The year is almost over and I need to write a bit about it because it's been a very special year for me. That's only my second post of the year. I've never been this lazy about this blog that I own since 2014.
In may, I separated with the mother of my kids. We've been together for 17 years but more and more apart for the last years. It was inevitable but yet, it's troubling when it happens.
In june, I went for a one month trip with my kids to New Zealand and Australia. When we came back, she was officially gone. I was now alone one week out of two in my house. So, for the last 5 months or so, I live a very strange life full of parental tasks one week out of two and a life in the silence of a quiet home one week out of two. I'm not sure I like it even if I was wishing for loneliness when I was in a relationship.
I made lots of trips this year: Portugal, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia and Belgium. Some trips alone, some with a friend, some with my kids. I loved New Zealand. It was wonderful. I also loved Portugal (Madera was incredible) and Georgia (I went to Ushguli, probably one of the most special places I've seen all over the world). But even though I saw in one year more than what normal people see in all their life, strangely, it didn't give a sense to existence.
On a financial level, the year has been OK. Not exceptional but not bad either. Some of my stocks got beaten a lot (United Heatlth, Novo Nordisk, Fiserv and even Constellation Software had a hard time) and some did well (Google, Parker Hannifin, Arista Network, Lam Research). I remember buying stocks at Seoul's airport in april when Trump said that he would put taxes on everything and the market got crushed. It was about 4 AM in Seoul and I bought lots of techno stuff like Nvidia, Lam Research and Arista Networks. And everything went well a few months later.
As of december 29th, my annual performance was 9% while the market is up by about 18%. So I guess my performance isn't that good but at least the portfolio is still up.
Anyway, money is not that much a bother for me. I still want to beat the market because otherwise, I'll just buy some fund that reproduces the S&P500. But one bad/average year is not enough to stop buying my own shares.
What are my goals for 2026?
1- Get a girlfriend that likes karaoke and that doesn't have mental problems;
2- Beat the market;
3- Travel the world. I have 4 trips already planned;
4- Stay in health and, hopefully, see my family healthy too;
5- Find a meaning to live.
Nice to hear from you again. I too am going through some significant changes in my life. My older brother who I live with has had a sharp decline in health due to his Alzheimer's disease and is now pretty much bed-ridden. I live with him and his two kids who are in their early 50's as well as my great nephew who just turned 5. My older brother is on the crisis list, waiting for a bed to open up in a long-term care facility.
RépondreSupprimerI also turn 72 in the next week, so I had to convert my RRSP to a RIF late last year. That being the case I had to convert my investment portfolio to more of a income producing vehicle. In so doing, I sold out my positions in BN and DSG (both trade on the TSX) and ADI as well as EW (NYSE). I did pick up some interesting income plays on the TSX (BRE, RGSI, CHE.UN) as well as some others.
I read a lot of metaphysics (Emmet Fox, Ernest Holmes, Thomas Troward and Neville Goddard), and that helps hugely in dealing with both my internal and external world.
Am also dealing with an aging body but after 71 years of walking on this planet, I feel I'm as close to being grown up than ever before.
Life is a schoolroom, not a courthouse.