This post was originally published on this site.
Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin
Tribune Content Agency
Every year, Ilyce and Sam offer their readers New Year’s resolutions for home buyers, home sellers and their personal finances. To move forward with their 2026 personal finance resolutions, they first explained the state of the economy and housing market as it was in 2025. Now, they offer their resolutions moving forward in 2026.
Will 2026 bring relief? The honest answer is that uncertainty remains high. While inflation has moderated somewhat and the Federal Reserve has begun cutting interest rates, housing costs remain elevated, wages haven’t kept pace with cumulative price increases, and many Americans have depleted their pandemic savings. The economic divide between higher earners and everyone else continues to widen.
But here’s what we know for certain: you can’t control macro-economic trends, Federal Reserve policy, or housing market dynamics. What you can control is your own financial behavior. Small, consistent changes compound over time. It’s never too late to resolve to revamp your personal finances. And if you make one meaningful financial improvement each month starting now, by year’s end you’ll be in a materially better position than you are today.
With that in mind, here are your 2026 Personal Finance Resolutions:
Personal Finance Resolution No. 1: Build an emergency fund — even a small one
In an economy where 24% of Americans spend nearly everything they earn just to get by, building any savings cushion feels impossible. But here’s the reality: without savings, you’re one car repair, medical bill, or job loss away from financial crisis.
It’s never been more important to build an emergency fund. Start impossibly small if you need to. Set up an automatic transfer of $10 per week to a separate savings account. That’s $520 by year’s end. Then increase it by $5 every few months. The Federal Reserve found that 37% of Americans couldn’t cover a $400 emergency expense without borrowing or selling something. Don’t be in that group. Your first goal is $500, then $1,000. These amounts won’t solve every problem, but they’ll keep small emergencies from becoming financial catastrophes.
Personal Finance Resolution No. 2: Attack your credit card debt with the avalanche method
With average credit card interest rates exceeding 20% in 2025 and climbing to 24% or higher for those with lower credit scores, credit card debt is stealing your financial future. If you only make minimum payments on the average credit card balance at current interest rates, you’ll be in debt for over 18 years and pay more than the original debt in interest.
List all your credit cards with their balances and interest rates. Pay minimums on everything, but throw every extra dollar at the card with the highest interest rate first. Once that’s paid off, take that payment amount and add it to the next highest rate card. This “avalanche method” saves you the most money on interest. If you have good credit, consider a balance transfer to a 0 percent APR card to stop the interest clock while you pay down principal. The key is to stop using the cards for new purchases while you’re paying them off.
Personal Finance Resolution No. 3: Freeze your credit and protect your identity
With cybercrime reaching epidemic proportions in 2025 and new victims of identity theft emerging every 22 seconds, financial security requires active defense. The good news: the single most effective protection is free and takes 15 minutes.
Visit the websites of all three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion— and freeze your credit for free (no credit card required). A credit freeze prevents criminals from the most damaging form of identity theft: opening new accounts in your name. You can temporarily unfreeze your credit online in minutes when you need to apply for legitimate credit. While you’re on those sites, review your credit reports for any suspicious activity and check your credit score.
Perhaps the single most important thing you can do right now is enable two-factor authentication on all financial accounts and consider using a password manager to create unique, strong passwords. This means that whenever you sign into a financial institution or your cellphone provider account, you not only input your password, but also receive a text message to enter a second code or direction to get a second code from an authenticator app to verify it’s you.
Where you’re able, set up a password authenticator such as Google’s or Microsoft’s. These are critical ways to protect yourself and your financial accounts. Finally, make sure you set up alerts on all financial accounts so you get an immediate hit if anything is charged, withdrawn, deposited, exchanged, or traded. The sooner you know, the better you’ll be able to clamp down on the threat.
Personal Finance Resolution No. 4: Create a zero-based budget and track every dollar
When nearly every dollar is spoken for before you earn it, you can’t afford to wonder where your money went. You need to tell your money where to go before you spend it.
Start with the “go to zero” budgeting method: Take your monthly income and allocate every dollar on paper before the month begins. First priority: food, shelter, utilities, transportation, and insurance. Second priority: other necessities and minimum debt payments. Anything that’s left goes to your emergency fund or debt payoff. Track every expense for at least one month using an app or spreadsheet. Most people are shocked to discover they’re spending $100-$300 more per month than they realized on subscriptions, dining out, and small purchases. Those are dollars that could be working for you instead of disappearing unnoticed.
Personal Finance Resolution No. 5: Invest in your financial education
The more you understand about money, the better financial decisions you’ll make — and in 2026’s economy, knowledge is your competitive advantage. Whether you’re trying to understand investment options, improve your credit score, navigate the housing market, or just make your paycheck stretch further, education is the foundation of financial improvement.
Take advantage of free resources: Ilyce’s website, ThinkGlink.com, offers over 10,000 pieces of free content on real estate and personal finance topics. Sign up for her free Substack newsletter, Love, Money + Real Estate, featuring the latest news and information. Read personal finance books from your library. Listen to money podcasts during your commute. Watch educational YouTube channels on investing and budgeting. The goal isn’t to become a financial expert; it’s to become confident enough to make informed decisions about your money. Even 15 minutes a week of financial education will compound into significant understanding by year’s end.
A final word
The economic environment of 2026 may not be forgiving, but that doesn’t mean you’re powerless. These five resolutions won’t magically solve inflation, lower prices at the grocery store, fix the housing market, or eliminate the threat of identity theft. What they will do is put you in control of what you can control: your spending, your debt, your security, and your knowledge.
Small actions, repeated consistently, create transformation. Trust us — this is how we started and what we do every year. It works! Start with one resolution this month. Add another next month. By this time next year, you’ll have built financial habits that will serve you for decades to come — regardless of what the economy throws at you.
We wish you a financially stronger, more secure, and empowered 2026!