Your End-of-Year Money Pep Talk (and How To Make Next Year the Year You Get Ahead)
This is the last message you’ll get from me before the New Year, and instead of sending a polite little holiday note, I’m showing up today on a mission. I want to end this year with a message you’ll remember. An idea-seed that will plant itself into your brain, grow roots over the next few weeks of cookie eating and champagne popping, and resurface right on time for New Year’s Resolutions. I want today’s message to convince you to make 2026 the year you finally commit to mastering your money and start building your wealth.
More specifically, I mean that you need to make 2026 the year that you start investing. Not just kinda-sorta dabbling in a few stocks you like — I mean really investing. Making decisions backed by knowledge, research, and statistics. Following a financial plan that looks out for the versions of you alive today, five years from now, and 50 years from now.
So how do I plan to convince you? By walking you through a set of numbers most people don’t slow down long enough to actually think about until it’s too late. I’m sure you already “know” what I’m about to show you, but there’s a difference between knowing something and understanding it so deeply it finally motivates you to act. Today we’re aiming for the latter.
The basis of this whole idea is simple: no matter how much you save, if you don’t lear how to invest properly, it will not be enough.
Most people know they should invest, but they’re stopped in their tracks by the systemic lack of education on the topic. They then start to comfort themselves with ideas like:
Oh but I’ll get CPP and OAS.
I have a pension someone is managing, surely that will be enough.
If I just save money for long enough, I’ll still have plenty at retirement.
These thoughts reveal a massive financial blind spot: The belief that if you just save enough money, things will somehow work out.
Let’s walk through why that belief collapses the second you do the math. Here’s the hypothetical scenario:
You earn $80,000 a year after tax.
You maintain a 10% savings rate (already better than most people manage).
That means you save $8,000 annually.
Do this consistently for 40 years and you’ll end up with $320,000 total.
Based on your working-years salary, you’ll likely need at least $50,000 a year in retirement to live even a modest lifestyle.
This means your savings will last for a little over 6 years. That’s it. A lifetime of consistent saving becomes 6 years of frugal retirement.
And that’s assuming that everything goes perfectly. That your income never dips, you never need to tap into those savings, and inflation isn’t silently eroding your purchasing power every year. Even with CPP and OAS, this is not a comfortable retirement. For many people, it’s not a retirement at all.
Now, take that exact same $8,000 a year and invest it.
Let’s use a 10% average annual rate of return (this is the historical average of the S&P, google it).
Keep all other factors the same
Now you’re looking at a retirement nest egg of just over $3.5 million by age 65.
Using the 4% withdrawal rule, this provides you with roughly $140,000 a year in income, for around 30 years. And depending on where that money is invested, you may not even pay tax on it.
To be clear, we’ve glossed over a lot of details to keep this example tidy, but the underlying principle stands: most people will never be able to retire on their savings alone. You need to start investing.
I know this is not the festive message your December brain ordered. I can practically feel your finger hovering over the delete button. So let me say this clearly: you do not need to take action today. Not this week. Not even before the year ends. My goal is just to give you the clarity and conviction that once January arrives, this is the year you stop waiting and finally learn how to invest. You can ignore your finances for a couple more weeks. You can’t ignore them forever.
If you want something light and easy to ease yourself into learning over the holidays, join the 3-Day Personal Finance Challenge. You’ll get one short lesson a day for three days. It’s just enough to give you the foundations of investing and financial planning without hijacking your December downtime.
So go back to your cocoa, your couch, and your people. Enjoy your break. But keep this email tucked somewhere in your mind, ready to tap you on the shoulder when 2026 begins. This is your year, and your future self will be very, very grateful you finally decided to start.
Wishing you happiness and health,
- Cory