2016 • My Goals • Home, Health, and Finance

Well, it is late-January and I’ve been thinking about this post for the last three weeks without actually writing anything. While I’m not a huge fan of “New Year Resolutions”, I do think it is important to regularly reflect on my own successes and failures from the past and set goals for the future in both the short and long-term.

New Year in Panama City

New Year 2015 in Panama City, Panama

Three Month Goals

I plan to continue traveling until mid-March so my short-term goal is really just to make the absolute most of my travel experience. I’ve been feeling a little ‘low energy’ over the last year so I want to dig deep and see and do as much as I can while island hopping the Caribbean.

From Colombia, my plan is to fly to Curacao, Trinidad, St Vincent, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St Kitts, Tortola, Saint Maartin, Anguilla, Saba, St Barts, and Jamaica before flying to Texas to see Sara and then joining her on a trip to Cosa Rica and Nicaragua. Whew, it’s exhausting just writing about it all.

It’s going to be an expensive trip given the strong US dollar so I really need to plan as much as I can and make sure that I live every day to the absolute fullest and get the most bang from my Canadian peso.

Provided everything goes according to plan, it should be an amazing journey and I will have a lot more wonderful travel stories and tips to share on this blog.

Six Month Goals

The last year of travel and adventure has been truly wonderful but I’m also looking forward to spending a few months in Texas with Sara getting back into a healthy routine and getting my life organized; the last year has truly been lived on a whim.

The most important things I want to accomplish in my ‘settled state’ are eating well, following a strict gym regiment, learning Spanish, posting a lot of new content to this blog (including updating old content), and starting a YouTube channel.

Gym Time

Time to Find a Real Gym!

The low price of oil and war in Yemen make my career situation very uncertain so I also need to begin thinking more about what my future holds and how I will be able to accomplish my Freedom 35 goals, including ways to diversify my income streams and invest for the future.

One Year Goals

It is difficult to set goals for a year from now when I do not even know where Sara and I will be living but, regardless of where we live, there are certain things I want to accomplish.

In one years’ time I would like to be living in a fun and exciting place, establish residency, obtain a new drivers’ license (my Alberta license expired), open financial trading accounts, and diversify my income streams. While I do not want to settle down in one place for life quite yet, I definitely want to establish some roots and get my personal life back in order given it does not look like I will be returning to live or work in Yemen again anytime soon.

Three Year Goals

Three years from now I should be financially independent according to my Freedom 35 plan. Unfortunately, I hit some serious roadblocks this year with the Canadian dollar losing nearly 40% of its value and the war in Yemen causing a serious reduction in my earnings.

Up in Smoke

When Your Career Goes Up in Smoke…

On the plus side, being forced to liquidate my energy-heavy investment portfolio in 2013 has saved me some significant stock market losses provided my investment strategy has become inherently long-term (classic value investing).

While I still hope to reduce my office work hours three years from now, I will need to find new ways to earn passive income if I’m going to succeed in accomplishing my Freedom 35 plan.

Permanent Lifestyle Goals

I also have a few personal goals which I hope to make permanent lifestyle changes, including:

  • Reducing my meat consumption, both for personal health and environmental reasons;
  • Reducing my alcohol consumption, both for personal health and financial reasons;
  • Only purchasing ethical / fair trade clothing and better researching companies I purchase from in general;
  • Reducing my environmental impact by reducing, reusing, recycling, and repurposing as much as possible and only buying quality materials that will last; and
  • Growing and creating more of my own foodstuffs from scratch.

Alcoholics Menu

Must be a Sign…

Travel Goals

You have probably noticed that I have written very little about my long-term travel goals which is odd given that this is a travel blog.

While I still plan to see as much of the world as I can, I will leave my future travel plans to fate and circumstance. I want to work towards traveling on a budget again as much as possible (to save more money towards my Freedom 35 plan), while seeing more friends and family, and experiencing crazier places and adventures that are further off the beaten track.

Rest assured, I will have many more great travel experiences and adventures to share with you in the coming years!

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