If a person can reach retrospection by any means possible, it is great. R Dessler says that everyone is trying to get up the “sulam Yaakov” and those who do not have proper means to do so would use any
crutch they can find.
Some review their action when going to sleep (“do not remind a Talmid Chochom about his aveira he did yesterday, as he surely did teshuva overnight”); or you can do it by Rosh Hodesh or by the financial quarter…
Definitely, an end of the tax year should bring thoughts about mis-spent time and money, charity deductions one did not use, wrong stocks and ideas he bought in the last year … One should also shutter at the thought – how he will be seen by people if the Congress were to publish his tax forms.
Alter from Kelm had a piece of wood in his bread and he thought that nobody cares about this, while the Pharaoh’s baker got into such a trouble, and we should always think how our actions matter in front of the King…