2019 has come and gone and for really no apparent reason, I feel that I have been waiting for 2020 for a long time. I was too young to appreciate 2000 and the rest of the years in between didn’t quite seem to have the appeal that 2020 did. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s an election year so 2020 is posted everywhere or if it’s because 20/20 eyesight is good so therefor one could deduct the year would be good too. I’m not sure, but regardless, I’m excited to bring on the year!
The Importance of Goal Writing
I think by now everyone knows how strongly I feel about goal writing and their importance towards personal growth. As I have continued this practice each year, I’ve found more and more that it’s less about the actual goals themselves and more about the process.
This sounds cliche, but let me expand. In the process of goal writing, it forces us to sit down and think, really think about where we are in all aspects of our lives. It’s a reflection of how we truly feel in that moment and where we would like to see ourselves taken with future endeavors.
Yes, it’s easy to write goals saying “I want to be happier in 2020”, “I want to lose weight in 2020”, or “ I want to earn more in 2020”. It’s safe to assume most people have some level of this generic goal, and it didn’t take too much thought or energy to reach it.
What’s hard about writing goals is asking yourself “why am I not happy right now?” and “what do I believe would make me happy” Then using these answers found from deep reflection to create a plan to actually become happier. This is goal writing.
The best part is, you don’t always need to be right in these ideas. I thought that meditating would improve my mental well being and happiness last year. Turns out, it wasn’t for me, but that didn’t make it a bad goal because I “failed” it.
It just means it was a hypothesis that I tried and now know wasn’t right for me at this point in my life. It doesn’t mean that meditating is bad, it doesn’t mean that I failed in 2019, and it doesn’t mean that it won’t work for me in the future. It just means I tried it and to me, that is what goal writing is about.
Financial goals are just as important as well-being goals and often the two go hand in hand. As much as I want to improve everyone’s happiness and physical/mental health, I also want to help them to improve their financial health. And writing financial goals is very important in this.
These don’t need to be crazy or likely unattainable goals either, like “become a millionaire” if you know that’s unrealistic for your current place in life. Even if the goal is only to save and invest 50 dollars per month, it’s a great goal because it starts to create a habit or a routine. It’s a starting place for even bigger financial goals because saving 50 a month may not seem like much but it’s $50 more than $0.
And, compound interest works better the earlier you can get your money in the market. It may seem insignificant to save and invest $50 when you are young and you have bigger concerns but time in the market matters.
Investing $50/month for 20 years and then not investing for 20 years earns almost $65,000 more than if you didn’t invest for the first 20 years but then invested double the amount at $100/month for the next 20 years.
The first example invests only half the amount of the second but ends up making well over double the amount of money at the end of the same 40 years.
Advice to anyone just starting out: Save now and invest early.
Anyways, here are my 2020 goals:
1: Grow my Net Worth to $200,000
Last year my goal was to reach $100,000, growing my net worth by $50,000. I was able to accomplish this goal much quicker than I anticipated and I actually ended the year reaching $125,000 in net worth. So this year I decided to increase the goal and try to repeat a very strong year by increasing my net worth by another $75,000 in 2020.
I’m not sure it’s possible unless the stock market behaves like it did in 2019 but I may be able to supplement the market through some new side hustles I have been looking into.
2: Max Out my Roth IRA, HSA, and 401k
I was able to max out the first two last year but I fell short in my 401k, so this year I plan to begin contributing earlier in the year now that I qualify for my company’s 401k plan.
3: Reach a 62% Savings Rate
60% was what I accomplished in 2018 and am still waiting to calculate my 2019 numbers. But through the years, around 60% appears to be the number that has been working best for me, so I plan to stay consistent with this number only trying to increase by a couple percentage points.
4: Double my Website’s Page Views, Users, and Subscribers
I recently dedicated an entire post to the blog a couple of weeks ago outlining it’s current status. Below are it’s numbers.
- Page Views: 4,554
- Visitors: 1,879
- Subscribers: 19
- Published Posts: 54
- Blog Revenue (pre-tax): $2,000
And because I wish I had someone when I was younger to teach me finances and investing, or show me the ins and outs of traveling healthcare, I would love it if I could reach more people with my writing in 2020.
I am truly passionate about what I write and I try to use my own life for examples of what has worked and more importantly what has not worked for me so that others can hopefully avoid the same mistakes.
However, I realize that much of this is due to my own lack of marketing which leads me to my next goal.
5: Publicly Share my Blog on Social Media 4x/mo, and Participate in the Social Media FI Communities at Least 2x/mo
Realistically these goals should be even higher as well but this is a very difficult goal for me. Because as much as I want more visitors, the more I publically put my face to my writing, it makes me feel vulnerable and exposed as my writing is finally open up to more criticism.
Also, many future employers, do not want an employee who actively talks about reaching financial freedom in their free time. Your employer wants someone who is up to their neck in student loans and house payments, the employee who needs the job to stay a float. Not the employee who works because he wants to.
Regardless, I know how amazing the feeling was when I first began reading the work of Mr. Money Mustache, the Mad Fientist, Millennial Revolution, Fifth Wheel PT and many more. I want to be able to help give that feeling to others.
6: Read 3 Personal Growth Books
I was reading many more personal finance and growth books prior to last year but in 2019 I didn’t read nearly as much as what I would have hoped. I listen to podcasts daily during the work week but I think getting back to the books would be beneficial.
I also think this would be important because it would allow me to perform some type of book review on the website to let others know which books I found value in.
3 is a low bar, but an appropriate one given my lack of reading last year.
7: Average 5 workouts per week
As I have mentioned in my 2019 goals review, the PR fitness goals were not as motivating as I previously anticipated. So instead, this year I plan to try and focus more on the routine than the exact exercise.
I am more about lifestyle and overall health than pure lifting capacity so this may be an easier way to set up my goals this year to reflect that mind set.
I usually average around this but I have never taken the time to quickly keep track of my workouts in the past. So hopefully this will be the start of some data collection in the fitness category of my life.
8: Try 1 Minimum Spend Month
I have heard of people in the financial independence community try various “challenge” months before and have decided it would be an interesting thought experiment to try it out.
Basically, for one month, the objective would be to spend as minimal as possible. Trying to decrease your spending in all categories of your life and see how low that output could be.
I realize that I am already very spending conscientious, so I want to do this not necessarily because of the actual money saved but because of my curiosity of how I would actually feel during this month.
9: Travel Outside of North America
My traveling physical therapy journey has allowed me to find a way to get paid to explore the United States. I have explored well over half of the States now and plan to continue to expand this list in the future.
What it also did, was it helped me realize just how much I love experiencing new places, foods, and cultures. So I think that 2020 is the right year to let this new found travel bug take me outside of my comfort zone and into some new continents and countries.
Conclusion
So that’s the plan for 2020. Who knows if I will accomplish it all but writing it out and posting it publicly at least holds me more accountable. I recommend that everyone should try to add some form of accountability to their goals. For sure by writing them down, but also try sharing them with a friend or family member, posting them on social media, or hanging them some place you will see regularly.
It’s hard to be internally motivated all the time, sometimes it takes some techniques to externally motivate ourselves. And that’s okay too. The important part is just doing them.
Here’s to a successful 2020!!
What are your goals for 2020? Feel free to comment below
If you have any specific questions about my journey or traveling healthcare, feel free to message me here!
