5 Things I'm Focused On In 2026

2026 is the year I'm betting on myself.

If you've been reading my last few posts, you've probably noticed that there's a different energy lately. It's been building for a while now, and it's reached the point where I can't just sit on it anymore. This is the year I want to do something. Financial freedom was never just about the number. It was about my ability to walk away from a paycheck, build things I enjoy, deploy capital based on my beliefs, and throttle my time into things I care about.

In this post, I'll share the 5 things I'm focused on for 2026. Are you ready? Standby.

1. Getting SpendSense to 1,000 Users

SpendSense is my main focus—currently with a waitlist for closed beta. The goal for 2026 is simple — 1,000 monthly active users, with 100 paid users.

The vision goes beyond tracking numbers. Most people don't take action because of numbers on a spreadsheet or mathematical projections. They take action because of stories. They take action because they saw with their own eyes what their friends or family have been able to accomplish. They continue to take bolder action after they've achieved some success in their own journey. SpendSense is about helping people make sense of their spending through insights and narratives, not just charts. If you believe you can hit your goal, you're more likely to stick with it. If you see clearly that you won't, you'll change course. That clarity is what I want to build.

Long-term, I can see SpendSense helping not just high-earners chasing FIRE, but everyday people — and even businesses — understand where their money actually goes.

2. Tinkering with Side Projects

I've got a couple other things I'm building:

• joinboba.com — a tool that helps students study by generating AI-powered questions from their study materials. Upload your notes, get five questions that test whether you actually understand the content.

• A video sync project (no name yet) — two videos of the same scene, different angles, different start times. The tool syncs them into a multi-cam experience. Perfect for competition shooters who want to see their head-mounted footage alongside a third-person view, with shots detected and synced automatically. Here's an example:

Each has a clear audience and a small distribution channel I already have access to. If any one of them gains real traction, I'll drop the others and go all in. But for now, I'm casting a wide net and learning a ton — about what works, what doesn't, and what it takes to get something in front of people who actually need it.

3. Leaving My Job in Q2

I'll probably quit in Q2.

Once my bonus hits and I've delivered performance reviews, I'll feel good about closing this chapter. I want to leave on a high note, having done the job responsibly until the end.

There's a small chance I will stay if I can get more buy-in on some initiatives I care about. But that's a big if. And to be honest, I'm so excited about building my own things that it would take a lot to change my mind.

This isn't retirement though. If I quit, I'm not walking away to do nothing. I'm walking away to pursue a completely different path. One that I dreamed about doing in my 20's but was too scared to do.

4. Deploying My Cash Pile

I'm sitting on about 8% of my net worth in cash, waiting for the right moment to deploy it. Maybe it's a market correction, maybe it's real estate, maybe it's something I can't predict.

My other positions are strong — built on generational companies I believe in — so this cash is dry powder. It used to earn 5%, now it's closer to 3%. Every year I think there's going to be a big correction, and I continue to be wrong.

In just 2025 alone, I've lost out on a 15% gain on that 8% cash reserve, which is an additional +1.2% in net worth. For reference, assuming my net worth is $8,000,000, that is close to $100,000 in gains that I've lost out on. And that's just 2025 alone!

5. Teaching and Coaching More

I looked into teaching computer science formally, but despite years of industry experience, I couldn't even get a response without a master's degree. That door seems to be closed for me.

But teaching still happens in other ways. I coach other local competitive shooters and have been invited to potentially teach a local SWAT team on performance shooting (yes, you read that right!). Additionally, I've done over sixty one-on-one financial coaching sessions with readers of this blog. All of it is deeply rewarding, and I want to do more of it.

The What-Ifs

I'd be lying if I said there weren't any contradictory feelings though. I am human after all. The 2 biggest what-ifs for me have been about proximity to excellence.

• It's been several years now, so I'm more willing to talk about it. But I walked away from $1.1M in total comp at the peak of my career. I knew that moving to Texas would be the end of that kind of money.

• Additionally, being outside Silicon Valley, I can feel the distance from the AI wave — the energy, the sense that something massive is happening. I watch from afar as startups turn into world-changing companies and wonder what if I had jumped in.

But every path has trade-offs. I made my choice with eyes open, and I'm at peace with it. My life is good.

What the Perfect 2026 Looks Like

By December 2026, I've quit the job. SpendSense is growing. I'm building things I care about, with people I like, on my own schedule.

The what-ifs are still there, but they're quieter. Because I'm no longer watching from the sidelines — I'm in the game again, just a different one.

That's what I'm building toward. Thank you for reading this far.