Mike Pappas, a CFP at Bolden, walks through five practical moves for 2026: set clear goals, update your account and income info, check if you hit key ages like 59½ or 65, review your estate plan, and pick one consistent financial habit to stick with.
Questions this video answers
Mike Pappas, certified financial planner and head of support at Bolden.
January 13, 2026.
1) Set clear financial goals; 2) Update your financial plan (accounts, expenses, income, projections); 3) Check milestone ages (50, 59½, 65, full retirement age, RMDs); 4) Review or create an estate plan; 5) Commit to one consistent financial habit.
Every three to five years or after a major life event.
The Bolden Planner (free trial/demo referenced).
Chapters
Most people don't need a brand new financial strategy in 2026. They just need to focus on the right things in the right order. If you want 2026 to feel calmer financially, with fewer surprises and a clearer sense of where you're headed, this video is for you. Hi everyone, Mike Pappas here, certified financial planner professional and head of support at Bolden. Today I'm walking you through a 2026 financial checklist. Five essential moves that help you stay on track with retirement planning and make better decisions with your money. These aren't trends. They aren't hacks. They're the areas that matter most and the ones people usually wish they'd focused on earlier. If you're thinking about your retirement planning in 2026 or you just want to feel more confident about your financial future, you're in the right place. Let's get started. The first move is about direction. Before you look at accounts, assumptions or projections, you need to be clear on what you're actually working toward. Move one is establishing your financial goals for 2026 and beyond. Every strong financial plan starts with clarity. Ask yourself one simple what do you want your money to do for you in 2026? Do you want to save more? Pay down debt? Work less? Retire at the end of the year? Move to a different state? Feel less anxious about your money? And just as important, what do you want more of this year? More time? More flexibility? More experiences? Goals give your money direction. Without them, you're just reacting instead of planning, and that usually leads to frustration later. A helpful way to frame this is simple. At the end of 2026, what would make you say financially, that was a good year? That answer becomes the anchor for everything else in your plan. Once your goals are clear, the next step is making sure your plan reflects reality. The second move is updating your financial plan for 2026. Because many things tend to change from year to year, a financial plan is only as good as the numbers inside it. If your investment, account balances, income, spending or assumptions haven't been updated recently, your plan may already be out of date. Even if nothing feels dramatically different heading into 2026, take time to review account balances after 2025 market performance, spending patterns, income changes, inflation and rate of return assumptions Any new planned expenses life changes like job transitions, caregiving or major purchases. These don't have to be big changes, but small updates can create meaningful shifts in your long term projections. Let me show you what this looks like inside the bulletin Planner and more importantly, what you should be reviewing first, go to my plan accounts and assets savings and this is where you want to make sure all of your balances are current. Review retirement accounts, any brokerage accounts, savings and any other assets and update the balances so they reflect where things stand today, even if nothing significant happen. Markets move, contributions happen, withdrawals happen. Making sure these numbers are up to date is one of the fastest ways to improve the accuracy of your plan. Next, let's head over to the expenses and healthcare section and ensure your recurring expenses still reflect reality. Think about your discretionary expenses in particular things like dining out, travel, personal care and entertainment. Ask yourself, does this reflect how we're actually spending right now or how we thought we'd be spending a year ago? After that, review your income and savings under my plan. Income Review your current income and what you're contributing to retirement plans or other investment accounts. Did you receive a raise since the last time you updated your plan? Or maybe a promotion with a meaningful bump in pay? If you earned a bonus in 2025, that's coming in early 2026, that's another detail worth reflecting here. Then look at your savings rate. Maybe you increased how much you're contributing to your employer retirement plan, or maybe you planned to but life got in the way and it didn't quite happen. Either way, update this so it reflects what you're actually doing today. Once you've updated your accounts, spending and income, step back and look at your projections. Pay attention to how key metrics like your retirement chance of success change after these updates. This will allow you to better understand where you stand now and what opportunities could make sense to tackle next. The next move is about timing. Some of the biggest financial opportunities show up at very specific ages, and if you're not looking for them, it's easy to miss them. Move 3 is checking whether you will hit any key Milestone ages in 2026. Start by seeing whether any of these apply to you. Turning 50 this is when catch up contributions become available for retirement accounts like 401s and IRAs. It gives you the ability to save more each year above the standard limit, which can make a meaningful difference if the retirement is getting closer and you want to accelerate savings. Turning 59 and a half this age opens the door to penalty free withdrawals from most retirement accounts, though taxes may still apply even if you have no plans to tap those funds. This milestone adds flexibility to your plan and can create new options around timing income or covering large expenses. Turning 65 this is when Medicare eligibility begins. Planning ahead here matters because enrollment, timing affects coverage premiums and potential penalties. Knowing when this starts helps you coordinate healthcare decisions with retirement or changes in your employment. Reaching your full retirement age for Social Security this is the age when you're entitled to 100% of your Social Security benefit based on your earnings record. It becomes an important reference point when comparing claiming earlier versus delaying benefits, especially as it relates to long term income planning. Approaching required Minimum distribution or RMD ages RMDs determine when you're required to start taking withdrawals and from your tax deferred retirement accounts like traditional IRAs and 401ks. The starting age depends on your birth year, which makes advanced planning especially important. These withdrawals can affect taxable income, Medicare premiums and overall cash flow, so knowing when they begin gives you time to plan around them. If you miss the planning opportunity around one of these milestones, you usually can't rewind the clock later. That's why it's so helpful to see them clearly laid out in one place. In the Bolden planner, you can quickly check your own milestones by going to my Plan Summary and scrolling down to the Milestones section. It lays out the ages and events that matter for your plan in one clear place. This is often where people realize, oh, I should probably plan for that. You'll often hear that with this next move as well. Move 4 is reviewing your estate plan or creating one if you don't already have it. This is one of the most important parts of your financial life, and it's also one of the easiest to put off. First, ask yourself a simple question. Do you actually have an estate plan in place? If not, 2026 is a great year to change that, and if you already have one, it may be time for a review. As a general rule, it makes sense to revisit your estate plan every three to five years or anytime there's a major life event, things like a move to another state, a divorce, a new baby, or other meaningful changes in your life. At a minimum, you'll want to account for any family or life changes. Review or update your will or any trusts. Check powers of attorney and health care directives. Confirm your beneficiary designations which override your will. Create a letter of instruction which is essentially a practical guide for the people you leave behind and can include things like where important documents are stored and how to access key accounts. Estate planning isn't about wealth. It's about clarity, protection, and making things easier for the people you care about. And now for the step that ties everything together. Most financial plans don't fall apart because they're poorly designed. They fall apart because they aren't maintained. The next step is all about consistency. Move 5 is committing to one financial habit you can realistically stick with throughout the year. Progress usually comes from doing small things regularly, not from making big changes all at once. So instead of trying to overhaul your entire financial life in January, choose one habit that feels manageable. That might be a 20 minute monthly money check in with your partner, a quarterly update of your Bold and plan, increasing your savings rate by 1 or 2%, automating transfers to savings, or reviewing your credit card transactions from the last three months. Just one this habit isn't about setting direction, it's about staying connected to your plan as life changes. Small, consistent actions make everything feel more manageable and less overwhelming. So here's your 2026 financial checklist. Set clear goals, update your financial plan, check your financial milestone ages, review your estate plan, and commit to one steady habit. You don't need to tackle all of this at once. Even one or two of these steps early in the year can make the rest of 2026 feel a lot more manageable. If this video was helpful, subscribe for more guidance on planning your future retirement with confidence. And if you want to see how these moves play out with your own numbers, you can try the Bold and Planner for free and explore your plan at your own pace. Thank you for watching and we'll see you here again soon. Happy New Year to you all.
