As has been oft-noted in this space of late, the arrival of a new year brings talk about resolutions, many of which will fall by the wayside by Presidents Day, perhaps sooner.

Fortunately, and also as recently noted, there are ways of making resolutions stick starting with ditching the word “resolution” and embracing the concept of goal setting. It’s a sensible approach because clients see value in something that’s framed as a goal or an objective. They want to get to the finish line, which isn’t always implicit with new year’s resolutions.

Specific to finances, that’s fertile territory for goal setting because it’s applicable to so many people and many of the money-related objectives people want to accomplish are made easier with the help of an advisor. Regardless of the reason why a client has suffered a setback on the road to reaching a particular goal, the overarching point is that this where advisors need to step up and prove their mettle Think about it in the following terms.

There’s the younger clients that are building savings for a house and just getting going in retirement planning. Then there the clients that more engaged in family planning, saving for college and wanting to bolster retirement accounts.

Focus on Finances in 2026

Many of the various pre-2026 surveys indicate investors enter this year in optimistic moods. So do advisors, but there’s still work to be done in terms of shoring up personal finances.

A new Wells Fargo survey of people 25 years old and up with incomes of $100,000 per year or less confirms saving money (70% of respondents) is a top priority for 2026 and a slew of other personal finance issues are also on the list.

“After saving more money (70%), about half (49%) resolve to spend less or reduce expenses, while roughly two-in-five strive to improve their credit score (39%), pay off debt (38%), or start a side hustle or new income stream (35%),” according to the bank.

It’s not an advisors to help clients find new sources of income or side hustles, but the rest of those issues can be viewed through the lens of value-adds. No, debt reduction and credit score improvement aren’t glamorous subjects, but even modest assistance on those fronts can boost client satisfaction.

Why Saving Matters

Not surprisingly, there are emotional components when it comes to saving money. The Wells Fargo survey jibes with scores of other polls and studies confirming that people that are investing and paring or eliminating debt are typically happier than their counterparts that aren’t making progress on those objectives. Just consider the following.

“More than four in five (81%) feel saving money feels like self-care versus 19% who feel saving money feels like self-denial,” adds Wells Fargo. “The majority (72%) also feel saving money makes them happy as compared with 28% who state saving money means sacrificing happiness.”

Bottom line: Outside the realms of estate planning, portfolio performance and the like, helping clients achieve some of the most basic financial goals is a great way to build trust, increase satisfaction and help clients possibly improve emotional well-being.

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