Freed by 50

As is my tradition, I’m going to set some major and minor personal, career and family goals for the year. I’m a little late this year because it’s been a whirlwind holiday season and I just haven’t gotten any time in front of the computer in weeks.

This year I have to do some hard work that I’ve been putting off. I also have to work on myself. While I created some good workout habits in 2024, I also kept up some bad ones that went unaddressed. I’m not adding it as a goal, but I’m also considering doing a preventative health screening sometime soon so that I can work on the things I need to do to stay healthy.

Previous years goals and year end reviews can be found here.

Major Goals

• Pay off my car – As explained in my 2024 review, I thought it would be a great idea to buy a BMW X5 and pay for it in a single year. This was not a very financially savvy decision and Ramit Sethi would absolutely call me an idiot if he had any idea who I was. But let he who is without financial sins cast the first stone. If all goes well I should have this paid off by mid-November 2025.
• Reach the next stage of FI – Ok, take two on this one! Last year this was one of my major goals and I missed it by a mile. The stock market was exceedingly generous in 2024, so I made a lot of headway, but I fell about $160k short of my goal of having about $650k in my individual investment account. I should hit this goal by Q3 2025 unless the market takes a big tumble. With that amount in my brokerage account, it would give me about seven years of expenses (up to ten with good luck), which would be enough for my retirement accounts to double by the time I could access them. Basically, with $650k in my brokerage, I could theoretically never work again provided my expenses never went up. It’s not quite FI, but past CoastFI, so…KindofFI.
• Write a book – This is a project I started mid-2024 and just ran out of steam due to motivational issues at work. I have the outline and a number of chapters completed, so I would very much like to complete the first draft by mid-2025 and try to publish it by the end of the year. This goes hand in hand with…
• Start a YouTube – Another 2024 goal rears it’s ugly head. I spent minimal time planning this in 2024, but felt I needed to take another crack at it. This, like the book, would be finance based. I know it’s a crowded space, but having consumed hundreds of hours of content over the years, I realized there’s a niche that doesn’t really get explored. I’m hopeful to launch this and stick with a publishing schedule.
• Find a new job – This one hurts to admit, but it’s time to move on. I thought I could make the best of a bad situation, but I’m actually living the Region Beta Paradox. Because my work situation is bad, but tolerable, if instead it was way worse I’d wind up in a better place. I still believe in my company and I feel like there must be a place for me to continue working there. I was halfheartedly looking before, now I have to put a lot more effort in.

Minor Goals

• Complete Dry January – For a while now I’ve seen diminishing returns from situations involving alcohol. I have no plans to become a teetotaler, but I need to continue my reduction of alcohol in my life. Last year I cut drinking back to a couple of days a week. I’d like to further reduce that. I am not going to try to get cute with this one until its over. I’ve already had friends get on my case for not wanting to drink and we’re only three days into the month. Speaking of friends…
• Find the others – While I do really enjoy the company of most of my friends (and really miss some friends who have moved away), I’ve found that one of the reasons I tend to drink around them is lack of decent conversation. I read a famous Timothy Leary quote a few months ago and it really hit me hard. I’m not saying that I’m better or smarter than the people around me, but I’m infinitely more curious and have a need to learn and create that they don’t share. I’m old enough to accept my friends for who they are, but that means I need to also find more people who share my interests and think in different ways. It’s just time for me to find the others.
• Book more trips – Last year we took our first family trip involving flights (Disney) and overall it worked out very well. My youngest being about five minutes into four now still doesn’t make traveling easy, but I think we can manage a beach vacation or two. I’m researching Caribbean resorts to spend a week in the Spring, and possibly another in the Fall.