Make 2026 your year for saving. For real.

If you’ve decided enough is enough, or that everything is too expense and AI is on track to take our jobs and dominate humanity, then I’ve got news for you.

This is a good time to start planning. While we’re at the start of the year, and the world is still relatively intact. (Someone check back in 6 months.)

Regardless of where you are in your savings journey, there’s a mantra to be adopted and a strategy to be had. See below, based on where you currently sit.

The Total Newbie

Let’s assume you’re starting from ground zero. You don’t have a savings bone in your body. And while it sounds like the adult thing to do, it feels so foreign and at odds with how you’ve lived your life, that you just can’t really see yourself doing it. You don’t even understand how to tactically do this.

If you’re that person…guess what? You’re no longer that person. You are on a different track now: one where saving money is part of your identity, even if it’s only a small part. So congratulations. You are now a person who saves money. Own it.

Now, you just have to start doing it. Doesn’t matter how small: open that first savings account and make your first deposit.

Mantra: I am someone who saves money now.

p.s. This isn’t just fluff. It’s psychology at work: the exercise your brain must begin, before the other successes can follow. This is also where every money-minded person has to start.

The Semi-Starter

Maybe you have a traditional savings account already. Maybe you’ve saved up a few hundred or thousand bucks. But your gut is telling you that there’s a better way to manage this: either by saving more money, or trying to figure out how to earn more with the savings you’ve already built up. Like through high-yield savings accounts or even certificates of deposit.

Your instincts are spot on. Even if you don’t have tons of wiggle room to cut back on spending, you do have options to take your savings game to the next level.

Mantra: This is the year I’ll make sense of the noise, and figure out my options.

p.s. Don’t get intimidated by finance terms you don’t understand. “High-yield” accounts and “certificates of deposit” are two simple, straightforward types of savings accounts. At this stage, I promise you most financial concepts arefar more straightforward than they sound. Never let ignorance intimidate you from reaching your saving potential.

The Savings Master

You’ve got your spreadsheet or other budgeting app game down to a science. You understand – no, live & breathe – the math behind true saving: expenses – income = net. And you’ve managed to successfully save money: by ruthlessly cutting expenses, or maybe even manically finding the best deals out there.

But perhaps you’re determined to do more this year. Your money isn’t quite in a place where it can work for you yet, and you’d like to get closer to that point. You’ve tip-toed around the idea of investing, but you’re not quite sure if that’s for you. Because while you’ve overcome the learn-to-save hump, you haven’t quite embraced the idea of more risk, more reward.

That’s okay. Work with what you have – both financially and in terms of your money mindset. Don’t do something you don’t want to do, just because a financial expert says so. Work with the money mindset you have. That’s better than not having one at all.

Then, as you get more comfortable and experienced with managing your money, that mindset will naturally expand.

Mantra: This is the year I take full, intentional control of my savings journey.

Tip: “Diversifying” – the act of spreading your money in different places, in order to protect your overall financial outlook – doesn’t have to just be for the investors and stock traders. You can diversify your savings channels too, in a way that maximizes what you can potentially earn from interest income. More to follow.