Your money year in review: the numbers that matter

December is when a year of money becomes readable. The last paycheck and the bonus have landed or are about to, the statements are nearly complete, and the plan for next year hasn't started yet. It's the best moment of the year to look back, because the numbers are finally whole and there's still time to act on what they say.

Most year-end reviews start with spending categories: how much went to dining, travel and shopping. That's useful, but for a high earner it misses the point. The questions that matter are fewer and bigger. Did net worth grow? How much of that did you do, and how much did the market do? And what part of what you saved came from the lumps, the bonus, a vest or one big commission month, rather than from the salary?

This post lists the seven numbers that answer those questions, works through one household's 2026 with RichDue's projection, and ends with the dates that close the 2026 books.

The seven numbers

1. Net worth on January 1 and December 31. Everything you own minus everything you owe, on both days. The difference is the year's result, before any story about it.
2. What you kept from pay. Take-home pay in, minus everything you spent and every debt payment. This is the money that stayed, in checking, savings or a brokerage account.
3. What you saved before take-home. 401(k) contributions and HSA money taken from your paycheck. It doesn't pass through checking, so a review built only from your bank account misses it.
4. Debt paid down. The fall in what you owe, principal only. The interest you paid is spending, not saving.
5. Growth. Whatever is left of the change in net worth: market returns and interest. It's real, but it isn't your doing, in a good year or a bad one.
6. Savings rate. Numbers 2, 3 and 4 together, as a share of what you earned after tax (take-home plus what went to the 401(k)).
7. The lump's share. How much of what you kept from pay came from the bonus, RSUs or commission rather than the salary.

The first five add up: net worth on January 1, plus what you kept, saved before take-home and paid down, plus growth, equals net worth on December 31. If your own figures don't add up, something is missing, usually an account you forgot, a transfer counted twice or a balance from the wrong day.

A 2026, worked through

Here is one household's year, start to finish. They earn a salary in New York with 10% of it going to the 401(k), take home $144,000 over the year from the salary, and get a $40,000 bonus in March. They rent, have a car loan, and spend about the same every month. The figures come from RichDue's projection for the year, the same code the app runs on your own numbers.

Worked example

One household’s 2026, January 1 to December 31

A $245,000 salary in New York, 10% of it to the 401(k), $12,000 a month take-homeA $40,000 bonus in March, a car loan, $4,600 a month for rentEvery figure from RichDue’s projection for the year

Net worth on January 1

$123,000

Kept from pay, after spending and the loan

$28,400

Into the 401(k) from pay

$24,500

Car loan paid down

$6,485

Growth and interest

$8,496

Net worth on December 31

$190,880

An example, computed with the tax and plan code RichDue runs on your own numbers. Growth is 5% a year on investments and 4% on cash, RichDue’s default assumptions.

Read top to bottom, it's a good year. Net worth rose $67,880. Growth contributed $8,496 of that, about 13%; the household saved the other $59,384 through what it kept, its 401(k) and the loan. That's a savings rate of 31%. For scale, Americans as a whole saved 3.8% of their disposable income in September 2026, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis's measure (BEA, Personal Income and Outlays, September 2026). That's a different calculation, but it puts a rate above 20% in perspective.

Now read the seventh number. Of the $28,400 kept from pay, $25,400 was the bonus after withholding: 89% of it. The salary, $144,000 after tax, kept $3,000 across twelve months, because spending ran $133,200 and the loan took $7,800. The 401(k) did its work quietly, at $24,500, which happens to be the 2026 limit. But outside the 401(k), the bonus was the savings plan.

Why the split matters

A single net worth figure can't tell you whether the year went well because of you. Splitting it does three things.

• It separates your work from the market's. A strong market year can hide a year in which you saved almost nothing, and a weak one can hide a year of steady saving. Next year's growth isn't yours to choose; next year's saving is. Judge the year by numbers 2 to 4.
• It shows whether the salary pays for the life. If the lump's share is close to 100%, the salary covers spending and nothing more, and a smaller bonus next year means no saving at all. That's the pattern in the example, and a good bonus makes it easy to miss. Your bonus is not a raise explains why, and the bonus take-home calculator shows what next year's bonus pays after withholding.
• It counts the saving you don't see. Payroll saving skips checking entirely. A review built from your bank statements alone would have put this household's year at $28,400 kept, not $59,384 saved.

Spending: one figure and one comparison

For spending, two things are worth writing down: a typical month, and how it moved since last year.

• A typical month. Take the middle month of the year rather than the average, so December's gifts and the summer trip don't set the level. In the example, a typical month was $11,100.
• The change against prices. Prices for what households buy rose 3.6% in the twelve months to September 2026 (BEA). Spending that grew about that much is the same life at new prices. Spending that grew much faster is a bigger life, which is fine if you chose it. If you didn't, it's lifestyle creep.

Categories are where you look once those two figures tell you something moved. A category that ran above its usual level for most of the year is a change in how you live; one big month is just a month.

Paychecks change at the end of the year

Two rules make a high earner's paychecks move around the turn of the year, and both are worth knowing before you read December as the new normal.

• Social Security tax stops at a cap. The 6.2% Social Security tax applies to the first $184,500 of wages in 2026 (Social Security Administration). A salary above that stops paying it partway through the year, so take-home rises for the last paychecks. It starts again in January, on wages up to $192,300 in 2027 (Social Security Administration), so January's paycheck is smaller than December's. The example keeps take-home flat to stay simple; a real $245,000 salary would see this jump in the fall.
• A bonus is withheld at a flat rate. Employers can withhold federal tax on a bonus at a flat 22%; on supplemental pay above $1 million in a year the rate is 37% (IRS Publication 15 (2026)). If your top bracket is higher than 22%, part of the bonus's tax can still be due in April. How much of your bonus you actually take home works through it.

Dates that close the 2026 books

Some tax-advantaged accounts close with the calendar year and some stay open until April. These are the 2026 figures and dates, for the accounts that apply to you.

• The 401(k) limit counts elective deferrals in a calendar year, and deferrals come out of pay, so the room for 2026 closes with your last 2026 paycheck (IRS, IRS on the calendar-year limit).
• A health FSA's carryover is up to the employer: if the plan allows one, up to $680 of unused 2026 money moves into 2027 and anything above it is forfeited (IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32).
• The fourth 2026 estimated payment is due January 15, 2027 (IRS Form 1040-ES (2026)). It matters if you have income without withholding, such as consulting or a side business; the quarterly dates post has the 2027 schedule.
• IRA contributions for 2026 can be made until April 15, 2027, and a contribution made between January 1 and April 15 should say which year it's for (IRS Publication 590-A, IRS on reporting them).
• HSA contributions for a year can be made until that year's filing deadline without extensions, April 15, 2027 for 2026, while you were covered by a high-deductible plan (IRS Publication 969, IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-19, 2026 Form 8889 instructions, draft).

Doing it yourself

You need a balance for every account on January 1 and December 31, your last pay stub of the year, and a year of spending. The balances give you numbers 1 and 4. Take-home and spending give you 2. The pay stub gives you 3, and its bonus line gives you 7. Growth is what's left. Write the seven numbers down in one place, with this year's date, so next December's review has something to compare with.

The hardest part is usually the first number: a balance for every account, all on the same day, including the 401(k) and the car loan. That's the part worth keeping up all year instead of rebuilding in December.

Where RichDue fits

RichDue keeps your net worth by month, from the accounts you add and the statements you import or the things you log, so after a year with it, January 1 and December 31 are already there. Reports show any month or range against a typical one, a whole year included, and the plan carries your salary, bonus and vest dates into the next 12 months, so the year you just reviewed becomes the starting point for the next one.

Sources

Checked November 1, 2026.

• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Personal Income and Outlays, September 2026: a personal saving rate of 3.8% of disposable personal income in September 2026, and the PCE price index up 3.6% from a year earlier.
• Social Security Administration, 2026 COLA fact sheet ($184,500 maximum taxable earnings in 2026) and 2027 COLA fact sheet ($192,300 in 2027).
• IRS, Publication 15 (2026), Employer's Tax Guide: the 22% flat rate on supplemental wages and 37% above $1 million.
• IRS, 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500 (IR-2025-111, November 13, 2025): the 401(k), catch-up and IRA limits; and the 402(g) calendar-year limit.
• IRS, Revenue Procedure 2025-32: the $3,400 health FSA limit and the $680 carryover for 2026.
• IRS, 2026 Form 1040-ES: January 15, 2027 for the fourth payment.
• IRS, Publication 590-A and 2026 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498: IRA contributions until the filing deadline, $8,600 at 50 or older, and 2026 contributions through April 15, 2027.
• IRS, Publication 969, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-21 (Revenue Procedure 2025-19) and the draft 2026 Instructions for Form 8889: the 2026 HSA limits, the $1,000 catch-up at 55 and the April 15, 2027 deadline.
• The household is an example. 4% a year on cash and 5% on investments are RichDue's default assumptions; the bonus's withholding is RichDue's default, 22% federal plus its New York rate.

Not tax advice. This is general information about year-end numbers and deadlines; your plan documents, your pay stubs and a tax professional are the authority on your own situation.