{"id":385044,"date":"2026-01-03T07:34:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T07:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/385044\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T07:34:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T07:34:19","slug":"more-americans-plan-financial-resolutions-amid-budget-stress-fidelity-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/385044\/","title":{"rendered":"More Americans plan financial resolutions amid budget stress, Fidelity finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Big Money Show breaks down new IRS limits for 401(k)s and IRAs, giving savers more room to invest for retirement.<\/p>\n<p>With the New Year comes a chance for a financial reset and more Americans are considering making\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/personal-finance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">financial resolutions<\/a> in 2026 with a focus on short-term savings goals, according to a recent study by Fidelity Investments.<\/p>\n<p>Fidelity&#8217;s annual study found that 64% of respondents are considering a financial resolution for the new year, an increase from 56% last year.<\/p>\n<p>It also found that the top three financial resolutions have remained consistent year-over-year, with 44% saying they want to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/savings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">save more money<\/a>, 36% wanting to pay down debt, and 30% looking to spend less money.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Top Money Resolutions <\/p>\n<p>Source: Fidelity Investments<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This was the second year in a row where Americans were prioritizing more of those short-term savings,&#8221; Leanna Devinney, market leader at Fidelity Investments, told FOX Business in an interview. &#8220;So this was similar to last year where they were saying, &#8216;I want more short-term savings goals like building up an emergency fund or paying down debt versus longer-term goals.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/bessent-unveils-trump-account-details-announces-philanthropic-challenge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">BESSENT UNVEILS &#8216;TRUMP ACCOUNT&#8217; DETAILS, ANNOUNCES PHILANTHROPIC CHALLENGE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tax-refund-iStock.jpg\" alt=\"Making budget\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>More Americans are considering making financial resolutions for next year than a year ago, Fidelity found. (iStock)<\/p>\n<p>The study found that 55% feel overwhelmed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/money\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">personal finances<\/a> while 31% of Americans described their relationship with money as stressful. Among age groups, Millennials (68%) and Gen Z (64%) were the most overwhelmed by their personal finances.<\/p>\n<p>Americans are also feeling more stressed than in recent years when it comes to saving money for goals after paying bills (35%), being able to pay monthly bills (34%), paying for healthcare costs in retirement (30%) and having enough\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/fox-news-investment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">retirement savings<\/a> to retire as planned (30%).<\/p>\n<p>Fidelity found that nearly three-quarters of Americans dealt with a financial setback last year, which could explain the focus on building savings for unforeseen setbacks, with 20% reporting an unexpected non-health emergency.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/media\/financial-influencer-tracks-quiet-millionaires-heres-no-1-strategy-all-share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">FINANCIAL INFLUENCER TRACKERS &#8216;QUIET MILLIONAIRES&#8217;: HERE&#8217;S THE NO. 1 STRATEGY THEY ALL SHARE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Retirement-Savings-Markets.jpg\" alt=\"Retirement Savings Stock Market Investing\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Respondents noted stress surrounding having enough leftover after bills to save for their goals. (Nicolaus Czarnecki\/MediaNews Group\/Boston Herald via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In 2025, 72% of Americans said they experienced some type of financial setback, and then 55% said they&#8217;re overwhelmed by their personal finances,&#8221; Devinney said. &#8220;Due to rising prices, 33% shared they feel they have significantly less money.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While those are factual worries, what we&#8217;re also seeing is optimism,&#8221; Devinney noted, adding that the study found 70% see themselves in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/fox-news-consumer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">better or similar financial situation<\/a> than they were in at the same time last year.<\/p>\n<p>More respondents said they feel better about their finances than they did five years ago \u2013 with 43% saying that in this year&#8217;s study, an increase from 36% last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/economy\/middle-income-americans-pessimistic-about-financial-future-amid-persistent-inflation-analysis-shows\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">MIDDLE-INCOME AMERICANS PESSIMISTIC ABOUT FINANCIAL FUTURE AMID PERSISTENT INFLATION, ANALYSIS SHOWS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fidelity-2.jpg\" alt=\"Fidelity\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Fidelity&#8217;s study found optimism when respondents compared their current financial situation to five years ago. (Alex Tai\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The beginning of the year really started as a roller coaster. We saw significant market volatility and then a significant market rebound, and then also just the continued concern around being able to compete with rising prices, and, year over year, we have seen\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/economy\/cpi-inflation-november-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">tough inflation<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think why the last two years we&#8217;re seeing a little bit more prioritization around short-term savings is probably due to some volatility that we saw, as well as Americans this time around saying that they did have to dip into some of their savings,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/apps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Devinney said that it&#8217;s encouraging that Americans are prioritizing their short-term financial goals more, pointing to the 25% who said they want to build up their emergency fund in the next year and another 23% who said they wanted to stick to a spending budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Big Money Show breaks down new IRS limits for 401(k)s and IRAs, giving savers more room to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":{"0":"post-385044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-personal-finance","10":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}