Category Archives: investing

2026 Financial Goals

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On December 9th 2024 I posted: “Personal Finance happens in the background of the rest of my life. I’m also a believer that if you don’t set goals, you have nothing to strive for and it becomes very easy to get off track.
My Net Worth target for the end of 2025 is $455k. These numbers are very conservative. Does not include 2 more paychecks this month and any additional income. $36-$37k with 401k matching, Roth max is about $3k/month. I have no $1400/mo car payment, no $200/mo Equinox membership, two big things I *did* have for a good portion of 2024. This year was unprecedented, I started off at $250k and as of last month was at $385k. It’s unlikely I’m going to see that kind of unprecedented growth. I found this old chart I saved in 2021 and updated it with my current numbers.“

Fast forward to today Dec 21, 2025. Here we are one year later. I own a house, I lost ~12lb. since the election last year. My bf now lives with me, we went to Europe and saw 5 different cities. My credit card balance is still $0. Personal finance is more at the forefront of my life than the backdrop.
What’s Planned
1. I’d like to fund more future investments to helps support my lifestyle *before* I hit retirement age. The house is my biggest monthly expense with a mortgage of $2,880 so my investments will be focused on easing some of that burden. I will do a hybrid of dividend-based investments and index funds. I haven’t decided exactly how much I’m setting aside but it will be a big bump from the $50/week I’ve been doing spread across 2 taxable accts. I already started with some SCHD (Schwab High Yield Dividend Fund) – https://www.schwabassetmanagement.com/allholdings/SCHD and still own VYM (Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF), US Treasury Bonds, and BRK.B (Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares). I get about $7/mo right now in dividends that get reinvested off a $1,780 acct.

2. Provided I have continuous employment for the year I will maximize 401k contributions to the tune of $24,500. Employer match came down slightly for 2026 but the plans offered are still funds I’d consider buying except from Vanguard through a broker instead of Fidelity.

3. Roth IRA will be maxed for 2026, that’s $7,500.

4. Replenish the emergency fund. 6 months would be ideal. That’s a balance of $18k at the bare minimum. Goal is to have that balance keep going up instead of treading water. Ballpark I’m thinking $700/mo. which will get me there by the Fall.

5. Triple principal payments – ~$620 of the $1300 my bf gives me monthly will go to mortgage principal each month. Combine that with the roughly $300 I’m making to principal in my regular payments will allow me to get rid of PMI a lot sooner. By default that would happen after 12 years of payments. Doing it this way could cut down to 4. Plus cutting back the total interest payments *significantly*. One year will be like making 3 years of payments. Having 2 incomes will drop the amount of money I set aside biweekly for mortgage payments from $1,450 to $1,110 or 23%.

Of course all of that is just speculative provided I still have a job for the duration of 2026. Hoping I do get another raise, if so it likely would kick in again in November. I also want to feel like I’m enjoying myself more, saving and investing everything isn’t fun.

Onto the financial projections piece. My target last year for 2025 was to end the year with a net worth of $455,220. I exceeded that hovering around $480k right now

This is a super simple and conservative estimate but thinking I land north of $550k next year. I’m more likely to be up another $100k like I was last year but let’s not bank on that. Breaking the $500k ceiling will be a huge accomplishment for me from where I started out with. I want to be a good steward of what I have so I’m setup for the rest of my life. I’m well on that path. The median 60 year old has around $185k. At 42 I have $480k. I need some breathing room and my vacation can’t come soon enough. I took one day off since July for my mental health. Ok it’s 3am here and time for bed…

Feb 2025 Starting the Year Off Right? Sorta… – $395k

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January was a weird month for me. I started out at a friend’s gathering then I got sick and developed a nagging cough that wouldn’t completely go away. I took a really strong antibiotic which the nurse practitioner said to take it if I needed to. It just made me feel worse. I’m about 90% good now but the cough still comes and goes.

  1. After getting a scrape on one of my wheels I bought a new one… For almost $550 brand new at a discount from a company that supplies parts for Acuras. I unsuccessfully tried to get a guy to come out and repair them who ghosted me, then the place I got repair done from previously wants to charge $200 and keep them 2 days plus they’re about 32 miles away which is not very convenient. I have the old one on eBay right now but no bites. Slowly lowering the price down to see what happens.
Brand new wheel

2. We had snow, likely for the only time this year. Everything basically came to a grinding halt. I enjoyed pictures of it from afar online.
3. Bf and I went to this really wondeful light snow on the outskirts of Dallas called Astra Lumina. We both really enjoyed it and it was pretty empty. 100% worth it.

4. Getting back in the flow of playing sports. I wore these leggings out for the first time and it was an adjustment. My body is a little stiff from yesterday but at least myt face is good after getting hit right in the face with a dodgeball.

5. Checked out fun restaurants and bars including Boxcar and Copper and Vine. I’m giving myself more grace with drinking, light drinking 1-2 drinks a week is my limit. I’m all about the vibe. These places aren’t cheap but it’s good for us to go out and occasionally indulge after long week.

6. I made a few clothing purchases and cologne. Trying to do samples to figure out what I like and use those sparingly for when I go out. Altogether it was about $280 and one item I gave away to my bf since it didn’t fit, another I bought twice since I thought I threw it out by accident so now I have 3 packs of samples.
7. For Retirement – The Roth IRA is maxed out for 2024. This Friday I’ll make my first 2025 contribution. I hate making the contributions honestly but it’s for my future. I was “only” able to contribute 96% or $22,125.05 to my 401k last year out of a $23k limit. YTD I’m at $1,840 plus matching. Each month this year I project to see a NW increase of ~$2500/mo or $30k/yr from the estimated return rate of my investments.
8. Housing – I’m still saving for a home but at the rate housing prices and interest rates aren’t coming down this may take longer than expected. Almost $10k a month in to the near year is a good start though. One of my IG friends who is a realtor essentially said come be my neighbor, the place looked amazing but $500k though. Most people under 40 aren’t going to be able afford that. Maybe couples, situations with 3 people on the mortgage, families with generational wealth, or the top 10%, but still. That’s a $100k down payment and $3k a month not including utilities, maintenance, HOA, etc. $300k is about the sweet spot in terms of what a home looks like and what I think I’d be able to afford. I believe in math. Do I have a little FOMO when I see someone in Forney that has a whole house and probably has half my salary? Yes a little bit, however that would be 40 miles from my bf’s job or up to 2 hour drive after work on a weekday. That and no one I know lives out there. Fuck that haha.
9. For time preservation, algorithm, and mental health reasons. I’ve decided to try and be 80-90% apolitical online but it’s hard. Even with the exclusion of certain mutes words and , me not personally posting political content it’s E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. That and the number of things to get outraged over seems to be rising exponentially. A cousin in Kentucky came across a flyer related to a divisive group’s meetings and was hoping it’s fake but it ‘s real. It’s always been there but now the people are coming out of the woodwork. The best revenge is living a good life so that’s what I’ll keep going. Also not going to any of those areas that want to take us back to the dark ages of segregation.
10. Stepdad’s home is finally sold, he’s been handling the finances of it since 1997 and the proceeds are significant. He worked 2 jobs for years to keep it all afloat and I’m glad he doesn’t have to worry about it anymore, though now he wants to build a home on a parcel of land he owns to avoid cap gains taxes. It sounds crazy to me, but then again I don’t want to deal with tenants especially in NY.

Ok here are the actual numbers…

February 2025 Net Worth Update
2/2/202512/27/2024Difference% Change1/31/2024
401K$ 324,256$ 315,581$ 8,6752.7%$ 232,746
Roth IRA$ 53,272$ 51,574$ 1,6983.3%$ 34,506
Brokerage Accts$ 2,016$ 1,644$ 37222.6%$ 2,031
Cash$ 11,975$ 11,896$ 790.7%$ 4,448
HSA$ 3,562$ 3,559$ 30.1%$ 2,725
Total$ 395,082$ 384,254$ 10,8282.8%$ 276,456
Credit Cards$ 166$ –$ 166#DIV/0!$ 87
Auto Loan$ –$ –$ –#DIV/0!$ 16,536
Net Total$ 394,915$ 384,254$ 10,6612.8%$ 259,833

I’m up about $11k over last month and $135k to last year. I get paid on Friday and trying to keep my spending in check. The credit card payments are scheduled to bring it down to 0 but haven’t posted yet. I might hit $400k net worth this month but it’s a little iffy since right now at least it looks like I may owe $1200 in taxes. Am I excited about this milestone? Eh a little bit. Most of my money I’m not touching until hopefully until I’m 59.5. It’s all relative though, I consider myself one of the fortunate ones… Especially with all the ruckus happening with the federal government and tech sectors. Not to mention all the wildfires in Los Angeles. My problems are important to me but also small by comparison.

I have a really bad case of cabin fever right now but it’s supposed to be warmer this week. Doing things with friends in your 40s on a whim is near impossible. I think they assume I’m busy when I’m not or when I do ask them they are busy. What can you do though… Basically plan stuff on my own and maybe I’ll run into people I know. A big chunk of my 20s / 30s was spent hoping people would like me, to a fault. Now I’m like yeah it would be nice but not losing sleep over it. I can do fun stuff too and being fancy if I choose to be isn’t breaking my finances.

Last but not least one of our family friends going back to the 1980s passed away recently at the age of 84. She was one of the nicest people I’ve met and never complained about anything. She came to NY from the south almost 50 years ago with nothing. She made many friends, became like family in many ways, worked at a nursing home and volunteered at a church. I haven’t seen her since I left NY but my mom would stay in touch. The years go by quickly, make the most of them. I watched an hour long service from the church on YouTube. It was very touching.

Stay strong even if your finances are down right now. Long term history suggests things will continue to go up so that’s that I’m going to focus on. Much love to you all.

To the Two Comma Club – Dec 2024 – $383k

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Assuming I stop investing completely and market returns stay at current rates I’ll double my portfolio from the current $373k as of a few days ago to $735k in 8.5 years or 2032. Then double it again and hit ~$1.5M in 2040. I will be 57 years old then and presumably retired or very close to it.

In practice I’m putting about $1,986 of my own money aside monthly in 401k plus let’s say $745/mo of matching. Not including Roth, crypto, or brokerage account. So that’s $2,731. At that rate I will double my portfolio to $756k in 5 years. If I could hold that pace for 5 more years I hit $1.3M 5 years from now or 2035 at 52. That’s independent of money I’m putting into a Roth IRA, high yield savings account, bonuses / the rest of my income, or may go to a potential home.

Not stressing about any of this really. If it happens great, if not I will keep focusing on things and people who matter in my life. 2024 has been a year of uncertainty,. A friend got laid off a few weeks ago, a former coworker was looking for employment for close to a year and took a demotion, another who left voluntarily got laid off elsewhere not only once but twice.

I spend a ton of money this month but mostly for good things.
1. Tire – Got a new set of tires – $1,392.13 – TLDR on this is I drove to Arkansas and my tire started to make a bit of a noise. I had the car aligned several times, along with tires balanced before so this was odd. The Discount Tire rep said 3 of the tires balanced but the one I had issues with wouldn’t balance. He then showed me irregular wear on the tire and what looked like a liter of liquid sloshing around. The car is AWD so it’s recommended to replace all 4 tires at once. So the car I bought October 2023 at Grubbs Acura of Grapevine, TX had tire sealant the time I purchased it. I e-mailed a few people there and got a pretty generic response. I was fuming because it could have resulted in the tire sidewall exploding and I drove 10k miles with the tire in that state. I was able to pay if off that week with money I had saved up. I was pissed though. The car rides much quieter and I get road hazard coverage / free rotations for multiple years.
2. Europe flight and seat upgrades – American Airlines $1,737.23 – I knew the expense was coming. Did I want to make the payment this early? Not really but I’m going to have a blast
3. Dodgeball team membership – $90.50 – Since the kickball season stopped and we’re not doing cornhole I wanted some type of social outlet with people I knew. Missed the early brid pricing by a few days oops.
4. MacBook Pro $2,899 plus tax – Got $2,252 for the old one. Wasn’t going to replace but the big bulky 16″ barely fit on my desk. and discouraged my from going out anywhere with it. The specs are a slight downgrade in terms of amount of memory and GPU cores but the system is faster than my own one so real world it just uses more of its RAM and a tiny bit of swap space.
5. Wicked tickets… j/k on that one but great movie. The acting, special effects, and the music. This film had a huuuge $145M budget.

Inside of old tire wearing abnormally and new tire

The 2024 Edition laptop – M4 Max MacBook Pro

Sharing a couple pictures from my camera roll in November.. Lots of Christmas. experiences. 😀

On the health front I was sick for a few days but my blood pressure also was sky high 152/97. I was drinking lots of water, taking garlique and dandelion root, going for walks whenever possible. It was working for a while until it wasn’t. The other medication I was on just ruined my GI system. High blood pressure is the silent killer so I openly accepted going back on another medication with the hopes of getting back into normal range. Numbers are back to normal again. Since the election I’ve been down about 10 pounds so it’s helping. I also no longer am active on X / Twitter instead favoring Mastodon and Blusky. The X algo would constantly show me performative outrage, political content I never asked for, its owner’s comments non-stop, and videos that go viral for all the wrong reasons. The platform is polarizing, toxic, and quiet honestly a waste of time. Garbage in, garbage out.

My net worth is at an all-time high. I am having doubts about being able to afford a home by August 2025. A common rule of thumb is to not exceed 28% of your take home on housing expenses. That with my aggressive retirement investing would be about $1708 (good luck finding a mortgage payment that cheap) and then a Ramit Sethi video said add 50% to that to account for all kinds of additional expenses. So $2,562…

Up $24k in a month due to a recent surge in the market. Doubtful this momentum will continue but I’m pushing as much as I can. $400k by March? Def a possibility. It doesn’t feel real though. 12/2/23 I was at $233,478 so a +64% or +$149k gain in a year. I’m extremely thankful and vividly remember the -$45k I came from when starting this blog. Still working on stacking cash but it takes time.. Alright it’s after 3am I should be in bed now.

12/1/202411/1/2024Difference% Change
401k319,005297,76421,241+7.1%
Roth IRA51,30847,9773,332+6.9%
Brokerage Accts1,346882465+52.7%
Cash7,6038,686-1,083-12.5%
HSA3,5613,49071+2%
Total382,824358,79924,025+6.7%
Credit Cards166–166
Auto Loan–––
Net Total382,658358,79923,859+6.6%

Spending Spree – February 2023 – $184k

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January 2023 has some to an end. I’ve been full on investing again, aiming to max out my 401k and Roth IRA contributions for the new tax year. What have I been up to?

Currently getting over both a double ear infection and a sinus infection. Took a half day at work last week but aside from that I’ve been trekking along as much as possible. Just started taking antibiotics yesterday after a week of suffering with various symptoms. My aim was to schedule everything before the big storms started to hit. Starting to feel a little bit better day by day…

I had my heart set on a job at a local company. I’m not particularly happy with how the process turned out. I thought the interview went well. It might’ve been a reach but the response was a bit cold. I told a friend about the experience and he knows the history… He agreed it wasn’t very personal / professional how it was handled. Having to e-mail a week after the first interview to schedule a follow-up one. Then not hearing anything for days and days. I even had a list of follow-up questions. I stayed up till 2:30AM one night trying to do extra research on the company and work on an online course for certification / continued learning purposes. Weeks of wondering what the outcome would be and high stress levels.

Deep in my soul I genuinely believe what made me sick was the stress of the experience and massive sleep deprivation. So I’m giving myself a curfew to crawl into bed and turn all the electronics off. That and dating… Coming up on 3 years single. I haven’t travelled with a partner since 2014. One guy I thought had potential to go out on a date… Posted a pic of a him and his bf one week, then not long later showed pictures of the two wearing their wedding rings while on vacation. We were just chatting in December and he gave the impression of being very much single. So I unfollowed and am trying to burn it from my memory. 3rd time something like this has happened to me. I am working through my trust issues.

Purchase 1 – AirPods Max – $541.24 inc. tax – This replaces a pair of noise cancelling headphones I’ve owned since 2018 that were okay but starting to show their age. No Bluetooth 5.x, no Dolby Atmos / Spatial Audio, lackluser noise cancellation, a bit prone to interference. So I sold them on eBay for $47.58 after fees. Net $493.66. Paid in full.

Purchase 2 – MacBook Pro 16″ M2 Max – $3,462.92 inc. tax – 32GB memory / 1TB storage / 38 core GPU – My Late 2021 MacBook Pro 16″ functionally was working fine. However I made the mistake of not getting enough RAM on the system. Literally everyday I used the computer it had to use storage as memory (swap) and things would slow down. I could not run Windows 11 or Linux on this system in a Virtual Machine due to the limitations. Apple offered $1025 trade-in, itsworthmore offered $1400 or 36% more. I also paid $20 at FedEx for a laptop box. I hopefully will get payment in the next 4 business days. Net $2,082.92. I currently owe the amount of the trade-in still on my Apple Card, then it’s paid in full. It sounds like a lot and it is but I use this everyday.

Purchase 3 – Replacement PowerBeats Pro earbud – $70 – I bought these to workout in December 2019. However the right earbud started to fail. Rather than completely toss them out I just bought a replacement.

Still owed – $647.10. I bought my car in October and cancelled my old warranty the day after I bought it. I e-mailed the dealer about it, then Nissan. Nissan told me to contant the company that issued the warranty. The warranty company mailed out the check and told me to wait nearly a month later before they could reissue the check. Then the day of they said the check came back to them. The left the last # off of my apartment #. Kind of infuriating but I tried to stay nice and professional during the whole process.

It’s a new month and I’m thankful to still have a job when several people I know have encountered layoffs. My rent is half what it would be near my hometown on Long Island. My hair is also starting to slowly grow back with my treatment plan. I did kickboxing last night with Apple Fitness and it crushed me in a good way.

1/31/20231/2/2023Difference% Change
401k$169,051$155,964$13,087+8.4%
Roth IRA$25,539$23,403$2,136+9.1%
M1 Acct$580$446$134+30%
Cash$3,377$7,002-$3,625-51.8%
HSA$3,104$3,1004+.1%
Total$201,650$189,915+$11,736+6.2%
Credit Cards$1,799$0$1,799
Auto Loan$15,973$16,909-$936-5.5%
Net Total$183,878$173,006$10,873+6.3%
February 2023 Snapshot

Between my 401k contribution, matching, and Roth IRA over $2,705/mo is going to retirement. $100/mo in my non-retirement account. That and double or triple car payments. About $2k of my HSA is invested but I could contribute more. Just not sure if I need to outside of the tax benefit. I also paid a ton in taxes last year, kind of makes me sick to my stomach. I don’t know how people who live in California or NYC deal… What’s also worth mentioning it that my rent is not only paid up for the month of February but also March as well. I also am not including the $2,047 I expect to receive back in the coming weeks in my total.

I also received a nice fat $2,218.86 in dividend payments on my 401k in December that gets reinvested. I was watching a video from Jarrad Morrow – This Is How Wealthy You Are Based On Your Age . Using the example as a 39 year old I’m ahead of the mean for Gen X which includes people upwards of 19 years older than me. Since I don’t have a home and there is no home equity I’m doing twice as well as the boomer generation. That’s fucking insane. I started with retirement contributions in June 2013 and sure as hell didn’t max it out before 2020. The $200k net worth is still elusive to me. Maybe if I would stop buying shit that would be different but it provides me with enjoyment.

Last but not least a big shoutout to Caleb Hammer on YouTube. Dude is in his 20s and his channel has gone gangbusters at 133k subs. Peace out, I need my beauty sleep.

Is there a recession coming??

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I’ve heard so many pundits talking about the inverted yield curve and how it’s a sign of a looming recession. Basically investors can earn more from US treasury bonds over the short term vs the long term. Historically that has been a key indicator that a recession is looming. This happened in 2005 but the US economy didn’t really start to suffer until 2007.

Is this time around different? I honestly don’t think so. Closures in retail left and right, a student loan crisis, unattainably high real estate prices, continual lowering of the Federal Funds rate, economic uncertainty with China and our stubborn president… Reductions in shipping and manufacturing, a glut of oversupply in the automotive market.

For the record I’m in the camp of people who thinks we are due for a market correction and some type of economic recession. Will it be as bad as the late 2000s? Who knows for sure. What I do know is that I’ve been down that path before. https://apple.news/Am2QtY5VxTC2qllXbXWOumw

I was a student during the last two major economic blows in this country. A student with no real money in the marketplace and still operating with a certain naivety from my Gen X and Baby Boomer educators who were indeed able to live the dream on a working person’s salary. My situation today is quite different.

I’m not quite debt free, but between my contribution and my employer, $1600+ goes into my 401k each month. That’s not including a neglected Roth IRA with Betterment that I am presently lacking ample cash flow to fully fund alongside my other short-term obligations. If anything it’s in my favor for the market to go down, that way I can buy more shares of the total stock market index. (FSKAX) at extremely low expense ratios and a higher probability of asset appreciation.

Within a year god willing I will free up some cash flow. $545/mo on a car gone, $129/mo on a car warranty gone, $55/mo for a cell phone gone. That’s $729/mo. for me to live on, use to travel, build up my emergency fund, potentially save towards the down payment on real estate should the right opportunity come along. As I get older and see where each of my dollars is really going, it’s a wake up call how much things depreciate.

I still am staying the course with investing. I get the tax benefit now, it’s great to use compounding to build up a nest egg, a declining market allows me to buy equities at a “discount”, there is an annual limit on how much I can put in a 401k annually, and I have no plans to retire in the next couple years. If anything it’s more like 14 to be retirement optional in 2035.

2008 me invested in penny stocks such as DPDW, which I bought right as it peaked and lost about 50% of my hard earned cash on. I also owned shares of companies like Apple but got too skittish with each and every company announcement, press release, etc. I doubt I will ever buy single stocks again unless I have a huge surplus of cash laying around.