Author Topic: Reflecting on 2016  (Read 5074 times)

Glenstache

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3493
  • Age: 94
  • Location: Upper left corner
  • FI(lean) working on the "RE"
Reflecting on 2016
« on: December 19, 2016, 05:30:35 PM »
2016 has been a dynamic year. Life is about much more than just our finances. FI (and the financial buffer we enjoy en route to FI) is important and provides an avenue to greater choice to pursue the things that make us happy. In the meanwhile we live our lives with all of the inherent ups and downs. How has your 2016 shaken out? What were the highs and lows?

My 2016 saw me hit all of my financial goals, and take on some interesting careers goals. It saw time in the mountains, sublime swims in lakes, dusty trails, a new dog in the house, and growth of new friendships. The latter half of 2016 has also been very tough with multiple deaths in the circle of friends and family, near and far. Enough that I'm ultimately just ready to mentally put 2016 behind me and look forward to 2017.

How was yours?

ender

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7402
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2016, 06:13:46 PM »
Lots of change. New job and several large purchases.

Probably pretty good overall, I guess.

Zikoris

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4536
  • Age: 37
  • Location: Vancouver, BC
  • Vancouverstachian
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2016, 10:40:22 PM »
It was one of our best years ever, for sure. Our net worth is up over 70K so far (on an 80K combined salary), and we have another two paychecks left before year end. Boyfriend got a great new job halfway through the year. More importantly, we got in some of our best travel yet - we made it out to several countries in southeast Asia, along with Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

purephase

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 17
  • Age: 58
  • Location: Glasgow Scotland
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #3 on: December 20, 2016, 03:51:36 PM »
I would give 2016 8 out of 10 so I cannot complain. We were on track to beat our financial goals until November happened and we had to replace our car because our old one was written off. The goal was for the old one to last another 2 years, but we got a surprising amount from the insurance when the car was written off and we found a bargain 3-year-old car so long term losing the old car is not a bad thing. Other than the financial side of life things were also good. I ran a 10 minute PB marathon, did some Scottish island hopping, passed a bookkeeping exam, visited York for the first time in years read 50 books and was for the majority of the time happy and contented. The only downside is that I am still in a job I am not entirely happy with and with a company I am definitely not happy with, but that lack of career change is entirely my fault.

BussoV6

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 287
  • Location: Egoli
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2016, 12:33:31 AM »
I would give 2016 8 out of 10 so I cannot complain. We were on track to beat our financial goals until November happened and we had to replace our car because our old one was written off. The goal was for the old one to last another 2 years, but we got a surprising amount from the insurance when the car was written off and we found a bargain 3-year-old car so long term losing the old car is not a bad thing. Other than the financial side of life things were also good. I ran a 10 minute PB marathon, did some Scottish island hopping, passed a bookkeeping exam, visited York for the first time in years read 50 books and was for the majority of the time happy and contented. The only downside is that I am still in a job I am not entirely happy with and with a company I am definitely not happy with, but that lack of career change is entirely my fault.

That's quick!

purephase

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 17
  • Age: 58
  • Location: Glasgow Scotland
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #5 on: December 21, 2016, 02:21:31 AM »
Yes lol, I used a motorbike instead of running shoes

MostlyBearded

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 58
  • Age: 38
  • Location: England, UK
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #6 on: December 21, 2016, 04:06:16 AM »
Best year of my life!

Jan - My 30th birthday, put a down payment on our first house.
Feb - Got engaged
Mar - Travelled to Lithuania (my fiancé's homeland)
Apr - Discovered she was pregnant with our first child (she already has two boys)
May - Discovered MMM, cancelled £700 of monthly expenses
Jun - Completed new house purchase
Jul - Furnished the whole house for under £1,000 entirely with second hand furniture
Aug - Started getting aggressive with debt repayments
Sep - Sold one of our two cars, paid off all credit card debt with proceeds
Oct - Got married! Went to Lithuania again for a cheap honeymoon!
Nov - Non mortgage debt reduced from £16,000 in July to £3,000 now
Dec - Becoming a father in 2 days! C-section booked for 23rd Dec

This whole year has been fantastic, I can't believe how blessed we are and looking forward to seeing what 2017 will bring.

Happy new year to all you mustachians, this forum has been and continues to be amazing motivation for me! People may not realise what a profound impact writing about their own experiences can have on others.

Peace, Nameswhack


Kansas Beachbum

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 182
  • Location: Kansas City Metro
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #7 on: December 21, 2016, 06:00:32 AM »
Best year of my life!

Jan - My 30th birthday, put a down payment on our first house.
Feb - Got engaged
Mar - Travelled to Lithuania (my fiancé's homeland)
Apr - Discovered she was pregnant with our first child (she already has two boys)
May - Discovered MMM, cancelled £700 of monthly expenses
Jun - Completed new house purchase
Jul - Furnished the whole house for under £1,000 entirely with second hand furniture
Aug - Started getting aggressive with debt repayments
Sep - Sold one of our two cars, paid off all credit card debt with proceeds
Oct - Got married! Went to Lithuania again for a cheap honeymoon!
Nov - Non mortgage debt reduced from £16,000 in July to £3,000 now
Dec - Becoming a father in 2 days! C-section booked for 23rd Dec

This whole year has been fantastic, I can't believe how blessed we are and looking forward to seeing what 2017 will bring.

Happy new year to all you mustachians, this forum has been and continues to be amazing motivation for me! People may not realise what a profound impact writing about their own experiences can have on others.

Peace, Nameswhack

Many congratulations!  That is indeed an epic year!  Enjoy that new baby and your new wife!  Happy holidays!

MandalayVA

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1569
  • Location: Orlando FL
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2016, 06:05:40 AM »
2016 was an ... interesting year.  Work was driving me crazy so I started setting everything up to be a freelance writer (EIN, website, etc.).  In August, I learned I will be made redundant sometime in 2017.  We went to London and Paris in September, and I spent my fiftieth birthday in the City of Light.  I self-published my first novel in October.  Mr. Mandalay decided to retire from Ginormocorp since he could get his full pension, and we decided to move to Florida once the job thing was done.  All this wasn't how I envisioned this year ending, but I'm not complaining.  :D

MostlyBearded

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 58
  • Age: 38
  • Location: England, UK
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2016, 06:11:42 AM »
Best year of my life!

Jan - My 30th birthday, put a down payment on our first house.
Feb - Got engaged
Mar - Travelled to Lithuania (my fiancé's homeland)
Apr - Discovered she was pregnant with our first child (she already has two boys)
May - Discovered MMM, cancelled £700 of monthly expenses
Jun - Completed new house purchase
Jul - Furnished the whole house for under £1,000 entirely with second hand furniture
Aug - Started getting aggressive with debt repayments
Sep - Sold one of our two cars, paid off all credit card debt with proceeds
Oct - Got married! Went to Lithuania again for a cheap honeymoon!
Nov - Non mortgage debt reduced from £16,000 in July to £3,000 now
Dec - Becoming a father in 2 days! C-section booked for 23rd Dec

This whole year has been fantastic, I can't believe how blessed we are and looking forward to seeing what 2017 will bring.

Happy new year to all you mustachians, this forum has been and continues to be amazing motivation for me! People may not realise what a profound impact writing about their own experiences can have on others.

Peace, Nameswhack

Many congratulations!  That is indeed an epic year!  Enjoy that new baby and your new wife!  Happy holidays!

Thanks very much KB! Best wishes

ketchup

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4323
  • Age: 33
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2016, 09:56:02 AM »
Two old cars died, replaced with single car for now.
GF's business (self-employed) has increased, threw some capex back into that.
Raise and bonus for me at work.
Began house renovations.
Rental house almost paid off.
Learned how to cut up free deer carcasses to stash in freezer for dog food.

thisisjames

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #11 on: December 21, 2016, 10:25:24 AM »
Havin' money's not everything, not havin' it is - The Kanye

This year helped me realign priorities.

Our little girl was born premature and had a 6 week NICU stay (she's doing great now). That stress, along with working on a new book, made me lose sight of the sales goals for our business, consequently hurting my income. My wife was out of work for maternity leave and then some.

Being debt free and having an emergency fund made my feel secure financially though the big events. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like if my wife and I were not good with money. We didn't hit the net worth goal we were looking for this, but still improved modestly. 

mancityfan

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 160
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #12 on: December 21, 2016, 11:16:56 AM »
The Bad
Lost 2 friends from a social group of 10 guys. One to cancer, one to suicide. These two events alone leave me looking forward to seeing the back of 2016
Work - I am a teacher, 18 years in, never used to feel like "work" as I enjoy most aspects, but starting to become a grind. Attribute some of this to financial position (see below), looking to FIRE in 2020.
Spent way too much time thinking about the future instead of enjoying today.


The Good
Traveled to Belgium with some good friends on a great trip
Started to exercise more
Made some improvements to my diet
Read more than previous years
Earned $9000 in side hustle soccer refereeing
Converted some more funds to Vanguard
Passed 1M in investments - currently at 1.1M. House paid off.

dude

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2369
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #13 on: December 21, 2016, 12:12:52 PM »
Overall a good year financially and otherwise.

Good
Markets were up, NW went up by @$170k
Traveled to Honduras (diving), Costa Rica (surfing), Italy (touristing), Utah, (snowboarding), Colorado (same)
Salary went up by 5.2%
No major health issues for the wife or I
Nobody close to me died

Bad
Lost my big, beautiful dog at 11 years old to leukemia
With just 2.5 years to go until retirement, the job is becoming a real grind
Donald Trump became our President-elect
Far-right populist movements gained traction worldwide
A lot of damn fine musicians suffered untimely deaths

Noodle

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1316
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2016, 09:05:29 AM »
OK year here.

The big win: two people I am really close to had serious health scares and came out unscathed. I will take that as the trade-off for the rest of this year:

--A fifth of my annual income in unexpected expenses. Luckily I keep a massive emergency fund, so am still well into the black and close to rebuilding the fund, but this was supposed to be the year I started aggressively paying down the mortgage.  Drat.
--This was not a rewarding year at work...a combination of difficult board members (luckily one-year appointments), a colleague on leave which meant cutting our most interesting activities way back (and extra work for those still here) and the final phase of a multi-year, important, but fairly thankless project that was the main focus of everyone's attention for the last eight months of the year. Plus no raises and substantial health insurance cost increases left everyone feeling unappreciated.
--The national mood, and the election.

I have high hopes for this year, though...

--The single biggest expense connected to my home has now taken place, and that system is under warranty for the next ten years.
--Our staff member is back as of January 1, our big project is done, and new board members who are much easier to work with have replaced the difficult ones.
--My slightly unhinged downstairs neighbor has just moved out.
--I am planning to take care of a medical issue that has been bugging me for awhile...have tried the less drastic interventions, and now feel ready to go with the bigger one.



FireHiker

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1141
  • Location: So Cal
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #15 on: December 29, 2016, 09:55:54 AM »
It's been an interesting year. At the very beginning of the year a good friend was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma. Her youngest child at the time was almost 7 (my son's very best friend). It has been a HARD year to watch what she's going through. She is still fighting, but it's a dire prognosis. It really made me re-evaluate what is important in my life and start working on re-prioritizing. I also really started to delve into the FIRE world and read all of MMM's blog, starting at the very beginning. We have a lot of room for improvement still, but my husband and I are mostly on the same page and we're moving in the right direction together.

Without making a LOT of changes (and with spending more on travel than ever before) we saw our net worth go up $106k, not including home equity. We bumped up our 401K contributions dramatically. We also started spending more money on experiences than things, got the kids passports, and went on two international trips. Finding travel hacking was definitely a lightbulb moment for us! Travel is a big passion for me but it is so expensive with a family of 5.

We cut the cleaning lady mid-year, and cut cable right at the end of 2015 so this was our first year without it. I haven't missed it at all! I've gotten back into reading, thanks to my kindle at Christmas 2015, discovering ebooks from the library, which I never would have known about it if wasn't for the FIRE community online. I feel like a whole new world has opened up! It used to be nothing for me to go to a bookstore or Amazon and drop $100 on books at a time, and I can't see ever doing that again. Life-changing, really.

I still feel very overwhelmed by all the superfluity in our lives. I am a minimalist at heart but we live in a massive house full of junk we don't need. We probably won't move in the immediate future, but I am really going to focus on downsizing the stuff anyway. We are going to travel more. I'm excited to see our progress in 2017.

soccerluvof4

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7161
  • Location: Artic Midwest
  • Retired at 50
    • My Journal
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #16 on: December 29, 2016, 10:14:36 AM »
2016 Will be a year to remember and plenty of ups and downs.

First complete year of being fire'd. 8 months the year before so 20 months in all.

Ended the year higher financially with investments after my 4% withdrawal I committed to.

My 2 oldest of 4 kids received scholarships. 1- 100% out of state Athletic scholarship to a Big 10 school plus a per diem of i believe 3500$ a semester so about a 250k scholarship. and My other received a escalating athletic scholarship to a school in NC where we want to retire so that 529 money i can roll down and actually adds to our wealth as well.

Have been slowly remodeling the downsized house we bought ever so slowly or one room at a time. Have lived here for 14 months and have done 2 rooms. Making it our own, trying to do as much as we can on our own and trying to be financially smart in our decision making as we do it. But in downsizing our property taxes are 6k less a year alone so that helps alot.

I lost and have kept off 55-60lbs for basically a year now.

With the election and all the talk on Health Care my DW found a extremely flexible job that actually provides and does benefit work for companies so we got really good insurance which will be with her take home about a 3k savings a month. My health insurance was going to basically triple. This we will not do more than 3 years though unless A) she just loves and wants to keep doing her job or B) the market dumps and or Healthcare just keeps being ridiculous. Again they accommodated her hours and so far she loves it.

The negatives have been with 3 teenagers I feel I am in a constant state of worry and feel a lot more anxiety since not working but I am working through this and getting better at it.

Having had "Status" which I always laughed about to being simplistic and Fire'd has also has some adjusting for various reasons but that to is changing.

At an age where a lot of people I know have been passing away and one cant help to think more about their own health etc.. as I have had things wearing out and or seemingly healthy but more doctor visits as I get older.

To sum it up 2016 Financially has been solid and has proved "we can do this and not really give anything up when you consider how much time we get to spend with our kids etc.." but the "year of adjustment" and sometimes "doubt or fear and worry" which as I said is becoming less as I adapt. Don't kid yourself the easy reminder is being fire'd is what I want to do and way out weighs the adjustments! :-)






golden1

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1541
  • Location: MA
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #17 on: December 29, 2016, 11:30:38 AM »
My 2016 has mostly sucked bigly :)  with a few bright spots.  At the beginning of the year my son had major anxiety meltdowns at school related to his ASD.  My mother had a major cardiac incident which she barely lived through.  My daughter is struggling with a mental illness which intensified this fall.  And the election didn't help.  I think the stress of all of this is why I have had two stomach viruses and a nasty respiratory bug this past month.  December has just been one illness after another. 

On the bright side, my son is doing much, much better this semester in school.  My daughter has been matched up with one of the best mental health clinics in the country thanks to her therapist.  After a long recovery period, my mom is also doing much better these days, though she is still frail.   We had a much needed family vacation this November that we all enjoyed.   And we just picked out a pair of kittens that we will bring home next month, untainted by 2016. 

I am hoping that 2017 is a little less eventful. 

sisto

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1084
  • Age: 55
  • Location: Sacramento, CA
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #18 on: December 29, 2016, 12:04:26 PM »
2016 had it's ups and downs, but I feel like I came out ahead. I made some really good financial gains and raised my net worth by ~$100K not including my house. My health and the health of my immediate family has been good with the exception of my Dad and Step Mom. She is doing ok right now, but was almost put into hospice a month ago. I made 3 trips this year to go and care for her and my Dad. His health is ok right now too, but he has several things going on and had also been caring for her. I survived a major layoff at work and am currently doing work that I actually enjoy. I was also offered a new position within my company that I may consider taking after the new year. I was able to travel to Cabo San Lucas in October and plan to go on a few trips in 2017. I've pre-paid some of it already which will be a plus. I'm saddened by all of the people we lost this year including some people I know. I'm realizing that I'm at an age where people around me start dying and it makes me want to strive to live life to the fullest and have no regrets in case something happens to me. I'm thankful that all of my financial ducks are in a row and my family will be ok and probably even better off financially if something were to happen to me. I've seen too many people die and leave their families with nothing but debt. I'm looking forward to making 2017 even better than 2016!

pachnik

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1894
  • Age: 59
  • Location: Vancouver, BC
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #19 on: December 29, 2016, 12:37:26 PM »
My husband and I had a good year.  We took a trip to Paris and London - first time we've been to Europe together.  Both of us really enjoyed it.  I have this website to thank for our trip.  I know I've said this in other threads but before I found MMM's website I believed that we couldn't afford to travel.  I frittered my money away for a long time  :(    Now, I am definitely not at uber frugal levels but I do spend consciously.  What a different this has made.

As well as going to Europe this year, I've continued putting a third of my net income into my RRSP.  My husband paid off his car this year too.  He has a few thousand to pay off on his credit card and then he's done with debt.  Last night we went to the library and he took out two books about money.  One by Gail Vaz-Oxlade of whom I am a huge fan and then another one about investing.    :)   

Thanks again MMM and you good forum people! 

katstache92

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 203
  • Age: 37
  • Location: Gondor
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #20 on: December 29, 2016, 01:34:11 PM »
2016 was a mixed bag, as I suppose all years will be.

The good
- Maxed out my 401k for the first time!
- Both cats made it through the year (or at least the first 363 days)
- I allowed myself to enjoy Disney again
- I kept my HOA from cutting down some trees by going door to door and asking people to send emails
- I drove less miles than any previous year

The not so good
- One of the cats had a major surgery which cost ~$4k but she is now doing great
- I am horribly allergic to watermelon artificial flavoring and discovered this in the Ft. Luaderdale airport by myself.  This led to my first time in an ER, yikes those bills.
- I'm still slacking on riding my bike and other weight loss efforts
- I started applying for jobs outside of my current company after not being allowed by HR to receive a promotion my boss recommended me for.  There is also a whole host of other unfairness that I dealt with there this year.  None of these applications have come through yet, which is discouraging, although most of them are not in my current location so I am thinking it just takes longer to find a company willing to relocate or hire from outside their immediate area.  I did get one interview which went well until the interviewer (the potential future boss) told me she was leaving that company.
- My cat allergies are still severe even after being on sublingual drops.  I can't have any more cats after these two as it's impacting my life.  I've been sick since the end of July with about a week and a half of feeling good wedged in there.

iwasjustwondering

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 437
Re: Reflecting on 2016
« Reply #21 on: December 29, 2016, 03:29:49 PM »
Overall, it's been a great year.  There were three negatives: my father's Alzheimers has gotten significantly worse, another close relative has had serious mental health issues, and I had back surgery (partial discectomy).  If you have your health, you have everything, really. 

On the positive side:

I got engaged! 
I took my two teenage kids to Paris and Nice over the summer.  It was great to introduce them to two wonderful cities I know and love.  I got to use my French, which came back better than I thought it would, much to the shock of my children.
Younger kid survived a bullying issue last spring with grace and strength.  He is doing great now.
Both of my kids are happy, healthy, and excellent students.
Fiance, kids, and I had a lovely, relaxing spring break trip to Florida. 
I found out I am going to be a step-grandmother!
I got a new job, which rescued me from a very difficult boss and boosted my income and title.  The downside is that I went from an 11-mile round-trip commute to a 54-mile one, which I do believe is related to my back problems.  So I need to think about that one in 2017.
My stepdaughters threw us an amazing engagement party.  It was thoughtful and lovely. 

 


 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!