Hello 2024, Goodbye 2023

 Somehow 2023 ended up being not the best. 

Maybe because inflation has creeped into everyone’s lives and people were feeling the pinch. Maybe because the job market is terrible right now and we hear of retrenchments everywhere and we don’t feel safe in our own jobs. Maybe because many people did not make money investing this year.

But there are a lot of good things that came out of 2023.

For me, it has been a generally positive year although because of the above, we go into 2024 with trepidation.

Here’s a quick round up of my year past.

This was a year of super travel for me, both for work and leisure.

Started off with Malacca in March with my cousins, then Hong Kong in April for work. Then it was Melbourne in June with in-laws, followed by Shanghai for work again. Kuala Lumpur to see mother’s side of the family followed in July and after that it was Bali in September with sec school bros. Hong Kong and Tokyo for work consecutively in September and October, before the epic Sapporo, Niseko and Tokyo family holiday.

Lots of money very well spent traveling and spending time with family.

Work front was not the best. There has been significant transition as part of adapting to the challenging landscape in the industry. High interest rate environments have always been poor for the whole financial industry in general and the longer it persists, the heavier its toll on all companies in this industry. Hopefully we can steer the ship towards calmer waters and better performance in the new year. Even the tech industry which we overlap into is suffering. The pandemic years have lulled businesses into thinking that online performance would still be stellar when reality is that people are going offline more nowadays.

Health has been relatively ok, probably could’ve exercised more but with work being so busy and WFO a full on through the year, it was tougher to find the time. Yet I still managed to participate and clock fairly good timings for the JPM Run and the Bloomberg Sq Mile relay. Didn’t go for a full body check up but have been taking my meds and have had blood tests to check whatever that could be checked there. Also donated blood twice.

Family has been good too. The kids are doing great, the boy has had a very enjoyable sec one experience in a good school with good company while the girl is maturing in upper primary. This year will be an important year for her. Loving both to the moon and back. Parents are still healthy so that’s a good thing too.

Personal finance suffered a bit with bad investments and trades throughout the year. Risk management is definitely an area I need to improve on, or maybe if I stopped trading altogether, I might be significantly richer, something I ought to resolve doing this new year.

Here’s really hoping and wishing that 2024 will be a more prosperous and happy year ahead.

So as with tradition, here’s last year’s review as a good reminder.

And here were my 2023 resolutions.

And below are my 2023 resolutions review.

1) Achieve One Milestone That I Have Not Done/Experienced Before PASS

So this is definitely a PASS. Snowboarding was something I definitely haven’t done in my life and to learn it and then be able to accomplish my runs (with falls) was a huge win, I even achieved my goal of taking a video of myself snowboarding albeit it causing my worst fall.

2) Make One Large Purchase That Has A Positive Impact In My Life PASS

This was also a pass. Between listening to the wifey and buying that dryer and changing our washing machine during rainy season which has been the best home purchase this year, and the whole Japan year end family trip, that’s possibly one of our best family trips ever, I would say it’s hard to choose between the two but they both qualify.

3) Increase My Networth By 200K FAIL

This was an abject failure. Between the many failed trades and gambles that I let spiral out of control, not only did I fail in this resolution, I also did not increase my networth in FY23. I have to do a lot better this year to shore up my defence finances.

4) Exercise At Least Half Hour Three Time A Week PASS

This would be a borderline pass for me. I’ve managed a weekday run and a weekend run almost all year. Both of which last longer than half an hour. The third exercise session is a little more irregular though. Some weeks I achieve it while other weeks I get busy with work and cannot accomplish it. I will have to be more disciplined this year in order to achieve something similar.

5) Ear Less Carbohydrates PASS

This is a big pass. I have, since the beginning of the second half of the year, been a lot more conscious about eating less carbs. Thankfully this has contributed to my weight stagnation. I will need to take it up another level to attain some weight loss though. I’ve already cut down on sugar intake significantly so carbs (which is harder) is the next that I have to better regulate.

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So all in 4/5 PASSes! Wow, this is a terrific past year of achieved resolutions!

I have thought of my 2024 ones already so just have to put them in writing.

Hopefully I get attain such a similar result once more in a year’s time!