We’re less than four weeks away from a new year. Yes, 2025—despite feeling like it started yesterday—is almost over, and 2026 is around the corner. Before long, 2026 will turn into 2027, and the cycle continues.
The goal of this post isn’t to stress about how fast time moves, but to help you do a meaningful review of the year you’re closing and prepare to start the next one strong. Here are three quick checkpoints to assess your financial year. For each, add +1 if things improved, or –1 if they didn’t.
• Debt: Did it go up or down? +1 if it decreased. This refers mainly to credit cards, lines of credit, or auto loans—not mortgages or business loans.
• Savings: Did your savings grow? +1 if they increased. This includes general savings, emergency funds, RRSP/TFSA, 401k, Roth IRA, etc.
• Credit Score: Did it rise, drop, or stay the same? +1 if it improved, –1 if it went down.
Now total your score:
• 3/3: Excellent—keep the momentum going.
• 2/3: Decent—tighten up the weak areas.
• 0–1: Tough year—time to regroup and plan serious changes for next year.
While a year may start and finish in the blink of an eye, it is still a long one and in in 365 days, things happen and we may not always be perfect and that is fine. Making mistakes is not the end of the world as long as we learn valuable lessons from them. For example, if you spent a lot of money in 2025 and didn’t save any money etc, what will you do about it in 2026? Realizing the mistake is half the work. Working on coming up with fixes and solutions is the other half.
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