How I am Planning for 2024
My year end “clean up” and next year planning falls into four buckets with some accompanying principles.
1. Clean out my Life’s Junk Drawer
aka the Notes App on my phone.
What reminders or ideas did I forget about?
What projects do I need to get back on my calendar?
What can I check off?
What should I just delete as it’s no longer a priority?
Question:
Q. Am I the only one who lives my life out of my notes app? How do you keep yours under control? Email me.
2. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Where do we want to give away money to in the coming year?
Sarah and I do our best to give consistently (usually monthly) to people and causes we care about while also adding on spontaneous opportunities throughout the year that arise.
We have done this when we had little money, and when we had much.
Giving regularly helps us keep our eyes up and live with our money in an open hand.
Side Note: I’m listing this planning category separately from my budget category because there never feels like there’s enough money for it if I treat generosity like something to do with leftover money.
Our giving comes down to answering these 4 questions
What types of causes are we uniquely passionate about?
Who do we know doing good work?
Where is the biggest need?
Can we give more than we feel comfortable?
I’d rather “risk” going broke because of over-extended generosity than go broke because I piled up personal luxuries on a credit card.
Question:
How do you try to prioritize generosity in your daily life? Email me.
3. I’ve Got 99 Problems, but a Budget Ain’t One
How did I do intentionally managing my money last year?
I love organization and don’t like risk, so I am careful to track our family finances, but in recent years, it’s felt impossible to reasonably predict some budget categories (like groceries and medical costs), while others (travel) have been relatively predictable.
Nevertheless, having a written plan for our family finances has helped my wife and I live within our means, stay connected (marriage fights about money don’t sound fun), and forces us to clarify our priorities in black and white.
For me, I have historically used a combination of Mint.com for daily transaction organization and a personal tracking spreadsheet for month/year. With Mint going away in early 2024, I know I’ll need to find a new system.
Question:
Are you a budget lover or budget hater? If you’re a budget lover, what tools do you use? If you’re a hater, why? Email me.
4. You won’t reap where you haven’t sown.
What are my top PRIORITIES for the coming year and my PLANS for accomplishing each one?
I’m part of a life coaching group based out of Atlanta, and one requirement is that we create annual vision boards, report our progress quarterly, and track our progress with a partner monthly.
My life coaching group from our annual meet up in Atlanta, Sept. 2023.
My personal six goal categories include:
Spiritual - faith and emotional well-being
Professional - what do I want to accomplish with my work?
Marriage - goals for me and my wife, no kids allowed
Family - noooow it’s time to include the kids
Physical - fitness
Personal - hobbies or other projections
Question:
Do you have a goal for 2024 you’d be willing to share? Email me.
Kevin
P.S. If you have current real estate questions or are considering a move of your own this coming year, please let me know! I’d love to help.
