2015 Goals

Financial Goals

1. Max out my 401k with $18,000. I’ve never done this before, but we’re shooting for the full $18,000 this year. There was no real reason not to accomplish this in 2014. It’s not like I wasn’t saving, we hit somewhere around 50%, but some of that was in company stock, some in savings account, some to an IRA. This year I plan to do the same while hitting the max. Delayed gratification leads to long-term success and deferring your taxes and investing early is how you win the race.

2. Continue my Automatic Savings. Everything below happens each month without me expending any willpower, which we all know is limited. By taking myself out of the equation, it works much better and I don’t have to stress or think about it.
   1. 401k
   2. Company Stock.
   3. IRA
   4. Savings Account

3. Pay down debt. The only consumer debt I have is my mortgage and I’ve got the insanely low rate of 3.25% of a 30 year. The interest is tax deductible as well, so the odds of my investments not beating 3.25% over that period are incredibly low. Having said that, I do want to keep putting in a small incremental amount above required payment to get this paid off early. No debt equals a lot of freedom. If you happen to have credit card debt, that should be #1 priority on your list.

4. Rental Property. 2015 is the year I hope to dip in to the rental property game. I’d like to purchase my first property, ensure I understand the process and all its pitfalls and unexpected moments in preparation of buying multiple a year going forward.

5. Build of my cash reserve. Buying a house, a car, appliances (fridge), furniture (I basically owned a couch when I bought our house), replacing our roof, and normal expenses really put the pain on my cash reserves over the past 2 years. I want to continue to build that back up to a level that ensures if oil goes to $30 and half the jobs in Houston are at risk, I’ll sleep soundly knowing it won’t make a dent in our lives for at least a year.

6. Track/Budget better. I suck at this and it needs to improve. I need to fully embrace the detailed review of my expenditures and see where I’m wasting money. Though off the top of my head it’s probably in the wardrobe department and going out.

Personal Goals

1. Expand the garden. In the past 2 years we’ve put in 22 fruit trees and 2 nice garden beds. This year I’d like to expand the beds to 4-6 and up the production. I’ll be working to accomplish that when it warms up a bit. Also hoping to landscape the front yard and do some other outdoor improvement projects.

2. Write Consistently / Build a Following. The writing thing is new and I’m not sure if I’m particularly good at it. I hope to continue consistently putting out something at least a couple of times a week, engage with my peers, and build a thoughtful, educated and interesting following to share ideas with.

3. Travel more. 2014 wasn’t a bad travel year. We went to New Orleans, LA, Rio and I traveled to the UK for work. We also spent long weekends in Austin and Dallas. However, 2013 had almost zero real vacations. For 2015 I want to plan a long, overseas vacation and knock something off the bucket list. Machu Pichu is at the top of my list. I’d also like to spend some long weekends vising US cities I haven’t made it to yet.

4. Get in better shape. This one is a cliché and most people fail at it. However it’s been something Caitlin and I have been working consistently since October every single week and we’ve made real progress. 2015 should just be more progress and consistency. We weren’t in particularly bad shape to begin with, but 3 years in Houston has created some of that dreaded weight creep you see as people age. I had slowly moved up from about 160 lbs to closer to 170 lbs and decided it was time to make a real reversal. The longer you let it go, the harder it is to fix. Since October I’m down 3 inches off my waist and have gained a massive amount of strength doing heavy weight workouts.

5. Explore Houston / Texas more. There are plenty of cool things to see in this city that we haven’t bothered to, even after 3 years. There are also a lot of great weekend adventures to be had that we haven’t explored either. 2015 will be the year for that.

6. Get to know my neighbors. Caitlin and I have realized we live in a great neighborhood but haven’t made any real effort to get to know the people around us. 2015 will be a year we try to build real relationships with the people in our immediate vicinity.

7. Volunteer more. I enjoy it every time I do it, but for some reason haven’t made it a part of my regular routine. Definitely need to up the personal giving this year.

8. Read 52 books this year. I used to do this easily, but time constraints have made it much harder. This will probably be a real stretch goal, but I’m shooting for a book a week.