Hello 2020, Goodbye 2019!

And good riddance!

The year hasn't been very smooth for me, although it had its memorable moments. There were high ups and low downs for sure.

Definitely a very significant year for me considering I celebrated my 40th birthday as much as I could throughout the year. Here's hoping that 2020 will be filled with more luck, prosperity, happiness and better health.

Here are some of the key highlights for me in 2019:

- Big 40 trip with primary school friends to Ho Chi Minh in March
- Scored one ticket to Pokemon Go Safari Zone in Sentosa in April
- Family trip to Melbourne and The Great Ocean Road in June
- Big 40 trip with Saxonians to Bali in June <- most memorable and epic!
- Watched Manchester United live in Singapore in July
- Big 40 staycation and birthday celebration at W Hotel Sentosa with family in July
- Family trip to Denmark/Sweden in September
- Big 40 trip with secondary school friends to Bangkok in October
- Completed second ever full marathon in November
- Watched U2 live in concert in December
- Family trip to Phuket in December

So many highlights!

That said, it had its share of downs. Home was tough for the first three quarters, things have improved somewhat and hopefully will get even better in 2020. Health is bad. Just when I've brought down my uric acid levels, my cholesterol shoots sky-high and I still have a pending retest of one particular cancer marker test. Work has been so-so, environment has deteriorated a little, bonus has become terrible, and more old-timers have left.

Anyway as with tradition, here was last year's review.

And here were my 2019 resolutions.

So here're my resolution reviews for this year:

1) Earn >SGD10K On My Saxo Investment Account FAILED
Terribly. My total loss as of the last day of the year stands at SGD13.4K. Things started bad because of my speculations on Brexit and then it took me several months to almost breakeven, only to then tumble into oblivion once the Hong Kong protests began and I was speculating on the HSI.

2) Exercise At Least 3 Times A Week FAILED
Another failure. I have managed about twice a week on average but three times is really tough and I have to make a bigger effort if I want to achieve this next year.

3) Achieve Passive Income Of At Least $500/mth ACHIEVED
This was done and exceeded with quite some effort, so I am quite proud to have achieved this. Largely dividends from stocks. This means I get to raise my target next year. And I feel like I am that little teenie weenie bit closer to financial independence.

4) Have A Thoroughly Enjoyable And Memorable 40th Birthday Year ACHIEVED
Another resolution met! This was truly remarkable, the amount of celebrations I had throughout the year with different groups of my closest friends. See the highlights above! Bali with the Saxo gang was far and away the most memorable and epic. Totally worth the sacrifices to making it happen.

5) Eat Less Sugar, Drink Less Alcohol ACHIEVED
This was met. I drink much less sugar now. It wasn't that hard to get used to. Alcohol is also much less these days. It helps that there are less drinkers in the office to drink with me. Need to keep this up next year for my health's sake.

And there you have it, 3/5 passes makes 2019 a pretty good year for me. Weird that I think it hasn't been that good but typing everything out and documenting my highlights makes me feel like the year has been better than I thought. The aim for 2020 is to make even more money, keep myself healthy and get healthier, treat myself better and focus on being good to myself and be happy.

So again here's hoping that 2020 will be filled with more luck, prosperity, happiness and better health.