2018 Financial Summary

I knew I wanted to make this post as a way to force myself to look at all of my spending throughout the entire year but also to track my net worth through time.  I knew I had been avoiding it, because I didn’t know what it was going to tell me.

As a self-imposed saver, I was anxious what the actual numbers were going to say.  I use Mint, which is amazing, to help myself budget and track my gross spending but I wanted every detail. So, I dove in.

I went through every one of my credit card statements, my checking/savings account statements, and my Venmo to track exactly what I was spending my money on.  I broke my spending down by month and tried to categorize it in a way that worked for me. For example, I tracked my spending on haircuts to see if it was worth it to learn to cut my own hair or let a friend give it a try.  Spoiler Alert. It’s not.

Anyways, 2018 was a crazy year as I had just begun traveling.  In 2018, I worked 4 different assignments in 3 different states. South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. Can’t wait to file taxes this year…

While traveling I was able to take weekend vacations to further explore SC and MA while also exploring New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and North Carolina.  The Northeast really makes your traveling list look awesome compared to living in the Midwest. I was also able to take a vacation to Florida during the year as well.

Although it may not seem like it, I was able to vacation while saved over the course of 2018.

My Strategy for 2018

SAVE!!!  

It’s a simple strategy but often a harder one then it may seem.  The more you can save up front, the more time compound interest has to create its effects.  This also is likely a time in my life when I will have my largest income due to traveling and my lowest expenses as I haven’t purchased a home or started a family.  So it was that much more important that I begun to put some money away to grow for the future.

So Let’s See it: 2018 Spending

Going into this experiment, my goal in my head was to be above 50%.  So hitting a 60% savings rate in my first full year of work definitely provided me with the boost I needed to start 2019 off right.  I can say without a doubt that this brought a smile to my face, especially when you consider the fact that I was living all over the United states and vacationing more than most.

Improvements

As it is with most people, my rent, transportation, and food were my biggest expenses.  The rent is probably lower than a normal year due to my housing decisions. The transportation makes sense due to the nature of my work and the many vacations over the course of the year. I also was able to save a lot of money in travel expenses due to credit card reward bonuses.

However, my food/dining/drinking expenses were a little higher than what I was anticipating.  My grocery bill was very reasonable as I usually make bulk meals for the week and shop at Costco.  But the eating out and drinking expenses may have been in excess.

This happens when you are basically slowly vacationing the United States.  You want to try the local cuisine or eat at the recommended/famous restaurants.   But I think I could have done a better job packing some food in on some of my weekend trips, especially the many hikes.  

Again, I did well for my first full year, but seeing the numbers always makes you feel like you could do better.

So how am I doing

This was my first real taste of a “market crash”.  I put this in quotes because this was more of a blip in the trajectory than a real crash.  Either way, it sent me into a bit of a panic about whether or not I was investing correctly.

I have read it a million times that as an index fund investor you just stay the course.  This was ingrained in me, but it still doesn’t help you sleep better at night. But I stayed the course.  I actually even tried to increase my investing during the end of 2018 as my normal index funds were all on sale.

At the time of publishing this post, the market has already self corrected and I’m actually now up 7-8% on my money.  Good confirmation that the strategy works.

The worst thing we can do is let our fears get the best of us and pull out of the market.  Had I done that, I would have missed out on the quick market turn around and been out of money.  The biggest barrier to investing is our own human nature and brain.

I always attempt to take my brain out of my investing by attempting to invest the same amount every pay period or more depending on that weeks expenses. I still haven’t gotten to the point of setting up an automatic payment but this is definitely a good option for those of us struggling to take our brain out of investing.

Net Worth

Plans for 2019

I plan to continue traveling through 2019 as I still have not felt the need to stop yet.  There is too much to see and I still have yet to find a better path to financial independence then the one I am currently on.  My goal is to flip coasts this year and begin exploring the Southwest and eventually the Northwest. If it works out, I do still have my license in Hawaii, so exploring the islands is always a possibility if I get the right offer.

As I mentioned in my post on goals, I plan to have at least 100k in investments/savings by the end of this year.  At my current trajectory this should be very doable.

Conclusion

Saving is hard, and I don’t expect everyone to be as type A about it as I am.  But I do think it is a good idea for us to have somewhat of an idea of what our savings rate is and a general sense of where our money is going.  This is never done as something to guilt you, but more as a way for you to become more aware of your spending.

I will never skimp on purchases that matter to me such as healthy eating or exercise, but sometimes tracking your spending will reveal how much you truly spending in other areas of your life. Maybe, you will see how much money you are spending on drinks when you are out or how much you truly spend commuting to work.  Maybe, it will even open your eyes to the savings possibility of committing more to the pre-game at home or moving within walking distance of work.

Even small changes can have massive effects on our long term net worth.  All of us can improve our savings rate without much of a sacrifice at all. The first step is knowing where that savings can take place!

How do you feel about tracking your spending??

What’s your savings rate this year??

Comment below or if you have a specific question, feel free to reach out here!