2025 Personal Finance Resolutions

It is 2025! What a year it was last year.

Each year I have new hope to better myself. There are resolutions that I have trouble with each year and each year I put it in my list. Personal finance resolutions are easier to automate and I find easier to achieve.

I’ve put the same resolutions on my list again, hopefully 2025 will be the year I can tackle these now that both kids are in school.

Max Out TFSA

The 2025 TFSA contribution limit is $7000 this year.

If you have never contributed to a TFSA before and you were of age when the TFSA was first introduced, you will have $102,000 in contribution room. That is six figures! If you are still using it as a “savings account” please don’t.

It is a powerful investing tool that can supercharge your retirement plans, and the full market value of your TFSA will be received tax free to your estate or beneficiary upon death.

Year	TFSA Contribution Room
2009	$5000
2010	$5000
2011	$5000
2012	$5000
2013	$5500
2014	$5500
2015	$10,000
2016	$5500
2017	$5500
2018	$5500
2019	$6000
2020	$6000
2021	$6000
2022	$6000
2023	$6500
2024	$7000
2025	$7000
2026	$7000
Total	$109,000

I plan to move $7000 in my non-registered account to my Questrade TFSA on January 1 (12:15 am haha)

Max Out RRSP

As with other years, I’m not sure what my RRSP room will be. This goal will be done once I find out what my RRSP contribution room is from the 2024 Notice of Assessment after my taxes are done.

Last year I transferred US dollars from my margin account, contributed some US dollars, and transferred some shares in kind. It was a hodge podge of contributions.

My RRSP contribution room is usually low (between $5000 to $10,000) because of my defined benefit pension.

Increase Dividend Income to $39,000/ Year

In 2024 my goal was to reach $36,000 in annual dividends. I ended the year with $36,909.

This year I am going to go for $39,000 in projected annual dividend income for 2025.

I am reducing my contributions to the portfolio by 25% so this is a conservative amount, I think. I was going to aim for $38,000 but given the drastic increase in annual expenses for our family and for myself compared to 2023, I think I will need more passive income. Inflation is real (and nasty).

I tend to be overweight in Canadian dividend stocks (I try to keep it under 33% of the portfolio).

Since I don’t need the income right now because I am still working part-time, I will focus more on ETFs, exchange traded funds like VXC and VTI and add to my position in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) which doesn’t pay a dividend at all (gasp the horror I know).

I am scaling back on my investment contributions to build cash up.

Build Up Cash Pile

I still feel uncomfortable with the lack of cash and would like to build my cash reserves back up but at the same time I would like to continue to invest.

I’ll start off with aiming to save another $35,000 in cash for the year to add to what I currently have. It’s not going to be 28% cash like Berkshire Hathaway but I would like to aim for 8% cash.

I planning to reduce my monthly investment contributions by 25% compared to last year to facilitate this cash savings.

Read 5 Personal Finance Books

Here are the 5 investing and personal finance books that I hope to read and then write about in 2025.

The first one might be a bit of a shocker to people who have been following my journey. I will update with more details later on.

Now that I am into my 4th decade of life, it makes sense to focus on the retirement or early retirement aspect of learning. I believe all of these authors are Canadian too.

• Buying US Real Estate: The Proven and Reliable Guide for Canadians by Richard Dolan
• 5 Years to Freedom: A Canadian Guide to Early Retirement by Rejean Venne
• Victory Lap Retirement: Work While you Play, Play While You Work by Mike Drak
• The Rule of 30: A Better Way to Save for Retirement by Fred Vetesse
• Happy Go Money by Melissa Leong

If you are looking for reading inspiration, here are other personal finance books and dividend investing books I recommend.

New Year’s Resolutions That I nEver Seem to Get

• Sleep before 12 (I was really bad with this the latter half of the year. I think I just need better time management… and more time to myself- pipe dream!)
• Meditate 10 minutes at least 4 times a week (I will put this in my schedule)
• Add a 30 minutes yoga session per week on top of the current 3 times a week run and 1 time a week weight training.
• Stop snacking on chips or other non healthy snacks at night

I am not good at remembering to stretch after my 30 minute run, and yoga is helpful for stretching and keeping your body flexible. Have you tried the sit to stand test yet? It is a predictor of your mortality for those aged 51 to 80. I’m not 51 yet but I have 10 years to practice for this. I’m not very good at it, hopefully by the end of 2025 it will be easier.

I think if I set up the systems correctly, the habits should follow (at least this is what James Clear says from the book Atomic Habits).

Ideally I would like to keep my weight under 125 pounds but I think a goal should not be to snack on unhealthy chips. I should stop buying unhealthy chips and chocolate.

Have you tried the sit to stand test?

Do you have any personal finance goals you would like to share?