Hey everyone! This is my first post to the forum. I've lurked for maybe close to 5 years but finally pulled the trigger on actually creating an account to post. I love seeing the annual updates so figured this was a great place for me to join in. I started tracking wealth in 2012 when we bought our first home. All values are in AUD and include the value of our PPOR (which makes up 45% of our assets and net wealth as we are in a major Australian city). Forgive me if the formatting doesn't work, I haven't figured it out yet.
Year Net Assets Movement
2012 $440k
2013 $585k $145k
2014 $791k $206k
2015 $788k $(3)k (sold first home and bought second home/PPOR. Paid roughly $100k in transaction costs)
2016 $1,039k $251k
2017 $1,304k $265k
2018 $1,343k $ 39k (major house renovation when house values were decreasing)
2019 $1,626k $283k
2020 $1,831k $205k
2021 $2,480k $650k (insane house price and share market increases)
So many life events are represented here over the last 10 years. Here's a summary of just a few of the highlights:
We sold our first home (a 3 bedroom townhouse in a very fancy suburb) and bought what could be a forever home (4 bedroom + large yard house in a slightly less fancy but still very nice neighbourhood).
We went from a single income household to a double income household paying childcare to not paying childcare.
Spouse hit a major career milestone that came with a significant pay increase.
Bought an investment property.
Started making monthly contributions to investment portfolio.
Started maxing out our superannuation contributions.
I was made redundant and started my own consulting business.
My spouse left their high paying job to join me in the consulting business.
I am fully expecting to go backwards next year because 2021 was so good financially, and with both of us working in the new business we don't have any guaranteed income which is slightly scary but we are working hard to make it a success.
So I don't post much (at all) on these forums, but I'm a regular reader. As I posted our net worth update last year when it was a crazy good year, I felt it was only fair to come back and post again in a down year.
Year Net Assets Movement
2012 $440k
2013 $585k $145k
2014 $791k $206k
2015 $788k $(3)k (sold first home and bought second home/PPOR. Paid roughly $100k in transaction costs)
2016 $1,039k $251k
2017 $1,304k $265k
2018 $1,343k $ 39k (major house renovation when house values were decreasing)
2019 $1,626k $283k
2020 $1,831k $205k
2021 $2,480k $650k (insane house price and share market increases)
2022 $2,287k $(193)k (single income and house and share market decreases)
As expected, our net worth reduced in 2022. We anticipated this due to spouse leaving a crazy high income job to start a business. It was originally going to be a consulting business but we made a pivot to create a SaaS business and have invested the last year in designing and developing the software. We will do closed group beta testing in Q1 2023 with a launch in Q2. We don't expect much in the way of income from the SaaS business in 2023 but would like to see evidence that the market is out there and they can find and want to use our solution. I took on a 6 month contract role mid-year to give us some stability of income. My contract position has been extended to October 2023, so we have some certainty of income but being contract all it takes is 1 week's notice and I'm out. The asset levels we have built up over the last decade have allowed us to take this risk. Worst case scenario is we both keep working longer. Onwards and upwards.
My 2023 financial goals are to increase Net worth by $250k+ and to have a household gross income (incl. business net profits before tax) of $400k+.
I've updated our balance sheet for year end as I will be away over the New Year period, so figured it was a good time to share it here and revive this thread for everyone's annual updates.
Year Net Assets Movement
2012 $440k
2013 $585k $145k +33%
2014 $791k $206k +35%
2015 $788k $(3)k +0% (sold first home and bought second home/PPOR. Paid roughly $100k in transaction costs)
2016 $1,039k $251k +32%
2017 $1,304k $265k +25%
2018 $1,343k $ 39k +3% (major house renovation when house values were decreasing)
2019 $1,626k $283k +21%
2020 $1,831k $205k +13%
2021 $2,480k $650k +35% (insane COVID house price and share market increases)
2022 $2,287k $(193)k -8% (single income and house and share market decreases)
2023 $2,370k $83k +4% (single income, share market increases, no change to house price)
Average increase per year $175k.
Overall, the big increase in the share market in the last month or two has rescued us, to give us a slight upwards increase of $83k/4%. Much less than our average of $175k/12%, but still a positive number.
Things were much slower on the business front than expected. Once again, I'm expecting the first users for the SaaS business to start in Q1 of this year. It will actually happen this year, as we have a company lined up to start using the system in Mid-January 2024. As a result, SO had no income as they were still working on the business full time. Being in Australia, our mortgages came off fixed interest and increased hugely. We now pay something like $11k per month in mortgage payments. It's crippling us. I was fortunate in that my contract got extended until April 2024. I think after this, there won't be anymore extensions, so it's crunch time for the business and for SO to start bringing in some cash.
My 2024 financial goals are very similar to 2023 - increase Net worth by $250k+ (to $2.6m) and to have a household gross income (incl. business net profits before tax) of $400k+. This time I'm going to explicitly state that my financial goal includes launching the SaaS product into the market in Q1 2024, and earning at least $100k revenue from it, ideally more.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's updates as the year end figures roll in!
