How to Realign, Reset, and Rebalance Your Financial Goals in 2026
The start of each new year provides a good opportunity to realign your personal finances with your most important goals. The process of realigning and resetting sometimes involves rebalancing your investments. The discipline of portfolio rebalancing can make a big difference over time.
Overcoming the Inertia of Human Nature
If you find it hard to rebalance your holdings after coming off a heady year for many financial market segments, that’s understandable. However, as author Nick Murray says, one of the most important functions an advisor fulfills is “to help people behave contrary to their own human nature.” Inertia should not be the default setting for your finances.
The mental difficulty of portfolio rebalancing doesn’t negate its importance. Your asset allocation decision, which takes into account your tolerance for volatility, time horizon, and financial goals is a dynamic undertaking.
Reflecting On Your Financial Journey
One way to begin the realigning process is by reflecting on last year’s financial decisions, both good and bad. This can lead you to analyze your actions and mental mindset for your decisions. You should also re-evaluate and reaffirm your financial goals.
The discipline of realigning your personal finances occasionally is similar to going to the dentist for regular checkups. Maybe you believe your oral health is good and there’s no real need for the checkup. However, the practice of taking time to examine everything can sometimes help you navigate small problems before they become big problems.
The Path to Financial Health
Good financial health is much the same. It doesn’t require you to do everything in your financial life perfectly. Becoming financially healthy just means you are practicing and working on your goals every day.
If you have acute financial problems or stress, these are signals that you probably need to change some of your financial inputs. Saving, investing, and prioritizing are among the inputs that need to be reset from time to time.
The Science of Decision-making
The field of neuroeconomics can help us understand how the brain processes various signals. Professor Camelia Kuhnen at UNC says, “the brain learns differently in good times and bad.” Positive surprises activate parts of the brain that reinforce your confidence. Bad surprises can trigger the anxious circuitry and lead you to behave defensively.
The current financial environment provides context when you process decisions. If the context is mostly positive, you tend to overweigh these confirming signals. If the financial environment is more negative, you focus more on that.
Fighting Confirmation Bias
Professor Kuhnen says, “Investors literally learn more from confirming evidence than from disconfirming evidence.” This explains why some investors tend to follow investment trends that are in favor at the moment. Context provides a framework for how you process financial information. In the end, your financial decisions are mostly context-dependent.
All of these points validate the need to reset your financial decisions regularly so that you don’t drift too far away from your goals. Start there. Ready for a real conversation?
Disclosure
Apollon Wealth Management, LLC dba J.E. Wilson (Apollon) is an investment advisor registered with the SEC. This document is intended for the exclusive use of clients or prospective clients of Apollon. Any dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. Information provided in this document is for informational and/or educational purposes only and is not, in any way, to be considered investment advice nor a recommendation of any investment product or service. Investing involves risk, and while remaining invested can support long-term goals, it does not guarantee a profit or protect against losses. Advice may only be provided after entering into an engagement agreement and providing Apollon with all requested background and account information. Please visit our website https://apollonwealthmanagement.com for other important disclosures.