Millennials most likely to make 2026 resolutions over other generations: survey

Saving money, exercising more, and getting healthier are Americans’ top New Year’s resolutions heading into 2026, according to a new survey.The poll of 2,000 Americans revealed that only a small group (10%) felt very good about 2025 as a whole, labeling it a “great” year, and most felt less positive about it, saying it was “just okay” (39%), ”bad” (19%), or even” awful” (10%).So to turn things around in the coming year, many (38%) are setting personal goals or resolutions, with millennials being the most likely to create New Year’s intentions (57%) and baby boomers being the least likely (23%).Men are also more likely than women to set goals for 2026 (44% vs.35%), and they also feel more motivated to complete them (93% vs.

85%).Conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Talkspace, the study found that people are creating six resolutions, on average, for the new year, with the most common ones being putting more money into savings (45%), getting more exercise (45%), and improving overall physical health (41%).Along with those, respondents said they want to eat healthier (40%), improve their holistic financial wellness (34%), spend more time outdoors (29%), and boost their mental health (29%).But with goals come hurdles to complete them, and Gen Z (45%), millennials (49%), and Gen X (45%) all said that not having enough money is their biggest barrier in general to accomplishing their goals, while baby boomers cited not having enough willpower (37%).Respondents also said mental health challenges (28%) and lack of time (22%) often hold them back from accomplishing their resolutions.Responses to these challenges and barriers differ by generation.When confronted with failure while pursuing a goal, Gen Z most commonly responds by criticizing themselves or feeling guilty (36%), while millennials (42%), Gen X (48%), and baby boomers (55%) all accept failure as part of the process and keep moving forward.“Setting meaningful personal goals is a positiv...