5 Money Trends That Could Shape 2026, According to Experts
Written by
Dawn Allcot
Edited by
Amen Oyiboke
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On the financial front, 2025 may be remembered as the year of tariff concerns, inflation uncertainty, rising insurance rates sparked by climate disasters, and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) everywhere, which had far-reaching financial ramifications.
What will 2026 have in store, and how can Americans prepare for what’s to come? Experts in their respective fields shared their thoughts on how money matters might change in 2026.
The Lending Landscape Could Shift
As consumer debt continued to grow steadily, up 1% in the third quarter of 2025 according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, unregistered (and untracked) borrowing also gained ground. Buy Now, Pay Later programs were projected to grow by 13.7%, year-over-year, globally, according to data from ChargeFlow.io.
David Dowhan, chief product officer of financial wellness platform SavvyMoney, said he believes this hidden debt will spark a necessity for greater debt transparency in 2026 and new systems that allow lenders to evaluate multiple factors to determine loan or credit approval.
“[T]ransparency will help consumers avoid unintentionally overextending themselves and also help people who use currently unregistered loans responsibly build credit as they’re factored into scores,” said Dowhan.
Down Payment Assistance May Help More Prospective Homebuyers
Realtor.com recently reported that home values fell in 11 out of 20 major metro areas, year-over-year, in September 2025. However, home prices overall rose by 1.3%, year-over-year, just a 0.1% drop from August’s figures. Home prices in New York City and Chicago rose by 5.25% and 5.45%, respectively.
In short, as a blog post at Ramsey Solutions unequivocally stated, “Prices are not going to start drastically going down any time soon.”
The answer for first-time home buyers may lie in down payment assistance programs, according to Neighbors Bank CEO Melissa McNutt.
“Even if rates ease, the supply gap will keep prices high, forcing buyers and lenders to think more creatively,” she said. “[F]irst-time home buyers, especially, are finding that savings and their income may not be enough to get them into their first home. We see down payment assistance programs bridging the gap that is getting wider and wider for the average homebuyer.”
An Emphasis on Risk Mitigation Could Lower Home Insurance Prices
In recent years, insurance costs have been another barrier to homeownership. Robb Lanham, CSO for HUB Private Client, said he’s seeing prices drop gradually at the high-end.
“After years of high premiums and limited carrier options, we’re now seeing early signs of a softening insurance market for high-value property,” he said. “The HNW market is an acute representation of the market at large.”
However, insurance prices may only start to drop on average-priced homes when consumers take action. “Insurance premiums and restrictions will modify behavior,” Lanham explained. “Maybe places like Florida end up losing out to Arizona because there are fewer natural disasters, and therefore lower insurance costs.”
He added that water leak detection and electrical hotspot indicators could become as common in every home as smoke detectors are today.
Legislation Could Bring Crypto Into the Mainstream
As legislation seeks to regulate several aspects of cryptocurrency, we may see everything from stablecoins for transactions to widely accepted tokenization of stocks and real estate.
“Stablecoins can make cross-border transactions easier and faster. They can earn interest on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and provide users with easy access to crypto trading,” said CK Zheng, co-founder and CIO of ZX Squared.
Loosened regulations will also create more interest in bitcoin. While early investors may be ready to cash out, leading to increased volatility, ETF markets and other investors will take advantage of the crypto-friendly U.S.-regulated market to invest.
“I am forecasting Bitcoin to reach $150,000 in 2026,” Zheng said.
The Rise of AI
The final trend on this list shouldn’t surprise anyone.
“AI companies will continue to dominate the headlines in the financial markets,” Zheng said, noting that we will see a few clear winners.
In the insurance industry, Lanham pointed out that AI technology can help homeowners evaluate and mitigate risk before they buy a property.
“In every aspect of our lives, we are favoring speed to solution, and AI will assist in that,” he said. “It will allow us to quickly determine what will be needed for insurability so we can advise the client.”
In 2026, AI may be available to help every aspect of a person’s financial life. “We’re going to see a more strategic deployment of AI in financial services,” Dowhan said. “We’re moving beyond first-generation chatbots designed to save customer service agents’ time and toward AI that adds real value to customer interactions.”
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