There are so many questions coming into 2018.
Will I finally buy a new house?
Will my car finally break down and require me to buy a new one?
Will my hairline recede more?
Will the fatness of youth return?
Will I have a child?
FYI: I'm not having a child.
But this year is going to be fun...and difficult.
Why difficult? It's going to be a difficult because I do have these and many more questions but there are no definite answers. That's also fun, right?
Now, I do have goals with reasonable answers worked out and with progress made. For instance, I have progress made on my goal to finish my short film Will, as I'm working with my editor currently. And my goal to go to Mexico and Tokyo? Plane tickets are already booked for both destinations and Mexico is happening in less than a month (with lodging and food tours booked).
Yet, these are goals I've tackled before. I've traveled. I've written and directed short films that I've overseen in post-production. I have scripts I need to polish and complete, but I've done that before. These are goals that I plan and scratch off every year.
Now, there are new goals I am unfamiliar on how to tackle like starting a tax deferred retirement plan or buying a house.
Wait.
Let's take a beat. Did I just say buying a house?
I said I'm buying a house
I said that. I haven't taken any action beyond contacting a friend/real estate broker who has let me in on the properties accessible. Thus I've been browsing, determining what location suits my desires and wants but also serves as a meaningful investment.
Last year I talked about looking into different areas and locations to determine where I should live. I've been talking about this step. I don't like just talking and not doing. So this is the year I'm doing it.
The Long Term
This is the year I do more in regards to long term investment. Once I graduated with my MLIS and moved out to a new job, it was only a matter of time before the goals I set forth in the 30 List were completed and new goals would arise.
This coming year is the transition. It's my last year of my twenties. I'll be turning 30 soon. I enjoy my day job, I have the opportunity to write and direct movies, and I've developed a lifestyle that I enjoy. It's time for a new curveball and solidifying the work I've completed into long-term aspirations.
This means a financial future. This means having money withdrawn from a tax deferred retirement plan now so when I am able to retire I will in good financial health. This means starting home ownership now so I can take advantage of the good credit I've developed over the past few years and build an asset (and pay less on mortgage than I do on rent).
While I haven't written about them in my blog -- they're less sexy than my writings about travel and filmmaking -- my financial future has all percolated with me for a while now. I've written in other posts about how I work to live up to the experiences I've dreamed of having when I was middle school and high school -- experiences like travel and filmmaking. Now I need to work towards living up to the experiences I imagine now: having a home, traveling to a new country every year, having a car that doesn't have a warning light on, helping people in my day job, more film festivals under my belt, and more.
This coming year will involve me setting up those roots for the long term.
Looking Forward
Every year I start off by contemplating "where do I want to be at the end of the year?" What do I want to look back and be happy I accomplished over the year?
There are so many questions to 2018 I can't answer, including that one. I have to embrace this uncertainty.
Note: I generally prefer certainty.
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