0 Roth catch-up contribution guidance ($8k required as Roth)

Z. M.

Portfolio rebalance
Cash investment: Wells Fargo to Schwab money market transition

D. W.

401(k) missed payroll contribution fix
Cash balance plan year-end data gathering
Bookkeeping service referral
Tax document coordination with CPA

J. B.

Withholding increase recommendation for tax underpayment
401(k) pre-tax vs. Roth balance analysis

H. & W. M.

Bonus allocation
Financial plan update with bonus follow-up

A. A.

Auto liability insurance increase follow-up
Tax document upload to CPA (including independently pulled property tax statement)

S. B.

Estate planning attorney coordination
Financial plan update and review

L. S.

Tax document coordination with CPA

B. & M. M.

Estate planning attorney coordination

Custodial Account Opening

Opened custodial account for a minor

J. J.

Resume review and polishing
NAPFA career resources and referrals

That's a snapshot of Q1. Some of these projects took a single email. Others took weeks of back-and-forth with CPAs, insurance companies, custodians, and attorneys. Financial planning isn't a once-a-year meeting; it's an ongoing relationship where things come up, and someone needs to deal with them.

If you don't have someone handling this stuff, you're either doing it yourself (unlikely, given your hours) or it's not getting done. Neither option is great.

What Every Client Got This Quarter

Before we get into the one-off projects, let’s talk about the baseline. These nine services went to every client household, proactively, regardless of whether they asked. This is the floor, not the ceiling.

401(k) Review & Investment Update – Checking contribution rates, investment choices, and allocations. As clients’ investment wealth grows, the investment choices need to evolve to maintain tax optimization (which types of investments go in which accounts).
Internal Portfolio System Update – After we help clients elect investment options in their 401k’s/HSA’s/other workplace plans, we need to build those updated external accounts into our portfolio management software so that they have a “voice” when we are managing other client accounts directly. We want all of the clients’ accounts singing off the same page of music.
2025 Tax Liability/Refund Projections – We want to minimize April tax surprises and get ahead of large liabilities ahead of the 1/15 Q4 estimated tax deadline. .
2026 Tax Withholding Analysis – Getting ahead of next year’s liability before it builds up.
2025 Backdoor Roth IRA Contributions – Confirming the prior year's contribution was executed correctly before the deadline.
2026 Backdoor Roth IRA Contributions – Setting up the current year early, rather than scrambling in December.
2025 Tax Document Organization – Gathering what your CPA needs so they aren't chasing you during their busy season. Ideally, we have access to the CPA’s portal to help facilitate the sharing of documents so you have one (or twenty) fewer things to track down, download, and upload.
2025 Tax Letter for CPAs – A summary of every tax-relevant investment event from the prior year sent directly to your tax pro. The obvious example is the backdoor Roth IRA actions.
Ongoing CPA Coordination – Staying in the loop with your tax preparer throughout the quarter, not just at filing.

That’s nine distinct deliverables provided to every household before a single client even called with a question.

30+ One-Off Projects That Just...Came Up

On top of the baseline, Q1 2026 brought more than 30 individual projects. These aren’t things anyone predicted at the start of the year; they happened because life happened.

Tax Planning & Coordination

Identified $52,425 in hidden tax liability: One Equity Partner had a draw statement that revealed a significant underpayment. We caught it early enough to address it in coordination with their tax advisor.
Filing Status Analysis: For a client on income-driven student loan repayment, we modeled "Married Filing Separately vs. Jointly" to save thousands in student loan payments.
SECURE 2.0 Roth Catch-up Guidance: The rules changed for high-earners over 50. We identified affected clients to ensure their 401(k) administrators were handling catch-ups correctly.

Retirement & Investment

401(k) Rollover Coordination: Managed a Vanguard-to-Schwab transfer, handling the paperwork to ensure nothing got lost in transit. Unfortunately, 401k transfers are more complex than they should be.
Payroll Error Fix: Caught a missed 401(k) payroll contribution by a business owner client and worked with the administrator to get it corrected.
Cash Optimization: Moved idle cash from relatively low after-tax yield bank accounts into net higher-yielding, tax-free money market funds.

Major Purchases & Debt

Tesla Model Y Purchase Analysis: Modeled a 72-month term at 0.9% financing to see how the payment fit into the long-term plan.
Mortgage Coordination: Handled document gathering for a home purchase so the client could focus on the move.
Vehicle and Home Purchase: Helped a client interview and select a mortgage lender who could best help the family purchase both a new vehicle as well as a new home.

Career & Life

Student Loan Deep-Dive: When the SAVE plan ended, we analyzed PAYE/IBR alternatives and projected 2026 payments.
Resume & Career Transition Support: Reviewed a resume for a client considering a move and connected them with career resources.
Direct Real Estate Deal Analysis: Ran the numbers on a private real estate deal to help a client decide if the risk-return profile made sense.

The Point

Some of these projects took a single email. Others took weeks of back-and-forth with CPAs, insurance companies, and attorneys.

That is the reality of financial planning for high-earning professionals. It’s not a once-a-year meeting; it’s an ongoing relationship. A missed 401(k) contribution, a $52,000 tax liability hiding in a draw statement, or a student loan program ending mid-year. These aren’t hypothetical; they happened.

If you don't have someone handling this, you’re either doing it yourself or it’s not getting done. And the longer things go unaddressed, the more expensive they tend to get.

Work With Concert Financial Planning

Concert Financial Planning is a flat-fee financial planning firm built exclusively for BigLaw attorneys. If you're ready to talk through your situation with a CFA®/CFP® Professional who understands your career, compensation, and lifestyle, then schedule a free discovery call.

Related Reading: