I've dedicated most of my major life decisions towards feeling financially secure. This year, I focused on addressing a lifestyle inflation problem and beginning to save for a house. For context, my spouse and I have shared decisions & goals but separate finances. The following includes only my data- we have a shared account, transactions from which are included and halved. We are digital nomads, do not own or rent a permanent residence, and move every 1-3 months. Now for the fun part!
Basics:
Salary: $115k
Take Home Income: $80k. High because I kneecapped my 401k for house savings- a grandparent passed and I'm considering purchasing their home. This would be at market value.
Spending: $37.5k
NW: $194k, 37k of which is liquid
Spending rate: 30% of gross income, 47% of take home income
Spending: These were my top 5 spending categories, from largest to smallest.
- Basics: 15k or 40% of spending. Rent, car, cell phone. 4k in auto repairs this year, damn deer.
- Gifts: 6.6k or 17%. Husband, siblings, miscellaneous. Reduced 14.4k, 13k of which was student loans that are now paid off (yay!!)
- Food: 6.5k or 17%. Groceries & eating out. Increased 0.8k
- Travel: 5.6k or 15%. Includes my first international trip- I went to Japan for 3 weeks for 3.5k! Reduced 3.7k
- Self care: 1.6k or 4.3%. Gym, fitness, clothes, fun treats for myself, etc. Same YoY
Last year's goals were
- Lower my monthly budget from 1.2k to 1.1k & my annuals budget from 13.8k to 10.8k
- Be within budget 9 of 12 months
- Reduce total annual spending by $5k- reduced by 12.6k
- Save $25k towards a house- saved 36k
- Max Roth, HSA
Reflection: This was a fantastic year for me financially. I achieved all of my goals from last year and my husband finished paying off his student loans, so my only major financial gift was 2k towards his Roth- a huge part of why I was able to save so much. I also achieved 75% of my non-financial goals for the year which included walking 365 miles (I hit 515), completing a half marathon, and taking my husband on 20 dates.
Misc other stats from the year: 19 states visited, 24.5k miles driven, 18% of my time spent listening to Spotify (my best purchase as far as ROI), 7.3 million words of fanfic and 3 books read.
My financial goals next year are below. Most of my finances next year will be determined by whether I end up purchasing this home, a decision I'm leaning against but have another two months to decide.
- Lower my monthly budget from 1.1k to 1k
- Be within budget 9 months
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