Your Year-End Money Checklist for 2026

1. Use It or Lose It: Check Your FSA

   A health care FSA is the one account where unspent money can simply vanish at the end of your plan year. The 2026 limit is $3,400, and plans may let you carry over up to $680 into next year — but carryover is optional for employers, and some plans offer a short grace period instead (not both). Log in, check your balance, and read your plan's exact rule.

   If there's money left, it's not a failure — it's a shopping list. Eligible things often include copays, prescriptions, dental and vision, glasses, and some over-the-counter items. Do the same for a Dependent Care FSA (the 2026 limit is $7,500 per household, or $3,750 if married filing separately). Your plan's deadlines are the ones that count.

2. Max (or Just Move) Your Retirement Contributions

   For 2026, the 401(k) employee limit is $24,500, with an extra $8,000 catch-up if you're 50 or older (and a higher $11,250 catch-up for ages 60–63). The IRA limit is $7,500, plus $1,100 if you're 50+. 401(k) contributions have to run through payroll by December 31, so this is the one to look at now. IRA contributions for 2026 can generally still be made until the tax-filing deadline next spring.

   You do not have to max anything out. If you're carrying high-interest debt, paying it down can be a better use of the next dollar — but if your employer offers a match, getting the full match is almost always worth doing first. Even bumping your percentage up one point for January is a win.

3. Don't Forget Your HSA

   If you have a high-deductible health plan, the 2026 HSA limit is $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage, with an extra $1,000 if you're 55 or older. Unlike an FSA, HSA money stays yours year after year. You can generally keep contributing until the tax-filing deadline, so there's no December panic — just make a plan.

4. Required Minimum Distributions, If They Apply to You

   If you're older and own a traditional IRA or a workplace plan, the IRS requires you to start taking money out. The starting age is 73 for people born 1951–1958 and 75 for people born in 1960 or later; if you were born in 1959, check with your plan or a tax professional because the rules are unclear for that year. After your first year, the deadline is December 31. Missing it can mean a 25% excise tax on the amount you should have withdrawn, so set a reminder and call your custodian early — December gets busy.

   Not there yet? Skip this one and enjoy it.

5. Review Your Insurance and Benefits

   Most open enrollment windows are closing right about now. Take twenty minutes to look at what you actually used this year: did your health plan fit your real doctor visits? Is your life or disability coverage still right after any change in income, marriage, kids, or a mortgage? Check beneficiaries on retirement accounts and life insurance too — they override your will, and they're easy to forget after a life change. (Choosing a plan? See our guide on open enrollment.)

6. Check Your Credit Reports

   You can get your free reports from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com. Look for accounts you don't recognize, wrong balances, and anything that should have dropped off. Finding an error now is much better than finding it while applying for a loan. More on that in how to improve your credit score.

7. Tidy Up Giving and Keep Your Receipts

   If you plan to give, make sure the gift lands by December 31 — a check mailed or a card charged on time generally counts for this year. Keep a record of every gift: for larger gifts, you generally need a written acknowledgment from the charity. Tax rules for deductions change, and whether you'll itemize depends on your situation, so ask a tax professional what applies to you. Either way, a tidy folder of receipts makes tax season far less stressful.

8. Set Next Year's Plan Before the Year Starts

   This is the step that makes January feel different. Look back at the year honestly — where did the money go, and where did it go that you wish it hadn't? Then set next year's budget around the things that matter, and write down a debt plan: what you owe, the order you'll pay it, and the extra you can send each month. Add any raise, the new benefit costs, and new limits to the picture. For the basics, see how to make a budget that works and how to pay off debt.

   One kind note: a year with a messy ending isn't a verdict. A direction, not a promise — a clear plan on January 1 is enough.

How FortuniFi Helps You Finish the Year

Your FortuniFi plan shows what to pay first each month, so year-end spending doesn't quietly derail your debt plan. Your debt-free date and days of freedom make it easy to see the effect of an extra payment in December, and Ask Fi can explain a term like “catch-up contribution” in plain language. Snap and keep receipts in one place so tax season starts calmer.