Ah, January. That time of the year when you’re slowly starting to emerge from the Christmas/New Year haze, probably still finishing off the last of the ham, and – if you’re lucky – still enjoying a bit of downtime before work (and school) starts up again.

Now don’t get me wrong, this end/start of year mush is great for some things, such as forgetting what day it is or mass-deleting the unread emails from your inbox. And as far as I’m concerned, the whole point of taking time off in December is so you can kick the can down the road and “get around to it next year”.

What’s the problem?

While I generally endorse procrastination, it can also lead to a sort of unintentional end-of-year reset for any goals or plans you might have had underway during the year. For example, you might have been saving diligently through October and November, only for it to fall by the wayside in December. So now you need to get back into the habit.

It’s no surprise then that money is a regular feature of people’s New Year resolutions, with research from Finder showing 85 per cent of Australians have set financial goals for 2026.

What you can do about it

I’m not a huge fan of resolutions, especially as something like only 8 per cent of people actually stick to them. So instead, here’s a simple checklist of things you can do now to clear away the cobwebs and put yourself in good stead for 2026:

• New year, new super: More like new year, same old newsletter writer talking about super – am I right! Anyway, according to SuperRatings, balanced funds are set to return an average of 9.1 per cent for the 2025 calendar year, well above the long-term average of 7.1 per cent. While the official figures are yet to come out, this estimate can provide a solid benchmark to compare your fund’s performance against, which you can check by logging into your account and looking at the “performance” section (or similar). If you’re in a balanced option, your returns should be around that 9 per cent mark, but if you’re in growth/high growth, they should be notably higher. If they’re not, it might be time to think about switching funds, as given the rampant growth in markets last year, there are few excuses for poor performance. The good news is you can’t go too far wrong – regulator APRA’s 2025 assessment of 556 super products found just seven weren’t up to scratch, and there were no duds among MySuper products.

• Prepare for tax time: Yes, I know that’s six months away, but if you’ve ever come to the end of June and wished you’d sorted things earlier, now’s your chance to get organised. Mark Chapman, head of tax communications at HR Block says the best thing you can do now is also one of the simplest: set up a single place to store tax-related documents as the year progresses. “This could be a folder on your computer, cloud storage or a physical file. Add receipts, invoices, bank interest statements, investment summaries and work-related expense records as they arise,” he says. “Five minutes a month can save many hours – and accountants’ fees – later.” Chapman also recommends taking the time to work out what you actually earn by listing all your income streams, including investment earnings, interest from savings, and any extra cash from side hustles.
• Sus your savings: We’ve just come off one of the most expensive times of the year, so it’s OK to cut yourself some slack if your savings are looking a little sad. But this is also a good opportunity to review how much you’re stashing away each month, and your total savings. According to Finder, the average Australian saves around $900 a month, but this varies drastically depending on your age. A rough guide is the 50/30/20 rule, where 50 per cent of your earnings go to living expenses, 30 per cent go to non-essential spending, and the remaining 20 per cent go into savings. January is also a great time to reassess your savings goals, as your circumstances may have changed, or you may have already hit the target you set last year (here’s hoping!). Many money gurus also advocate keeping an emergency fund containing at least three months’ salary, but I’d focus on getting a decent chunk of general savings first.
• Assess your assets: 2025 was a crazy year for investments, with the AI hype and gold bullion boom helping drive global markets to record highs. It probably helped your investment portfolio look pretty sunny too, so now might be a good time to take stock and see if you’re still happy with how your investments are allocated. I’m not going to try to tell you what might happen this year with the possible AI bubble and generally heightened valuations, other than say one thing: diversification is always best.

Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.