Starting Your Year on The Right Path
As a business owner, oftentimes the day-to-day grind takes over any strategic planning for the future. I challenge you to take a few hours in these early months of 2026 just for strategic planning and getting your financial house in order. These few hours now may save you countless hours later in the year. Here’s a checklist to help get you started.
Make sure you are maintaining completely separate personal and business finances
I know, it’s easy to say I’ll buy this on my personal credit card now and pay myself back later. But later may never get here – life gets in the way. Using dedicated business bank accounts and credit cards makes life easier in the long run by simplifying your accountant’s life, protecting yourself both legally and financially. This includes setting up a regular, consistent salary for yourself.
Implement a cloud-based accounting software
This isn’t just for the medium to large business owner; manual spreadsheets are a cumbersome and inaccurate way to report your financial picture. Many of these software solutions make it much easier to track down an item later in the year than sorting through random files.
Review 2025 performance
This may seem like a given, and many business owners do this “in their head,” but taking the time to actually analyze income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports (all easily accessible in a cloud-based accounting software system!) to help identify problem areas and successes is a great way to plan for your 2026 budget. Speaking of budget – be sure to factor in potential cost increases due to inflation (including labor). We recommend a cash reserve of at least 6 months of operating expenses. Make sure this reserve is working for you as hard as you worked for it – high-yield savings options are available and a good way to separate this cash from normal operating accounts.
Review employee benefits.
Ensure you are taking advantage of the tax breaks that may be available to your business and that your benefit expenses are in line with current market prices. That 401(k) plan that has been in place for years may not have been benchmarked in quite some time. Believe it or not, that is one benefit expense that has seen a large decrease in the past several years. Your plan sponsor or a financial advisor who works with employer plans can help with this. Also, many local financial institutions offer no-cost benefits to your employees, such as financial education, in-office setup of accounts, and direct deposit.
Set a schedule for regular reconciliation and reviews of all your bank, investment, and credit card statements
Schedule a regular check-in with your financial advisor to ensure this meaningful appointment gets on both of your calendars. Setting a schedule now will make the process less overwhelming in the future and keep you accountable, so that you’re not left making up months’ worth of this work later.
Review your legal documents
Now is a good time to review your most important documents, including employment contracts, vendor agreements, estate planning documents, and transfer-on-death beneficiaries, to verify that all are up to date. This ensures that the “what-if” questions are answered and in place just in case. There are many cases of beneficiaries not being updated when a life event occurs, such as divorce, marriage, children, etc., and assets going to an unintended individual. A quick review of these items each year ensures this won’t be the case for you and your loved ones.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the Stillman Bank Trust & Wealth Management Department if you need assistance in your strategic planning.
Jenny Redington, CFP®, CRPC™ – Financial Advisor
Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of Stillman Bank. Investments available through Stillman Trust & Wealth Management (1) are not FDIC insured (2) are not deposits, obligations, or guaranteed by the bank and (3) are subject to investment risk including possible loss of principal.
Note: This blog post originally ran as a guest columnist article in the January/February 2026 issue of The Voice, a Rockford Chamber of Commerce publication. To read the issue in its entirety, click the link below.