People are eager to share their New Year’s resolutions the first chance they get — even if you didn’t ask.
Research analyst Matt Clark and I do the same in this week’s Investing With Charles!
Not many resolutions survive till February. It’s easy to put off losing a little weight or exercising more.
Things are different when it comes to our money — or at least they should be. Let’s see how Matt and my own resolutions can help you become a better (and richer) investor in 2022.
Check out some of the highlights of our conversation below:
How to Set Effective Goals
Charles: If you want a New Year’s resolution to be successful — and this is not just about investing, this could be about anything, any improvement to your life — there’s two conditions you have to have in place.
One, the goal has to be realistic. It’s good to push yourself, but I can’t resolve to be richer than Jeff Bezos in a year. That’s not realistic. You’re setting yourself up for failure at that point. You have to have a goal that is achievable.
Secondly, you have to be able to measure it. It has to be measurable. You can’t just say, “I want to be healthier.” What does that mean? How do you measure that? Why am I healthier because I had a smoothie today instead of McDonald’s? You have to be able to quantify it. You want to say, “I’m going to lose 10 pounds.”
You need something that you can measure so that you can work toward that goal. When a goal is unattainable, or unmeasurable, you tend to lose interest or lose focus, and it just doesn’t happen.
With all that as a background, what are my investment resolutions for the year? I have a couple.
First, I’ll tell you what my resolutions are not. I’m not going to resolve to make more money. That’s not quantifiable. And I’m not going to resolve to have higher returns in the stock market. That’s not something I can control. That’s the market.
My New Year’s Resolutions
Charles: We’ll start with a savings goal: I resolve to max out my 401(k) for the year.
For this year, that’s $20,500, so about $1,700 per month. This is a goal that if you don’t start early in the year, it gets harder later in the year to catch up. My resolution is to just stay focused, be disciplined, and max out that 401(k) over the course of the year.
Beyond that, I also resolve to read at least one book per month.
I used to read five or 10 books per month. But life just gets busy, and it becomes very hard to do that. The older you get, the more responsibility you have — kids, finances, everything else. I want to at least carve out enough time to read one meaty, thought-provoking book per month. It doesn’t have to be investment related. I would like at least half of them to be investment-or economics-related. At least some sort of meaty, thought-provoking book per month, so no comic books, nothing with pictures.
Matt: So the third edition of the entire Thrawn comic book series for Star Wars is not on your list?
Charles: No, it is not. Well, I could read that, it’s just, that’s not going to satisfy my resolution here. That would be extra.
Click here for my last resolution and the rest of my conversation with Matt.
Bonus: Matt’s Crypto Resolution
Matt: I wanted to find something I don’t have a ton of experience with it. Cryptocurrency is one of those things. The crypto craze isn’t going to go away anytime soon. More and more cryptos are being introduced, and it’s becoming a new wave.
Now countries are starting to adopt crypto, like China with the digital yuan. China has developed a wallet, and they’re ready to go with a digital yuan, which is basically the cryptocurrency run by the Central Bank of China.
For my resolution, I wanted it to have a learning element, an educational element, and then have a tangible element. That is, I want to research, which is part of my job, and find two cryptocurrencies that I can really get behind and be willing to invest my own money in.
So, my resolution is to research and find two cryptocurrencies that I can get behind and am willing to invest my own money.
Where to Find Us
Coming up this week, Matt will have more on The Bull & The Bear podcast, so stay tuned.
Don’t forget to check out our Ask Adam Anything video series, where chief investment strategist Adam O’Dell answers your questions.
You can also catch Matt every week on his Marijuana Market Update. If you are into cannabis investing, you don’t want to miss Matt’s weekly insights.
Remember, you can email my team and me at Feedback@MoneyAndMarkets.com — or leave a comment on YouTube. We love to hear from you! We may even feature your question or comment in a future edition of Investing With Charles.
To safe profits,
Charles Sizemore
Co-Editor, Green Zone Fortunes
Charles Sizemore is the co-editor of Green Zone Fortunes and specializes in income and retirement topics. He is also a frequent guest on CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business.