1. Determine your RMD<\/p>\n
If you’re going to be 73 years old or older at any point in 2026, you’re required to make a withdrawal from any savings in a retirement account that isn’t a Roth IRA<\/a>. How much? That depends on your age and how much retirement savings you have. Your broker or retirement account’s custodian should provide you with your year-end account balances needed to determine this required minimum distribution<\/a>, while the IRS offers you a worksheet to walk you through the math.<\/p>\n Two people review paperwork.<\/p>\n Image source: Getty Images.<\/p>\n You don’t necessarily need to take your RMD in January. The advantage of figuring out the amount now is just that you’ll have nearly a full year to figure out the optimal way of satisfying the IRS’s required minimum distribution requirements.<\/p>\n 2. Make sure your budget is actually your budget<\/p>\n There’s never a bad time to make sure the amount of money flowing out isn’t exceeding the amount of money you have coming in (and then making any needed adjustments). You now have one recent full year’s worth of history to consider, which means any spending fluctuations stemming from higher electricity bills in the summertime or more travel expenses later in the year can now be fully reflected in your average spending that ultimately determines your monthly budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n 3. Assess your portfolio’s allocation<\/p>\n There’s a pretty good chance you’ve been putting off some sales of certain investments in 2025 just to postpone taxes on any capital gains, which is smart — even if you can’t sidestep taxes, delaying them means you have another year to do something constructive with the portion of your money that will eventually belong to the IRS.<\/p>\n If your portfolio’s allocation<\/a> is really out of whack now (maybe big gains from AI-related technology stocks means you now have far too much exposure to the industry), waiting another year to make the adjustment may simply be too risky. Go ahead and mitigate the risk now, so the allocation disparity doesn’t become even worse.<\/p>\n 4. Review your will (and its beneficiaries)<\/p>\n Finally, while there’s also never a bad time to review your will and its beneficiaries, this is another one of those tasks that’s easy to put off over and over again, ultimately at the risk of your intended heirs. With winter weather likely to have much of the country snowed in through the end of the month — and with little else going on around this time of year anyway — why not use this time you’re apt to be at home to dig out some of your estate-planning<\/a> paperwork and make sure it actually says what you want it to say?<\/p>\n The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook<\/p>\n If you’re like most Americans, you’re a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known “Social Security secrets”<\/a> could help ensure a boost in your retirement income.<\/p>\n One easy trick could pay you as much as $23,760 more… each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we’re all after. Join Stock Advisor to learn more about these strategies.<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/75d516bfd4961d8ecef6bc8bd7f47f07.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n