2022 Goals – May Review

If you are new to this website, this year I have set up some goals for 2022 and they are:

1. Be more intentional
2. Write more
3. Max out our Roth IRAs
4. Research other means of income
5. Compartmentalize for long term goals

The year started off with an article about this venture and it is here. And, for those who may be following along, here is January, February, March, and April. The reason for this is two fold: to help keep me accountable as well as provide a model for others in the skilled trades to mimic. Sometimes it just takes a person to forge on and others will follow – which is what I hope: some in the trades see a plan and can adapt it to their own personal life.

So, five months into the year, how am I doing with my 2022 goals? How does my intentional planning look, various goals written down to focus on and formulate a plan of attack?

May is an anomaly in the year and that is for two main reasons. The first is that we made a large purchase – a 2018 Dodge Grand Caravan with cash – no payments or debt for us. The total was $24k and some change. Of course, we had been saving for a large purchase anyway (vehicle, house down payment, etc.) and that took a large chuck out of our fund. I will be looking at being more strategic in building that account back up again.

The second reason is due to travel. More specifically, we are traveling to Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Manitowoc and Two Rivers (these two were my personal favorite to visit) Iowa, Niagara Falls, and Acadia National Park in Maine. Traveling costs money of course, and because of this – and the first reason – I am contemplating on putting on hold our IRA contributions for a month or two to build up some additional funds.

2022 Goals – May Be More Intentional

While in Chicago I intentionally took some time to see this building – a modern engineering marvel

For this one, it’s fairly straightforward: by continuing to write on a consistent schedule I am strengthening my intentionality. To develop good leaders, intentionality is a must. To take it a step further, if you want to have a more successful and fulfilling life, you have to be intentional, simply put. Also, I have been talking with others who want to start their own business and guess what? It takes intentionality – and A LOT of it, too. There really is no way around it.

There are instances where success seems to find someone without them doing anything to earn it – and I’ve seen it, too – but for any real, measured, significant and lasting success, it takes intentionality. There really is no substitute for it. Not even natural born talent.

To that end, I have taken steps in being more intentional about the things I do – and you should too. This means more structure, more focus, and more deliberate action. More things are getting done as a result and better things are happening. Intentionality is, as I’ve said elsewhere, the key to just about everything else for me going forward.

So, what does that look like for me – and for the month of May?

I have been working around the house quite a bit more, the yard is looking better, workouts have continued (walking through a hotel with dumbbells raises eyes), and I have some ideas on side hustles (more on that later). I also got to see some great architecture and spend some wonderful time in Manitowoc and Two Rivers Wisconsin (the weather was AMAZING). Overall, this month has been a good one.

2022 Goals – May Write More

Writing provides me direction, clarity, and an outlet for creativity

This one’s easy: I am certainly achieving this goal. The end of the month consists of these reviews and at least one more post per month helps me reach it. What’s more, these monthly reviews help me to realign with the initial reason I started this website in the first place: outlining ideas as to how someone can save for retirement in the skilled trades. I also have an article about how someone can prepare to plan – well, they can adapt the way I do it for their own lifestyle.

Of course, I have many other great articles here and try to promote them in various ways. I just recently published an article about the younger generations, technology, and the construction industry – it’s interesting to me to see just how much things have changed – and are forecasted to continue to in the coming years.

As it is right now, when you google “the pros and cons of the trades” or “talent or tenacity” or “passion vs opportunity”  or “work life balance in the trades” you will see this website listed on the FIRST page.  There are reasons for this – notably because google has metrics they track – and my content isn’t click bait: it’s substantial in nature. This lends itself to quality and that is staying the same going forward.

It will take me some time to come up with some of the articles I have in mind and many of them have substantial research components to them. And building a brand takes time. I have been at this for four years now, and I still have a lot I can do yet. In the end, it will take a mixture of tenacity mixed with talent to see this become successful – something I’m invested in.

This month, due to the large amount of traveling, I will have more to write about as well as some really great pictures to incorporate into the various articles. I’m looking forward to some of the next few articles that will be dropping here. Here is a bonus picture from one of our recent trips:

Amidst all of the architecture Chicago has greenery everywhere – a nice interesting mixture

2022 Goals – May Roth IRA

Time and money – the two we need for Roth IRA (and other investment vehicles) growth

For this month, we continued to follow the plan I mapped out at the beginning of the year and deposited a total of $923.04 The breakdown looks like this:

May 6: $115.38 x 2 = $230.76

May 13: $115.28 x 2 = $230.76

May 20: $115.38 x 2 = $230.76

May 27: $115.38 x 2 = $230.76

For the month of May we contributed a total of $923.04.

For year 2022 our monthly contribution rates are:

January 2022: $923.04

February 2022: $923.04

March 2022: $923.04

April 2022: $1,153.80

May 2022: $923.04

Total for 2022 year up to this point: $4845.96

As you can see, we are on track to max out our Roth IRAs for this year (and every year going forward – which is the ultimate goal). Still, we are focusing on this year alone to see how things look, adjust, and refocus at the start of 2023. As I stated above, I have yet to make up my mind as whether I will put our contributions on hold to build up a robust savings account again or not.

However, IF you are NOT contributing the max amount to a Roth IRA then you are missing out: not just on an opportunity to increase your retirement savings but also diversifying your retirement income. How? Because it’s highly likely that any contributions an employer has made on your behalf (whether it is a 401k or an annuity fund for those who are union) are pre tax or tax deferred – meaning you will have to pay the taxes later in retirement. By maxing out your Roth IRA you have a retirement account that you pay taxes on now so it is tax free when you withdraw it. You are effectively diversifying your retirement streams – by all metrics a smart move. Click here to learn why I chose a Roth IRA.

And, in the end, I have talked about making this part (the financial component to this website) of a greater consulting package – a good segue into my next section.

2022 Goals – May Researching Other Means Of Income

I was at an event in Chicago this month and after some conversation someone asked if I build websites – business websites in particular. I was hesitant to confirm but afterwards I got to thinking: for those in the trades looking to start a business, building a website (and marketing in general) is probably something foreign to most in the trades. Marketing (aka branding) has huge influence on how well you perform as a business and it’s importance cannot be overstated. In fact, it is estimated that in the U.S. alone, the amount spent on marketing in 2021 was almost 300 billion. No one spends that much if it isn’t effective.

To me, that seems like a ripe opportunity. I have begun to search URLs, believe I have one, and my next steps are to secure it, begin building another website (this one for consulting), and bide my time. I also have been contemplating on how it (consulting) would be structured. Creating and maintaining are two different fees – one is going to be a flat rate whereas the other is an hourly one.

The more I work this out in my mind the more excited I get at the possibility. Sometimes people just need some help – and I believe I can provide it – for a price, of course.

2022 Goals – May Compartmentalize For Long Term Goals

I am a BIG fan of compartmentalization

This section is fairly comprehensive, as it has layers to it. In this section, I detail:

1. Build up my emergency/opportunity fund more
2. Build up another savings fund
3. Build up another investment account
4. Build up custodial accounts for each of my kids (UGMA/UTMA & Roth IRA)

I’ve said this before but I prefer to compartmentalize – it helps me to keep things straight. Keeping various accounts separate for various reasons helps me to organize things – intentionality at play, here. That being said, I have been focused in growing each of the above and a breakdown follows.

Build up my emergency/opportunity fund more

Our main Emergency fund is still where it has been at – we have at least 6 months of savings if needed – and we have no intention of touching it unless we have to. Otherwise, my personal goal here is to build it up to at least 9 months, something I have wanted to do for a while now but have lacked the discipline.

The other point worth noting here is that we spent a large amount of money from our bulk savings for a new to us van – which was something we needed – but now we are low on the funds there. To be sure, that fund was savings for a large purchase, and not having a payment is nice. However, it was always nice to know the funds were there – and that in a pinch, they could be used as a secondary emergency fund. A major focus will be to build this up and I might elect to do so by putting our IRA contributions on hiatus for a bit. I’ll make up my mind as things progress.

The key takeaway is to know that by creating a plan and exercising discipline to stay with it we were able to save up and not have to finance a vehicle. As such, we owe nothing on it. What’s more, this is something that everyone in the skilled trades can do – and should. For all that you are worth, you should steer clear of D.E.B.T. (Don’t Ever Borrow That). It has taken many a person down to the poor house.

Build up another savings fund

Now, I have set up a small automatic deposit to another checking/saving account I have, utilizing it as another e/o fund. The amount is small but you have to start somewhere; you do not want to fall victim to paralysis by analysis – you feel overwhelmed and can’t figure out where to start – so you never do. Currently, I am transferring $10.00 a week into it for a year in total of $520.00. The goal, as outlined previously, is to develop this account into a possible larger vacation/opportunity fund.

I’m not confident this account will grow into something substantial; instead, it will likely take time to develop and extra coin should go here. As you can tell from the listing, funding the Roth IRAs are the most important financially here. (Well, that AND rebuilding our large expense account). The important thing here is – and if you are just starting out pay close attention – to start somewhere. Don’t get overwhelmed at the complexity of it all; instead, compartmentalize, focus on just one or two things (whatever you have the bandwidth for), and focus on accomplishing that. Then, when you feel like you have a good grasp on it, start elsewhere. One step at a time, my friends.

Build up another investment account

I love acorns! This investment platform has tremendous potential for wealth growth

I signed up in January and as expected, it has grown via unintentional intentionality. The robo round up platform has managed to help us save the nickel and dimes – you know what I mean: you break that $20 bill and the next thing you know, it is gone. So, when we use our credit cards (those linked to the platform), the value is rounded up and when the total reaches $5.00, it is withdrawn from the bank and placed in the investment account.

Another great feature is their chrome plug in. You download and add it to your chrome browser, and you can clearly see where Acorns has deals with numerous companies. A portion of what you spend is automatically invested into your account – likely to encourage acorn users to use those specific companies. Here’s a snapshot to show you what I mean:

In this example, up to 1.1% is invested into my acorns platform just for staying at Holiday Inn – my preferred place, anyway. Getting a portion invested into my account just for using them when I have been using them already? Talk about winning! ( I think at last I saw we look to have around $26.40 invested into our account by someone else just for staying somewhere I was going to already).

Acorns is a fantastic way to save a little at a time – something I definitely recommend for those of you in the skilled trades. Remember, every little bit helps. Again, don’t get overwhelmed – just start somewhere.

Build up custodial accounts for each of my kids (UGMA/UTMA & Roth IRA)

It takes money – and time – to grow a sizeable nest egg

This is another area I hope to inspire other skilled tradesmen to adopt. One of the best things you can do for your kids is to educate them on financial literacy – setting them up with the best possible chances as they move into adulthood. The next best thing is to start saving for them as early as possible. Fortunately for us, we are doing both – and you should be doing this, too.

We have chosen to open and deposit UGMA/UTMA accounts for each of our kids and deposit a modest amount in it per week (currently, it is $5.00 per kid). These accounts are at Acorns and when the kids turn 21 (the age my state says a custodial account is to be turned over), they will have some money to make a down payment on a house/pay for school/whatever they need/want. Obviously, the hope is to educate them with fiscal responsibility and they make responsible choices. To that end, our yearly goal from automatic deposits is $260.00. Extra coin will eventually find it’s way in it – the first $1,100.00 are tax free, after all. Again, compartmentalization and starting small.

The Custodial Roth IRA accounts are not on a weekly basis; rather, they are when the kids have earned income – and chores don’t count. Things like walking someone’s dog, yard work, etc. I had initially planned on doing it on a weekly basis – but to ensure I don’t tread on the IRS, I’ll keep an Excel spreadsheet when they have earned income and continue saving. There are income qualifiers and rules that I’m not detailing here; instead, I plan to detail it in a separate post – perhaps part of a consulting/building generational wealth for those in the skilled trades package. Sometimes, it just takes one person to forge a path to inspire others to follow.

And follow I hope they do: after all the time I have spent researching and scouring the internet, much of the advice here is for those in the office and their respective 401ks. I have found very little by way of those in the skilled trades and especially those who are union. Most advisors have an erroneous understanding of what annuities are when it comes to unions – they are NOT what they think they are. Therefore, the advice and direction they need are unique – and I hope to be that unique voice in the forest as they forage on.

Wrapping up the month

May 2022 is wrapped up, a success by and large, and has given me food for thought going forward throughout the next coming months. Although we had a major purchase and our large expense account has taken a hit, we do not have payments and that is something I relish. Moreover, we have embarked on a large amount of travel and we always seek to make the most out of business and bring personal pleasure along. I have some great articles in the queue, a consulting idea in conception, and I look forward to exploring other areas to write about.

All in all, the month was good, I’m gaining some consistency on most fronts, and those areas that I lag in I will eventually get nailed down. One thing I have going for me is that I like to write – and I am tenacious. After all, I have been at this 4 years now and building a brand takes time. And that is exactly what I’m doing.

Remember, if you do not know where to start, pick something, somewhere, and begin. I’d start with an emergency savings fund first to help you get out of debt. And, as always, if you have questions or want to explore something more, just drop a line.