And just like that, another year has nearly come to an end. For all of the challenges that 2021 brought, it sure did fly by. Now, with the new year just ahead, it’s time once again to share some of the goals I have going forward.
Just like with last year’s post, I do feel compelled to mention that these don’t quite count as “real goals” since they lack specificity and/or measurability. Setting that technicality aside, let’s take a look at what’s on my mind as we rocket toward 2022.
Looking Back at My 2021 Goals
Before we get to what I’m planning for the upcoming, let me briefly recap how things turned out for me this year. Here’s a quick refresher on my goals for 2021:
- Taking a Twitter hiatus
- Engage more on Twitter
- Eat (and shop) local
- Keep reviewing one book a month
- Save up a six month’s worth of rent
- Continue to evolve this site
So how’d I do? Well, for the two Twitter-centric goals, I’d say I succeeded with the first but failed at the second. As for shopping local, I think I did nobly enough to say I passed — of course, having a farmer’s market at my apartment helped!
When it comes to reviewing one book a month, I fell a bit short — I posted eight book reviews during the year (with one coming next week), so that’s 75% complete. Turning to money goals, we did indeed manage to save up six months’ worth of rent, even after moving to a more expensive place. And, finally, I did manage to continue evolving this site with a new layout that I’m still tweaking. There’s more ahead, but this is a great start IMHO.
What’s Ahead: My 2022 Goals
Limit my phone time
As I just mentioned, one of my goals last year was to take a break from Twitter. Sure enough, my time spent in that app has decreased tremendously. In fact, my personal account hasn’t tweeted at all in 2021 (save one tweet to Cash App where I tried to win money). However, while I slayed that time-sucking dragon, there are still several others going strong.
That’s why, in 2022, I’m resolving to cut out similar wastes of time and energy. And this doesn’t just mean social media consumption — but limiting my phone use in general. This is especially needed at night where it seems that every time I try to put the phone down for a while, there’s something causing me to pick it up once again. By curbing this behavior, I feel as though I’ll be able to put more energy into things I actually care about.
Learn to cook
I realize that this one might seem a little out of leftfield, but it’s been on my mind for a long time. You see, I’ve never been terribly talented in the kitchen — aside from making some awesome mac and cheese as well as killer hot sandwiches. Because of this, my wife cooks nearly every single meal we have unless we eat out. While this has been the status quo, I haven’t felt great about it. So, in 2022, I’d like for it to change.
If I had to blame my aversion to cooking on any one thing, it’d be a fear of undercooking meats or just otherwise completely ruining items. After all, I’m not looking to make myself sick or waste food. However, there has to be a way past this stumbling block. And once I do, I think I could actually enjoy cooking as I do like the creativity of combining ingredients and such.
The downside here is that I don’t exactly know where to start. Personally, I’d love it if I could take some sort of class, but I’m not sure what’s available locally and… you know… in-person things are still dicey. I do still have a Masterclass subscription, so perhaps there’s something to learn on there. If nothing else, I guess I’ll have to start to learn by doing.
Increase my YouTube output
On the whole, 2021 was a pretty good year for my Money@30 YouTube channel. I did my first brand deal, produced some fairly popular pieces of content, and am closing in on 10,000 subscribers. Nevertheless, there are many ways in which I fell short. First and foremost, despite the “new videos every week” promise I tack onto every video I upload, there have been more than a few weeks that went uploadless. This is frustrating for me as I don’t even know what exactly is holding me back from hitting this goal. Moreover, I want to be moving beyond once a week, not falling short of it!
As we move toward the new year — with me once again behind on my video output — I’m taking a closer look at how I can get back on track. On top of that, I’m also considering ways that I can further expand my channel with bonus videos and the like. The hard part is finding a way to create whatever content strikes my fancy while still retaining a cohesive channel that pleases subscribers. It’s a challenge to be sure, but one I’m committed to solving.
Top $100k net worth
A funny thing happened earlier this year while I updating my Personal Capital account: I realized that our combined net worth was above $90,000. So, wouldn’t it be cool if we could push that above 100 grand in 2022? Granted, this goal is fairly dependent on what the market does during the year since the majority of our net worth is invested via our retirement accounts. Still, this goal now seems quite doable whereas I never would have thought so just a few short years ago.
Continue to expand this site
Yes, it’s a repeat from last year! Hey, that’s why the word “continue” is in there.
If I may brag for a moment, I’ve been proud of what I was able to accomplish this year. From keeping up with my Travel Tuesday series to getting a feature on All-Star Money, I think 2021 was a win for Money@30. But, I always have new ideas I just need to figure out how to implement, so that’s what I’ll be working on as we enter the new year.
Overall, I’m thrilled with the growth I saw last year and want to keep that going in 2022!
Like all of us (I think?), I have a lot of hope for 2022… even if things are looking a bit bleak at the moment. While I can’t control what happens with the world around me, I can focus on myself. With that in mind, I look forward to working toward these goals throughout the new year and reporting back before 2023 arrives.