Happy New Year to all you Money Wizards!
2017 is no longer your credit card’s expiration date, it’s now the age we’re living in! What a crazy world.
We’ve already done our year’s reflection using google searches, so now let’s get a little more personal than the collective Googler’s browser history.
We all had our highs and lows in 2016, but on the whole, I truly hope each and every one of you can look back on your 2016 with fond memories.
Maybe it’s partly me finally growing into something resembling an actual adult (when did that happen??) but I felt some big life advances during 2016, and I’m truly proud of how the year went.
Don’t worry, I’ll be criticizing myself soon enough, but let’s start with a list of things that I’m proud and/or grateful for in 2016. I’ll try to keep it short, so hold your tomatoes…
1. I realized a sort of lifelong dream, and I published my first blog post.
Don’t trust that November 2015 date, it took me 5 months after finishing the post just to muster up the courage to press publish. Until April 2016, the only thing MyMoneyWizard.com’s two accidental visitors ever saw was a “Coming Soon” page.
I’ve always loved writing, and I’ve always dreamed of having my own website. So a reasonable person would think a blog was the obvious choice. But I must be slower than the reasonable person, because I somehow used the internet for 18 years before the idea to start a blog ever crossed my mind.
I’d always assumed a personal finance site about a young(er) blogger beginning the road to early retirement must have been done before. Then one day I realized I couldn’t find that site, and My Money Wizard was born.
2. MyMoneyWizard.com was way more successful in its first year than I ever imagined.
After I published that first post, I promised myself I’d continue writing for a year and see what happens. I figured I wouldn’t be able to tell if there was any interest until then, and I imagined a year’s worth of lonely writing on a barren webpage and then having to decide whether I should continue.
And the page was barren at first. Then something crazy happened. People started reading!
All in all, the site received about 200,000 views in 2016, and over 2,000 of you subscribed to the newsletter. To say that is encouraging is the understatement of my writing career. That’s completely, unbelievably, absolutely freakin’ amazing to me.
So much for that one-year experiment.
Now it looks like we’re all stuck with each other, because at this point you have given me the motivation to continue writing for as long as I can.
3. I grew my Net Worth by about $40,000.
Some of this growth was due to a bull year in the stock market and some was due to employer contribution matching, but the fact remains that I socked away a lot of money in 2016.
A quick glance at my statements, and it looks like I contributed over $25,000 into my investment accounts in 2016. Not too shabby for a year that I bought a new car almost entirely in cash.
At times it was easy. Other times it wasn’t, and I often had to take a step back and ask myself whether certain spending would really make me happy.
4. Most importantly, I grew my relationships.
When you hang out on websites about money all day, it’s easy to lose sight of the most important things in life.
The bigger picture, of course, is that growing some numbers in a bank account doesn’t mean a whole lot if you’re sacrificing everything for it. Whether you’re wealthy or not, the true happiness always come back to spending time with people you love.
I’m happy to report that all is good on this front. My parents and family remain my rock, and I’m lucky ot have a small group of incredible friends. I also spent a full calendar year very happily living with my amazing girlfriend, and no, we aren’t breaking up over the internet bill any time soon.
Criticism Time!
Okay, the grateful part went on a little longer than I anticipated, but it’s been a great year for me. Quick, onto some failures!
1. I did not achieve my goal of a 60% savings rate.
I was on pace to meet this target, but a November car purchase caused a last minute drop in the annual savings rate.
I don’t count my vehicle as adding value to my net worth, which means after spending a big chunk of cash on the car, I saved a little over 40% of my take home pay in 2016.
2. I did not finish maxing out my Roth IRA by year end 2016.
In my June Net Worth Update, I mentioned my plan of investing another $4,500 into my Roth IRA by December 2016. I did not keep to this schedule, and instead built up my cash reserves for the car purchase.
3. I did not post as frequently as I planned.
In the August Net Worth Update, I declared a goal of two new posts every week. Many weeks went by with only one post, and I’m sad to report that on those weeks, no readers showed up with pitchforks like I kindly asked.
Turns out, running a blog like this sure takes a bunch of time, and to be honest with you, the pay around here stinks. 😉
Occasionally, my real job and real life got in the way of this pretend blog business of mine, and my posting schedule suffered.
The Money Wizard’s New Year’s Resolutions for 2017
1. Save over 60% of my income.
Hopefully I can fare better at this in 2017 than I did in 2016. If I buy another car in 2017, then you all will really know I’ve lost my mind.
2. Finish maxing out my Roth IRA for the 2016 tax year.
The good news for my lack of Roth maxing is that I still have until April 17, 2017 to make the last $4,500 of Roth IRA contributions eligible for the 2016 tax year.
3. Max out my Roth IRA for the 2017 tax year.
With no cars to save for, I have no excuses. I should complete goal #2, then also contribute the $5,500 IRS allowed maximum for 2017.
4. Hit the IRS maximum of $18,000 into my work’s 401K plan.
I was able to max out my 401K in 2016, and I hope to keep the streak alive for next year as well.
5. Stick to a more consistent dollar cost averaging strategy in my taxable Vanguard fund.
After taking full advantage of my Roth IRA and my work’s 401K plan, I hope to have enough savings left over each month to contribute at least $1,000 per month to my taxable Vanguard index fund.
6. Eat out less often in 2017.
I have a bad habit of eating out for lunch, and I’m sure its impacting both my wallet and my health. There is no excuse for the number of times I default to a salted up, greasy, $8-10 lunch, other than laziness.
I either need to be more disciplined to wake up 10 minutes earlier to pack a lunch, or better yet, just do it the night before.
I do enjoy the breath of fresh air from the office, so I’m not confident I can go completely cold turkey. Because of this, I’ll allow myself one lunch out per week.
7. Post more consistently.
I’ve never been this excited to write for the site. As it stands, I now have about 30 half written draft posts in my to-do folder. I have so many amazing ideas flying through my head that it’s often hard to decide where to start! Lately I’ve felt like I just have to get my thoughts onto some virtual paper, or else I’ll go crazy!
I hope to finish the gauntlet of draft posts soon, then build up a nice buffer. My goal is to have the posts polished up and ready to go at least two weeks in advance, so that I can maintain a consistent 2x per week posting schedule.
8. Enjoy Life.
🙂
Find Your Financial Resolutions in 2017
There’s never a better time than the New Year to establish some concrete goals that your future self will be grateful for.
- If you’re struggling with student loans, consider refinancing through LendEdu and free yourself from those anchors, as fast as possible.
- If you’re not yet maxing your 401K and IRA, feel free to join me and tons of other readers using every advantage possible to get rich.
- See how high you can push that savings rate (and how many years of freedom you can buy yourself!)
Happy New Year everyone! Good luck with 2017!
Money Wizards, how was your 2016? And what are some of your financial and non-financial goals for 2017?
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GregoryP says
Hi! (what’s your first name anyway?)
Great share and summary of last year’s goals.
It’s exciting to see how your blog is growing every month,
hope it will begin adding up to your bottom line soon
and perhaps you can quit your job by 2018?
Keep going! It’s inspiring,
Gregory
The Money Wizard says
Gregory,
Now that’s a resolution! Shooting for the stars, I like your style.
Glad to hear you’re enjoying the site. Hope to see you around some more.
-Sean 😉
Julie @ Millennial Boss says
I write and then I post almost immediately. I never get ahead. Very jealous that you have the draft posts at least started. Congrats on a successful 2016 and looking forward to watching you kill it again in 2017!
The Money Wizard says
Thanks Julie, and best of luck to you and your site too!
Here’s to getting ahead in 2017! Maybe? Haha… it’s so much easier said than done.
Kerim says
The first time I started reading your blog it was about maxing out 401K contributions (403B in my case) and it was back in October. After a couple of days reading more about it, I pulled the trigger and started putting more money (almost %20 of my salary) into my retirement account for 2 months in 2016. Today I realized that I saved more than I wanted to save for every month and I didn’t even realize that money goes to somewhere safe up to now. I am glad that I am here and your follower. My next resolution will be figuring out the Roth IRA and putting money into it. Thanks for your post.
The Money Wizard says
Hey Kerim, I remember our 403B discussion. Glad to hear it’s working out for you and good to see you again! A Roth IRA article is one of the many on my to do list!
Jennifer says
I would love to learn more about investing as a self employed person. Huge numbers of people in this country are self employed yet there is very little info on money management and a commission only income. As a Realtor I have no employee sponsored retirement options, matching or even a regular income. I have found virtually nothing about budgeting, saving and investing as a self employed person and I’ve been researching this for years! Calculators don’t allow for this type of income/savings scenario and blog after blog assumes regular paychecks in their calculations.
My SEP is awesome and I am maximizing that contribution but knowing what other options are out there would be great. I currently save about 50-60% of my income but everything over and above my SEP contributions go directly to my taxable investment account. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for the blog, I’m really enjoying it.
J
The Money Wizard says
Great point about the self employed portion of the country, there does seem to be a lack of focus on this group within the personal finance community. I will do my best to keep this group in mind for potential future posts.
Physician On FIRE says
I like Goal #8! All the goals are good, actually. Congratulations on a wildly successful launch, and I look forward to following along in 2017.
Goal #9: Finally sit down for a beer with that Physician on FIRE guy.
Cheers!
-PoF
The Money Wizard says
Goal #9 might be the most important one!
Just got back from Indeed Brewing. We definitely need to work something out!
PeterB says
Hi Sean!
Congrats for your successful 2016 year and wish you all the best for 2017. With your mindset I am sure your goals will be achieved (maybe number 6 is the only one which consists some threat to a flawless victory 🙂 )
In 2016 our monthly spending was around 40% of my salary, the rest went to mortgage repayment and house renovation. Can I still stay that I saved 60% of my income? (There is no such thing as 40X account, any kind of IRA or employer contribution in my country so that is all I can show as a result).
My biggest financial goal for 2017 is to find out how to boost my income while cut back on working hours. It is a tough paradoxon so wish me luck 🙂 Maybe I should start a blog (insert newspaper cat realization meme here).
Austin says
I’m interested in your 60% savings goal. That has to be net of taxes, right? Is it net of anything else?
I try to set goals like this myself, but it’s confusing using net numbers, because saving in pre-tax places like HSA and 401k change how much you’re taxed. I don’t think looking at a gross savings rate is more helpful either, though.
By the way, did you ever tell us what car you got? I’m guessing a new Mazda 3 hatch.
The Money Wizard says
Hey Austin,
I calculate my savings rate relative to my post-tax pay, and include my employer 401K match as both income and savings. It’s not a perfect system, but it motivates me so hey, it’s doing its job.
I got a Mazda 3. I’ve got a post scheduled for next week that will discuss all the details.
Bodio says
Happy New Year Sean!
Love your #8 New Year’s Resolution.
The Money Wizard says
Thanks and Happy New Year to you too!
Go Finance Yourself! says
Congrats on an awesome first year! Sounds like you have a lot of great accomplishments, and I like the lofty goal of a 60% savings rate. Even if you don’t quite make it like this year, you’re still saving a ton of money. I have a goal to increase my after-tax, after 401k savings rate to above 40% this year and reach 50% within 2 years. All while maxing out my 401k. On a personal level, I’m determined to get my golf handicap into single digits (12.4 now).
Thanks for sharing!
The Money Wizard says
Thanks!
That’s an incredible post-post savings rate! I just did some quick math and probably only saved about 30% of my post-tax, post 401K income last year. 40% is a great goal, and I may be able to hit it as well in 2017 if stick to my broader savings goals. Look’s like we’re in this together!
Craig says
Well done on your successes this year. I have 20 draft ideas ready to write but it’s hard finding the time to research and get the keyboard fired up! Here’s to a successful 2017!
The Money Wizard says
No kidding. I used to think bloggers who only posted once every week or two were lazy, and now I’m absolutely amazed by people who can keep a consistent 1-2x per week schedule! There’s a lot of work behind the scenes!
Best of luck to you in 2017 as well. I’ll be sure to check out your site.
Matt says
Hi Money Wizard! Thanks for the inspiring posts here!
I have read a bunch recently about the tax advantaged HSA account. I have access to this through my employer. I am wondering what your opinion is on this. I am weighing whether I should try to max this out on top of the 401k and Roth IRA, or if I should try to build up cash or taxed funds with Vanguard.
Looking forward to your response.
The Money Wizard says
Hey Matt,
Fellow blogger the Mad Fientist actually calls the HSA the ultimate retirement account. Check out his article for a good run down.
jp says
with regards to the buying lunch to get out of the office: I’ve started taking walks at lunch (~30-40min walks), and it really helps break up the day and it’s free! I now have a group that goes with me (we’ve had up to 12 people go but it’s usually 3 “regulars”). Right at noon there’s a whirlwind in the office: “You walking?” (I got a talkin’ to yesterday b/c it was 12:06 and I hadn’t made my rounds to collect people yet). Just a suggestion 🙂
(I snack all throughout the day, so I don’t sit down and eat all at once, but this still gets me out of the office and uses up my lunch break time)
The Money Wizard says
That’s a very cool idea! Not only do you get to get out of the office, but it sounds like you get the social benefits of a lunch out too! I love it, and I will definitely give it a try.
Nick says
What does your goal setting process look like? Did you have most of them in the back of your mind and just put them to paper with a few tweaks?
I wonder if you’ve set any career goals also? Do you move much to maximise income? (in terms of job rather than location.)
If you don’t mind me asking, what would you do when presented with a difficult work situation that would speed up your exit strategy? I ask as I’ve been presented with something like that but I’m worried it would make me miserable, I’ve tried to focus on making my DAILY life as good as possible without chasing figures too much. The offer is essentially $1000 a day as a contractor, I would need to live in a different country 3-4days a week, which doesn’t seem great for the first year of marriage. The work is mostly political backstabbing, I wouldn’t learn much useful to do with software engineer/technology which is my field. The project will fail in 12-18months, hence the window of opportunity is closing.
I’m based in the UK, married and hitting 30 in a few weeks! Net worth is about $160k, wage $65k but is actually very good for my area. My other half is chronically ill and cannot work, bills are all handled by me. We hope in a few years she will be able to bring in some money, we’re prioritising her health first and foremost, I’m hoping to get her into IT, freelance UX/Graphic design which would suit her talents well.
Apologies for the wall of text…this was initially a quick question.