The file is the defence. What the client's circumstances were, what was recommended and why, recorded at the time, is what stands up when the same decision is examined five years later in a different market.
Annual reviews are where the ongoing fee is earned. Scheduled and recorded, they justify the charge and they are the natural moment for new work; forgotten, they turn into a complaint about paying for nothing.
Nobody wants to answer the same questions twice. Circumstances, objectives, dependants and attitude to risk held once and updated at review is the difference between a professional relationship and an interrogation.
Ongoing charges have to be matched to something visible. A client who cannot see what the annual fee bought is a client already thinking about leaving, whatever the returns look like.