Pension Plain: 5 essential retirement planning resolutions for 2026

It is that time of the year when some of us inject our lives with New Year's resolutions (“firm decisions to do something”) while others start the year off with the promise of New Year's resolutions (“dramatic and wide-reaching changes in conditions”).  We dust off our running shoes and gym clothing, read inspirational notes, and make plans for the year to come. If we have to be honest, are we spending any time on resolutions that will improve our retirement outcomes in 2026?  What are the things that we should be doing to make 2026 a great year for our retirement savings? We can improve our retirement outcomes for 2026 by doing the following 5 things:

Take stock of what happened in 2025.

Did you meet your retirement savings targets in 2025?  Did you contribute enough to your retirement fund to meet your savings target?  Did your retirement fund produce the investment income that you need or want?  Did you make any unnecessary savings pot withdrawals that will hurt your future retirement outcomes?  What are the things that happened that brought you closer, and what are the things that took you further from your desired retirement outcomes?

 It is always good to measure the success of your retirement strategy yearly.  The goal of the exercise is to get to grips with where you are in your journey towards your best possible retirement outcomes. It is not to make you feel bad about what might have gone wrong in the past year, but rather to give you the focus and energy to plan for the year ahead.  Build on your successes of the past year and learn from your mistakes.

Set targets and make a plan

Without a final destination and a road map to get there, your journey towards better retirement outcomes in 2026 will be filled with confusion and uncertainty.  Set specific targets in regard to how much money you will contribute to the fund this coming year, your investment return targets and an “acceptable” savings pot withdrawal level. 

Update your beneficiary nominations and fund data

The level of service that your retirement fund can provide to you is determined by the amount of information the fund has on you, your dependants and beneficiaries.  It becomes difficult for the fund trustees to make death benefit allocations if they do not know who your dependants and nominees are and what your preferred allocation of benefits to your beneficiaries is.

You should therefore make it a priority to update your beneficiary nomination form to ensure that the information the fund has in its possession correctly reflects your current dependants and nominees and that the fund will be able to consider your preferred allocation of death benefits should something happen to you.

Review your contribution level, investment strategy, and portfolios.

It is one thing to plan and another to implement.  Increasing your fund contribution means that you have to commit to having less money in your pocket today in order to have more money when you retire.  You therefore have to be willing to make sacrifices in 2026 to create more capital to invest in your retirement fund.

Investing more capital in your retirement fund must go hand in hand with a strategy to grow that capital at the highest possible rate at the lowest level of risk.  Ensure that the investment strategy and investment funds are delivering the investment outcomes that you want.  You must be brave enough to move your money to other investment funds if your current ones are not delivering the expected investment returns, but also be brave enough to do nothing if the current investment funds are delivering what you expect.  

Speak to a financial advisor.

You are the driver of your future retirement outcomes. Having a trusted, capable financial advisor in your corner is worth its weight in gold.  The role of a financial advisor is to act as your navigator to assist you in drawing the most appropriate road map to reach your retirement outcomes, to act as your guide to keep you on the correct path to better retirement outcomes and to act as an objective sounding board to test your needs, wants, and objectives.  It is not the role of your financial advisor to agree with everything you want to do, but rather to guide your actions to match your plan and desired outcomes.

Make 2026 a year of retirement outcome reflection, planning and action to ensure you reach your future retirement goals.  

* Ladouce is a pension funds lawyer and the author of the book ‘Pensions for Palookas’.

PERSONAL FINANCE