Thanks 2023. That’s a wrap! Here’s my personal & financial goals review.🪩
💻 Blogging:
I wrote 32 posts compared to my goal of 50. Considering I revamped my website and formally launched as an investment advisor & financial planner, I’m happy with this. There was a period of time when I had to take my website down while under regulatory review (standard procedure).
Some weeks, I could’ve slapped something together to post, but instead I chose to take my time writing something I felt was of high quality that I enjoyed crafting.
🏃♀️Running:
It wasn’t pretty at the end, but I made it to my goal of 500 miles and not a mile more! I knew I was in for a slog in May, when I realized I was pregnant. At about 36 weeks, I’m hanging up my cleats and retiring to speed walker status until after Baby Sharick 2 arrives in 2024.
📖 Books:
I read 23 books, which includes 2 audiobooks, compared to my goal of 24. I’ve listed them below in the order I read them, with my favorites in bold. Some good money & motherhood reads in there.
- The Sound of Gravel (Ruth Wariner)
- Financial Freedom (Grant Sabatier)
- The Financial Feminist (Tori Dunlap)
- The Psychology of Money (Morgan Housel)
- Verity (Colleen Hoover)
- Fair Play (Eve Rodsky)
- The One Page Financial Plan (Carl Richards)
- The Silent Patient (Alex Michaelides)
- Oh Crap! Potty Training (Jamie Glowacki) [If your child is approaching this stage, this book is undefeated.]
- Just Keep Buying (Nick Maggiulli)
- Drive (Daniel Pink)
- Memoir of a Bookie’s Son (Sidney Offit)
- The Vanishing Half (Brit Bennett)
- It Ends With Us (Colleen Hoover)
- The Family Upstairs (Lisa Jewell)
- The It Girl (Ruth Ware)
- Think Again (Adam Grant)
- Mind Over Money (Brad & Ted Klontz)
- Junk: Digging Through America’s Love Affair With Stuff (Alison Stewart)
- The Woman in Me (Britney Spears, audiobook)
- I’m Glad My Mom Died (Jeannette McCurdy, audiobook)
- Cultish (Amanda Montell)
- Oh Crap! I Have a Toddler (Jamie Glowacki)
💰 Business:
My business generated almost $60,000 in revenue in 2023. This was a combo of financial planning for my clients, financial planning for other advisors, and ghost writing for investment websites. My operating income was closer to $40,000.
📈 Investing:
My family invested $57,000 this year. This was below my goal of $75,000, but I’ll take it. I started a business and my husband started a new job in 2023. Plus, we’re preparing to close on a new home in early 2024, so I didn’t finish the year with my usual campaign to make last-minute account contributions.
Here are the accounts we contributed to with amounts:
- Jake’s 401(k): $22,500
- Madi’s Roth IRA: $6,500
- Madi’s Solo 401(k): $10,000
- Joint Taxable Brokerage: $7,000
- Daughter’s 529 Plan: $10,680
- Daughter’s UTMA: $740
In a perfect world, I would’ve prioritized maxing out my Solo 401(k) before contributing to the taxable brokerage, but I made the best decision with the information I had earlier in the year. I didn’t know where my business would land from a profitability standpoint in early 2023, so I decided to invest in the taxable brokerage account sooner instead of waiting.
We contribute as much as we do to our daughter’s 529 plan because my husband and I have already reached Coast FI. Coast FI is an early stage of financial independence when you already have enough saved to cover your retirement one day, even if you never invested another dollar. Even with that being said, we’d still like to build some extra cushion and take advantage of federal tax benefits when we invest, so I still contribute to our retirement accounts before her college savings account.
You might notice that I never set expense or budgeting goals. In fact, I might not even set income or revenue goals if I wouldn’t be a business owner. I don’t care about what we make or spend necessarily. Instead, I like to measure what we have to show for it on the scoreboard.
If you’re trying to get a financial leg up for your family, what’s going to move the needle is setting measurable investment goals or debt payoff goals.
Related Post: Invest for Retirement or My Kid’s College Tuition? How to Do Both.
✍️ Journaling:
I set a goal to journal daily, but I survived maybe two weeks and called it quits. I’m not sure this is for me. I enjoy writing stories and exploring more technical topics (because it helps me understand them better), but I don’t care to write about my feelings or the minutiae of my day. I’m sure a therapist would have a field day with this disclosure.😆
👨👩👧 Family:
This one is less quantifiable, but I feel like we did pretty good here. I felt more present with my family this year. My business has granted me the time flexibility my family needs to stay on the rails, and I’m rarely stressed about anything work related these days. When I’m with my family, I’m really there, not worrying about something else.
🤰Pregnancy:
It may have been out of scope in January of 2023, but this one deserves its rightful spot on the 2023 Goals Review. The Sharicks are tracking to have Baby #2 in January 2024, arguably the worst month of the year to have a baby, financially at least.
Here’s to setting realistic yet challenging goals again in 2024. 🥳 Email me with yours, both personal and financial. I’d love to hear them.
Madi
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investments may be appropriate for you, consult with your financial advisor.