2015 Going On 2016

Another year in the books, 2015 was a good year with a few personal milestones, but now its time to look forward to 2016.

This time last year, while I didn't blog about it at the time, I made a decision for what the year was going to be about. 2015 became the year of future planning, and I believe I did so successfully. I started off the year by getting a financial advisor (an alum from St. Edwards who actually approached me), and with this help I set quite a few plans in motion, to ensure my future. I worked with him to setup a Roth IRA, so that I could start saving money, as well as some disability insurance. While I hope to never use the latter, the IRA will help me generate a nice little nest egg for future Hunter to enjoy.

Near the back half of the year, I decided it was time to stop paying rent on an apartment, and buy a house. Not something your everyday 23-year-old does, but for how expensive rent is in Austin, I figured I might as well spend the same amount of money on something that would become an investment down the line, and an asset to help with credit and more. After trying to go the re-sale route, I wound up going the "build it myself" route (ok, builder is building it, but I picked the interior things).

I mention all of the things I did in 2015, in a post about 2016, because it is what led me to my decision for what I want to do this year. After I had finished some work on the "buying a house project", I had an epiphany. I realized that I had spent so much time focusing on future Hunter this year, that I barely gave myself time to enjoy the here and now. Nothing new for me, I realize I have always had trouble living in the here and now, but this particular moment stuck out to me.

Because of this, 2016 is going to be a new year for me. I'm going to continue looking forward, and planning for the future, because that's just who I am. But, I'm also going to spend sometime living in the here and now this year. It's time I enjoy the life I have now, instead of always trying to plan for a life I'll have later.

To all my friends and family that continue to support me, thank you for making 2015 an amazing year. Now let’s go make 2016 even better; Happy New Years everyone.

P.s I plan on writing more blogs this year, hopefully this is just the beginning, and not the beginning and end of that plan.