Christopher Liew: Five smart money moves to start 2026 right

Money is removed from a bank machine in a photo illustration in Montreal, Monday, May 30, 2016. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

Christopher Liew is a CFP®, CFA Charterholder and former financial advisor. He writes personal finance tips for thousands of daily Canadian readers at Blueprint Financial.

With the new year comes a fresh opportunity to reset your life, health, and perhaps most importantly, your finances. Given the economic ups and downs of the past few years, many are looking to hit the ground running in 2026 with a stronger financial start.

Whether you’re trying to balance rising living costs, rebuild your savings, or just make smarter money decisions, giving yourself a strong start in January can shape the rest of your year.

Here are five smart financial steps to kick off 2026 the right way.

1. Refresh your budget to match current living costs

Between the start of 2023 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped nearly four points, according to Statistics Canada, as the cost of rent, groceries, and other daily necessities increased across the board. The latest data shows a 2.2 per cent increase between October 2024 and October 2025.

While the cost of living didn’t increase as dramatically this year as some of the previous years, it’s still worthwhile to take the time to calculate increases in grocery costs, rent, fuel, and other necessities.

At the end of each month, the combined increases, however small, can easily end up costing you an extra $100 - $500, which is something you need to budget for.

While you’re at it, take the time to review your complete budget and where all of your money is going towards. One of the best ways to start off the new year right is to find areas where you’re overspending and decrease your monthly expenditure where possible.

The extra hundreds of dollars you’re allocating toward unbalanced discretionary spending can be allocated to saving, investing, or paying down high-interest debts.

2. Review subscription price increases

One of the easiest ways to save an extra $100 a month is to review your monthly or annual subscriptions. It’s easy to slowly sign up for one entertainment app after another, taking advantage of free trial periods. Before you know it, you’ve got a dozen paid subscriptions draining your finances.

Additionally, it’s not uncommon for subscription services to increase their prices as the service becomes more popular, or to adjust for inflation. All of these small increases add up over time.

Take a few minutes to go over all of your subscriptions and memberships, calculate how much they cost you monthly, and note which ones have increased and by how much. This will help you filter through the ones that you value and want to continue subscribing to and identify the ones you rarely use and would be better off without.

3. Automate your savings and investment contributions

One of the simplest ways to build wealth is to remove willpower from the equation. Automate transfers into your TFSA, RRSP, or FHSA (for first-time homebuyers) every payday.

Even small contributions add up over time and help you stay disciplined throughout the year. Automation ensures you pay yourself first before money is spent elsewhere, and it turns saving into a steady habit rather than an afterthought.

4. Consolidate high-interest credit card debt

High-interest debt (especially credit cards and personal lines of credit) continues to weigh heavily on household finances, with interest rates reaching close to 30 per cent in some cases. If you’re just managing to keep up with your minimum monthly payments, a sizable portion of each payment is going straight to interest, making minimal impact on the balance itself.

This keeps your utilization rate high, drives down your credit score, and you’re essentially flushing money down the drain with each payment you make.

As long as your payment history is solid and your credit score is decent, then applying to a debt consolidation loan can be a great option to get out of debt quicker. Essentially, you’ll consolidate all of your combined credit card debt into one big loan with a lower interest rate.

Instead of having to balance multiple payments, you’ll have one single monthly payment and you’ll ideally pay significantly less interest over time.

5. Set up quarterly financial milestones

If you want to stick with your goals, it’s a good idea to write them down and create quarterly milestones for them. For example, if your goal is to save an extra $10,000 in a year, you would need to save $2,500 every quarter or $833 per month.

Creating a step-by-step roadmap of how you plan to get to each big goal by the end of year is one of the best ways to ensure that you actually reach them.

Final thoughts

By updating your budget, tackling high-interest debt, automating your savings, reassessing long-term goals, and cutting down recurring costs, you can create a solid foundation that will set you up for success moving into the year after.

All of these habits compound over time, and even small changes made can improve your finances and help you stay focused on what matters most.