2017 - Financial Year In Review

2017 has been a better year than 2016 in terms of finances. Our good health still remains our greatest blessing. I wish to thank the powers that be for this incredible gift. As we get ready for 2018, I want to look back at last year and review finances. The format is going to be very similar the 2016 post, which can be found here.

Total net worth

This is a sum total of all the liquid assets, investment assets minus all the debt, which is our mortgage loan. Property value is not included.

Beginning of year balance (Saturday, January 14, 2017): $90,120.35
End of year balance (Saturday, December 16, 2017): $163,332.47

Net Change: +$73,212.12
Percentage Change: +81.24%

Liquid net worth

This includes a total of all the liquid accounts.

Liquid net worth change

Beginning of year balance (Saturday, January 14, 2017) - $161,230.18
End of year balance (Saturday, December 16, 2017) - $44,321.82

Net Change: -$116,908.36
Percentage Change: -72.51%

Paying off the mortgage is the reason why our liquid net worth is low.

Investments

This includes change in value of investments in 401k, Roth IRA and taxable accounts at the end of the year.

Investments through 2017

Total invested (Saturday, December 16, 2017): $100,354.41
Total value of investments (Saturday, December 16, 2017): $115,376.71

Change: +14.97%

Debt

2017 is a wonderful year where we paid off our house and eliminated all debt.

Saturday, January 14, 2017: -$124,913.24
Saturday, December 16, 2017: $0

Change: Debt eliminated!

Total Expenses

Total expenses in 2017 are insanely high because I am counting the mortgage pay off as an expense.

2017 Total expenses: $144,977.76
2017 Total expenses (without mortgage pay off): $19,797.58

2016 Total expenses: $32,385.66
2016 Total expenses (without mortgage payments): $19,530.03

Change: +347.66%

I think the interesting thing here is that we are able to live on less than $20,000 per year if we don't have a mortgage, and this includes home insurance and property taxes.

Food

2017 groceries and eating out: $3,226.18
2016 groceries and eating out: $2,688.83

Change: +19.98%

I am not sure how we spent almost $600 more in 2017 compared to 2016...I am going to keep a close eye on this in 2018.

Computer related expenses

2017 computer expenditure: $1,456.29
2016 computer expenditure: $2,149.85

I am kind of surprised that I spent over $1,400 on computer related expenses, and this number is kind of high considering I did not build a gaming machine in 2017. More than 50% of the expenses is for one item - the MSI 1080Ti. I really need to take it easy with computer related purchases in 2018.

Change: -32.26%

Video game purchases

2017 video game purchases - $222.60
2016 video game purchases - $179.50

I said I intended to keep the game purchases low in 2017, and I failed at it. Considering the Steam backlog I have, I really shouldn't be buying any more games until I finish a significant portion of it.

Change: +24.01%

Unplanned big expenses

2017 Unplanned big expenses: $348.00
2016 Unplanned big expenses: $3361.27

Fortunately, 2017 has been kind of us in terms of unexpected expenses. I am hoping it will be the same in 2018!

Change: -89.65%

Conclusion

My financial goals for this year include maximizing 401k, Roth IRA and HSA. and budget for fun, so that I can spend money guilt free. Overall, I am very happy with the progress we made in 2017.

Month in Review - April 2017

We began this month with the goal of spending less $1000 for all expenses. We are fortunate enough to have a paid off house, therefore we felt that this was something we could accomplish. I didn't have any big expenses that I could foresee for April. I paid off the tax dues last month, so the only spending categories we had to care about this month were regular expenses. 

Keeping track of expenses, and consciously avoiding spending mistakes allowed us to stay under budget. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, it just required some vigilance on our part to ensure that easy mistakes wouldn't be made. 

Summary of spending in April

Spending per category in April 2017

For the month of May, I intend to maintain the same budget, and spend less than $1000. I need to do a better job at managing groceries and eating out expenses. We did a great job until the 28th of this month. On the 28th, we went out to eat at a sit down restaurant, and that cost us $32 (I am generous when it comes to leaving tips). We definitely enjoyed the experience, but felt that getting take out would have been more fun, and would cost us less. 

Spending in 2017 thus far

Spending in 2017

The huge spike in spending for January 2017 is because we paid off our mortgage, and March was an expensive month because taxes were due.