2023 Personal and Financial Year Review

2023 Highlights:

● WE Celebrated Luca’s first birthday

My favorite event from the entire year was celebrating Luca’s birthday. The planning took months because finding a venue that would allow for our headcount (we both have hugenormous families) was no easy feat. But the universe came through! It’s been such a privilege to be the one creating his childhood and his first birthday had all the magic I knew it would. Celebrating him will trump any day, holiday, and event every year forever.

● WE Prioritized family time

We kicked off the New Year in Vegas and took trips to Dallas, Wisconsin Dells, Chicago, Miami, Vegas (again), and went on a cruise to Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, and the Bahamas this year. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to provide these experiences for my family and the honor of being the one who gets to craft these memories for my son will never be lost on me.

● WE increased our household income by 12%

Tommy kicked off 2023 with a raving performance review which awarded him a generous raise at work. On the contrary, my manager’s displacement following restructuring and mass layoffs at my company, hindered my performance review and subsequent raise. Ultimately, I received a standard 4%, which I accepted contentedly, grateful to retain my job amid the company’s turmoil.

As a result of my department’s reorganization, I began feeling disconnected from my job and consequently started looking for a new role within my company. I interviewed for a couple roles that excited me and to my surprise, landed the one I wanted rather quickly. What I initially thought would be a lateral move ended up being a promotion that came with an 11% salary hike and increased equity, boosting my total salary for the year by approximately 16%. Combined we increased our household income 12% which is our highest jump yet!

● I maxed out my roth ira contributions ($6,500)

Like years past, I’ve stayed the course with maxing my IRA contributions every year. The IRS announced in November the increase of contributions for 2024 to $7,000 so I had to adjust my automatic monthly contributions to ensure I max it again next year as well. In addition to our IRA, Tommy and I contribute 11% of our income to our 401(k)s.

● i maxed out my 2023 hsa contribution ($3,850)

Okay technically I only contributed $2,750 and my employer contributed the other $1,000 for participating in the family HDHP plan but nonetheless, we maxed the HSA again bb! I’ve been participating in my employer’s HDHP plan for a few years now and my balance has grown to over $15k ($2k in cash, which is the account minimum, and the rest invested ).

My current plan is to max my HSA contributions every year, pay for any medical costs in real time with cash, and let this account grow until retirement.

Tommy also contributes to his HSA so we always have to do a little math at the beginning of each new plan year to ensure we’re not going over the family max for the year. In 2024 the individual contribution limit jumps from $3,850 to $4,100 ($8,300 for families)! Not thrilled that my employer’s contribution won’t increase alongside this but I’ll take all the free dollhairs I can get.

● we CONTRIBUTED $4,750 TO OUR SON’S 529 COLLEGE ACCOUNT

This is over $1k more than last year! Though I originally intended to increase our contributions this year to $400/month, I ultimately decided it wasn’t necessary so we kept it steady at $300/month.

For Luca’s birthday we requested our guests make donations to his college account directly via a QR code in lieu of gifts. We only had a handful of takers (most chose to give physical gifts), but nonetheless it was a great way to increase the contributions even if by only a slight amount. We also put all monetary gifts we received for him into this account. As of today his account is at almost $10k and he’s not even 2 yet! Never mind that I fully expect him to use none of these funds because he’ll get awarded a full academic scholarship. We start Calculus tomorrow.

● we CONTRIBUTED $21,310 TO OUR high yield savings account

While this is still a high amount, it’s historically low for us ($1k less than last year, $5k less than the year before). We aren’t currently saving for any large purchases and already have over a year of expenses in our savings account so I honestly wasn’t pressed about this.

2023 LOWLIGHTS:

● LARGE EXPENSES

1. Medical Expenses (~$3K). No one tells you that having a child is living in a perpetual state of sickness. Or maybe everyone tells you that and I just never listened. Either way, between all 3 of us, 2023 was more visits to the doctor than I would have liked.
2. Lost Vacations ($500). Those sicknesses I spoke to in #1 above caused us to have to cancel a trip this year on the day we were supposed to fly out so we ended up losing about $500 in hotel & airfare due to the short notice.
3. Tax Bill (~$3K). Lower than years past but still higher than I’d ever like. This year I’m committed to finding an accountant who can help us file to ensure I’m not missing any necessary deductions.
4. Daycare costs remained the same at $190/week. We LOVE our daycare but they only take toddlers up to 3 years old so we’ll be devastated when Luca graduates from here next year!
5. Like years past, we dipped into our savings to pay for some vacations we took this year and for ones we paid for in advance next year.
6. Our mortgage increased $150/month due to an escrow shortage. In previous years we’ve just paid the shortage upfront to avoid a monthly increase but this year we were too lazy to call the bank ’cause sometimes we get tired of responsibility.

2023 Recap and Look Forward:

Writing this post this year felt different than years past. As I take time to reflect, I’ve come to recognize that my personal finances have become quite routine, to the extent that I no longer dedicate much conscious thought to them. Dare I even say that I’ve become….boring when it comes to my finances?

When I began sharing my journey through blogging several years ago, I was earning $50k annually, striving to pay off my school loans and grasp the ropes of financial management. Throughout these years, I’ve accomplished quite a lot: paying off my student loans, returning to grad school, acquiring new loans, subsequently paying them off, graduating from grad school, saving up for and funding a wedding, purchasing a home and new cars, growing my retirement and investment accounts, establishing a solid emergency fund, traveling the world, making strides in my career, expanding my family, and now embarking on saving for my son’s future education.

It’s incredible to see how far I’ve journeyed. Me: the little girl of immigrant parents who had 8 kids and struggled to make ends meet growing up. That girl did all of this?! Sometimes, I still find it hard to believe. I truly am my ancestors’ wildest dream.

Usually, I wrap up these reflective posts by listing all the things I wish to achieve in the coming year. Truthfully, I often manage only about half of those aspirations, yet there’s something comforting about putting them down in writing. However, I’ve distilled my goals for the upcoming year to just a few simple intentions:

• Get more rest
• Take time to reflect often
• Treat myself more

And to you reading this, these are my hopes and intentions for you as well. Cheers to 2023. See you in the next one!