5 financial wellness tips for 2026
Summary
Feeling stressed about money? You're not alone. Many Americans are struggling with financial insecurity. But there is hope. Achieving financial wellness is about feeling in control and empowered to make choices that align with your goals. This article provides 5 actionable tips to boost your financial wellness in 2026:
Review your budget
Slash your debt
Build an emergency fund
Invest in your future
Check your financial health regularly
According to the Federal Reserve, only 34% of Americans reported “living comfortably” in 2022. 19% reported “just getting by” and 8% reported “finding it difficult to get by.” 39% of people, meanwhile, said they were “doing okay” financially.¹
These numbers remained relatively unchanged for 2023, though “sixty-five percent of adults said that changes in the prices they paid compared with the prior year had made their financial situation worse, including 19 percent who said price changes had made their financial situation much worse.”²
Where do you fall in this spectrum? Whether you feel as though you are just getting by or are doing okay, there’s always room to improve your financial wellness. While it isn’t always easy, it can be well worth it. However, do you know how to define financial wellness, let alone achieve it?
Let’s take a look at financial wellness and show you ways that could help improve yours. These are 5 tips for financial wellness to carry you into 2026 and beyond.
1. Review your budget & set budgeting goals
Do you have a budget? Do you understand what you’re bringing in financially versus what you’re spending? Do you have budgeting goals set?
If you’re like many Americans, you might already have a general idea of your income versus expenses. But maybe you haven’t updated your budget in a while. Perhaps you or your loved one got a new job and you need to improve your saving habits or you have new bills to pay and you need to make every dollar count.
These types of events can be life changing. But they also require a thorough look at your finances to see what adjustments, if any, you can make to your spending or your income.
For instance, you may consider refocusing yourself toward time with friends and family or enriching experience, rather than spending money on things.
There are plenty of budgeting apps that can make doing this easier. You might also try the simple 50/30/20 rule: 50% of your income for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings and debt repayment.
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2. Find ways to cut expenses & slash debts
Debt can be a major obstacle to achieving financial wellness. With increasing costs of living and stagnating wages, it’s understandable why many Americans have taken on debt in recent years. But if you're struggling with debt, if at all possible, create a plan to pay it down strategically.
For many folks, this is easier said than done, but here are a few methods that seem to help when attempting to slash debts:
- The snowball method ─ paying off the smallest debts first
- The avalanche method ─ tackling highest interest debts first
- Debt consolidation
- Negotiating with creditors for lower interest rates
An added bonus of paying down debt is that it can help you raise your credit score.
3. Set up an emergency fund
Being prepared for life’s curveballs is something that you’ll be better set up for if you have an emergency fund. Once you’ve begun paying down debts, start an emergency fund and aim to fund it with enough money to cover three to six months of expenses. If you are able to fund it with enough to cover a year’s worth of expenses, even better. After all, things like finding a new job or paying off medical debt can take many months and quickly eat into an emergency fund.
One of the most effective strategies for setting aside money for an emergency fund is to first identify areas to cut expenses, then set a savings goal. After you’ve done both of these things, we recommend making regular transfers from your checking account into a high-yield savings account. This ensures that you’re consistently contributing without much added effort.
A high-yield savings account can be one of the best options for an emergency fund because it keeps your money liquid for emergency use, but also gives you a much higher interest rate than a traditional savings account.
4. Revisit your retirement savings
How much are you saving for your retirement? If the answer is nothing, then now is a good time to start contributing to retirement accounts like a 401(k) or individual retirement account (IRA). Most employees can go to their human resources department to discuss options available to them through their employer. Some employers even match a certain percentage of your contribution.
If your emergency fund is already built up and you are already contributing to a retirement account, whether as a self-employed professional or employee, it’s time to start diversifying your retirement strategy. For instance, if you contribute to a 401(k) already, which gets taxed upon withdrawal of funds, diversifying your retirement strategy by contributing to a Roth IRA, which is tax-free upon withdrawal, can be a good strategy.
If you are fortunate enough to be doing all of the above already, checking in on your contributions to see if you might be able to contribute more is a good next step. And if you’ve done that too, consider consulting a retirement professional, who may be able to assist you in identifying additional investments you might be able to make or what additional passive income streams you might be able to generate.
5. Check on your financial health regularly
Financial well-being and financial wellness look a little different for every individual. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, financial wellness is defined according to four key elements:⁴
- Present security: Control over your day-to-day, month-to-month finances
- Future security: Capacity to absorb a financial shock
- Freedom of choice in the present: Financial freedom to make choices to enjoy life
- Freedom of choice in the future: On track to meet your financial goals
It’s important to periodically consider whether the actions you’re taking now are helping lead you towards all these dimensions of financial wellness, both over the short-term and long-term.
Whether you set calendar alerts to check up on your financial health and well-being, or you and a partner commit to regular checkups, automating the process of auditing your financial health can be helpful.
Learn more about financial wellness with Raisin
The path toward financial wellness is ongoing, and there’s always room for each of us to improve our individual circumstances. We invite you to browse our education center now to find more dedicated resources and tips on financial wellness and learning in 2026 and beyond.
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The above article is intended to provide generalized financial information designed to educate a broad segment of the public; it does not give personalized tax, investment, legal, or other business and professional advice. Before taking any action, you should always seek the assistance of a professional who knows your particular situation for advice on taxes, your investments, the law, or any other business and professional matters that affect you and/or your business.
¹ https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2023-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2022-overall-financial-well-being.htm
² https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2024-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2023-executive-summary.htm
³ https://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-tips-live-below-means-210022437.html
⁴ https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201501_cfpb_digest_financial-well-being.pdf
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