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Our Strategists Reveal Their New Year’s Resolutions
From the Baltimore Clubhouse – We’re one week in…
And by now, some people are already struggling to keep their 2019 resolutions.
Estimates say that more than 40% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. Of those, around 80% fail by the second week of February…
And by the end of 2019, only 8% of people will have achieved their New Year’s goals.
We want to make sure you’re one of them.
To keep you motivated and help your resolutions stick, I asked the Club’s strategists to share their resolutions for 2019.
My goal this year is to read more Mark Twain and P.G. Wodehouse and less of everything else.
[Note: All of our strategists are avid readers. To see what’s on their investing-focused reading lists, click here.]
I don’t make resolutions. I’m perfect already (I can hear my editors laughing from hundreds of miles away).
Seriously though, I stay disciplined all year, especially when it comes to investing. I maximize the amount I’m allowed to save pretax. I put money to work regularly regardless of market action. I adhere to my stops.
If I’m disciplined throughout the year, there’s no need to change course
on January 1 with some resolution that probably won’t stick past March.
Every year, my New Year’s resolution is to learn new things. To take on new challenges. To improve myself. For 2019, my goals are to improve my Japanese (which is super basic) in preparation for our 2020 cruise and to take a new data science certification course.
My resolution is to take more time off. Last year, I used half my vacation time… the most time I have taken off in 26 years. Recharging is good for the brain!
[Note: Karim isn’t the only one to have this issue. Check out our article on how you can save the economy by taking a vacation here.]
To the best my memory serves me (it serves me less and less every year), I have never made a New Year’s resolution.
That’s not to say I don’t need to resolve to do some things differently – God knows I do. But waiting until January 1 to make the changes never made any sense to me.
If there’s an issue, problem or need to do something differently in our
lives, putting the changes off until after January 1 usually means we aren’t serious enough to make the effort.
Like exercising… I wish I had just a small part of the money spent on unused health club memberships purchased in January of each year.
Get out of debt… That’s a good one. We hit a new high in personal debt in 2018.
Drink less… Probably a good idea but, in the retirement belt, not likely.
And my favorite, eat healthier… This, immediately after weeks of gorging ourselves at party after party on every unhealthy appetizer known to man. Bacon wrapped everything!
New Year’s resolutions? No thanks. My undone list is long enough without an annual list of additions
I don’t normally make formal resolutions because I have trouble keeping them.
Last year, Anne and I vowed to donate more money to a few select charities that we like. I expect we will do that again this year. It’s a pretty short list, but it includes the Roberto Clemente Health Clinic. That always makes us feel good.
From an investment perspective, I’m hoping to provide subscribers with value plays that I believe are hiding in today’s volatile market.
My goal this year is to read more Mark Twain and P.G. Wodehouse and less of everything else.
In 2019, I will continue working on a book I started several years ago. The topic? The critical importance of counterintuitive thinking in investing – and in life. Not a task made easier by an in infant in the house. But it’s one that I am committed to over the coming 12 months.
What resolutions do you have this year? Save more? Lose weight? Travel more?
Whatever they are, we’d love to hear about them.
Send your specific New Year’s resolutions to mailbag@oxfordclub.com.
Good investing,
Rachel