The start of a new year is often seen as the perfect time to reset, reassess, and consider your plans for the 12 months ahead.
As part of your 2026 resolutions, you might consider setting goals to help you save and prepare for retirement.
Setting clear goals can help you put enough aside to fund your ideal retirement lifestyle, and using the SMART goal-setting framework can help you achieve this. This involves ensuring that your targets are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound – helping to keep you on track to achieve your long-term goals.
Read on to learn more about the SMART framework and how it can help you set effective goals for retirement saving in 2026 (and beyond).
Setting SMART goals could increase your chances of success
According to Zipdo, people who set goals are more likely to achieve them. What’s more, using the SMART framework can increase your likelihood of succeeding by 30%.
SMART goals have five key characteristics:
- Specific: Your objective should be clear and tangible
- Measurable: You should be able to quantify your progress
- Achievable: You should aim high, while ensuring your goal is realistic
- Relevant: Each objective should align with your overarching vision for the future
- Time-bound: Set yourself a deadline to help you stay on track
In terms of personal finance, applying this methodology to your retirement planning could help you reach your savings goals. By ensuring each of your retirement goals meets all these criteria, you could improve your chances of achieving your dream retirement lifestyle.
1. Specific: Define exactly what you want to achieve
Perhaps you want to grow your pension pot to a certain value or increase your contributions by a particular percentage. Maybe you want to look into consolidating your pots or simply get some professional advice.
Whatever your goal, it’s important to be specific. A vague aim of “saving more into a pension” is unlikely to deliver the results you’re after.
It’s often worth selecting a handful of goals to prioritise, rather than overwhelming yourself with numerous objectives. Write out a single sentence defining each goal to ensure it’s clear and to help you remember them throughout the year, such as: “Grow my total retirement savings to £250,000 by 31 December 2026”.
2. Measurable: Keep track of your progress
Regularly checking in on your progress can help keep you on target. Ensure you have the right systems and processes in place to help you monitor your goals throughout the year.
For example, if you aim to grow your pot to a certain level, it will be helpful to keep your pension scheme login details handy so you can track your fund’s growth. It may also be worth setting monthly reminders to check in on your savings.
By measuring your progress throughout the year, rather than just when you reach your deadline, you can give yourself room to adjust your strategy and get on track to meet your goal.
3. Achievable: Be ambitious but realistic
While it’s often good for your goal to be challenging, it shouldn’t be impossible.
Before setting your target, it’s generally worth assessing what needs to happen for you to achieve it. What will it cost you in terms of both time and money to reach your goal? Answering this question can help you determine whether your target is feasible or too much of a stretch.
If you’re unsure of what’s achievable for you, a financial planner can help you assess your current and future finances with cashflow modelling, so you can determine what you can afford to save in 2026.
4. Relevant: Tie your goals to your vision for retirement
We all have different ideas for what we’d like retirement to look like. It’s important to ensure your specific goals align with your unique vision.
It may help to define exactly what you want out of retirement. Do you want to travel more or take up new hobbies? Or are you considering downsizing to a smaller home or moving closer to loved ones?
Whatever your dream retirement looks like, a financial planner could help calculate how much you may need to save to achieve it. Accounting for inflation, we can help ensure your savings goals align with what you’ll need in retirement.
5. Time-bound: Give yourself a deadline
Finally, giving yourself a timeline to achieve each goal can help keep you motivated and reduce procrastination.
You might break your annual goal down into small milestones throughout the year to help keep you on track. In other cases, you may prefer to have one large target to work towards.
For example, if you wanted to pay £10,000 into your pension this year, you could set a six-month goal of £5,000 to help prevent you from putting off saving until later in the year.
Get in touch
For support with getting your savings on track to achieve your dream retirement lifestyle, email info@doddwealthcare.co.uk or call 01228 530913 / 01768 864466 to learn more about how we can help.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
Please do not act based on anything you might read in this article. All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC legislation, which is subject to change.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate cashflow planning.
A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until 55 (57 from April 2028). The fund value may fluctuate and can go down, which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
The tax implications of pension withdrawals will be based on your individual circumstances. Thresholds, percentage rates, and tax legislation may change in subsequent Finance Acts.
Your pension income could also be affected by the interest rates at the time you take your benefits. The tax implications of pension withdrawals will be based on your individual circumstances, tax legislation, and regulation, which are subject to change in the future.
