Alright, it’s finally that time of the year to see how we did at fulfilling our January 1st goals. As many of you know, goals can be an amazing way to mark progress, create motivation, and help with self reflection. However, goals are fluid, what mattered January 1st, 2020 might not matter as much on December 31st, 2020 and that’s just fine.
Whether you accomplish your goals or not, the important part is the reflection it takes to write and review them. As well as the personal growth you experienced that year as a person. I challenge everyone to try setting some goals this year for 2021 regardless of how simple or difficult they may appear.
1) Grow My Networth to $200,000
When I started 2020, my networth was $125,410 after about 2 years into my working career. So my goal was to attempt to increase it by around $75,000 dollars. A task that I accomplished in 2019 but still a feat that required some good traveling positions and some fortune with the market.
Although I am not quite ready to release my 2020 financial summary, I can say that this goal has been accomplished.
Conclusion: Met
2) Max Out My 401k, Roth IRA, and HSA
I finally started contributing to my 401k at the tail end of last year and was thankfully able to continue contributing this year to the point where I was able to max out my 401k for the first time in my life. I even was able to get a 5% employer match…even though I am only vested at 25% at this time due to how often I change positions for work.
I again chose to max out my Roth IRA over a traditional IRA as I traveled for 9 months out of the year which likely kept me in a very low tax bracket already. So I chose to pay taxes up front and take the flexibility that the Roth IRA has on the back end.
For the second year in a row, I was also able to max out my HSA. The only true tax free investment vehicle.
Conclusion: Met
3) Reach a 62% Savings Rate
Last year I was able to save 64.6% of my income. So this year’s goal was simply to maintain that savings rate. I by no means want to take my foot off the gas in regards to saving, but I also am comfortable with the lifestyle that I am currently living. I do not want to live in deprivation.
I plan to update whether or not this goal was met or not after I finish my 2020 financial summary.
Conclusion: ???
4) Double My Website’s Page Views, Users and Subscribers
Page Views: 7.8K (previous 4.5K)
Users: 2.1K with 1.7K New Users (1.8K)
Subscribers: 23 (previous 19)
Definitely not the results that I have wanted but the results that were expected. The blog has had some growth, but overall it remains more of a passion project and journal for myself than a tool for the masses.
This is definitely not something I will beat myself up over but I know I need to market myself more, make the blog “prettier”, and reach out to bigger names in the niche. However, I don’t know if my goals for the blog are the same as they were last year.
Conclusion: Not Met
5) Publicly Share My Blog on Social Media 4x/mo and Participate in the Social Media FI Groups at least 2x/mo
I was actually self promoting and participating often on social media with the blog at the start of the year and even into the summer. However, the last 6 months of the year I didn’t market the blog nearly as much as I wanted to. I also stopped writing as much during the time as well. All of which contributed to this goal falling flat.
Conclusion: Not Met
6) Read 3 Personal Growth Books
I started the year strong reading almost a book a month, but this slowly decreased as the year went on and I became busier…and lazier. This year I was able to read Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. All of which I have written reviews on which are linked above.
I also read Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke and Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robins but I haven’t written any reviews on them yet.
Conclusion: Met
7) Average 5 Workouts per Week
Although I didn’t document this like I was planning to do this year, I was able to, on average, get 5 workouts per week. I always got at least 4 per week, sometimes up to 6 but never over. I was one of the lucky ones who had access to a gym due to my job. So even during shutdowns I was able to keep lifting.
The part that was lacking this year was my cardio as basketball was completely shut down on the weekends. I mixed in some more hiking to make up for it, but I could definitely benefit from some higher intensity cardio.
Conclusion: Met
8) Try 1 Minimum Spend Month
I documented my attempt at a minimum spend month back in April. I actually really enjoyed it, and it set me up to have a really nice savings year again. Granted, my no spend month was through quarantine so it made it a little easier as I never had to say no to any expensive plans as no one had any plans to start with.
For my no spend month I was able to save 79.1%, almost 20 percent more than my normal year. It will be hard to beat that next year when I try it again.
Conclusion: Met
9) Travel Outside of North America
I think we all know the answer to this 2020 goal…
Conclusion: Not Met
Conclusion
In my friend group 2020 was dubbed the “year of compliments”, so I will finish the year out complimenting myself on what I was able to achieve this year. It definitely wasn’t the year that I thought I would have, but it definitely was a good year none-the-less.
It was a year like most others in which some goals were met and others weren’t. Overall I am happy and healthy, so it can’t get much better than that.
Merry Christmas!
-Zach
How did your 2020 goals go this year?
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below!
