We ended last year with our highest NW and the greatest increase, ~$300k, in NW in one year. Nice!
Since we started tracking and documenting our journey towards FIRE from beginning of 2017, we’re amazed how far we’ve come. In January 2017, our net worth stood at $458k. In 7 full years, we are over $1.6m. Incredible!
We made the following contributions to our investment accounts last year:
- 401(k) – $19,221 (only for W) – $440 less than in 2022
- IRAs – $13k (combined for both) – hit goal of max limit; as we did in 2022
- Brokerage – $2,700 – waaay below the $14.4k from 2022
- 529 – $2,200 – $200 more from 2022
- HSA – $6,750 – $1k paid by employer, so we put in the max allowed
In all, we contributed $43,871 to our investments in 2023.
We took an international trip in 2023 – a 10 day long, utterly fabulous journey through one of the Scandinavian countries, bang in the middle of their glorious summer.
That trip, obviously, burned through cash. As did the little thing we did at the end of the year – bought a home! We have spent over $10k since we moved and a slew of known expenses lined up this year. That is the reason we are hoarding cash, more than we usually do. Liquid reserves of $102k at the end of the year has about $25k earmarked for travel (an international trip) and projects around the house, all before we hit the middle of the year. All this on top of a monthly mortgage payment that doubled from $1,200 to $2,400! But no complaints – we went into this knowing very well what the numbers were going to look like. We had been looking to move for almost 4 years and had given ourselves the end of 2023 to make it happen.
Goal for 2024:
- IRA: Hit max limit of $7k individually; $14k for both
- HSA: Hit max limit of $8,300 for families. W’s employer chips in with $1k, so out of pocket for us would be $7.3k
- 401(k): Hit $15k. It is likely we will go beyond this.
- 529: Minimum of $2,400. $3k would be a stretch goal.
- ……anything else would be just gravy
After our international trip in spring, we’re not sure how much we’ll travel this year. Maybe one more vacation during summer. A couple of road trips here and there. Setting up the new home will be the forefront this year.
Net Worth, Anon 