by Ashley
We’re officially halfway through 2025, so I thought it was a good time to check in on my goals for the year. This is a great opportunity to reflect on what’s going well – and where I still have some work to do.
Goal #1: Travel Less.
Grade: C+
I traveled so much in 2024 that I’d hoped to scale back this year. I’ve pre-written and scheduled this post, but as this is published I will just be wrapping up a week long trip in Hawaii! While I originally thought this would be my only trip of the year, that has not turned out to be the case.
So far, 2025 has included quite a few mini-trips:
- January – Trip to Austin with the kids after my Dad was put on hospice
- February – Weekend road-trip with the kids to visit family in El Paso (so glad we went because…)
- April – Family trip back to El Paso for my husband’s grandfather’s funeral (we were able to see grandpa before his health suddenly declined!)
- May – Trip with my sister to spread my Dad’s ashes in Utah
- June – Work trip to DC
- June – Family vacation in Hawaii
Honestly, I would’ve given myself a lower rating (traveling every single month feels like an “F” when the goal was to travel less). But I will never regret traveling to see family when their health is ailing (like our January and February trips), or traveling for family funeral and memorial-related visits (like our April and May trips). These trips were rooted in love and family, and I’d make them again in a heartbeat.
That said, I’m hoping things calm down a bit and we can stick closer to home for the remainder of the year. Fingers crossed!
Goal #2: Investments.
Grade: A+
We’re going strong with our investments! We have a diverse mix of accounts – from high-yield savings and CDs to mutual funds, retirement, and single stocks. We’ve started tracking our net worth with the intention of working toward our goal of purchasing a rental property in the next 12 months. I feel really good about our progress here.
Goal #3: Open an LLC.
Grade: A+
Just last month, I officially opened an LLC! I’m so excited to use it as a foundation to expand our business portfolio. We plan to use the LLC when we purchase our rental property. And although I haven’t mentioned this here before, I’ve been working behind-the-scenes on a book proposal with a goal to finish it by the end of summer. If (when!) it sells, I’ll do that through the LLC, too.
Another benefit? I hope to eventually employ the girls as they grow – helping with clerical tasks, social media content, and more. I’m eager to get them started with Roth IRAs once they’re able to contribute to the business.
Goal #4: Interview (& hire?) a financial planner/wealth manager.
Grade: A+
At the beginning of the year, we started the process of interviewing several financial planners. I likened the experience to dating. We had “first dates” with 5 different companies, and went on “second dates” (where we provided all our financial details and received sample plans) with 2 different companies.
In the end, we didn’t hire anyone. One company we liked more in terms of personality fit, but their returns averaged only 5% – which I can get from a high-yield savings account! The other seemed stronger on the financial side, but I didn’t love the advisor’s personality and there were some glaring holes in the plan (no allowance for new-to-us cars, college savings, etc.). Sure, these things can easily be updated and changed, but it just felt like he was maybe a little bit flustered and over his head – not a great fit.
Even though we didn’t end up hiring anyone, I still give myself an A+ for having gone through the full process and making an informed decision (even though the decision was not to enter into an agreement with anyone at this time).
Goal #5: Invest in what matters.
Grade: B
I’d already started buying more high-quality meats and produce, but I have not made a huge amount of progress on switching to other “clean” products like sunscreen, makeup/moisturizer, etc. I’m a little embarrassed to admit this now, given that we’ve been on a beach vacation slathered in chemical sunscreen. Probably should’ve thought that through.
Still, it’s not a failing grade. I have switched to aluminum-free deodorant, and replaced our old toxic (i.e., non-stick with scratches) bakeware for higher quality ceramic-based products. This will continue to be a work in progress
Overall Thoughts
I’m happy with where we’re at overall. For the remainder of 2025, I hope to travel less (for real, this time!), continue our saving and investing, and make more thoughtful purchases when it comes to what we put in and on our bodies.
How are you doing with your 2025 goals? Are there any changes you want to make in the second half of the year?
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Early 40s, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
I feel visiting family that are sick or funeral don’t count. I’m sure neither one was fun but something you needed to do
Thanks! Yes, it was just unfortunate timing as both sides of our family had a death within a relatively short period of time. But I agree, I don’t regret the trips and am glad I made them. 🙂
The financial planner or wealth manager: the 5% average returns figure, what is that based on? Is it the firm’s average or what? Because if it is representative of all or some swath of their clients, then it includes clients who need lower-risk and therefore lower-return portfolios. I’m not sure 5% average returns is any guarantee of how any individual client’s assets will perform, because the main factor in an individual’s returns is asset mix (equities vs bonds vs cash).
Your rhetoric around the planners and returns on your money come across to me like you are chasing the idea that paying someone to manage your investments will guarantee you greater returns. This idea is a falsity that investment managers love to promote. Managed investment portfolios on the whole do not generate greater returns *after management fees* than similarly-balanced passive (ie index funds) portfolios. Now the big exception to this rule is if having someone between you and the controls is the only way to stop you from making a severe blunder, like panic selling in a downturn. Even if this is the case, please be fully aware of the eroding effect of management fees over time and try to minimize those fees.
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/visualizing-how-investment-fees-impact-your-portfolio
Speaking of fees, I recommend you use a fee-ONLY (not fee-based) fiduciary, but if not do investigate all ways they will be paid. You do not want to sign with a firm that 1. recommends you buy funds with load fees, 2. charges more than 1% AUM ideally, 3. is not transparent or cannot plainly explain the fee structure, 4.wants to invest you in firm-proprietary funds or some complex portfolio with dozens of holdings, especially if they will take a fee per trade. Take any outright promises about returns, proprietary investment strategies, or special or “alternative” investment angles as a red flag, not a positive.
Here are some book and website recommendations for practical, consumer-side advice about investing.
Boglehead’s Guide to Investing
Boglehead’s Guide to Retirement
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started
Great tips and links for suggested reading – thank you! My Dad was an investment advisor and had warned me about similar things that you’ve mentioned here (in layman’s terms – recommending investments that benefit the advisor financially and cost a lot in fees!) All the companies we had interviewed were fiduciaries.
But were they Fee-Only and if not how are they paid? Fiduciary is not as strong as the average consumer might expect, by a long shot. Edward Jones offers fiduciary advisors and they milk unjustifiable fees all day.
Personally I feel that advisors should be required to be fee-only in order to call themselves advisors. I hope I’m not stepping into it as far as your Dad having been an advisor (apologies in advance), but IMO the industry is full of leeches and the weak regulations allow them to hide behind weasel words.
Sorry I feel like my last comment on advisors is probably coming off super harsh esp because your dad was an investment advisor! Sorry again! I just mean there is a LOT of trickiness in the wealth management space, and it makes me upset to think about how some advisors exploit people’s lack of information on what’s actually allowed and how investments work.
No worries, wasn’t harsh and I wasn’t offended! I think you’re right that MOST people do not know all the trickiness and everything that goes into hidden costs/fees that benefit wealth managers!
PS I’m sure this came across in my long screed above, but I think you should make your decision not to hire a wealth manager permanent.
Napfa.org is a way to find a fee-only fiduciary for the times you do want some specific advice (some advisors only charge hourly or per-plan), but I think you are perfectly capable of self-managing.
IMO it makes sense to revisit professional support when net worth reaches a point where things are really getting complicated, like many millions ?
This is great advice too! I hadn’t thought about paying hourly for specific advice, but this is a great idea! In the meantime, we’ve decided to get a really GOOD CPA to help with tax-related stuff (not the same as a wealth manager, but it’s related). I say GOOD CPA because we’ve paid the past several years for help with tax prep, but I have not been satisfied with anyone we’ve used. I’ve been talking to folks I know to get suggestions and plan to set up some appointments this summer to try to find and hire a CPA who can offer more full-scale services beyond simple tax prep, especially with the opening of our LLC.
Now this plan I can get behind!