2023 New Year's Resolutions & Goals

It’s a new year - so it’s time for New Year’s Goals.

New Year’s Goals Resolutions & Goals is more my wife’s thing - I will set goals throughout the year instead of waiting for a specific date to set them - but it’s good for us to get together and discuss where we want to be.

We’ve been doing this for at least the past five years. Here’s the last five I’ve posted on this blog:

• 2022 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2021 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2020 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2019 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2018 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals

First, let’s check in on last year’s goals:

We met the following goals:

• Max out our Roth IRAs ($6,000 each in 2022)
• Max out our employer 401(k) accounts ($20,500 each in 2022)
• Max out my i401(k) account (roughly 20% of any self-employment income)
• Invest any extra self-employment or other side income money
• Read at least one book per month
• Attend at least one conference
• Get situated at my new job
• Perform well at my new job
• Say prayers with the kids at bedtime and mealtime
• Eat out no more than one time a week as a family
• Get take out no more than one time a week while working from home

We exceeded the following goals:

• $35 per kid per month to their 529 accounts (not only did we do this, put an additional $3,580 each for a total of $4,000 per kid!)
• Donate blood at least once (I ended up donating four time!)

I did not meet the following goals:

• Get down to 17% body fat (which is around 199lbs) - I ended the year at about 208lbs
• Run 50 minutes non-stop
• Run a 5k in less than 30 minutes

Now, let’s look at this year’s goals:

Improve Our Finances

• Max out our Roth IRAs ($6,500 each in 2022)
• Max out our employer 401(k) accounts ($22,500 each in 2022)
• Switch our 401(k)s to Roth 401(k)s going forward (we’ve both already done the paperwork for this)
• Max out my i401(k) account (roughly 20% of any self-employment income)
• $40 per kid per month to their 529 accounts
• Max out the Ohio tax benefit for the kids’ 529 accounts ($4,000 per kid)

Improve My Health

• Weigh 199 lbs or less
• Run a 5k non-stop
• Run a 5k in less than 30 minutes
• Run non-stop for:
  • 15 minutes
  • 30 minutes
  • 45 minutes non-stop
• Bench press:
  • 50% of my weight, or 100 lbs
  • 75% of my weight, or 150 lbs
  • 100% of my weight, or 200 lbs

Improve Personally & Professionally

• Finish at least one book a month
• Attend at least one conference
• Donate blood as much as possible
  • I’m eligible to donate again on February 11th.
  • If I donate every other month, this means I can donate six times this year!

Be Better Parents

• Read to the kids everyday
• Hike as a family at least twice monthly.
• Volunteer at church at least once.
• Seven or more date nights
• Eat out no more than once a week as a family
• Maximum of two hours of screen time a day for the kids - and only on weekends
• Improve parenting skills by reading a book or taking a parenting class

Goals for My Son

• Participate in chores more
• Learn to ride a regular bike
• Learn to read
  • He already can read a little bit
• Learn a prayer such as the Our Father (also known as The Lord’s Prayer) or the Hail Mary
• Practice swim skills
  • He’s signed up for swim lessons this month

Goals for My Daughter

• Learn ABCs
  • She’s pretty good at this already, although she skips the occasional letter
• Know the letter sounds
• Count to 20
  • She can count to ten most of the time right now
• Learn the Angel of God bedtime prayer and the Bless Us O Lord mealtime prayer
• Practice her swim skills
  • We’ve got her signed up for swim lessons at the same time as my son
• Participate in soccer
  • She’s already signed up to play this spring
• Participate in chores more
• Move to a big bed