So you fell short of your financial goals in 2025—here’s how to do better

Many Canadians missed key goals

A year ago, 51% of respondents to a similar poll said they wanted to pay off their debt in 2025 but only 26% managed to do so. A similar number, 49%, aimed to save for the future over the past year but only 30% of this year’s respondents reported accomplishing that task. In late 2024, 36% of respondents said they wanted to make or update their wills in 2025 but only 9% actually did. Of the 18% who were in the market for a home in 2025, just 4% bought one. 

In fact, the share of the population with major financial to-dos crossed off their list may have taken a small step backwards in 2025. Forty percent reported having a will (versus 41% in 2024), 34% had life insurance (from 35% a year earlier) and 24%, power of attorney (compared to 27% in 2024). Only 30% of respondents said they have discussed a financial emergency plan with their families and have the related planning documents, such as a will, in place.

The findings all came from an online survey of 1,503 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. The poll took place in October. The results are considered accurate within 2.5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Why Canadians fell behind

Although inflation has eased off as a threat somewhat—72% of respondents said they worried about its impact on their finances, compared with 86% a year ago—new risk factors such as tariffs (53%) and unemployment (44%) rank high among the reasons for not reaching financial goals. More than a third (37%) felt worse off than last year and 46% said they had to dip into savings to cover expenses. The share of Canadians who feel optimistic about their financial future dropped to 46% in 2025 from 53% in 2024.

“All of these factors caused Canadians to by and large put off these financial to-dos related to their long-term financial health and wellness in favour of just dealing with the day to day,” says Erin Bury, Willful’s co-founder and chief executive officer. Also interfering with people’s ability to hit their objectives are generally low levels of financial literacy and the difficulty of making hard decisions and delaying gratification in the face of marketing, peer pressure and social media that urges us to do the opposite.

“Ignorance comes into it. It’s really common to avoid thinking or planning for the future and avoiding thinking or planning for anything uncomfortable,” Bury says. “Most people are just focused on ‘How am I going to get through 2026?’, not ‘What’s my financial picture going to look like in 2056?’”

Steps to get back on track in 2026

Bury recommends writing down your financial goals as a first step towards getting ahead in 2026. Refer to and adjust them if necessary throughout the year. Put reminders on your calendar. The month-to-month contributions don’t have to be huge to make a difference over the long haul.

“I have an RESP for my kids. I’m not putting in thousands of dollars a month, just a small amount,” she says. “The biggest asset we have in investing is time.”

Willful has created a month-by-month checklist to help keep estate and other financial objectives top-of-mind in 2026. They include topping up your RRSP for the 2025 tax year in February, centralizing your account information in one place in April and setting up a password manager for your various accounts in October.

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About Michael McCullough

Michael is a financial writer and editor in Duncan, B.C. He’s a former managing editor of Canadian Business and editorial director of Canada Wide Media. He also writes for The Globe and Mail and BCBusiness.