NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast - How to Build Better Money Habits in 2026

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Learn how to tie your 2026 money goals to your values so you can stick with them all year. How can you match your 2026 money goals to what you really care about? And how do you turn those goals into a plan you’ll actually follow? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola discuss values-based money planning and goal-setting frameworks to help you build a realistic, meaningful financial plan for the new year. They begin with a discussion of centering money goals on your core values, with tips and tricks on identifying what matters most (like freedom, community, or adventure), translating those values into goals such as paying off a car loan or saving for early retirement, and aligning your saving, spending, giving and fun money with the life you actually want to live. Along the way, they share their own 2026 goals, from boosting emergency funds and increasing income to opening “fun money” and giving accounts and navigating a tough housing market and crypto temptations highlighted in NerdWallet’s 2026 Financial Outlook Survey. Then, Sean and Elizabeth discuss how to move from big dreams to daily action using the SMART — and SMARTER — goal framework. They discuss how to break large goals (like maxing a Roth IRA or saving for a big event) into monthly and per-paycheck targets, how to make goals specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound, and how to build in personal rewards so sticking to your plan actually feels good. They also cover getting comfortable with the discomfort of change, planning for curveballs like impulse spending and surprise kid or car expenses, and using tools like high-yield savings accounts and multiple sinking funds (yes, even for summer camp) so you can absorb surprises without blowing up your 2026 money plan. NerdWallet 2026 Financial Outlook Survey: https://www.nerdwallet.com/finance/studies/2026-consumer-outlook-report  Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp=header In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: new year financial goals, 2026 financial goals, how to set financial goals, SMART goals for money, SMARTER goals framework, values based budgeting, align money with values, paying off car loan early, early retirement savings rate, FIRE retirement plan, increase my income 2026, emergency fund savings, sinking funds examples, fun money account, high yield savings account, giving fund for charity, support local community with money, starting a business in 2026, investing in crypto 2026, Dogecoin investing, buying a house in 2026, saving for a house down payment, NerdWallet 2026 financial outlook survey, impulse spending help, budget for summer camp, planning for surprise bills, Roth IRA contribution 2026, break big goals into small steps, reward yourself for saving, how to stick to money goals To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [e-mail]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy New Year, Elizabeth. Happy New Year. I thought I would start off the New Year with a little rant. I mean, I feel like, Sean, the older that I get, the more I realize I think New Year is a scam. Nothing changes on January the 1st. It's just another day. You're right, but a lot of people think there's a lot of hope and potential in the new year. So we're going to capitalize on that, at least for a podcast episode.

Okay, let's swing it the positive way. All right. Welcome to Nerd Wallet's Smart Money podcast, a show where you come to us with your money questions and we, genius nerds, answer them. I'm Sean Piles. And I'm Elizabeth Ayola. It's a new year and we're kicking off our series all about your money in 2026. Yes, Elizabeth, a new year is upon us with all the hopes, ambitions and delusions that come with turning over the calendar. So are you a big New Year's resolution person?

I think I gave it away, you know, a few seconds ago. Not really. Jaded. I used to be. I know. I used to be, but I'm not saying I don't set goals, but I don't put as much pressure on myself as I used to in previous years. And I also don't have as many. I used to have a laundry list of goals. Well, that sounds realistic. Yeah. Well, all month long, we're going to help our listeners set up their finances to make the most of this new year, whether you love a vision board and are mapping out your goals in detail, or you're more like Elizabeth and you're a little bit jaded and just want to endure another year without your. finances blowing up. No matter where you land, we got you. All right, Sean, so where are we kicking

things off? Okay, before we dive into bank accounts and investment portfolios, we're going to start by exploring our minds and how we can leverage the funny way that our brains work to accomplish what we want with our finances this year. As you say that, Sean, it reminds me of a stellar book, or should I say two books that I read. Now, one was titled High Performance Habits and the other one was Atomic Habits. Now, some of the principles still live with me from both of those books, and I think they can be applied to building healthy money habits that help support your goals. So I think that was like a good entryway to you getting into the detail of the conversation. Well, I'm going to add those to my reading list. I've heard a lot about atomic habits. I just haven't

cracked the spine of it myself. And I might ask you for some more details on those later in the conversation. But before I get too cozy in my own role as podcast psychologist, Elizabeth, I want to hear about your goals for the year. What do you have planned? Well, as someone who was just like, oh, I don't really care about the new year and goals. Okay, I didn't say that. But someone who was a little bit of a downer, I actually did prep some goals around, I think, September of 2025. So, even planning. I have been planning. All right. So my first one is, I want to be like you, Sean, and I want to pay off my car this year. It's going to feel so good. Yeah, I'm so excited. And interestingly, this was my first car loan because I lived in London where you didn't need a car.

So this is my first car. And I'm about $4,000 away from being free. So I have decided to make extra payments every month in order to achieve that goal by the end of the year. So when do you think you'll be totally car loan free? I have calculated and by December. Congrats. Keep me posted. I'm going to ring it. Oh my God. I'm going to be 38 this year. I'm going to ring in 38 with no car loan. I love that. All right. So I have about two slash three more goals. The other one was just to maintain a 30 to 40 percent retirement savings rate by doing exactly what I did in

2025, maxing out my accounts and budgeting. I also want to increase my income. I also want to increase my income. This is an interesting one, and I'm also curious to hear about how you're going to explain the psychology of money goals, Sean, to see if you can help me to think through how I'm going to increase my income. And then the last one, you're not allowed to have any two cents about it, is that I will be opening more accounts. No. You're coming around to my side of things, Elizabeth. I'm coming to your side. Welcome to the sinking funds lifestyle. Yeah, yeah. I need a Fun money accounts. I'm going to open one for that for vacations, birthdays, and everything else. So I just know, okay, this money's for that versus having it mixed with my savings. Yeah. And I assume it's going to be in a high-old savings account, obviously. Absolutely. Where else would I put it? And with increasing your income, we at NerdWallet are about to have our review cycle. So I think we should take this up with our manager and see what we can do to get you a little more money. And I want that too. We won two, three awards last year. Please factor that into my pay. We won three podcast awards last year.

won two Signal Awards and one Eddie award. So pretty big deal. And we deserve to be compensated accordingly. Thank you very much. And of course, thank you to the listeners because we could have done it without you. We would not be here without you. All right, Sean. Tell me now that I've put all my business out there, what are your goals for the year? I feel like I'm in financial recovery mode after a really expensive fall. You know, I'm rebuilding my savings after my wedding and my honeymoon. And I'm really just in nest mode too. I'm enjoying being home after being away. So I want to save up for some home projects. I want to build up my emergency fund, even though it's already robust. I just feel like the world is so shaky right now that I'd like to have a little more in there. And also I'm

planning on kind of like you, increasing my income in part by building my financial planning firm a little more than I did in 2025 now that I have fewer things distracting me like, you know, a whole wedding to plan. I'm actually here for how, well, your goals for the year. And also, I like the idea of starting the year off kind of slow, and that's what it sounds like you're doing. Slow, staying at home, nesting, not spending too much, and focusing on a few things. I like that. Yeah. When spring hits, I always am so busy in the garden. So I like to use the few winter months that we have in Portland where it's a little bit rainy, a little bit dark, to just make my little schemes for the year and get things set up. So when things are nice and beautiful again, I can go out and enjoy them and not worry about my money too much. How romantic.

Thank you. I am kind of very. romantic person. Well, it seems like a lot of folks have a lot of big plans for 2026. According to NerdWallet's 2026 Financial Outlook survey, over half of respondents, 57%, said they plan to take a potentially risky financial action this year, something like investing in crypto. 17% of respondents said they plan to buy a new house in 26, a figure which is almost certainly unrealistic. So best of luck to all of you who want to do that. And almost 20% said they wanted to start a new business. So Elizabeth, maybe you and I can help folks out with that. Oh my gosh. Definitely you, Sean, because look at me acting like I don't have a business.

That's something I'm not sure about how I'm going to expand this year because I'm in a bit of a comfort zone, but definitely could expand there. And I will say that is a good idea. Well, my strong opinion is that it can be a good idea because it's a great way to get some extra income and without necessarily getting another job. And it provides you flexibility as well. Anyway, investing in crypto, everyone wants to invest in, well, not everyone. People in the survey want to invest in crypto. Are you invested in crypto? I have some doge coin that I bought before a doge coin was what we think of it as it is now. But I think everyone is just embracing this world of scams and scheming and ripping people off. So it seems like it's going to be a great year for crypto.

Oh my gosh. Hey, but I also want to address before we move along your shady comment about it being unrealistic, shady but factual to buy a house in 2026. So I'm curious to see how that goes. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but the housing market is super tough. And a lot of people say they're going to buy a house every single year, but just the data that we've collected at Nurtball doesn't really bear out these great claims. So if you do want to buy a house this year, we at Nurtball are happy to help you figure out how to do that and talk about some ways that you can actually get a down payment and buy a house. But it's going to be tough because the market's so tough right now. It is. So I like your emphasis on realistic. Well, if we and our listeners want to accomplish any of our goals for this year, we need to know how to make it as easy for ourselves and for our brains as possible to accomplish these things. I think a lot of folks see the beginning of the year as a time where they have to kind of fight their natural instincts and force themselves to be better versions of themselves, often by doing things that they don't really enjoy or they don't really care about.

And to me, that's really backwards. Instead, I think we should all be listening to our bodies and souls and center what we actually deeply care about. And then you can leverage the way your brain works to accomplish these goals. I love that. So exactly how can people do this, Sean? Okay, a really simple way is just focusing on your values. We talk a lot about values, your money values, on smart money for good reason. So anchor your financial goals to what you care about in life. Maybe you really value going on vacations with your family or you value being free from the burden of monthly debt payments like you, Elizabeth, paying off your car loan ahead of schedule. Or you also want to increase your sense of financial security like I was talking about earlier. These are all important values to think about as you're making your goals for the year. So Elizabeth, what would you say are your values in life and in finances? I'm going to nerd out a little bit here because one of my favorite exercises over the years actually is to write out my values and then to do a check-in with

myself to see, you know, it's the way that I'm living, aligning with my values. So of course I can tell you off top of my head that freedom, community, and adventure are at the top of my list, even though I have more. So freedom for me is just being able to do the things that bring me joy, which sometimes cost money. I like to do nothing sometimes and that costs money too. community is a big one for me. So that includes family, friends, and people outside of my inner circle, too. And then adventure. Sean, you know that I am an adrenaline junkie. And I might want to go bungee jumping tomorrow. And that also costs money. Or a ziplining. You went ziplining like five times last year. I did. And it was fun every single time. Who knows what I'm going to do this year. Dump, dum. I know. I love following your crazy adventures. They're so fun. Thanks. I feel like I have two sets of values. I have kind of my more altruistic values. And then perhaps, my more like selfish or indulgent values. Altruistically, I really value family and personal financial resilience community, like you said, Elizabeth, and also helping uplift those who have been most marginalized and under assault in our society, especially over the past couple

years. Indulgently, I really like to buy nice things for myself and going out to delicious meals and traveling is important to me too. So everyone listening, I would suggest you take a moment, maybe go for a nice walk, no headphones in, just your brain and nature or city noises around you, and think about what your values are. I mean, you don't have to be Mother Teresa, but just be honest with yourself and thinking about what you care about in life. And here's a special Smart Money podcast value challenge for you this year, listener, as we like to say, find one value that connects to helping your local community. Now, we know that last year has been pretty hard for a lot of vulnerable people,

and it looks like the coming year is not going to be any easier. So I want you to think about how you can make the world a better place and somewhere that's a little bit kinder, gentler, and maybe more generous. All right. And that brings me to the next step, connecting your values to concrete action. And here's what that looks like for me based on the values that I just outlined. So for financial resilience, that's going to be beefing at my emergency fund and also investing more because I was pulling back on investments at the end of the year because

my wedding was just sucking up all of my money. That's also going to mean helping vulnerable populations. So that'll be doing things like increasing charitable. contributions, also volunteering at organizations that help the trans and immigrant populations where I live. And then, indulgently, I'm going to go out to eat more. I want to make a list of the best local restaurants that I haven't been to yet, and I want to go to all of them because Portland is an amazing food city, and I just can't wait to dive

in more. So that's me. What about you, Elizabeth? What does this look like on your end, bringing your values to life? I was just going to say that you have to share your foodie list with me, but then I realize we don't live in the same city. So never mind. You need to come to Portland.

I do. Have you? I've never been, have you? I've never been to Portland. Well, come hang out with me and our producer test because we're here and we'll show you around and we'll take you to all the delicious food spots. I believe you, but you have to make sure I walk too because, you know, the weight gain. Yeah, we'll do that. There are good hikes out here. Good nature. All right. So what does it look like on my end? I'm going to start with freedom. And for me, putting that into action looks like ensuring I'm on track to retire early or at least close enough by staying focused and maintaining a high savings rate. Yes, it is 2026, and yes, I'm still interested in fire. Community is the next one, and I plan to put this into action by finding new charities and causes to donate to,

and also maybe opening another account for giving. And that would also... There you go. By the end of the year, you're going to be like me with 10 savings accounts. No, no, no, no, I'm not going for 10, but maybe we'll go for in the middle, five. Okay, okay. But that account also would include because I love to give to loved ones on their birthdays, I'm helping people who are in a bind, right, just because gifts, because I've been trying to especially romanticize my friendships and just be, you know, those secret givers who pay it

forward and pay for someone's groceries, just random things like that. Yeah. I like that. It's kind of like having a designated giving fund. It doesn't have to be for a big thing. You can just throw five, ten bucks to a college you care about. Exactly. Or just supporting a local business, which I know is going to be important during these times as well. For the last one, adventure. It's really simple for me, just budgeting, so I have enough income to do the things that give me an adrenaline rush solo and also with I.O., my son. So, yeah, we'll see what's next on my bucket list. I can be an impulse bender, so I want to know that I have a designated fund for that versus just being like, hey, I'm flying to Japan tomorrow and blowing up my budget. We're all about having designated funds so you can be kind of loosey-goosey with your money, but responsibly.

We're back in a minute. Stay tuned. Okay. So we know what a few good financial goals are now, thanks to Sean. We know how they reflect our values and what our values are. You guys will know that soon when you take your walk. Now, how do we actually make them happen? Okay. I'm so glad you asked Elizabeth, and this gets me to goal implementation. As any certified financial planner, such as myself, will tell you, actually making your goals happen or implementing recommendations in a financial plan is one of the most difficult things for people to do. And that's not because it's actually hard to set up direct deposit into a high-led savings account or to pull back on how much you're spending on DoorDash in a given month. But inertia of just doing nothing is a really powerful force and making real change. to how you manage your money and thus how you live your life doesn't always feel great. You have to take actions that you're not used to doing and you have to be out of your regular mode of managing your finances. And that's just uncomfortable and doesn't feel great. So people don't want to do it.

But following a framework for implementing goals can make this process a heck of a lot easier. I agree. I think in the years where I achieved the most, having a framework and really breaking everything down really helped me to stay on task and achieve that goal. And even when I fell short, I could clearly see why, because maybe I skipped a step. Yeah. So I would encourage folks to get comfortable being uncomfortable with what they're doing with their money. Making real growth and change involves doing things that are new and, again, aren't going to feel great at the beginning. So this is the point in this episode where we bring out an old friend of smart money.

That's the smart goal framework. This is an acronym for setting goals that are specific. That's the S, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound. Now, specific means you know precisely what you want to accomplish. So instead of saying this year, I want to save more for retirement, you could have a goal that would be this year, I want to max out my Roth IRA contributions. Can you see how specific that is? Now, measurable means you have a way to track your progress.

For your Roth IRA contributions, the maximum you can contribute in 2026 if you're under 50 is $7,500. So on a monthly basis, if we broke that down, that would mean contributing 620. $25. If you get paid twice a month like I do, that's $312.50 from each paycheck you would put into your Roth IRA. Very measurable. Another big benefit of making your goal as measurable comes from the process of breaking your larger goal into smaller, more manageable pieces. Thinking back to my wedding last year, I knew that I wanted to save $20,000 over the course of five years for that event. So I had this big time horizon and a huge amount of money to save, but breaking it up over time over each monthly paycheck, by monthly paycheck, I was able to save about $333 a month on average.

And that made this really ambitious goal a lot easier to attain over time. I love the breakdown of it. And I guess my biggest goal today is saving for early retirement. I know you're sick of hearing about it. But breaking it down to how much, never sick. Breaking it down to how much I needed to save each year and each month made it a lot more attainable than just seeing this huge chunk of money that I needed to save. But yeah, attainable means it's actually feasible.

And for a lot of people, contributing $625 a month to a Roth IRA might not be in their budget. But could you contribute $400 a month? That would be a way to get you an annual contribution of almost $5,000 a year. And for the R in Smart, we actually already went over relevant. That's where you put your personal values into your goals. Your goals need to be something that you really feel passionately about, not just something that you think you should be doing. And speaking of think, we're going to move on to the T in the acronym,

and that stands for timebound. You have a specific time frame for when you're going to accomplish this goal. For maxing out your Roth IRA, carrying along that example, you could have the goal to save enough each month to max it out by December. So your goal has a clear beginning and an end date. Like you was paying off your car by the end of December. Exactly. There we go. So that's smart goals.

I really like them because it's an effective way to structure your goals. but I also like to add an extra R to the end. Anyone who's heard me talk about smart goals should know this by now, and I make them smarter goals. This extra R stands for rewarded. Behavioral psychology tells us that the more we enjoy an activity, the more positive reinforcement it gives us, the more likely we are to do it.

So with the Roth IRA example, each time you make that contribution to your account, maybe you treat yourself to a nice glass of pinot or chardonnay at the wine bar down the street, or you take your dog out for a walk at the park that you haven't been to before. That's probably what I would do, but the reward has to be something that actually brings you joy and fulfillment and a sense of satisfaction for making progress. So, Elizabeth, how do you like to treat yourself for the progress that you make on your financial goals?

I'm sorry to admit. Maybe I'm not sorry. I'm always treating myself, Sean. But seriously, if I had to think, a treat for me looks like buying a high ticket item that I've been putting off to prioritize saving. Last year, that was a wig. You know, I have a whole collection going or a piece of jewelry. I'm telling you, you have to name them. I have to give them names, but I do treat myself to solo fancy dinners too. Those are mine. Solo dinners are the best. Bring along a book and just have whatever you want on the menu and you have to worry about whatever someone else is getting. Exactly. And I'd like to dress up too because I'm extra, so it's fun. Okay, so Elizabeth, we know what our values and our goals are for the year and we have the smarter framework to help us bring them to life, so we hope.

But there are certainly going to be some curveballs in the year ahead. Do you foresee anything that might throw off? your plans? And how do you think you to recalibrate? Impulse spending for me is always lurking in the shadows and honestly unexpected financial bills. Or we did an episode on this last year, bills I didn't plan for. It's usually a car bill when it comes to repairing it or taking it for maintenance or a kid bill. Oh my God, summer's coming again. You better start saving for the summer camp or whatever it was last year that blew up your budget. I know. Am I telling on myself? I'm not going to tell you whether I have or haven't started saving for that goal. But yeah.

Well, you better start saving right now. And maybe you'll get another savings account just for that purpose. Well, listen, well, how expensive summer camp is, it needs its own account, okay? There you go. Okay. Well, I think we've given folks a really solid foundation to kick off the new year. As a recap, spend some time thinking about your values in life, then realize that money is just a tool to help you live your values.

Next, connect your values and your goals to the smarter goal framework. so you can bring your goals to life and get what you want from your finances in 2026. And don't skimp on the rewards for yourself along the way. Seriously, enjoy what you're going to be doing with your money. And listeners, we'd love to hear what you're planning to accomplish with your finances in 2026. Text us or leave us a voicemail on the nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730 nerd. And I'm just going to add in there. If you need help making your goals smart, send us a money question. And maybe we can talk through that live with you.

You can also email us a podcast at nurdwollet.com, and while you're at it, think about where you want some help with your money. Maybe you need some guidance on how to jumpstart your financial goals, or you want help prioritizing conflicting goals. Whatever your money questions, we're here to help. And that's all we have for this episode. Join us next time as we continue our series

about your money in 2026, where we'll help you refine your investing strategy for the new year. Follow smart money on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and IHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes. Our brief disclaimer has followed us into the new year. We are not your financial or investment advisors. This nerdy information is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes,

and it may not apply to your specific circumstances. This episode was produced by Tess Figlint. Hilary Georgie helped with editing, Nick Carysami Mixer Audio, and a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all their help. And with that said, happy New Year, and until next time, turn to the nerds. Thank you.