Financial Habits: What to Keep and Ditch for 2026

Outdated Financial Habits for 2025

• 🗑️ Chasing performance in asset classes like international equities and gold, rather than sticking to a long-term strategy, was a fashionable but flawed approach in 2025.
• 💸 The trend of lifestyle creep and indiscriminate spending, including services like DoorDash, is identified as a habit to discard.
• ⏳ Procrastinating on tax filing and not reviewing tax returns or planning effectively is a dated practice that needs to be retired.
• 🎯 Focusing on only one area of financial planning, such as just investments or taxes, while neglecting others, is an outdated, myopic approach.
• 📉 Complacency in strong markets and assuming continuous growth without preparing for potential downturns is a risky 2025 trend.
• 🏠 Pessimism and inaction regarding housing due to high prices and interest rates, leading to a lack of market mobility, is a habit to leave behind.

Smart Financial Habits for 2026

• 🎯 Sticking to a predetermined asset allocation and rebalancing annually is the recommended strategy for 2026, moving away from chasing past performance.
• 💡 Spending with purpose and challenging the convenience of delivery services by picking up food yourself is a practical 2026 approach.
• ✅ Timely tax review and planning, including ensuring contributions are set up correctly for the new year and filing taxes promptly, is a key habit.
• 🌐 Adopting a holistic financial plan that considers all areas, including estate planning, insurance, and cash reserves, is the fashionable way forward.
• 📊 Adopting a realist investment approach, acknowledging that markets fluctuate but investing in stocks for the long run, is crucial for 2026.
• 🏡 Creative solutions for housing, such as house hacking, co-purchasing, or getting roommates, are encouraged to overcome market challenges.

Trivia Competition Updates

• 🏆 The year-long trivia competition has new rules for 2026, including no half points and a 'Prices Right' tie-breaker rule (closest without going over).
• 🚨 A new 'margin call' rule allows contestants to challenge another player once per quarter, risking a point if their challenge fails.
• 🎶 Benny Goodman's first jazz concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938 was the first trivia question of the year, with OG winning the point.