Livin' La Vida Luna y Luca
2024 Recap
Before we begin the 2024 recap, I'd like to wish my beautiful wife, Dia, a very happy birthday (it was yesterday).
I'd also like to give myself the annual pat on the back: it's been 10 years since my last alcoholic beverage. Shots all around to celebrate! š¤£
K, let's kick this off by looking at the goals I set for myself at the end of last year.
Family
ā We threw an awesome birthday party for Luna and Luca this year.
ā We also took my parents to Aruba for my dad's 70th birthday.
ā I did not, however, manage to get us into a new home with 4 beds. Working on it, though š¤
Some other things worth mentioning in the Family Bucket:
ā Estate Plan
Dia and I got our Estate Plan in order back in Feb.
We set up our Power of Attorney, Last Will & Testament, and a Revocable Trust. While it wasn't fun to think about an untimely death, it was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.
A special thank you to the two couples who agreed to raise our children in case we don't make it to their 18th birthday.
An additional thank you to my old friend turned Estate Attorney, JP Dziuba, for setting us up.
š Said Goodbye
Not a highlight, but worth mentioning again: We said goodbye to two special people this year: Heena Tamakuwala and Zayn Brar.
Fitness
ā I made it to the gym 243x this year. Way above my goal of 160.
Savage. šŖ
ā I did not, however, achieve my body fat goal of 15%. I was insanely off the mark. The goal for next year will be 20% to stay on trend.
Another Fitness thing worth mentioning...
- I got injured (again)
I hurt myself back in March after doing a workout with 100 pull-ups. It took 12+ weeks of physical therapy just to get back to ~85%.
This injury did, however, allow me to fall back in love with good ol' fashioned body-building style workouts.
Finances
ā Our Net Worth grew by 24% this year, way above the 15% goal.
The SP500, which gained 25% this year, did all the heavy lifting.
ā Between our house manager and virtual assistant, we hit our target spend on buying back time. I'm looking forward to figuring out how to spend more on this category in 2025.
ā I didn't have many meaningful sales this year so we did NOT hit our combined income goal for 2024. I have 5 sales lined up for 2025 so I think we'll more than make up for it next year.
Freedom / Fun
I went to see LeBron Courtside at MSG with my friend, Pankaj. We bought the tickets less than 4 hours before tip-off. Expensive AF for a regular season game, but totally worth it. š
LeBron @ MSG
We also took multiple trips to the beach this summer. We hit Bradley Beach, Point Pleasant, Wildwood, and Cape May.
Beach!
We also took trips to the Poconos, Aruba, & Mexico City.
Vacations
I don't have pictures of it but another fun thing I did in 2024 was focus on converting online relationships to IRL or IRL-adjacent. Lots of coffees, zoom calls, ride-alongs, etc. Definitely looking forward to doing more of that next year.
2024 Mistakes:
I wouldn't go as far as saying I have any regrets, but there were definitely some learning lessons that I'll gladly carry with me going forward.
The first is my watch getting stolen out of my gym locker. That was a very expensive stupid mistake. I'm a little too optimistic and trusting. I don't think my outlook changed, but let's just say the most expensive thing I bring into the gym now is my gym bag.
The second is participating in mediocre projects that don't fit my buy box. I am uber-susceptible to shiny object syndrome, especially when I'm bored. I'm going to be better about saying "No" to distractions that disguise themselves as opportunities in the future.
The third is trying to pass off my parents' bank statement as my own proof of funds and getting banned for life from my preferred lender for doing so. I wouldn't go as far as saying I "forged" the document. My name is on the account after all, it's just not on the first page of the statement.
The fourth is giving up therapy. I went from weekly sessions during covid to monthly sessions earlier this year. Even with so much time between meeting my therapist, it started to feel like each call was the same or I was spending too much time "preparing" for each call to ensure we had something to talk about. All that to say, I miss talking to a unbiased third party about the shit I'm dealing with internally. I think I'll pick it back up in 2025.
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