Thoughts before reviewing my 2024 goals and objectives post: While I think financially I did well, I have a feeling I am going to be woefully short of the goals and objectives that I put on myself for 2024.
I broke down my goals and objectives into the following categories:
- Professional Career & Law Practice
- Investments
- Real Estate
- Personal Life & Family
- Personal Finance
Professional Career & Law Practice
I had three goals:
“I would like to close out current cases and not replace them with new ones immediately! Right now I have too many open cases with a few people expecting to retain me. All good things, but it has to slow down for both my sanity and to honor the deal I made with my new boss. As such, my goal is to spend A LOT less time practicing law.”
- I have really slowed down practicing which has been nice. I haven’t stopped taking new clients when they landed in my lap, and Q4 has been particularly busy because of the closing out of cases. I would give myself a B or B+ for this goal.
My second goal is to get back into reading both finance and law trade magazines. I have specific time set aside where I limit stop ins to my office, I am going to partition an hour of this time to reading both legal and financial material.
- Utter Fail. Complete F. I didn’t schedule it and I didn’t do it on my own.
My third goal is to emotionally embrace the idea that I am not going to own a traditional business. This one probably isn’t particularly measurable, but I am almost there so 360 days from now this should be an easy check mark.
- Just like I thought, I have really embraced the idea. It didn’t happen in Q1 or Q2 but as I write this I am pretty comfortable with where I am sitting within the firms I work for/with. Easy A.
Investments
Qualified / Retirement Accounts – My 401(k) hit an all time which is very different than when I was going into 2023. Notwithstanding, my goal is simply to make sure that I am at the current match (I think I may be a bit low after my recent raise). In addition, I’d like to start my wife’s SEP IRA contributions back up.
- I raised my contributions twice during the year, but think I still need to review it for the coming year. I will give myself a B+ but not an A because I am not sure if I am maxing just yet.
Non-Qualified Investment Account – My dividend growth portfolio funded by naked puts is easily my favorite financial asset. My goal is to hit $60/day of net income with the goal of increasing it to $70/day in Q3. In addition, I am hoping to stick with my 4 tiered approach to handling the income from this account wherein 25% goes to a concentrated long term purchase, 25% goes to ETFs, 25% to pure cash and 25% to speed up deleveraging.
- Ooooooofa. This is a tough one. Was absolutely killing this goal until about July when I got assigned an absolute ton of Dollar General and Dollar Tree.
I got wrecked in that drop, and couldn’t roll out quick enough. Instead I got assigned hundred and hundreds and hundreds of shares of both companies. I really do not know how to grade myself on this one, because I was running amazing until I took a huge gut punch. I have been selling covered calls against the positions trying to get myself back to even. I am going to give myself a C+ on this one.
Real Estate
Currently, I rent out my old home. I am constantly looking at zillow and other sites for opportunities but with current interest rates I do not know if this will happen any time soon. Notwithstanding, my goal is to pay off my very expensive HELOC, and start to build a cash position that will act as a rental property emergency fund.
- I paid off my HELOC literally only to turn around and use it to buy a boat lol. I am going to give myself an A for this goal. While this is a huge miss on another category (personal finance) I did right by myself in this category.
In addition, I would like to keep searching for that next purchase.
- Really haven’t done anything on this one, and think there are so many other things that are important to me that I don’t see this hapenning any time soon. I’ll go with an A here but it was a bullshit goal.
Personal Life & Family
Family Life
Any and all decisions I make in the above categories are done so which puts my family first. I know I could make more money if needed, but one of the reasons I chose the path above is that it gets me home at a normal time with a lot less stress than practicing law.
For my family, I have three goals
- Be a little be more patient and understanding when it comes to my daughter’s hobbies. I spend so much time and energy dealing with my son’s sports and hobbies because they are in line with my own.
- Continue to work with both kids on their homework. Not only do I believe that it helps them academically it provides time spent together working towards a goal.
- Plan a trip for my wife and I without the kids.
- I think I have done much better being involved in my daughter’s hobbies and activities. I have actively tried to interact with her almost every night with something she wants to do. I am giving myself a solid A here, although asking her would probably be a great idea.
- Killing #2! I have been pushing both kids academically. Absolutely a solid A+.
- We ended up heading to long boat key and had an amazing time – A+
Health
Currently, I feel the fattest and out of shape that i have in a long, long time. It is time to make some changes:
- I wrote it last year and I am going to write it again. Get in bed before 12 on those nights I am just sitting home anyway.
- Start some type of work out plan. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but I need some type of structure and routine. As I write this I am thinking about joining f45.
- Regularly (2 – 3 times a week) jump in the cold plunge I purchased.
- I have tried to get to bed earlier but there hasn’t been a solid effort. I am going with a D on this one.
- I joined F45 shortly after the new year, and have really enjoyed it. I went through ebbs and flows of consistency which isn’t great. I would give myself a B on this one as I joined, and would go to things, but didn’t do a great job being consistent.
- Fail and do not even have it set up – F.
Personal Finance
This year is all about cash flow for me. First, I want to take care of some leverage that is a drain on my monthly cash flow. This includes my HELOC, any 0% CCs and then either my solar loan or my remaining student loan.
- 1 Step forward 12 steps back! I cleared out my HELOC and then 4 months later bought a bought with it. I paid off 0% CC only to incur other expenses. I am giving myself an F here.
Second, I want to audit all my recurring expenses and determine if they are efficient. The first on the block is my car insurance, then after that will be reviewing all my accounts and main amex to start to “reunderstand” what is going out every single month.
- Ehhhhh I did it a little bit in Q2 but not enough. I will go with a C+
Overall Thoughts
I am excited to see how well I did with the thing that matters the most – my family. Notwithstanding, I came up short on two major categories in my life – health and personal finance.
I had an amazing 2024 traveling to Florida and Dominican Republic, along with a cruise with my parents for the first time in 25+ years. I bought a boat, and had a crazy summer with the family using it. I think I need just a bit more focus on some of my larger goals in 2025 so the good times can continue to roll!