Ah, the art of setting New Year resolutions, once again it’s that time of the year. I’ve been doing this for the past 2 years now and I think I’ve done a good job at it. To be successful in following through on goals you first need to make sure it’s a good goal (doable, measurable etc), you probably should write it down (I do so in the form of a blog post each January) and then check on your progress (I do a mid-year check-in blog post). In an attempt to set good goals for 2023, here is my blog post honing in on them!

Grow net worth by 5%

Over the past few years, my net worth has really grown, mostly thankful to a booming stock market where my main index fund where I put my money ($VTI) grew 30% in 2019, 21% in 2020, and 25% in 2021. That is solid growth and when I keep nearly half of my overall portfolio (check out where I keep my investment money), I will be the beneficiary of such growth! I’m also saving 30% of my paycheck (15% to retirement, 15% to ESPP) so that’s helping grow my overall net worth. In 2019 our networth grew 10%, then 25% in 2020 then 28% in 2021! However things fell off a bit in 2022 and our overall net worth went down 6%. This didn’t surprise me and not upset – 2022 was a rough year for the stock and real estate market, ($VTI down 20%) so it is what it is. I feel we did all the right things so I’m not going to beat ourselves up over that slow down. There are good years and then some not so good years.

In 2023, I am setting a more realistic growth goal of 5%. I hope that by continuing the 30% contribution to retirement/ESPP and with some marginal growth in the stock market, we will be able to grow by 5%. Perhaps I have little control over this, but I do plan to pay closer attention this year and see if there are little ways we could adjust or tweak to ensure overall positive growth.

Finish the Tiny House Construction

In 2022, we made a big COVID purchase (everyone had one of those right?) involving a tiny house lot in Tennessee. We fell in love with the community, the idea of it and the prospect of growing our real estate portfolio. People in the business swear by short-term rentals so we figured it was worth getting into!

“Supply Chain Issues” (aka buzzword of 2021) backed construction way up meaning we couldn’t build using the local builder (and we checked; not many other options). We’re currently on a list and I’m told that in Q1 of 2023 we can expect to come off that list and be able to start building.

I’m setting a goal of having a finished tiny house by the end of the year – so hopefully a December 2023 trip to the cabin! There’s A LOT that’ll go into this –financially, time, researching, but we’re up for the challenge. Knock on wood our other rental right now is good so we’re planning to use the extra time / brainpower on the tiny house!

Get Mrs. Money’s business income producing

As readers of the blog may know, Mrs. Money in 2022 launched a business helping new moms, providing postpartum support. Not so much helping the baby (which is a very common service to offer) but also helping the Mom – helping the Mom process, stabilize and start to thrive as a new Mom. She went halftime this summer at work and is spending half her time on this new business. As with starting any new business, it’s been taking time, a bit more time than we had initially expected but hey we like every new business owner were optimistic!

In 2023 I am trying to personally devote more time and thinking to helping Mrs. Money grow her business! It’ll be a win-win – helping her fulfill her dream and also helping the family by having her bring in more income!

Contribute to my IRA Post-Tax

In 2023, you can contribute a maximum of $22,500 to your employer sponsored 401(k) retirement plan. In 2022, I reached the max before the end of the year, but instead of looking into other ways to supplement my retirement contributions, we ended up needing the money elsewhere – things are expensive especially in Q4 each year with the holidays. However in 2023, assuming (knocking on wood here) getting a raise I’ll be better suited in Q4 to continue contributing to my 401(k) and I plan to explore this idea of a “Post Tax Contribution” that my company (and many others) offer.

Apparently it’s a commonly used tax move and you can actually contribute up to $61,000 to your 401(k) each year, so like $40,000 or so more than the $22,500. It’s post tax so you have to pay taxes on it (as opposed to a traditional 401k whereby taxes are deferred) but it allows that money to then be tax sheltered in a 401(k). It’s a bit of a new concept to me, I’ve had some friends of the blog do it and enjoy it, so I’m setting a goal to a) look into it and b) make it happen this year!

Fully save for the holidays by the fall

Gah. This is the bane of my financial existence and we do this EVERY year. Q4 always is an expensive time of year between the holidays, the travelling, the gifts, the HOA dues, the credit card fees – a lot comes due in Q4. For the past 2 years I’ve set this as a goal of partially have achieved it. The first year I did it (so 3 years ago), I probably saved 50% of where I needed to be, this past year probably 85%. It always causes January to be a more stressful time as the Q4 budget normally bleeds into Q1 as I try to dig out of that hole. I now have a better goal of how much we need to save and will try to make it happen!

Not open a new account

My last personal finance goal this year is to NOT open a new account. I’ve talked before on the blog how I have a bad habit of having money in too many places and have a bad habit of chasing a new investment fad periodically and opening up a new account. Lending Club (although that worked out), BlockFi (which didn’t work out) and now Fundrise (which I guess is working out but honestly I should have just done a REIT), or even new credit cards, I’ve got a lot to balance. This year I would really like to NOT open any new financial accounts!

We’ll see how I go with my goals this year but I love setting them and working towards them! Forward progress!