Goals And Plans For 2026

Although everyone is now aware of how bad we are with accomplishing goals, here is a new list of items for 2026.  Hopefully we can do better this year and check more things off our list, but at the very least it’ll certainly be interesting to see how it all turns out!

The Squire

The beginning of the year is a fun time to think about new goals. Here are a few I hope to focus on this year.

• Plan more excursions. We really enjoy taking small and long trips, and we very rarely (if ever) regret taking them. We get to create memories together and grow as a family. However, we have gotten used to waiting until the last minute to plan for and book some of these trips. Not only would we save more money by planning better, but I think we would be able to fit more excursions into our lives. The funny thing is that I’m actually pretty happy spending most of my time at home. I’d call myself a bit of a homebody. However, I want the rest of my family to try new things and visit unique places and meet others both locally and in other places. I want my kids to be able to see other parts of the country, and eventually other countries too. It’s not even about spending loads of money on these experiences, as there are so many places to visit for a day or a long weekend a short distance away. I’d love to get us out and about for more experiences.
• Exercise More. Yes, I know that exercising smartly is more important than spending hours a day on fitness.  However, I am regularly finding myself putting off exercising until I “have more time.” When I ask myself when this extra time will pop up in my schedule, I typically think about when I’m retired. Well that’s not happening anytime soon, so I’m making an effort to track the time I put into exercise this year by logging this time every day. Hopefully I’m able to stick with it, and maybe even become healthier along the way. I’m not making a goal yet of how much weight I’m going to lose or how many steps I’ve got to get every day or week, but just want to observe for now, and maybe make specific reachable goals as the year continues.
• Stop thinking about retirement so much. No, I’m not going to stop listening to Financial Independence podcasts or reading blogs. I’m definitely going to continue to try to learn about and plan for my family’s specific situation and different approaches to investing. But I often find myself thinking about what retirement may look like for me and what kind of life I’ll lead. Right now, that doesn’t seem to make much sense. If my wife or I started to dislike our jobs, or wanted to move, or if a big unexpected change happened in our lives, then it would be worth thinking about. However, with probably another decade or so left before we may be financially independent, it doesn’t seem to make sense to start thinking about leaving our jobs. I would rather make sure we take vacation given to us and ensure that we are happy and feel we are making a difference with what we spend so many days of our lives doing. When I come upon activities that I figure I’ll get to when I’m retired, I hope to instead consider at least exploring them in the near term.
• Focus more on people. I’d like to start paying more attention to what others around me are up to. I want to check in with myself and others a little more often. There are sometimes days or weeks that will go by when I haven’t checked in with friends, family, coworkers, and even myself, to consider how things are going. Although I don’t necessarily always look forward to interacting with others, I think I’ll probably be able to make more of a positive difference in the world through interactions with people than by staying to myself.
• Time and presence with the kids. Our kids are at ages where they are asking great questions, thinking through tough scenarios, and trying to come up with answers to tough problems. I want my kids to understand the complexities of life, and also to feel a sense of hope that we all can help in coming up with solutions to some of the difficult problems that we are faced with. I’m not sure how much of this I can portray to them, but I’d like to be as active in their lives as I can, and I don’t want to let the little things distract me from being there for them. 

Scout

I feel that I’m doing well, but at the same time I’m always looking to grow.  My plan is to build on the lessons from this past year while tackling a few new goals in the year ahead.

• Be more in-control of money.  This goal probably looks very familiar and it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise because this is an issue that I’ve written about often.  Ever since retiring in 2023 I’ve observed that I think way more about money now than I ever did during my working career.  I’ve constantly battled my emotions related to actually withdrawing from my portfolio along with an irrational fear about running out of money.  Although I trust the math, believe in the 4% rule, and know logically that I have a high probability of a successful retirement, I think most of my trepidation stems from uncertainty about an unknown future.  The good news is that the intensity of this fear has started to subside as I’ve gained more lived experience over the past couple years.  In 2025 my wife & I even worked with a financial planner who helped us navigate some of our concerns & validate our strategy for retirement.  At this point I feel like I am starting to regain some control over money but it’ll still take time & work going forward.  To some people this may sound silly, but it is definitely something that I need to continue working through.
• Act faster.  This one is a little perplexing since one of the major benefits of early retirement has been additional time freedom.  Over the past couple years I feel that I’ve had way more time to just slow down, appreciate things, and think through everything, which has led to so many more good decisions.  But sometimes it seems like I’ve swung so far in the other direction that I take TOO LONG to act or get anything done.  I’m an overthinker & perfectionist, I’ll admit it.  Unless there is a hard deadline, I’m rarely in a huge rush, perhaps knowing that I can just get it done later.  In addition, with so much more time to think things through, I get caught in analysis paralysis, which means thinking about something over & over & over to come up with a “perfect” solution, while never actually making a decision or doing anything.  Ironically, one of the benefits of my working career was that I often had to make quick decisions in all areas of life just to keep moving forward because I was always so busy.  The downside of course, was that these were rarely ever the “best” or “most optimal” decisions, but they were good enough and kept me going in the right direction.  In an effort to be more productive I would like to regain some of that swift decision-making in the upcoming year.
• Take full advantage of early retirement…  Not intending to be boastful by any means, instead I want to simply capitalize on the unique situation in front of me.  I want to make the most of this exceptional opportunity called early retirement and don’t want to squander it or take it for granted.  What this means in practice is two-fold – continue appreciating the current life that I’ve created while also taking the chance to expand beyond my present circumstances.  I want to continue spending quality time with my family doing things we all enjoy such as traveling, attending concerts, and going to sporting events.  I also want to continue building friendships & relationships in the FI community while trying to simultaneously strengthen my local meetup groups.  These are all things that I’ve already been doing, but I also want to try new things such as finding different ways to spread financial education and building relationships beyond those just related to personal finance/Financial Independence.  Exactly what this will look like is unknown, but I’m excited (and definitely a little nervous) to see what happens.  At the very least, I just don’t want to fall into the trap of apathy & laziness that I see so much amongst traditional retirees – sitting around all day watching tv or letting time slip away unknowingly.
• …But don’t fill up the calendar.  With my previous goal of taking advantage of early retirement, I’m fired up to get out there, take action, and really start living life!  This definitely sounds extraordinary, but of course there is a fine line between ambition and overexertion.  I learned this lesson the hard way last year when I wanted to try so many things that I inadvertently filled up my schedule with too much.  At one point it even felt like I was working a full-time job again because I was so busy, which of course defeated one of my main reasons for retiring early in the first place, which was to have more time freedom.  Unfortunately keeping busy has always been part of my personality and it’s something that I need to actively be aware of and push back on.  I also have FOMO and want to be everywhere & do everything all at once, always trying to be involved in cool stuff, but in reality I know that’s not possible.  For my own piece of mind & sanity I know that I need to slow down & relax a little so that I don’t get burnt out on early retirement (which is actually kind of ridiculous to even think about in the first place).  I need to learn how to delegate more and pick & choose what’s important to me while also practicing the art of saying NO.

• Let others live their lives.  One of my takeaways from the past year was remembering that we all have unique financial journeys, we all have different ways of doing things, and most importantly we all have our own opinions of what constitutes a “life well-lived”.  Going forward I want to make sure that I keep this thought in mind as I observe others and meet new people.  Although I know exactly what’s worked well for me financially and I would love to share it with others (along with my personal opinions about a variety of topics), I also want to respect others and remember that my way isn’t necessarily “correct” or the only “right way” to do something.  At the same time, I want to be more open-minded about what others are doing & how they view the world, with perhaps opportunities to make changes in my own life.  This goal is more of a mindset shift rather than a distinct task to accomplish and I know it’ll be a work-in-progress throughout this entire year.

Links/Resources

• Definition of “The 4% Rule”
• Definition of “Analysis Paralysis”
• ChooseFI Local Groups
• Definition of “FOMO”

Reader Questions

• What are your goals and plans for the upcoming year?

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