It’s hard to believe that 2025 is in the books and we are in the first month of the new year… and the second quarter of the century.
2025 was the seventh year that I created goals and resolutions at the beginning of the year. I then shared my progress every quarter on this blog. Over the years, I have found the quarterly updates very useful for me as they help me to track my progress and keep me accountable to myself. My goal for these quarterly updates is to demonstrate to readers that it is possible to achieve these goals and resolutions if you take action. Hopefully, readers also enjoy these updates (please let me know if this is not the case).
At the beginning of 2025, I created 13 goals and resolutions for myself. Let’s find out if I accomplished any or all of them.
2025 Goals and Resolutions – Q4 Update & Wrap Up
Here’s what my 2025 goals and resolution spreadsheet looked like at the end of the year:
Overall, you’ll see that I accomplished 11 goals, partially completed one goal, and failed on one goal.
Financial Goals
Dividend Income Over $60,00 – Completed. A+ $64,838.46
We not only accomplished the $60k in dividend income goal, we crashed it by over 5%!
What’s really cool to see is that we not only exceeded our 2025 dividend income projection, we actually exceeded the 2026 dividend income projection as well.
$25k in LTSS/cash wedge – Completed. A
In my Q3 update, I stated that I wasn’t 100% sure whether we would be able to accomplish this goal or not. But by the skin of our teeth, we managed to save enough in Q4 to have more than $25k in our Long Term Savings for Spending account (or LTSS/cash wedge).
Phew, mission accomplished!
Boost RESP by $1,500 each – Done. A+
Because we didn’t “front-load” the RESPs by contributing $14,000 when each kid was born, we wanted to keep contributing money and max out the additional $14,000 RESP contribution room as quickly as possible.
We accomplished this goal back in Q1. Since then, we added a bit more money in Q2 and Q3 to each kid’s RESP to get closer to the $14,000 limit. We didn’t quite max out the $14k limit by the end of the year so this will be one of our goals for 2026.
Blog Goals
Continue publishing a blog post every Monday – Completed. A.
I published a blog post every Monday in 2025, which I believe is quite an accomplishment considering each post probably takes me at least two hours to write; more if a post requires more research and analysis.
Late last year, I also started a podcast with Nelson called the DIY Wealth Canada Podcast. Currently, it’s a passion project as the podcast doesn’t generate any revenue but it certainly takes up more of my time. We’ll see how the podcast performs in 2026.
Improve Google Pagespeed to >=90 Performance – Done. A+.
I spent a bit of time tweaking the blog in Q1 to improve Google Pagespeed. Overall, I’m pleased with the speed of the site.
Consider whether to incorporate or not – Done. A.
After talking to a few tax specialists and fellow bloggers who have incorporated, I decided not to incorporate the blog. Although the blog generates some income, if you calculate the hourly rate, I’d be making way less than the minimum wage (ouch!). So, considering the incorporation cost and the yearly recurring cost, it simply doesn’t make sense to incorporate.
Personal Goals
Read 15 books – Done. A+. Read 20 books.
I’m very happy that despite my busy day-to-day life, I read a total of 20 books throughout 2025, five more than my target of 15 books. Here are the books I read throughout 2025 in case you’re wondering:
- Don’t Worry Retire Happy by Tom Hegna
- Retirement Reality Check: How to Spend Your Money and Still Leave an Amazing Legacy by Josh Jlinski
- Morris Chang Autobiography Volume 1 by Morris Chang
- The Temperament God Gave Your Kids by Art and Larraine Bennett
- Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life by William Green
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
- The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble by Alok Sama
- Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
- The Rules of Management by Richard Templar
- Morris Chang Autobiography Volume 2 by Morris Chang
- The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant by Tae Kim
- Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
- Winter of the World by Ken Follett
- Edge of Eternity by Ken Follett
- Zen Money by the Seven Dollar Millionaire
- Genius Myth by Helen Lewis
- Make Money Easy by Lewis Howes
- Outlive – The Science & Art of Longevity by Peter Attia
- How to Retire by Christine Benz
- 5 Years to Freedom: A Canadian Guide to Early Retirement by Rejean Venne
- Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Out of these 20 books I read, my favourites were “When Breath Becomes Air,” “ Fall of Giants,” “The Nvidia Way,” “ Genius Myth,” “ and “Careless People.” If you haven’t read these books, I highly recommend each and every one to you..
Join 2 curling teams – Done. A+ Jan-Mar 2 teams & spared on 1 team. Sep – Dec 3 teams & sparing on 1 team.
When the 2025-2026 curling season started in September, I was on three teams – playing as the skip on a mixed team, the third on another mixed team, and the 5th payer on the men’s team (playing as the lead). I have also spared here and there on Thursday night and Saturday morning. For a few times, I was playing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. This led to Mrs. T asking why I was out every evening and whether I would spend more time with her.
Therefore, I will need to dial back a bit for the remainder of the season, probably not being the spare as much as I did. For the next curling season, I should probably consider only joining two teams so my evenings won’t be as occupied.
Replace 2013 iMac – Not done.
Oops, we didn’t replace our super old iMac.. This happened to be the only goal/resolution I didn’t accomplish in 2025.
With rumours that Apple will announce new displays in 2026 and that the M5 MacMini should get announced too, the plan is to replace the iMac this year.
Fix Fence – Partially Done. B-
I cleaned up the fallen fence posts and fixed some panels this past summer but I couldn’t fix the whole thing myself. To properly fix the fence, we would need to build a concrete retaining wall and then put the fence up on the retaining wall. This would be a job for a professional.
Fun Goals
Visit Taiwan with family – Done. A.
We visited Taiwan for three weeks and celebrated the Chinese New Year with my extended family. It was a great trip.
Omakase with Mrs. T – Done. A.
We went to two sushi Omakase while in Taiwan and really enjoyed the food.
Summer camping trip – Done. A.
We camped for two nights at Chilliwack Lake in the summer. We plan to go back there this year.
Summary – 2025 Goals and Resolutions Q4 Update & Wrap up
Looking at my 2025 goals and resolutions and what I have accomplished, I believe I did a fantastic job. Not having too many year-long goals definitely kept me more motivated and made it easier to accomplish my goals and resolutions.
How was your 2025? Did you accomplish the goals and resolutions that you set out at the beginning of the year?
Hi Bob,
I am a long time reader, and was wondering if you are able to publish what percent you have for each of your 37 holdings? For example is the 37 stocks spread evenly, or are you heavier weighted in certain sectors or specific stocks?
The reason I ask is I have mostly been invested in technology stocks since that is my line of work, and done well with stocks like NVDA and RKLB, I want to this year start transitioning my portfolio into one that generates dividends.
I am trying to decide whether to buy some of the stocks you are holding or just put it all into a couple of ETF’s.
Hi Duane,
That info is one of the items that I promised myself not to share on the blog. Part of the reason is privacy, part of the reason is I don’t feel comfortable with readers potentially just following our portfolio and not think/make decision themselves. Congrats on doing well with technology stocks. I’d suggest looking at diversify your portfolio so you’re not too concentrated on tech stocks. Hope this helps.
Good morning Bob.
Question: what are your thoughts on COST.TO? Seems like it’s a cheaper option to invest in Costco.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Lena,
I assume you’re referring to the CDR equivalents. I wrote an article about CDRs a while ago – https://www.tawcan.com/what-are-canadian-depositary-receipts-cdrs/
Generally speaking I like to buy the real deal rather than these CDRs.
Thank you!
Thank you for the tip about front loading the RESP! I had not thought of this, but great idea!
You’re very welcome. The tricky part is finding $14k to front load. For a young family that’s not always the easiest thing. I suppose the 2nd best option is to spread that $14k over a few years and slowly max it out.
Have you thought about prioritizing your goals so that you get more “credit” for hitting the most important ones (in true product manager fashion)? Selfishly speaking, can we make the highest priority goal publishing every Monday (love your blog) 🙂
That’s an interesting idea, prioritizing the goals. And I like how you think :p
Congrats on achieving almost all your goals!
Where do you put this $25k cash wedge? In a regular chequing account for quick access in case of emergency? Or somewhere else that makes interest? Thank you!
Thanks Ray. In a high savings account that’s relatively liquid for quick access.
Where could I get one of those accounts for an amount smaller like yours? I am with TD bank, but seems I would need $100,000, which I don´t have. Thank you for your help!
We are using Coast Capital Savings, a credit union. The savings rate isn’t super high. Another option would go with Wealthsimple Chequing account.
If you don’t mind using an online bank, you can try Tangerine, Neo or EQ Bank. Check out their websites for more information.
Also I saved $1250 because of you. I finally did Norbert’s Gamit that I read on this site. It gave me the confidence to use the RBC DI to use DLR. I converted $50,000 and saved the 2.5%. RBC did the journaling automatically.
That was my resolution for 2025 to do Norbert’s Gamit!!
Excellent to hear! Always nice to save money. 🙂
Excellent. Thanks for the hard work with so much pertinent information.
Now with so much dividend income, you’ll have to think about minimizing tax in the future as it adds to taxable income. Sometimes too much dividend income is not good. That’s why I’ve diversified into low dividend ETF and BRK.B.
In 2025 we had a series of unexpected 10 year costs! Our house is 10 years old and we had to replace most appliances as they all gave out: LG fridge, LG dishwasher, Freezer, Radiant Heat boiler, garage door. They must be programmed to give out. Appliances are designed for redundancy!
You’re very welcome. Glad that you enjoyed the update. Yes, need to put some focus on how to minimize taxes… a little bit challenging when working full time. 🙂
Yea, we had to replace quite a few things in the latest few years. Things add up!