2024 ends in one day, can you believe it? I hardly can, time just zoomed past this year. Let's see, what happened this year in my life? First quarter of the year, it was concerts and more concerts; Coldplay, Taylor Swift, Mayday. Second quarter, joined a karaoke interest group once and didn't find it that fun till I joined a subgroup.
Since then, we've went motocross in Malaysia, stayed over for a night, met Japanese, Thai, French people and drank a whole lot of alcohol. I have really enjoyed it, but as with any relationship, nothing is ever permanent. Friendships come and go, as will this one. Well, it's been a fun eight months knowing them and I hope we can carry on for a little while more at least. At least, the weekly drinking sessions allowed me some reprieve from my new job which started in August this year.
Yep, I changed jobs this year, after close to six years at the old one. Since August, it's been uncomfortable day after uncomfortable day. Struggling to fulfil the tasks required at work, and this has been going on pretty much since the day I stepped in four and a half months ago now. Within the first month I craved the comfort and work life balance of my old job.
Is this the right move? I don't know but my intention is just to tough it out for a year and see how I feel about it then. I'm thankful for the bunch of karaoke friends I made which at least gave me some social life on the weekends.
So, I changed my investment philosophy since late 2023. It has been a DCA approach mainly into broad based index fund. Since Trump got re-elected in November 2024, the stock market has been euphoric. It's still very, very far from life changing money, but it seems like a stable return so far and sometimes I wonder how big my portfolio would be if I had simply used this approach since my first paycheck at Richemont in 2014.
What have I learnt this year? Well, trust your instincts. When taking a job, don't just be thinking about the money, especially if the increase is not that big of a deal. For an increase of less than 20%, think long and hard about the relationships you have to build from scratch again by taking a new job. Definitely something that I missed out by not listening to my instincts this year. Yet, every cell in my body wanted a new environment back at the start of this year.
What do I wish I had done? I wish I had more perspective. I'm getting too single minded about money and chasing it at all costs. It had a horrible impact on the rest of my quality of life, and this will be a lesson that I will hold dear for a long time to come. Yet, if a significant amount of money comes by, I'd be a fool not to take it. The point is, consider very carefully if the increase is not game changing.
Health wise, I don't think I'm doing too well. My weight has ballooned since entering the new role. Mainly, it's just the lack of activity. I will have to be more disciplined in what I eat since my activity time is a lot more restricted now. I do hope to run even more in 2025, although the total mileage in 2024 was already considerably more than in 2023. It's a quick, healthy exercise that is demanding on the cardiovascular system and I hope to run faster in 2025.
The strategy for 2025 remains the same. Stay invested, stay disciplined, contribute a large amount into the stock market every month and if there is a crash, jump into it with a large purchase into ETFs and some blue chips. Work is very demanding now, so I have to do portion control and can no longer eat like I was at my old job, the weight packs on quickly with the amount of hours I put in at work, sitting down. It's portion control, more cardio, maintain a level of gym that I will be satisfied with. Grit my teeth and lap up the discomfort, learn what I can and get out of here with an improved skillset in 2025. These are my goals, let me try my very best to make 2025 a good one. More meaningful relationships, work on being approachable, date a girl or two if I get the chance and settle down. That's about it for what I want to say about 2024 and 2025!
