8 Money Moves You Can Make This Month To Strengthen Your Retirement Plan
Written by
Jordan Rosenfeld
Edited by
Jenna Klaverweiden
Commitment to Our Readers
GOBankingRates' editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and information. We use data-driven methodologies to evaluate financial products and services - our reviews and ratings are not influenced by advertisers. You can read more about our editorial guidelines and our products and services review methodology.
20 Years
Helping You Live Richer
Reviewed
by Experts
Trusted by
Millions of Readers
It’s easy to put off retirement planning, even when you’re within a decade of that date. However, it doesn’t take a complicated strategy to strengthen your retirement plan. A few strong moves in a single month can reset priorities.
Here are eight money moves you can make this month to get your retirement on track.
1. Increase Your 401(k) Contributions Now
Increasing your retirement plan contribution now even by as little as 1% “gives us more time to compound throughout the year,” according to Julian B. Morris, a certified financial planner (CFP) and principal at Concierge Wealth Management. “Time in the market is always greater than timing the market.”
This is also the time to revisit contribution limits and catch-up strategies, said Jay Zigmont, CFP, founder of Childfree Trust. For 2026, the standard contribution limit is $24,500. People who are ages 50 or older can add an $8,000 catch-up contribution, and people ages 60 to 63 can make a super catch-up contribution of $11,250 on top of the standard limit.
2. Prioritize Debt Payoff Before Investing More
Before investing more, the experts agree it’s important to eliminate high-interest consumer debt, such as credit cards and loans, Zigmont said, except perhaps a mortgage or student loans.
That said, Morris urged people to continue to make even a small retirement contribution while paying down debt, so as not to “sacrifice long-term compounding to feel better in the short term.”
3. Make Sure Your Investments Match Your Time Horizon
It’s not enough just to contribute retirement funds, Morris said. “I would encourage people to make sure that the funds that they are investing in align with their risk tolerance and time horizon,” he explained.
However, as retirement nears, your strategy should shift from higher-risk wealth growth to “protecting your assets so that you can have income and not just growth,” Morris said.
4. Rebalance and Diversify
Market swings can push portfolios out of alignment. Rebalancing helps restore your intended mix and reduce unnecessary risk, Zigmont said. It’s especially helpful “if your investments have strayed from your target mix of stocks and bonds.”
Rebalancing isn’t about getting back to a model portfolio, anyway, Morris noted, but “to align the portfolio with what the money needs to do next.”
5. Shift Focus From Net Worth to Retirement Income
Many people track their overall net worth but don’t focus on their expected income versus their actual spending, Morris said.
“Ask yourself: ‘If I stop working today where is my income coming from and how will I be spending it?’ Most people don’t have this mapped out,” he said.
Zigmont suggested taking your current annual expenses and multiplying them by 25.
“That tells you how much you need to save to retire comfortably,” Zigmont explained.
6. Consolidate Old Accounts
Lost or scattered retirement accounts can also create confusion and inefficiency, Zigmont said. He recommended taking the time now to collect and roll over any old 401(k) accounts and any other retirement accounts.
7. Automate Your Retirement Savings
Consistency matters more than intention.
Remove decision-making from the process and automate as much as possible to “turn good intentions into actual outcomes,” Morris said.
8. Use Time-Segmented Investing To Reduce Risk
Rather than becoming more financially conservative, segment assets by when you’ll need them. This can help you avoid selling investments at a loss during downturns, Morris explained.
“We want to make sure that you avoid being forced to liquidate funds in a downturn and have to capture a loss. The biggest risk is not volatility, it’s being forced to sell at the wrong time,” Morris said.
The sooner you act, the more those small changes have time to grow.
More From GOBankingRates
