Welcome to a New Year.
It’s one of the easiest times to make changes to your finances, health, and habits.
We can’t control gas prices, federal elections, or world wars. But we can control a lot of things in our lives: who we marry, how we treat people, and what we value.
Life is hard for many people, but we can influence what kind of hard. It could be hard because we’re busy working, hard because we spend more than we make, because we don’t have a good job, or because we’re addicted to drugs or alcohol.
The worst problems often begin as small choices. We might start vaping nicotine or smoking cigarettes as a rest from work, start eating unhealthy food because we’re tired, or doordash food that costs 10 times what it would cost if you drove there or even less if you cooked. We procrastinate oil and transmission fluid changes and other preventative maintenance that could cause fatal car problems.
We might charge credit cards because we live paycheck to paycheck. We finance cars, use buy-now, pay-later programs, and skip contributing to retirement because it makes our lives easier in the short term, even if we pay more over the long term.
Change is uncomfortable, but most good things are. 2026 is the year that we should prioritize health, fitness, and the future.
The difference between children and adults is that children do what feels good, while adults make a plan and follow it. It might feel good to book expensive trips and buy new clothes, but the reality is often that we're ignoring a looming problem like a student loan payment that could result in wage garnishment if not paid.
We live in a time where many people use things that they don't own. We lease new vehicles that we can't afford. We spend money on digital items that aren't tangible.
The job of a parent is to raise kids who will become good adults. But even adults listen to their inner child and make awful financial choices, such as buying new cars, using payday lenders, or not saving money.
Life is hard because you don’t have money, or because you and your partner both have jobs, or because you’re living on a single income in an expensive time. Or, life is hard because you work too much. We all must sacrifice in our own ways to build the lives that we want.
Choose your hard.
