Once the Christmas festivities are out of the way, the rest of the holiday season is a great time to start looking ahead to 2026.
As financial planners, you’ll have to forgive us if we suggest that doing this from the perspective of your personal finances can be very advantageous.
To get you started, here are seven simple steps you can take to put your wealth in order and help you move into the new year with confidence.
These straightforward year-end actions will help you start 2026 on the front foot.
1. Check your income and expenditure schedule
With some time on your hands over the festive season, it’s a great opportunity to review your regular income and expenditure.
If you don’t already have a spreadsheet or schedule set up, we’d recommend creating one. It’s a good way to keep track of your finances and gain a clear overview of your financial position.
All you need to set one up is a couple of recent bank statements. While there are various apps you can use, a simple Excel spreadsheet can be effective.
Once you’ve set this up, you can add useful data, such as savings and investment values, and insurance renewal dates.
2. Identify regular savings you can make
Once you’ve established or updated your budget schedule, the next step is to look at your regular outgoings and see where you can save money.
For example:
- Do you still need all those TV streaming subscriptions?
- Are you “double-covered” and paying twice to insure the same thing?
- Will you use that gym membership, or can you cancel it and find cheaper ways to stay fit?
By adopting a critical eye and being ruthless, you are likely to free up a decent amount of money you can put to better use elsewhere.
3. Ensure there’s enough in your emergency fund
Financial resilience is at the heart of good planning, and a key element of this should be your emergency fund.
As a rule of thumb, this should be between three- and six-months’ household income, readily accessible in an instant-access savings account.
This will enable you to cover any short-term financial emergency without having to resort to expensive borrowing.
4. Make 2026 the year you really start tackling your debt
As well as cancelling unwanted outgoings, a great way to free up income to put to good use is to reduce your debt, and the amount you pay each month servicing it.
Make a schedule of the amounts you owe and put a plan in place to start clearing these, beginning with the highest interest debt first.
By doing this, you’ll be effectively giving yourself a pay rise, while also increasing the amount you can allocate to more productive uses.
5. Check your retirement savings
You may be thinking of retiring soon. In fact, you may even have plans to actually stop working in 2026.
If that’s the case, you will need to check the value of your retirement fund and the other assets that will provide you with your retirement income.
This will let you know the income you could expect, and whether you need to top up your fund by making additional, tax-efficient personal contributions.
6. Start planning for big events in 2026
Have a think about any significant financial commitments that you know you have coming up in the next 12 months.
These could include essential home repairs that you’ve been putting off, or happier events such as a special family birthday or a big holiday.
By recognising and planning for these now, you can avoid too much financial upheaval when they occur.
7. Plan your move to Australia
Of course, you may well be thinking about an event in 2026 that will be much bigger than a loft conversion or a fortnight in the sun: a move to Australia.
If that’s the case, or even if it’s just a half-formed idea, it’s never too soon to start planning. Take a look at our guide, which gives you a useful financial emigration checklist for your move.
With offices in both the UK and Australia, we are ideally placed to help you plan the financial aspects of your move.
We’ve helped thousands of clients manage their finances when relocating Down Under, and we’re here to support you every step of the way.
Get in touch
If you have any queries regarding any of the issues you have read about here, please get in touch with us.
Please note
The value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
This article is for information only, it does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs. Please do not solely rely on anything you have read in this article and ensure that you conduct your own research to ensure any actions you may take are suitable for your circumstances.
All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC and ATO legislation, which is subject to change.