Financial expert Dasha Kennedy has provided seven personal finance strategies for individuals to improve their financial standing by 2026. Her advice emphasizes practical steps including meticulous expense tracking, segregating funds for specific purposes, optimizing bill payment schedules, managing grocery expenditures, establishing holiday spending boundaries, reviewing subscription services, and allocating for discretionary 'fun money.' The article, while consumer-focused, also briefly notes a Pew Research Center survey indicating 54% of people have a 'fair amount' of personal finance knowledge and mentions current high beef and cattle prices affecting household budgets.
It may be hard to believe, but 2026 is just around the corner. In the blink of an eye, 2025 has flown by, and the final stretch of the year is settling in. For people hoping to make the new year their best one yet, money expert Dasha Kennedy offers realistic advice that anyone can follow. Read Next: I’m a Financial Advisor: My Wealthiest Clients All Do These 3 Things Check Out: 6 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000 She recently told her Instagram followers how to get locked in for the last part of the year to ensure finances are in check by New Year’s. Know Your Numbers As Kennedy explained, the new year should be filled with receipts instead of regrets. One way to do this is to focus on expenses in the final months of 2025. She advocated writing out every expense to understand where money is going and what can be cut, if necessary. She said avoiding the realities is costly, so writing it out can help to fix the problem. Financial literacy or having a basic understanding of saving, budgeting and managing debt has long been seen as critical to financial success. According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 54% of people said they knew at least a “fair amount” about personal finances. Upper-income individuals were substantially more likely to be familiar with these concepts compared with individuals with lower incomes. Explore More: 3 Signs You’ve ‘Made It’ Financially, According to Financial Influencer Genesis Hinckley Make Lanes Kennedy, a financial activist, also suggested separating money into separate lanes. She encouraged followers to have an emergency fund separate from their bills and independent from any nonessential spending. Choose Pay Dates Next, she advocated for people to make their money match their life by choosing billing dates that work with their schedule and separating expenses to come out in separate paychecks. Scheduling billing cycles around pay dates can help ensure that all bills are paid on time. Review Your Grocery Spending According to USA Today, beef and cattle prices remain at all-time highs. It’s not only steak that costs more; coffee and other groceries are also pricier today than they were before. Kennedy knows the high cost of going to the market. She encouraged her followers to establish good habits to save money on groceries, including making meals with what they already have in their pantries and freezers before going shopping. Set Holiday Boundaries The holidays are rapidly approaching, and for some, this is when all of the careful planning and budgeting get derailed. She advocated setting boundaries during the holidays and not feeling the pressure to buy gifts for everyone. Overspending during the holidays is common, but it doesn’t have to be. Writing a list and sticking to it can help avoid starting off the year in debt. CNBC also advised setting gift expectations with friends and family ahead of time, utilizing free rewards and focusing on your long-term financial goals. Be OK With Canceling The financial influencer also suggested reviewing subscription services to see if any of them are duplicates. Take, for example, having more than one streaming service. As Forbes reported last year, Americans pay for 2.9 streaming services per month on average. Cutting just one could save hundreds of dollars a year. Set Fun Money Finally, Kennedy said that it was OK to still spend some money just on fun. She advocated auditing nonessential spending and cutting back, but she also encouraged followers to keep their joy. Capping excess spending can help save significant amounts of money, but it doesn’t mean having to cut out every little perk in life. More From GOBankingRates - 5 Old Navy Items Retirees Need To Buy Ahead of Winter - I Paid Off $40,000 in 7 Months Doing These 5 Things - How Middle-Class Earners Are Quietly Becoming Millionaires -- and How You Can, Too - 6 Clever Ways to Pocket an Extra $1K This Month This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 7 Ways To Set Yourself Up for Financial Success in 2026, According to Dasha Kennedy The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc. The article presents a consumer-facing personal finance guide, outlining seven strategies for individuals to enhance their financial stability by 2026. The advice centers on defensive financial management, including meticulous expense tracking, cutting non-essential subscriptions, and establishing strict holiday spending boundaries. This guidance is contextualized by persistent inflationary pressures, with the text specifically referencing all-time high prices for beef and cattle and rising costs for other groceries. While the article's tone is optimistic about individual empowerment, the underlying implication is that consumers are actively seeking ways to curtail spending in response to a higher cost of living. The identified themes of 'Consumer Demand & Retail' and 'Inflation' are therefore central, suggesting that the consumer's focus on cost-cutting could present headwinds for sectors reliant on discretionary spending. The mention of Nasdaq (NDAQ) is purely incidental, stemming from a standard website disclaimer, and the article's direct market impact score of 0.1 confirms its role as a soft indicator of consumer sentiment rather than a market-moving event.
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