Good-Bye 2010

It’s the end of another year. I hope 2010 was a good year for you, but more than that I hope that ‘good’ isn’t just measured by your balance sheet. For me, there’s far more joy in watching my daughter give a speech at her fifth grade graduation than in any market related success my brokerage statement reflects. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the S&P was up again this year, and getting back to where I was before the crash of 2008 is still a good thing.

Now that 2011 is just hours away, it’s time for the obligatory New Year Resolutions. They say that people who put their plans in writing are far more likely to achieve them, so here it goes:

• Run 1000 miles. I actually did this in 2009, but this year, I got a bit lazy in the exercise department. Less exercise meant putting on a few pounds.
• Lose 15 pounds. See resolution one. It’s less about diet, and more about exercise. I need to stay disciplined.
• Network more. Both to grow my readership and to build relationships with other personal finance bloggers.
• Continue to explore freelance writing positions. I am very excited that TurboTax and American Express  Currency have taken me on as a guest blogger and hope to get discovered by a magazine such as Money or Kiplinger’s.
• Work with my daughter to develop our cooking site AnotherFineMeal.com. It’s a great bonding project, a common interest we both share and it’s been a random side project for me. If we are to make a go of it, we need to get a regular schedule going.
• Complete my basement finishing project. I took on this project some time ago, but the end is now in sight. Partition walls up, wiring in and inspected, walls insulated. The drywall remains, along with a floor and ceiling. It would be great to have this completed by the summer.
• One Money goal – to pay the mortgage down by 1/7. My daughter will be entering college in August 2017, and my plan is to have no mortgage by then. There’s no other debt, so after retirement savings, this is the priority.

Have you written your goals down? Are they realistic or just a vague wish? Do you check your progress midyear? I will, look for an update on June 30th, but I hope to see you here before then!

Happy New Year,

Joe