I was listening to the Mapped Out Money podcast, and they mentioned a method for listing out goals, in sort of a road map. Personal goals broken out in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years. That method was about deciding what “life looks like”.

The idea within the podcast was to take what “life looks like”, and work back from there. E.g. Wanting to save $15K for a (I think it was a car down payment?) in 3 years, works to $5K a year, and $1250 every 3 months, etc.

So I thought I’d try it, and put it here to help hold myself accountable. I went ahead and padded my start by 4 months, to make everything start on January. Writing that down makes me realize how it was solely decorative to do that. Oh well, here goes:

1 Year / January 2022

Career. I’ve only recently started at the Credit Union since February, 2020 and the slogging through COVID times makes me feel like it’ll be a bit before we get a ton moved along. I am hoping the blog picks up to 200 followers, mainly to increase the habit of writing.

Home: This one was easy. I just looked at my mortgage amortization table to see what I’d owe by then, figuring I’d make normal payments. We’ve saved for a remodel of the kitchen as well, and the plan is to have the remodel all the way done by then.

Health was the one I spent the most time specifically looking at defining specifically. I already check a lot of the boxes. I do CrossFit 5x a week. I’m close to 20% body fat (I think, I should get that rechecked.)

Travel: I don’t really have a lot of desire to travel too far right now. By January 2022, Walla Walla for a winery visit seems like a great idea, and I’ll go to Long Beach as often as I can, but big trips seem unwise.

Finance: I’m a personal finance nerd, so the first one is a no-brainer, and I’m absolutely loving YNAB so pushing myself to get to a 2nd full month completely budgeted will be a real stretch, but the investment account has never been the highest priority for me. Time to change that.

If you’ve never heard of YNAB, check it out here. If you want to subscribe to YNAB, use my referral link and they’ll give me a free month. It is really a game changer in terms of the way you think about budgeting though. It’s already paid for itself 4 times over by the way I use my cash-back credit card now.

Family: I didn’t have a lot of goals here. I just want everyone happy and healthy. I kinda think they should set their own goals here. I’ll probably tell them to do so.

Personal: I have never been very serious about my guitars. I think this next year I can get around to setting up some lessons.

Stuff: I’m not really a “stuff” guy. I like having less stuff, but there are a few things I’ve been genuinely thinking about. A new PC because my current desktop is 8+ years old (I build BIG PCs, so they tend to last.) A wine fridge downstairs, because I hate not having one down there (we have 2 upstairs, and keep ~80 bottles, but having table wine available in the dining room would be nice. The Traeger I have is 12 years old, rusting through, and the wife would like to be able to grill more. They have a combo smoker-grill I’ve been looking at. Finally, I think it’d just be too fun to get some inflatable kayaks so I can walk across the road and paddle over into Lake Washington.

3 Years / January 2024

Not much changed in 3 years. I’m still planning on working at the Credit Union. I may be in my same Principal role, but maybe I take over a business unit? Or move into Architecture? Or take my bosses’ job… who knows.

I know I want my blog following to get bigger, and ideally, my writing to get to a point where I have put a book together. I don’t know how to do that yet, but I’ve read a lot of crummy books, so it can’t be that hard.

I really only bumped up some of the numbers on Home, Health and Finance figuring that was just a longer trail to the same thing. I’m hoping to have put more cash against my mortgage, so that I chip that down a bit more, and move more money into the investing account. Getting 5 months ahead in YNAB would be pretty darned incredible, but in 3 years, it seems doable.

Stuff seemed needless to think about (it’s just stuff, ya know?) I did want to do some more wine trips though, specifically through Oregon and Lake Chelan.

5 Years / January 2026

Big changes in 5 years. I’m hoping to have a book written and finished, and with 15K followers on a blog, maybe have enough folks who may actually buy the thing. Regularly speaking at conferences too. I do so irregularly now, so in 5 years, becoming someone who is requested to talk would be great.

Health goals were simplified a bit. I’m not really thinking about specifics anymore. Just being someone you’d describe as ‘quite active.’ Investing is still moving forward at a solid clip.

I would like to visit New Zealand in 5 years to wine taste through their Sauvignon Blancs. That was about all I could think to add.

10 Years / January 2031

The 10 year goals are pretty high level. 2 books written and published. Probably working at the Credit Union, but regardless, loving what I do. Condo is paid off and maybe being rented out, while Heather and I live somewhere else (I mentioned Seaview, because that seems the most likely destination right now.)

It’s a pretty big jump on the weight side, but 20 pounds in 5 years isn’t THAT big of a drop, and I’ll be over 50 by then, so being smaller will definitely have its benefits. Financially, hopefully I’ll be investing most of my income.

Those are my goals. The nearer ones are more specific, and more easily actionable, and SMART folks will notice each of them generally has a number associated with it so I can figure out whether or not I’ve achieved it. The 10 year goals are pretty non-specific. Even something like ‘investing bulk of income’ could just mean 51%.

I hope this post inspires you to think about your own goals. I know I’m thinking about ’em.