Out with the old: With 2026 nigh, here’s some wide-ranging intel on managing transitions

By DEEPTI HAJELA

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s that time — December’s waning days, when we prepare to turn the calendar page. Many Americans take stock, review goals accomplished and unmet, ponder hopes and plans. How’s our health? What’s up with our money? What about the country? Will the coming year look like the departing one year, or be something entirely different?

Are we ready?

It can be an overwhelming period. So The Associated Press reached out to professionals with varying expertises — home organization, risk management, personal training, personal finance, and political science — to talk about their perspectives on changes and transitions.

And for something a little different, we gave each interviewee a chance to ask a question of one of the others.

So let’s talk endings and beginnings.