A quick 2023 check-in

I have been away for a tumultuous 12 months. I made a lot of changes. I changed career, I removed my birth control, and I very nearly ended my 9 years relationship. I met someone new, discovered the polyamory is actually more expensive (despite my naive blog on the topic) and strongly considered moving out on my own. All these changes made me busy, shook up my spending, but importantly they made me happier.

One of the side effects of my birth control is listed as depression. I have been using it since I was seventeen (maybe even sixteen?) and I've seen three GPs and a psychologist about the depression. I put in multiple lifestyle changes, dietary changes, exercise, the works. Nothing that I was doing was having any lasting impact so I finally chucked in the towel and had it removed. It kicked off a couple of months of emotional ups and downs before finally settling into a much happier, steadier state.

The improved mental health was extremely necessary last year, as I kicked off a new relationship alongside my existing one. My house spouse and I have always maintained a polyamorous mindset - we agree that being in love with each other shouldn't prevent other relationships, and falling for someone else shouldn't mean the end of this relationship. It turns out that having these conversations in theory doesn't prepare you for the reality (big surprise). 

It took months of up and down before things finally started to settle early this year. Last year we both started house hunting, planning to maintain our relationship but live apart. This did not eventuate, because the housing market was absolutely wild. Looking back, I'm glad nothing happened, because the rising interest rates would have forced us back together. Instead, we chose to stay together and while we no longer share a bedroom most nights, we have a far healthier relationship. And we cuddle a lot more.

Lastly, new job! I shifted from Technology to Change Management and it's such a different world. I have become someone who attends meeting on camera. I interact a lot more with people. I have a broader view of the business and the impacts of every change. My salary wasn't impacted, even though I stepped down a level, which has been a pleasant outcome.

2022 Goals (failed...)

A quick review of the last 12 months financially.

Buy nothing new in 2022

This goal was simple on paper, trickier in practise. I made a bold claim to buy nothing new in 2022, but to instead buy second hand where I could, borrow as needed, and simply skip purchases that I didn't need. I can report that I used my local library heavily, picked up books from my Buy Nothing group, and I was able to borrow high-value hiking gear from a friend (saving close to $700).

However, I also bought. I bought half of the hiking gear I needed, including a high quality sleeping bag, specialty hiking clothes and boots. These aren't things that I was willing to buy second hand - I sweat in my gear enough, I don't want other peoples sweat!

Invest a lot

I planned to grow my investments by $75k. I didn't plan for the awful economic conditions or the last 12months that resulted in negative market returns.

Over the 12 months I invested $35,560, plus $100k I pulled from my house equity. The market took $11,246 from me, meaning that over the 12months my investments only grew $124k, with $100k of that being backed by debt.

Even if the markets had played along I still wouldn't have hit my goal. While it's not the best thing to admit on a finance blog, I chose life over money and I don't care in the slightest that I spent time focussing on my partners, my pets, and having a great life.

With that said, the driver for investing $75k was 'pay for a dog'. I was aiming to bring my monthly pet expenses down to $250 and, based on the 4% rule, I would need a portfolio of $75k to draw an income of $250 per month. While I didn't succeed at growing my investments by $75k, I did succeed at reducing my pet expenses from $423per month down to $310 per month, and build up an emergency buffer of $1,800. So, an improvement, if not a full 'win'.

Year of Investing - 2022 wrap up

In 2022 I planned to raise my investments by $75,000, with $63,000 coming from my pocket, and the other $12,000 from market growth. That did not happen. I was only able to increase my investments by $24k (plus that $100k drawn from equity, which comes with $100k debt and is therefore basically net-zero).

I would love to say on the side of this I saved a lot of cash, or reduced my spending, or something, but I did not. I added $6,000 to my cash savings, and I hurled abuse at inflation and rising interest rates.

I was able to help a friend cover some unexpected expenses that would have bankrupt them, and while that does exactly nothing to improve my financial position, it has given my a lot of joy. Seeing them get out of a debt trap and seeing the weight come off their shoulders has been amazing.

2023 

New Goals

For 2023 I've decided to simply repeat the goal of 2022 - but smarter (and a lil smaller).

In 2022 I thought it'd be fun to dabble in crypto, and promptly turned $2,000 into $800. I picked the worst possible time to dive into that particular pool. Instead in 2023 I'm going to continue investing via Vanguard, Spaceship, Plenti and a few ETFs. In place of foolishly dabbling in crypto, I am going to track my mortgage repayments. 

For 2022 I am aiming to improve my financial position by $70,000. This will be split into three key elements:

• $30,000 paid off my mortgage.
• $20,000 invested
• $20,000 from market returns

In theory, this is doable, even being conservative on market returns.

The story so far...

To make this happen, I'm being more active than I was in 2022. I spent a lot of last year thinking I would simply do better, and that absolutely did not work. 

In 2023 I'm making one big financial decision a month. For the start of the year I've been taking advantage of the banks by leveraging their sign up offers.

• December last year I opened a Coles Credit Card, paid a $99 fee, and gained 60,000 flybuys points, that I cashed in for $300 of free groceries. Net gain $201 that I was able to start using in February.
  I also fixed one of my two mortgages at 5.09% for a year. Based on all the estimates at the time, this should save me about $700 over the year, and should see me through to the end of the rate rises. I'm less confident about the second half of that now, but once that fixed term is up I will look for a refinance somewhere.
• January I opened a Citibank credit card, paid a $49 fee and am awaiting payment of a $400 cashback offer. Net gain $350.
• February I am finalising a refinance with a $4,000 cashback. It will cost me around $500 in fees, and I'll continue paying the same rate I was on prior to the refi.
• March I swapped mobile phone providers and will save $30 a month during the introductory period, and $20 a month ongoing.

Spending Update (inflation sucks)

The last time I recorded this was in March 2022 (as a draft, not a published post. I have recorded the change between now and then, and those interest rate rises and inflation costs absolutely suck.

Also, for fun, I got a tax bill last year, and have been putting aside the money to pay for that when it comes due.

All told, my budget has been increased by $860 per month, and my actual spend is up $270. A quick note, the average would be higher but a big spend month ($7,000 on a veranda) dropped off the calculations. There's also a lag effect because my home loan repayments in March 2022 were $833 compared to $1,710 in February 2023. Yuck.

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$940	$958.33 (up $4.16)	$1,428.58 (down $481.14)
Under Budget. 2 rounds of rent and a monthly power bill. The average has dropped significantly as the price of the veranda dropped off. It will come up again when we get solar installed in a month or two.
Investment Property 1	$925	$833.33 (up $83.33)	$1,179.60 (up $24.01)
Under Budget. The mortgage, a little rainy-day savings and $150 towards the tax bill.
Home turned IP2	$1,775.95	$1,666.67 (up $716.67)	$989.83 (up $386.67)
Under Budget. The mortgage, and $150 towards the tax bill.
Personal Bills	$144.99	$145 (up $7.50)	$138.24(up $1.14)
Under Budget. My new phone bill comes into effect next month, then this will go down a bit thankfully.
Groceries	$57.44	$200	$284.80 (up $61.10)
Under Budget. Inflation is most visible here. The only reason that February is low is because I'm working through the 'free' groceries I paid for with FlyBuys points.
Pets	$200	$300 (down $50)	$310.83 (down $105.81)
Under Budget. I no longer pay insurance, I stopped going to daycare, and I curbed my impulse to buy fancy toys and cool treats. Turns out my pets like the budget stuff just as much.
Roller Derby & Circus	$323.99	$150	$115.62 (up $27.59)
Over Budget. The addition of circus is an iffy choice. It's currently costing me about $25 a week, but it's so cool.
Travelling	$500	$100	$270.83 (up $220.83)
Over Budget. Both partners want to go overseas in the next 18 months, and my mother wants to do a trip for her milestone birthday as well. I'm trying to heavily front load the savings for this.
Comfort Food / Dates	$97.60	$50	$144.74 (up $112.83)
Over Budget. This has evolved from comfort food to 'money spent on dates'. Thankfully partner #2 really wants to rein back our spending and we've agreed to one dinner out every 2 months, and enjoy cooking together the other nights.
Car	$150	$200	$243.42 (down $2.13)
Under Budget. One tank of petrol, and savings for future repairs. I have almost $800 saved, so I'm comfortable for routine maintenance. Just nothing big
Donations	$0		$2.92
None.
Other	$304.50	$175	$385.16 (up $32.46)
Over Budget. The dentist, one concert, and $150 towards my tax bill.
Total	$5,419.47	$4,878.33 (up $861.66)	$5,400.09 (up $269.30)
Total ex. Donations	$5,419.47		$5,397.17 (up $277.55)
Over Budget. This is a new standard month. Once my tax bill is paid, I will be able to stop putting $450 a month aside for it. Even then, thanks to the rate rises and inflation, bills cost a lot more than they used to.