Last year was the first year that I published my yearly goals and resolutions on the internet. Then every quarter, I provided an update on how I was doing with my goals and resolutions. Personally, I felt this system worked really well as it kept me very motivated and very accountable for all of my goals and resolutions. As a result, I did pretty well in 2019 and accomplished 12 of my 15 goals.
For 2020, my goals are very similar compared to last year. I suppose they are incremental improvements compared to my 2019 goals.
My Thoughts on Goal Setting
You have probably heard many times that you should set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals. SMART goals, for short. Generally speaking, I find that setting high expectations work well for me. I am more motivated if I set challenging goals for myself. I like shooting for the stars. If I donβt get there, at least I will get to the moon. This may work completely differently for other people though.
Last year I created a goal sheet for tracking my goals throughout the year. This worked extremely well for me because it allowed me to set measurable goals, and I was able to track my progress throughout the year. Therefore, I will continue doing the same this year.
2020 Goals and Resolutions
Below is my goal tracking sheet. Itβs quite simple and grouped into four categories. Some goals are yearly goals, some I want to achieve by a specific month.
Financial Goals
Dividend Income over $30,000
Bang! I set an extremely challenging goal for myself right off the bat. We received $23,049.16 in dividend income in 2019. This means we need to increase our dividend income by $6,950.84 or a YoY growth rate of 30.2%! At 4% dividend yield, that means we need to contribute $173,771 new capital. We donβt need as much new capital thanks to organic dividend growth and DRIP. However, this goal will remain very challenging since we havenβt had over 30% YoY growth in the last four years.
Dividend Income/Annual expenses ratio 55%
Last year we finished at 41.98%, 8.02% below our goal of 50%. This year, I want to hit a dividend income/annual expenses ratio of 55%. To do this, first, we need to make sure we can reduce our annual expenses β we spent $54,906.02 in 2019. Second, we need to hit the $30,000 dividend income goal.
Blog Goals
Publish 6 high quality articles every month
This goal worked really well for me last year. I was very motivated in making sure I was publishing six articles each month. So, this year I will continue this goal.
Speak at FinConβ20
I am planning to attend FinConβ20 in Long Beach later this year. Rather than just attending the conference and connecting with like-minded folks, I would like to challenge myself and see if I can get accepted as a speaker at FinCon this year. I will have to figure out a couple of topics to pitch to the FinCon team and hopefully I will get picked as a speaker.
Speak at Financial Freedom Summit
Financial Freedom Summit was started by Grant Sabatier from Millennial Money. Unlike FinCon, which is more for content creators (i.e. bloggers, podcasters, etc), Financial Freedom Summit is for anyone that wants a better financial future. The summit will be a place to learn from experts, network with other attendees, and learn how you can achieve financial freedom.
When I learned about Financial Freedom Summit at FinCon last year, I congratulated Grant for setting up this event. During our conversation, Grant suggested to me that I should speak at the summit.
I am very humbled to say that I have been selected as a speaker at the first annual Financial Freedom Summit happening May 1-3 in St. Louis. Therefore, I am making this a goal of mine to make sure I donβt chicken out.
Speak at Canadian Financial Summit
Each year a bunch of Canadian personal finance experts come together to have a virtual summit to teach Canadians how to control their personal finances. This year, I would love to be one of the speakers.
Record 3 podcasts
This goal is pretty straight forward. Iβd like to appear on at least 3 podcasts for 2020. I got to talk to a few podcasters about appearing on their podcasts.
Personal Goals
Weigh 72 kg by end of 2021
Last year I failed miserably with this goal, so I would like to try again. I really need to focus on food intake and cut back on calories. In early January I weighed 77.5 kg. Therefore, to accomplish this goal, I need to reduce 5.5 kg or 12.1 lbs.
Swim for 120 km in 2020
I swam over 100 km last year. This year, I want to challenge myself even more by setting a goal of swimming 120 km. This means I need to swim at least 30 km each quarter or at least 2.3 km each week.
Go to gym at least twice each week
This should be quite self-explanatory. I really enjoyed hitting the gym last year so I am making this my goal for this year too.
Spend 60 minutes each week learning Danish on Duolingo
Although I am married to a Dane, my Danish is pretty poor. I would like to be able to understand a bit more Danish when Mrs. T is talking to the kids or when we go to Denmark.
Complete Conscious Parenting course
Mrs. T completed the Conscious Parenting course late last year and found the course had helped her become a better, more patient parent. I definitely saw a difference. Therefore, I believe completing the same course will be useful for me too.
Read 15 books
Last year I read 21 books. Originally I wanted to challenge myself and set a higher number, but given I already have quite a few personal goals that will take up a lot of my time, I decided that reading 15 books is sufficient.
Fun Goals
Go skiing with kids at least once
Although we live close to the mountains, we actually havenβt taken both kids skiing. This year, Iβd like to change that and get on the slopes with Mrs. T and both kids.
Visit Banff & Jasper
Although Mrs. T has lived in Canada for over 10 years, she hasnβt visited Banff or Jasper yet. Weβd like to change that this summer.
Alright, those are my 15 goals for 2020. I plan to provide an update every quarter and share my progress.
Dear readers, do you have any New Year goals or resolutions for 2020?
Definitely a tough set of goals but you’ve done well. Being retired our goals are much simpler.
Personally I’m working on shedding some weight. Inactivity and nibbling really added some weight and bulk. Been almost five weeks and I am seeing some results. Slowly but steadily.
I think you’ll come close to the $30k income goal, not from 4% yield from new investments, but also from reinvestments and dividend increases.
Shredding some weight and focus on health is always good. π
Bob,
Great goals, hope you make it. I am having a hard time achieving my goals of investing 40K into the market this year. Typically I invest 19k into a non matching 401k, 12k into two IRAs, and the rest into a mix of taxable stocks. With the exception of the taxable stocks, the rest is in a s&p 500 index fund. I feel like the market is way over priced and it doesn’t make sense to me anymore. What do you think?
Yes we’ve been talking about the market being over priced for many years now yet it continues to go up. Market timing is hard and doesn’t really work. I’d rather stay invested and have more time in the market than try to time the market. π
Love your goals especially the one about learning Danish. I will like to learn Spanish. May spend time in Spain yearly in my golden years since itβs not too far from here.
Thank you Rn. I think I’ve been making good progress learning Danish so far.
Excellent. Your kids are fortunate to have the chance to learn multiple languages. Are you speaking to them in mandarin as well? Also when they attend school, they will have French lessons. So that’s Danish, English, Chinese, French. Children acquire languages more easily before the age of 12. After that, still possible to learn new languages. But it takes effort as we get older.
I’m speaking to them in Mandarin but they haven’t picked it up as quickly compared to Danish. Both kids are fluent in Danish but with Mandrin they don’t really speak (they can understand for the most part). My oldest has learned some French at school already. It’s pretty cool.
That’s an ambitious list. I’m exhausted reading about them. π
Speaking at those conferences is a good idea. Looking forward to meeting you IRL in Long Beach.
Good luck in 2020!
Haha yea I was very ambitious when I set up the list. π
FinCon will be fun!
Wow what an exhaustive list of goals hahah! I donβt know how you do it all on top of your day job too! Let us know when you make it out our way to visit Banff and Jasper – weβd love to connect in person! Youβre going to love it out here π
Yea probably because I don’t sleep lol. :p
Will reach out when we make our way to visit Banff and Jasper. π
Looks like we are going to have to make sure Chrissy has host blogger meetups in 2020 as one of her goals. You can pass over your 2019 torch π Good Luck on all your pursuits this year.
Haha yea I should pressure Chrissy hehe.
Joking aside, I think I’ll try to continue set up blogger meetups this year. π
Hey Tawcan, that is a nice sett of goals. I wish you all the best with these challenges.
I set goals for 2020 myself and visualised them on a moodboard. I only put happiness related goals.
I like the idea of putting only happiness related goals. Good luck to you too!
Hey Bob,
That’s a very admirable list of goals you have and I wish you all the best in hopes you achieve them.
I’ve lived in Southern Ontario most of my life and the furthest West I’ve gone is Winnipeg. This year planning a trip to visit Vancouver and would love to visit Jasper / Banff as part of my bucket list.
-DGX Capital
Thank you. We have booked campsites for Jasper & Bank, it should be a great trip.