Recommitting to Financial Wellness in 2026

Credit union professionals know better than anyone how important it is to prioritize your finances—after all, you witness the impact of bad habits and the value of smart decisions every day through serving members. But while you might be a financial expert for others, stop and consider an essential question: When was the last time you assessed your own financial health?

Why It Matters

It’s preaching to the choir to say learning basic budgeting skills and approaching financial choices strategically is crucial to setting yourself up for success. Your day-to-day is all about considering what education and services will support your members and how to improve the quality of your advice to better guide them.

When you put so much of your energy toward them, however, it can be easy to let your own financial situation get pushed to the backburner. That’s what CrossState’s CU Wellness initiative is about—helping credit union professionals take care of themselves in every possible way. Here are some easy steps to help you revisit your or your family’s financial well-being as needed and make it a top priority.

Your Simple Action Plan

Assess

When it comes to managing your money, awareness is key. Consider a few questions to help reorient yourself on where you stand with your finances.

• Check in on your goals: What short-term or long-term goals are you striving for? Have you completed any recently that you need to replace?
• Evaluate your current habits: When you settle into a rhythm, you may overlook when certain areas need to be updated. Look into your current habits and see if anything should change. For instance:
  • Are your savings automated?
  • Are you tracking what subscriptions you’re using?
  • Are you analyzing all your statement balances every month?
• Look outward: If you feel like you’re relatively solid, are there any loved ones you can assist?

Begin

Once you have a solid foundation, begin making moves to start building upon in where needed.

• Cut back on unnecessary spending: After reviewing your goals, budget, and habits, you may have identified nonessential expenses. Don’t put it off—cancel unused subscriptions now, make a budget for discretionary spending, and set up automated payments to ensure that you aren’t hit with late fees.
• Evaluate your insurance: Look at any insurance you currently have—health, pet, car, etc.—to discern where you may be over or underspending. Then you’ll be prepared to adjust your policies appropriately the next time you’re able to make changes.
• Check in on friends and family: Consider offering to sit down with a loved one to review their budget with them or discuss some financial questions they may have. This can be especially valuable for older individuals, whose finances can get more strained and complicated in retirement. They may also be more susceptible to fraud risk.

Build

As you work toward reassessing your financial habits and adopting better ones, here are a few long-term goals that will benefit your financial well-being.

• Ramp up retirement savings: Putting any amount of pay toward retirement is great, but maxing that out yearly is an excellent goal to aim for. If you’re not able to do so quite yet, make it a long-term goal to keep an eye on as you grow in your career.
• Continue strategically learning: There’s always going to be financial changes, such as taxes, interest rates, and AI integration. Commitment to periodically researching them will lead to improved financial literacy, not only strengthening your own decision-making but also making you a better pillar of support for members.
• Save for a child’s education: As college tuition continues to grow more expensive, students need all the help they can get with their loans. If you have or plan on having children, allocating extra funds into a savings account for their future education could be a huge weight off both your shoulders.

Professional or not, it never hurts to rethink your finances when you have the chance. Remember to prioritize yourself just as much as your members!