New Year, New You - Part Two
The same principles to improve your Family can improve your finances
I split up these 2 ‘New Year, New You’ posts since they are tangentially related to finance - So I threw an important finance update between them. But even though the first post laid out the basics for conquering your fitness in 2025, and this one will summarize the lessons I have learned over a decade of plus of being a family man, the underlying themes that work in both those areas also apply to finance.
They seem to be universal truths.
New Year, New You
[Late Note - after writing this post, I realized how many of the points I made share parallels to financial advice I give. Even though I started this as one of the few broader life posts, it all tied back to themes in financial posts. Crazy how the same principles that work in one area can be extended to more universal rules. I tie it all together in the last section.]
Now, I’ll admit, writing about family is outside my comfort zone. It feels like a very esoteric subject. Finance has numbers. It has objective measures (ie - did net worth go up?). It follows rules (ie-here are your contribution limits and IRS regs).
Not to mention I have rarely seen an account talk about being a dad or husband that isn’t super friggin cringe and corny or exploitive of the kids. The irony isn’t lost on me of someone posting their kids name and pictures online while telling mortifying facts about the child to prove they are ‘good parents’.
So don’t worry, there won’t be any of that - even though my kids are objectively great looking, smart, and talented and I bet posting them could grow a hell of a following.
But after a dozen-ish years of marriage and a decade of building a whole bundle of lil f’ers (enough that we grew out of most vehicles) there have been a lot of lessons learned. And as someone most likely with a healthy dose of the ‘tism, the way I have grown is by seeing patterns and logically coming up with solutions to said patterns.
Not included in here will be the obvious like:
“Picking your spouse is one of the most important decisions”
“Kids may cost a little extra (though, not anywhere near the $300k per kid the media quotes to scare you) but its worth every penny and more”
Hopefully this post resonates with you by pointing out some broad themes that everyone can identify in their own lives to improve their family.