How to Prepare Your Finances for 2026
As 2025 comes to a close, it’s the perfect opportunity to plan for next year and take control of your finances. It’s time for fresh goals and smart planning to ensure your hard-earned money is protected and working for you. Two areas deserve extra attention as you prepare for 2026: safeguarding against fraud and choosing safer, more reliable ways to grow your savings.
Here are some ways to plan for strong financial footing in the new year ahead:
* Setting Financial Goals for 2026 and Beyond. Clarify your short- and long-term financial goals. Do you want to reduce debt, save for retirement or set aside funds for a dream vacation? Creating a plan today enables you to stay on track throughout the new year. Start setting aside regular deposits to personal savings accounts to help move your dreams within reach.
* Protecting Yourself Against Fraud. As AI increasingly evolves, so does the risk of identity theft, phishing and account breaches, with scammers using new tactics to target individuals and families. Plan on strengthening your defenses in 2026: enable two-factor authentication, turn on real-time account alerts and create a verbal family password to quickly identify if an AI-generated voice is pretending to be someone you trust.
* Growing Your Savings with Certificates of Deposit (CDs). If one of your goals for the new year is to save more strategically, certificate accounts (CDs) could be an excellent option. CDs offer fixed interest rates for a set term, which means guaranteed returns with no market risk—so your money grows faster over time.
The Credit Union Advantage
A credit union could be an excellent partner in achieving your goals in 2026. Because credit unions are member-owned, earnings are returned to you through great rates and lower fees. You’ll find:
* Competitive Certificate Accounts (CDs) and savings rates to help your money grow faster.
* Tools and alerts to stay one step ahead of scammers.
* Affordable financing for vehicles, homes, and more.
* Fewer fees, so more money stays in your pocket.
* One-on-one guidance to help you make financial decisions.
Hughes Takes You Further
Hughes Federal Credit Union is committed to making a positive difference in its members’ financial lives. In addition to offering competitive financial products, Hughes gives back to its community by volunteering, providing financial education and supporting local nonprofits such as Junior Achievement, Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, Banner Health Foundation, Youth On Their Own, and more.
Achieve your financial goals in 2026 with the confidence of a trusted partner by your side. Visit HughesFCU.org to learn more.
Elisa Ross, Vice President of Marketing and Sales
Medicare and Me: Do You Owe This Bill?
Leah Kari, retired pharmaceutical representative and licensed insurance agent
Has this happened to you? Here’s a situation encountered by some of my clients recently.
What happens: You receive a bill from a hospital or medical service you’ve already paid. Mistakes happen: this is not to imply that the biller is doing the wrong thing. The bill may be recent or several months old, and the bill shows you paid your share of cost at the time of service. You search your plan’s or Medicare’s Explanation of Benefit statements, and confirm your payment, but do you owe this bill?
Don’t hesitate to question a bill you receive. Receiving a bill does not mean you owe it.
Your action plan: Contact your agent for assistance or call your plan. Agents and insurance plans do their best to provide good customer service. Having your agent initiate a three-way call to the plan with you on the line can help. The plan will contact the provider and clarify if payment is needed. There’s generally a favorable outcome, and in the cases of my clients, each matter was successfully and promptly resolved. Not one client owed a penny.
Medicare protects its beneficiaries. When providers agree to treat Medicare beneficiaries, they must follow strict billing rules. For Medicare Advantage members, this protection is found in your plan’s Evidence of Coverage. Your responsibility is to satisfy your plan’s deductible, if any, and pay your copays or coinsurance for care. You pay nothing more, even if a payment amount is in dispute, or if the carrier did not pay the full amount the provider charged.
For Medicare Supplement members, your provider bills Medicare first for Medicare to pay its share of Medicare approved expenses, and after the part B deductible has been met, if required by your plan, the remainder is paid by the supplemental plan. Depending on the provider and whether the provider accepts Medicare’s payment as payment in full (called “assignment”) or not, there are maximum rates in place for services and rules on how much Medicare will pay. If you receive a bill, contact your agent, the supplemental carrier, or the billing office listed on the statement you’ve received. You’ll have resolution with no additional payment from you as the member.
One client on a very limited income, received a large and unexpected bill. He reluctantly concluded that this must be the cost of the services received and dutifully paid the $1,500 bill. I’d called to see how his plan was working for him, learned of the bill and his payment. Our immediate three-way call to the plan proved he owed nothing, and the client stopped payment on his check he’d mailed the day before. Stop before you mail that payment—you may not owe that bill!
Leah Kari, AMR, FHIAS, specializes in showing Medicare–eligible people their insurance options. Reach Leah at 520-827-2460 (TTY users dial 711) or email leah@leahkarisolutions.com.