For the first time since we started this blog in 2017, we finished a calendar year with a lower Net Worth than we started. Ouch.
But these types of years are expected. They are part and parcel of normal economic and market cycles. The years of 2017 to 2021 gave us uninterrupted, and unprecedented, gains. Some pullback is only good.
Since we started tracking and documenting our financial journey from beginning of 2017, we’re amazed how far we’ve come. In January 2017, our net worth stood at $458k. In 6 full years, we are close to $1.3m. That’s lower than what we ended 2021 but still incredible!
We made the following contributions to our investment accounts:
- 401(k) – $19,664 (only for W) – more than the $15k from 2021
- IRAs – $12k (combined for both) – made goal
- Brokerage – $14,400 – handily cleared the 2021 contribution of $8.6k
- 529 – $2,000 – less than the $2.7k from 2021
- HSA – $6,300 – lower than the max of 7,300 but $100 higher than 2021
- Bonds – $8,000 – I-Bonds
- Crypto – $350 – an ongoing, but possibly failed, experiment. It’s ok though, this is earmarked for failure 😀
In all, we contributed $62,714 to our investments in 2022.
The one big-ish trip we took in 2022 was to a National Park. We flew in and then rented a car to drive around for 4 days. We made a few road trips to visit family over weekends and holidays. A slow year in terms of travel for us. We are hoping to take at least one big – possibly international – trip in 2023 and a slew of road trips.
Again, setting no goals for 2023 but will possibly try to hit 2022 numbers. And more trips.
Net Worth, Anon 
It is definitely more than a little counter-intuitive to contribute a lot to your investments, and somehow be down more than that amount in a calendar year! But as you said, these years are expected and a natural part of the market. Years from now, you’ll be glad that most of your 2022 contributions came at a discount!
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Exactly. Any funds that we hold where the current price goes below the average cost basis, that’s an opportunity to buy.
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