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Save more money. It was the most popular New Year’s resolution in 2025 and the second most popular in 2026, according to statesman.
However, there is a difference between making a decision and acting on it. Get your way to better financial health by taking care of some routine personal finance tasks. Now, at the beginning of the year — after the holiday crunch and before tax season, when you’re planning your annual travel and expenses — is a good time to do so.
1. Start preparing a budget
If you’ve already budgeted your money, the start of the new year is a good time to review last year’s spending and think about where you want your money to go in the coming months.
If you want to start budgeting for the first time, I recommend using a personal finance app for that. Budget applications Make the task more efficient and more accurate than doing it on paper. The reason is that they use your spending history instead of guessing. They look at the past few months of transactions across your credit cards, Venmo, checking account, and other financial accounts and categorize every dollar you’ve spent. The result is a clear picture of how you typically spend your money, giving you a realistic starting point for creating budgets.
Applications such as Co-pilot money, YNAB (both recommended by WIRED), and Accelerate simplification (Similar but at a lower cost) Do a lot of this work for you. If you want to reduce your spending on restaurants or entertainment, for example, the app tracks your spending in real time and warns you when you’re close to your set limit. This way you can make smart decisions before You’re blowing your budget.
2. Max out your IRA
I am not a financial expert, and this is not financial advice. He said that a lot reputable financial Maximizing your annual IRA contribution as soon as possible each year ensures you reap the full benefits of compound interest, resources say.
For 2026, the maximum annual contributions have been raised It rose to $7,500 For people under 50, according to the IRS. If you are 50 or older, the maximum is $8,600. These limits are reduced and Phasing out If you earn more than a certain amount for the year.
If you’re not able to move the maximum amount of cash, you can always do what you can now and plan to contribute more later in the year. Additionally, if you haven’t reached your maximum contribution for 2025, there’s still time. You have until the non-extended tax filing deadline (April 15 Most years) to contribute up to $7,000 if you’re under 50 or $8,000 if you’re 50 or older.
3. Adjust your retirement and savings plans
Set it and forget it retirement savings? In this economy? Take a close look at all your retirement accounts and any special savings plans you have, e.g Plan 529And modify it as you see fit. Employer-sponsored retirement accounts sometimes come with tools in online portals that guide you in making appropriate adjustments based on changes in your family income, planned retirement age, risk tolerance and other factors.
The decisions you may have made on these accounts when you were 28 may not be the same decisions you want to make when you’re 45. Reviewing these decisions at least annually will help you stay on track.
4. Check your credit report
A credit report is a history of your financial accounts and a way to measure your financial responsibility. It lists the accounts you’ve opened and closed, how long they’ve been open, checking account balances, whether you’ve missed payments or made late payments, foreclosures in your name, etc.
Check your Credit report It is a security mission as much as it is a financial mission. If someone uses your identity to open a line of credit, the new account will appear on your credit report. Finding evidence of fraud early can mean the difference between stopping it in its tracks versus finding yourself owing a debt you never created.