Because I recently starting this blogging journey about my fiances, I don’t have a vast amount of data to discuss for this first Year End Review, however, I think there are some good points to be made, and good reflections to be had.
End of the Year 2017 Financial Statement
| Account Name | Balance |
|---|---|
| Cash | $100.00 |
| Asset - Vehicle 1 | $14,923.00 |
| Asset - Vehicle 2 | $6,500.00 |
| Checking - Business | $4234.67 |
| Retirement - Pension | $24,263.26 |
| Retirement - HSA (Investements) | $5,666.62 |
| Retirement - HSA (Cash) | $3,119.20 |
| Savings - Personal (CU) | $2,124.00 |
| Asset - Precious Metals | $400 |
| Auto Loan 1 | -$16,095.48 |
| Mortgage - Home | -$141,291.90 |
| Asset - Home | $141,808 |
| Retirement - 401k | $173,229.35 |
| Credit Cards | -$10,728,07 |
| Checking - Personal | $3,615.00 |
| Savings - Personal | $1000.96 |
| Net Worth | $211968.61 |
A few things to note this year:
- My fiance still living in Ukraine is no doubt a strain on our finances. I paid to travel there 3 times this year, along with supporting two separate households.
- After many years of avoiding it, I finally joined a credit union – and I don’t know why I waited so long! Make this a priority if you haven’t yet!
- It takes discipline to reign in Spendaholic Ways, and I didn’t have enough of it. I CHOOSE to do better in 2018.
- I started a side business with just $2200, we did $11.700 in revenue, and I eventually added another $3800 investment to give us some capital for much needed investments.
- Though I intended to drive my previous car into the ground, it was having a ton of problems, and I let my “I deserve to drive a decent car” convince me to buy a newer car, luckily I did reign it in somewhat and bought a 2015 Malibu with 20,000 miles for just under $18,000 once all taxes and fees were included. It could have been worse!
I Started a Side Business
This year I decided to start a side business. I had long had a dream of building 10 websites that could each make $1,000 a month as part of my FIRE plan. So, this year, I got started and built a company that does creative services for Real Estate agents. I started it with a $2200 investment to get the company setup, and have a little money to get the website, advertising, and my team setup.
The company did okay, and by many accounts, being in the black Year 1 is a huge success, but I still feel like a failure. I didn’t hustle enough to grow the company and let it coast it’s way to $11,700 in revenue in 9 months. Most of the money went to pay my team and for advertising. I haven’t done the final numbers year, but I believe profit was somewhere under $1,000 before I injected some more cash and promptly spend $1258 on the first part of a website redesign we desperately needed.
But I learned a few things. I learned that our company and service is viable, that there is a market for it! I just need to do a better job at getting new customers (sales & marketing). The new website is the first step towards that, and after it launches I will be hitting marketing hard to grow in 2018. My initial goal was to do 9x Year over Year and hit $100,000 in revenue in 2018, however, in speaking with some entrepreneur friends, I need to set my goals higher until they reach “holy shit that’s scary territory. So you know that, my new goal is $300,000 revenue and it fucking scares me! I WILL give it all of my energy to try to hit that goal. What would that mean? It would mean we average $1,000 a day from March onward (after the new site launches). Truthfully, I might fail… and that’s OK, but I am going to do my damnedest to try and then see where we end up.
I have goals in 2018 to start 1 or possible 2 other side businesses as well, all related, and all under one umbrella company – more to come on those later!
Retirement
When I started 2017, my 401k balance was $115,864.21 and it ended at $173,229.35, an increase of $57,365.14. Contributions accounted for $26,618.44 of that, which includes both my own, and my employer match. This means I earned over $30,000 this year just for having my money invested and working for me! In fact, my earnings are higher than my contributions after just 5 years of participating in the 401k. That, my friends, is the power of compounding interest, earned year over year, along with continued contributions.
In June of 2016, I had also taken out a 401k loan in the amount of $12,000, and paid it back $500 out of every paycheck (every 2 weeks), until July 2017. This was the second large 401k loan I have done in the 5 years of working at my company. I’ve learned in the last year that you should avoid taking loans from your 401k unless it’s dire, because you are losing out on that money gaining earnings in the meantime, and anytime you are borrowing money you have to ask yourself, are you living within your means? If now is not a good time to start doing that and having better habits, then when? In the future.
Spendaholic Ways
I’m not going to use this space to calculate numbers. Instead, I want to say that while I did make strides year over year to reign in my Spendaholic ways, I didn’t do enough. Namely, I still spend too much eating out and have too many impulse purchases or entertainment dollars that are not giving me the best ROI for enjoyment per dollar. I will absolutely do better in 2018 by taking inventory of everything I spend and making mindful decisions every time I pull out my wallet.
Being a Spendaholic is largely about psychology, emotions, mindfulness, etc… it’s not driven on dollars other than what dollars we have become available to spend. Thus, the solution to this problem is not going to be found on a spreadsheet. Yes, absolutely, I encourage you to create a budget and follow it, to track every dollar you spend… but the solution to being a Spendaholic is to change your mindset, change your actions, change your emotions that allow you to spend that money without a second thought.
So for 2018, I encourage you to not just focus on the money, but on mental and emotional health that will help you have a better relationship with money.
Looking Ahead for 2018
A New Year, a New Plan! Every single day in 2018 I plan to be mindful of my choices in several aspects of my life. Personal Finance, Diet & Exercise, and Business. I’m excited to share my journey with you through the year!
- My fiance and step-daughter will move to the USA in June/ July 2018, then we’ll get married! (I’m super excited for this!)
- I will push hard to grow my side business to a company that does $300,000 a year in revenue.
- I choose to lose at least 25 lbs this year (current weight 260lbs)
- I choose to fully fund my emergency fund ($24,000 total)
- I choose to eliminate any consumer debt with interest above 3.5% (apart from my mortgage)
- I choose to pay down my mortgage $10,000 this year from it’s current balance.
- I choose to ensure my car loan is at least $1,000 below the value of the car (currently it’s not!)
- I choose to read more / listen to more podcasts that will help me towards my goals.
- I am implementing Andy Frisella’s “Power List” to make a list of 5 critical tasks to do each day, as a tool to help push me further this year.