2026 New Year's Resolutions & Goals

Since the start of the new year, I’ve been thinking about goals and goal-setting. The thing is, year after year, my goals remain mostly unchanged.

This is the second year I’ve been able to max out both our Roth IRAs and drop the max for our kids’ 529s within the first couple days of the year. I’d probably do the same for our 401(k)s - including my i401(k) account - but for those I just have to max out as the year goes along.

I do have a rough four-to-five year plan to be able to retire by 2030. Able to retire and not necessarily retire. That plan, right now, is mostly just moving traditional IRA money into a Roth IRA so I can potentially take some out earlier. But it also involves looking up other early-retirement strategies.

I enjoy what I do, so there’s a good chance I’d keep working regardless.

Health is pretty much the same, too. I never got under the 200 lbs I wanted. But I also never went over 210 lbs either. Well, I did - one day, December 26, 2025, I weighed 210.1 lbs. But I’ve weighed less than that since then.

I still would like to run a 5k non-stop in under 30 minutes. To do that I need to run more, and it’s been so cold outside, I’ve had a hard time motivating myself to run.

I still aim at reading at least one book a month. I don’t want to increase that goal because I want to enjoy the books I read, not read them merely to reach a goal.

The most important thing of all, of course, is my family - my wife, my son, and my daughter. And our dog too. I need to be healthy for them. I need to be financially secure for them.

If I want to make a checklist for “goals” this year, here’s what it would look like:

• Financial
  • Max out Roth IRAs (completed 1/2/2026)
  • Max out 529s (completed 1/7/2026)
  • Max out 401(k)s
  • Max out i401(k)
  • Move money from traditional IRA to Roth IRA
• Health
  • Weigh less than 200 lbs
  • Run a 5k non-stop in under 30 minutes
• Personal
  • Read at least one book a month (read 1 so far)
  • Attend at least one conference or other networking event (attended CodeMash, paid for by my employer)
  • Donate blood as much as possible
• Family
  • Hike as a family at least sixteen times
  • Seven or more date nights
  • Eat out no more than once a week as a family

Some of these were taken from my 2025 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals. I’ve been writing these since 2018. Here are the links for years 2018 - 2024:

• 2024 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2023 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2022 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2021 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2020 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2019 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals
• 2018 New Year’s Resolutions & Goals