Hey everyone, it’s Monday – the day before I start my shift tomorrow. This marks the 3rd week in a row that I’ve kept up with blogging. Baby steps…
2021?
Yea, today’s post is just some introspection on my goals for 2021. 2020 was a rough year and so far, 2021 hasn’t seemed much better. That said, I am still cautiously optimistic.
Coronavirus
It would be impossible to comment on the 2020 (and now 2021) without talking about coronavirus. I am hopeful that the vaccine rollout will be successful this year. If we can get enough people vaccinated by this summer, I think that bodes well for everyone. I do not think that we there will be complete revision to pre-COVID “normal” though. I think the some version of the “New Normal” will remain.
It is possible, and maybe even likely that after this pandemic that coronavirus will be endemic. By this, I mean that it will stick around for the foreseeable future, but just in the same capacity. To put it more simply, it may become more akin to the flu which will require a yearly or bi-yearly vaccine or something to that effect. At the very least, I think we can finally try to get ahead of this virus rather than keep chasing our tails.
All that said, I am hopeful that my children will start school next school year (2021-2022) with all of them vaccinated and going to school on a daily basis. I imagine that this will probably still be with masks at the very least. My son just got registered for public school this last week, so the 2021-2022 year will be his first year in school. My hope is that the transition for him won’t be too difficult.
I think it’s ok to be optimistic.
Student Loans
It seems they’ve decided to extend this moratorium on paying back student loans until at least September 2021, and possibly longer. This doesn’t change much for my wife and I as we are still paying back our federal loans on the same pay schedule. It does help that interest is not accruing, though.
As such, my attack on student loans becomes a little more precise and has a little more focused for 2021. Our private loans are still on a normal payment schedule, untouched from the pandemic, after preferentially paying down the highest interest loans. I am now focusing on paying down my federal loans since they are of higher interest rate than my wife’s.
The goal for this year is to completely get rid of my federal student loan debt. Then, after that is gone, we would pay 2x or 3x the normal monthly payment on our private loans for the remainder of the year. We would then re-evaluate where we are at the end of 2021. Just to remind you, my wife’s federal loans are < 2%. For all intents and purposes, they are our lowest priority. Her federal loans are primarily “psychological debt” at this point relative to our other debts.
Home Improvement
This house stuff never ends does it? A little while ago, we made the decision to replace the windows on our house. However, it takes awhile to fabricate the windows and have them shipped to us on Oahu. The plan was to have them put in around March, which is coming up on us. I will need to reach out to our window people and make sure we’re on track.
I will also need to track down someone to paint the new window frames after they are put in. Maybe I’ll have them put another coat of paint on our deck too, just to seal it again.
Also, it seems like our oven is on its last legs. We will need to make a decision soon as to whether to buy a new one or do some mini-renovation of the kitchen. Being a home-owner ain’t easy.
Private School? or stay Public?
Kylie is 7 years old this year, and she turns 8 in May. She’s in 2nd grade and doing pretty well. Soon, my wife and I will need to make the decision whether to keep her in public school or have her apply for private school next year. She would either apply during 3rd grade for 4th grade or apply during 5th grade for 6th grade.
We haven’t really decided on what we want to do yet. However, if we do decide to have her apply, she has to take a test called the SSAT. Since my wife and I were in public schools our whole lives we didn’t really know about it. However, after looking into it, it’s pretty similar to this SAT, but instead of for college, it’s for private grade schools. It’s also divided into different grade levels: elementary, middle, and high.
Anyways, we’ll cross that bridge if we decide to go down that path.
Crypto
I don’t really talk much about Crypto anymore. I still find it very interesting, but there hasn’t been much to talk about on the technology front for quite awhile. I’m not particularly interested in how much Bitcoin yo-yos up and down. What really matters to me is if the ecosystem is maturing/growing.
Other than the small amount I bought back in 2016-2017, and paid my taxes on, I haven’t done much else other than following what happens.
I still believe that Cryptocurrency will be a paradigm shift, but I just don’t know how much of a shift it will be, or when the world will be ready for it. That said, I don’t have and won’t ever have any Bitcoin. It may very well become “digital gold” and the new “store of value” that everyone wants it to be. However, that isn’t interesting to me at all, and isn’t the paradigm shift I was hoping for. Maybe Ethereum (ETH) can finally realize its potential and move forward with dApps and DeFi. Other players like Cardano (ADA) will also push the ecosystem forward as well, I hope. I think that 2021 will show us which cryptocurrencies are actually going to mature and make it into the big leagues and which ones are going to flame out in the minors.
Either way, I’m just along for the ride to watch where it goes.
TL;DR
My 2021 introspective which includes thoughts on coronavirus, student loans, home improvement, private schools, and crypto.
-Sensei
Agree? Disagree? Questions, Comments and Suggestions are welcome.
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