Welcome to the TVM 2021 Annual Report.
The purpose of this post is to reflect on how my life and journey to financial independence have progressed in 2021. I will also be discussing my plans for 2022.
Without further ado, let’s dive in!
Life Highlights
A lot has changed since I published our 2020 Annual Report.
In the last 365 days…
Mrs. TVM & I found out that we were having our first child! In 2021, we made the monumental decision to begin our lifelong dream of starting a family. Fortunately, there have been no issues to date and we are hoping this trend continues until their due date in Q1 2022. Furthermore, it has been a beyond exciting experience of converting our old home office into their nursery π
We also became fur parents! Today marks the 1 year anniversary of bringing home the TVM pup! He has turned out to be both the most loving and crazy dog that we have ever met π Seriously, I will walk him close to 5 miles and he will STILL will engage in his nightly zoomies. Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine our lives without the golden boi.
We took our first vacation since the beginning of the pandemic. We decided to have a long weekend in Siesta Key, FL. If you have never been, we would highly recommend… the sand on their beaches literally feel like flour! It was nevertheless a much needed vacation and a great opportunity to just relax.
I internally negotiated a 25% raise. I really don’t care about work, however this was a particularly fun accomplishment. Anything that helps us get closer to financial independence!
I published 30 posts to Time Value Millionaire, beating my 2021 goal of 26. From a personal growth perspective, I was extremely proud of this accomplishment. This was my first full year of running a website and I have learned A LOT. I honestly could not be happier with the progress I’ve made on TVM and hope to see similar progress in 2022.
Financial Update
A couple notes:
- The data visualizations are interactive; hover over sections of the graphs for more detailed information.
- Nothing on this site should ever be considered advice, research or an invitation to buy or sell securities, please see my βTerms & Conditionsβ page for a full disclaimer.
Progress to Financial Independence
From Q3 2021 to Q4 2021, our % FI increased 1.5%.
As a result, we hit our 2021 goal of 15% FI!
This honestly was a surprise.
In our Q3 financial update, we doubted that we would hit our yearly goal due to not knowing what was going to happen in the markets. However, Santa decided to showed up!
As a result, despite some unexpected heavy spending in November, our FI Assets were able to grow just enough to get us to achieve the 15% FI mark π
Asset Breakdown
The above table is a breakdown of our current FI Assets.
As we previously mentioned, the strong year-end performance in Q4 resulted in us being able to achieve our 15% FI Goal for 2021.
Overall, we are very happy with the final YTD changes for each account.
It still amazes me that all this growth came from spending 5 minutes 5 years ago putting our retirement savings on autopilot.
As a result, we are going to do the same thing in 2022… nothing π
Savings Rate
Our final 2021 savings rate was 28%.
This means that we ended up just short of our 30% goal.
However, we are not sweating over this. That is because if we didn’t have the emergency expenses that we did in November, we would have hit our yearly goal.
Honestly, we are just happy that we were this close despite our Q1 Savings Rate of -1% π
Monthly Expenses
Letβs take a look at our Expense Sankey, aka Mrs. TVMβs favorite data visualization.
The above graphic visualizes how our monthly expenses rank month over month. The percentages in the individual bubbles represent our % spending for each category for that month.
Here are the major spending highlights from this quarter:
- October
- Vacations
- In October, we took a long vacation to Siesta Key, FL.
- No regrets here π
- Vacations
- November
- Pet Care
- The TVM pup did not have a great November.
- He wore a cone the majority of the month due to both an expected and unexpected surgery, that’s right… two surgeries. The first surgery was for him to get neutered, that went according to plan. The second surgery was us finding out that he had dentigerous cysts (not common in big dogs) which left unchecked, can lead to erosion of the teeth and eventually the jaw bone. He ended up having the cysts removed as well as a couple teeth pulled. He has made a full recovery and did receive a visit from the tooth fairy in the form of puppy ice cream π
- Household
- Dropped some money to finish furnishing the nursery!
- All that’s left is for them to show up π
- Month to Month Discretional
- Mrs. TVM & I splurged 10,000% and rented out a movie theater to watch Elf. It surprisingly wasn’t that expensive and was nice to have an entire movie theater to ourselves to watch the best Christmas movie ever.
- We also bought tickets to the Gaylord Palms Elf Exhibit (we love the movie, okay?) but ended up not going because of a popup conflict. The tickets were non-refundable, however, we ended up giving them to some family members who got to enjoy it so they did not go to waste!
- Pet Care
- December
- Household
- Mrs. TVM has been doing an amazing job with getting everything we need to be prepped for the baby. She’s already got our bags packed for the hospital!
- Altruism
- While Mrs. TVM & I don’t really exchange presents, we do enjoy doing little things for friends and family π
- Vacations
- We found out that Jack Johnson was coming to Florida, so we splurged and booked our next vacation to see him this August π
- Household
Home Value vs. Mortgage Balance
The value of our home significantly increased in 2021.
While this has nothing to do with financial independence, it does help justify spending money on the house π
Furthermore, because our plan is to stay in this home long-term, we started the process of executing a cash-out refinance to do some major upgrades.
Depending on how much we are able to pull out, the plan is to do a complete kitchen remodel as well as replace the siding of our home so that it’s more energy efficient.
2022 Plans
Life Plans
In 2022, life is going to change a lot for the better.
I’m looking forward to starting my family and doing my best to be a good father.
Furthermore, I will continue publishing new content and growing TVM.
Financial Plans
Financially, our plans are:
- 20% FI
- 30% yearly savings rate (average)
Final Thoughts
Itβs important to take a moment to reflect on how we have grown both in our lives and financially.
Goodbye 2021, Hello 2022.
Thank you for reading! π
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Full Disclosure: Nothing on this site should ever be considered advice, research or an invitation to buy or sell securities, please see my βTerms & Conditionsβ page for a full disclaimer.