Last year was the 5th year I set goals and resolutions at the beginning of the year and provided quarterly updates here on this blog. Out of the 13 goals and resolutions I created, I accomplished eight, received a passing grade on three, and failed on two goals. Setting goals and resolutions and posting my progress on this blog helped me to stay focused and make habit-changing behaviours more attainable, and thus improve my overall quality of life.
Needless to say, I wanted to keep this annual tradition alive by setting goals and resolutions for myself to work on throughout 2024. So in early January I created a spreadsheet and wrote down my goals and resolutions for this year.
2024 Goals and Resolutions
Given the planned blog post schedule, this post didn’t get published until February. But that didn’t mean I had been slacking off on my goals and resolutions.
The goals and resolutions for this year are mostly yearly long ones:
For privacy and safety reasons, I set quarter completion targets for the two travel goals rather than stating a specific month.
Financial Goals
Dividend Income over $55,000
This goal is quite self-explanatory. Last year we received $50,189.07 in dividend income. This is equivalent to a $24.13 per hour wage.
Although we beat last year’s dividend income goal of $49,000, I decided not to adjust our dividend income projection. Mostly that was so we wouldn’t subconsciously focus on buying high dividend yield stocks and taking on unnecessary risks.
Going from $50,189.07 to $55,000 means a YoY growth of 9.6% which should be achievable for us, assuming no dividend cuts or unpredicted catastrophic events.
Travel hack to earn $2,000 equivalent of points
We like to earn credit card welcome points and use these points toward trips. The goal this year is to apply for a few credit cards before planned big expenses and earn points that are equivalent to $2,000.
What are some cards we are considering?
- American Express Marriott Bonvoy – for hotel stays
- Aeroplan cards from TD, CIBC, or American Express – for airfare
- Scotia Passport Visa Infinite or TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite – for travel-related expenses
- RBC WestJet MasterCard – for earning WestJet dollars
American Express Platinum cards are interesting too but they have high annual fees and spending requirements ($10k spending for personal and $15k for business the first three months). If we were to apply, we’d have to plan around potential big expenses.
More research will be needed to figure out the best cards to apply for.
Reduce # of individual stock holdings to 40
Last year we wanted to reduce the number of individual stock holdings to 45. We ended the year with 46. I’d like to reduce that number further down to 40.
Like last year, I’m not going to close out positions for merely the sake of accomplishing this goal. I want to be methodical and rational whenever we decide to close out a position.
Blog Goals
Continue publishing a blog post every Monday
This has been a yearly goal of mine since 2021 and I found the weekly publication schedule worked quite well for me. It allowed me to plan and write ahead and avoid writing an article the night before, so it makes sense to continue having this resolution.
Write & publish a 10 year review post
It’s hard to imagine this blog will turn 10 years old in July. I have had different personal blogs over the years and the longest one probably lasted about three years. So when I started this blog back in 2014, I never imagined to be writing for this long.
Over time, this blog has evolved quite a bit. What kept me writing is that we’re on our FI journey so there are a lot of ideas to write about. More importantly, I have been able to connect with so many like-minded people.
I’d like to write and publish a 10 year review post to summarize things I’ve learned about 10 years of blogging.
Personal Goals
Do 1 minute plank each day
I’d like to focus on my core for this year. Thus, the reason for this goal. The tricky part with this goal is making sure I do it every day.
Read for 10 minutes before bedtime
Reading for 10 minutes before bed time worked well last year so I decided to keep the same goal for this year.
Some books I’d like to read for this year are:
- The Armour of Light – the last book in the Kingsbridge series.
- Axiom’s End – the description sounded quite interesting
- Same as Ever – I enjoyed Morgan Housel’s book The Psychology of Money so would like to read his new book
- We Were Dreamers – this memoir sounded interesting
Reduce body fat to 15%
I finished 2023 at 15.9% body fat. Visually I’m fitter and have a better body tone.
For this year, I’d like to continue working toward hitting 15% body fat. This requires me to exercise regularly. Arguably more importantly, it also requires me to watch what I eat. My biggest nemesis has been snacking on chips and sugary treats. I need to find ways to reduce my extra-calorie intake.
I’ll be the first one to admit that I spend way too much on my phone. Mrs. T would nod her head in full agreement if you were to ask her.
So I’d like to minimize my phone usage, especially when it comes to social media. I have set up timers via the Digital Wellbeing app to limit my X and Instagram usage to 15 minutes per day. When I’m five minutes away from the daily limit I’d get a warning. The app/website would turn grey when I am a minute away from the limit. When the 15-minute limit is used up, I wouldn’t be able to use X/Instagram until the next day.
Clean up the garage
We have a 2-car garage and use half of the space for our car. Right now the other half is a big mess, filled with various things. It is my goal to clean up the garage so it’s more functional. Cleaning the garage would involve the following:
- Sell kids’ bikes that are too small
- Get a Scouter to take all the Beaver Scout supplies
- Re-arrange how things are stored in the garage
Mrs. T received a pottery wheel that we need to fix and then find a place for in the garage.
Fun Goals
Rent a Model Y for Iceland trip
We are planning a trip to Iceland later this year. During the initial research, I found that one of the car rental companies offers free charging for Tesla Model 3 and Model Y via the Tesla Superchargers and local Iceland charging networks.
Since gas is really expensive in Iceland (more than $3 per litre), I determined that the overall cost of an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) car would be more or less the same as the rental cost of a Model Y.
Since I have never driven a Tesla before, this seems like a good occasion to rent one and test out what EV driving is like.
Visit Taiwan with family
We visited Taiwan as a family back in early 2019. Kid 1.0 had some memories about Taiwan but Kid 2.0 couldn’t remember a thing (she was less than three). Ideally, I’d like to visit Taiwan this year and show both kids and Mrs. T around.
Omakase with Mrs. T
Both Mrs. T and I like Japanese food, sushi in particular. I have been to a few omakase places in Taiwan and the prices were quite reasonable compared to Canada. If we do visit Taiwan this year, I’d love to take Mrs. T to a restaurant and try omakase.
Summary – 2024 Goals and Resolutions
I have a total of 13 goals and resolutions for this year with six of them being yearly long goals. Reducing the number of individual stock holdings to 40 and reducing body fat to 15% are probably two of the most challenging goals. But I like to challenge myself.
Do you have any 2024 goals and resolutions?
Hello, I’ve been working to travel hack through credit cards as well and have typically done so through the Aeroplan program. However, not sure if you also came across their terms and conditions change, but it’s unfortunate that they have curtailed the opportunity to receive more than one welcome bonuses for credit cards as that was an easy way to collect large sums of points.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/household-finances/article-aeroplan-changes-to-address-fraud-and-credit-card-bonuses-wont-affect/#:~:text=Credit%2Dcard%20welcome%20bonuses%20capped,card%20type%2C%20regardless%20of%20issuer.
Thanks Chris, I’m aware of the limitations that Aeroplan has put forward. It’s a shame.
What kind of omakase have you tried in the Lower Mainland so far? Plenty of nice places to check out.
Have tried the chef’s menu at different Japanese places in Metro Vancouver but not the traditional omakase where you don’t even see a menu.