The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
Investing is a long-term game. The key to building wealth that can help you reach your financial goals, like buying a home and retiring, is putting money to work regularly and sticking to the investing strategy that works for you.
But there are steps you can take at the beginning of each year to make sure you’re on track to reach those goals, and tweaks you can make to enhance your plan. Current, a consumer fintech banking platform, shares seven ways to set yourself up for investing success in 2026.
Before you start making your changes for 2026, take a few minutes to look back at how last year went. Review your income, expenses, and savings to understand your spending and savings behavior and where you may want to make improvements. If you’re surprised by how much you spent on dining out, for example, maybe your goal for this year is to cook more at home. If your income was significantly higher than your spending, maybe it’s time to invest more money in the stock market.
Assessing your cash flow from the previous year not only helps you identify patterns and areas of improvement, but it can also help reenergize you to reach your goals, says Nancy Hughes, senior wealth advisor at Mercer Advisors. She recommends using a budgeting app to help you automate the process. If you can find one that sends you notifications when you are getting close to your limits to keep you on track, all the better.
Investing is a crucial part of a financial plan — but you need to have a solid foundation first. One important part of this foundation is an emergency fund in case the unexpected happens, like you lose your job, face a surprise medical bill, or need to get a quick fix for your car. Financial advisors tend to recommend having enough money set aside to cover three to six months’ worth of your expenses, though you should tweak that amount to fit your specific needs. For instance, if you are an independent contractor and your income is variable, you may want to increase your savings to cover six months to a year’s worth of your expenses.
You can save this money in a higher earning savings account so it’s readily accessible when you need it and still accrues interest.
Another step you should take before investing your money is paying off high-interest debt, like credit card debt, since the interest you need to pay on those loans can eat away at your savings.
Many long-term milestones, like saving for a down payment or a child’s college fund, won’t change year to year. But there are goals that may come and go, such as saving for an upcoming vacation or new car, or building up your emergency fund before you quit your job.
Hughes suggests creating a vision board that includes your financial aspirations, such as how much you want to earn this year, how much you want to save for certain goals. While getting crafty with this activity isn’t necessary (you can simply write your goals down on paper or type them in a note on your phone), getting creative can help make financial planning fun instead of boring, Hughes adds.
Your future self will thank you for the money that you invest now, which is why it’s important to regularly increase your contributions if you can. Review your various investment accounts and see where you may be able to make some changes. For instance, if you contribute 3% of your income to your 401(k) or a similar employer-sponsored retirement savings plan, try to increase that contribution to 4%-5% this year. You can also increase your contributions to individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and taxable brokerage accounts.
“If you overdo it, you can always bring it back down,” says Craig Ferrantino, founder of Craig James Financial Services.
You also have until April 15, Tax Day, to make additional 2025 contributions to an IRA and health savings account (HSA), so consider maximizing your contributions to these accounts to lower your taxable income and give your savings a boost.
Making those contributions to investment accounts becomes even easier if you automate the process. If you have a retirement savings account through your employer, you’re likely already automating your investing. But you can also set up automatic contributions to your other investment accounts as well as savings accounts.
“Life gets busy, and there is always something else competing for your money. … It’s just too easy to spend money in different areas,” Hughes says. “When you automate, you make sure you're hitting your goals and setting yourself up for long-term financial success. It just makes it easier and one last thing to think about.”
Tax Day for 2026 may not be until April 2027, but getting organized now will make preparing your tax return much easier next year. Ferrantino says that if taxes are always top of mind when you’re managing your money throughout the year, there are often ways you can save on your tax bill. For instance, if you’re considering contributing some of your money to a money market fund, find a municipal money market fund. These funds tend to invest at least 80% of assets in municipal securities — and the interest on those munis is usually exempt from federal income tax.
Start by creating a folder, either physically or digitally, where you can keep tax forms as you collect them throughout the year. That may include your mortgage interest statement for the year, 1099s, and W-2s. Come 2027, you won’t have to scramble to assess your tax situation.
Even though investing is a long-term process, you do need to check on your portfolio regularly and make tweaks to ensure your portfolio is well-diversified. Diversification entails getting exposure to both domestic and international assets, as well as assets of different sizes and in different sectors. While most young investors will want to have most of their portfolio in stocks, as stocks come with high growth potential, many investors shift some of their portfolio into lower-risk investments, like bonds, as they age. The idea behind diversification is that when one area of your portfolio suffers, another area can hold steady or even outperform. You could also look at purchasing cryptocurrency if you want to diversify your portfolio. If so, you’ll want to look for a platform with low or no trading fees for crypto.
To ensure your portfolio is diversified in a way that aligns with your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance, it’s important to regularly rebalance — that is, sell assets that now take up more of your portfolio than your plan outlines, and buy ones that take up less. For instance, if your strategy entails having 80% stocks of your portfolio in stocks and 20% in bonds, but after last year’s strong year, your stock allocation has grown to 90% stocks, you want to sell some stocks.
“It’s a disciplined strategy,” Hughes says. “It takes emotion out of the strategy, and you’re selling high and buying low.”
This story was produced by Current and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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