Reflecting on 2020: My Money Goals, Personal Goals, and Planning Ahead

I can personally say that 2020 has been a truly crazy year for me. It started off well for me. I had just recently been promoted, attended a fun work conference in Miami, Florida and had just started to finally feel comfortable and at home in the San Francisco Bay Area after moving earlier in 2019.

I had taken a week off the second week of March and planned to take some day trips, watch new movies, and do a bit of hiking when the COVID-19 pandemic started to feel ‘real’ in the US. I had been following the news and deep down knew that it would eventually reach me in California. Although 2020 wasn’t exactly the year that I had planned on it being (filled with travel, socializing, going to events) I would still like to reflect on what went well for me personally and am grateful that I have something positive to say during a year that has been devastating for so many people.

I Hit My Saving and Investing Goals

After paying off my credit card debt and establishing new behavior to always pay off my statement balance each month, I made it my goal to build up a 6-8 month emergency fund and start investing in the market. I already had a $1,000 emergency fund to build off of. After realizing this wasn’t nearly enough money (at the time it could cover only one month of rent for me) I knew that I needed to build this up. I started taking the majority of my commission checks and monthly save whatever I could until I reached $18,000 worth of savings. I arrived at this amount after calculating my bare-bones budget of covering my rent, utilities, and food without any of the unnecessary ‘extras’.

I had also taken the time to learn about stocks, bonds, and how to invest in a low-cost way on my own through listening to personal finance podcasts and reading blogs. Some of my favorite sources were Afford Anything, ChooseFI, and Our Rich Journey (to name a few). I had settled on setting up a Vanguard account online and choosing my own investments. I ended up choosing a Target Date 2050 fund for my Roth IRA (since I will turn 60 in 2050) and setting up a brokerage account where I would buy ETFs from the Total Stock Market ‘VTI’ (approximately 90%) and ETFs from the Total Bond Market ‘BND’ (approximately 10%).

I wanted to automate my investments to be at least $1,000 per month and use extra commission money to help top it off. As of today, from July 2020-December 2020, I have approximately $14,147 USD invested.

I Hit Most of My Personal Goals

In 2020, I wanted to start my own personal finance blog (which you are reading now). I originally had the ambitious idea to publish one blog post per week, but have now moved to about two blog posts per month. When I was consuming personal finance and FIRE (financial independence retire early) content, it was difficult for me to find voices that looked like me and shared my experiences as a Black woman in the United States. Not only that, but most of the people I read about had already achieved their goals of early retirement, successful entrepreneurship and FIRE. I wanted to start writing towards the beginning of my journey to help inspire others and be as transparent as i can be.

Another personal goal of mine was to move to a larger apartment with my partner. We were in an older, one-bedroom apartment that became even more cramped and inefficient when I ended up working remotely in mid-March of this year. The apartment had no air conditioning (crazy, but very common in the San Francisco Bay Area), was built in the 1970s, and didn’t have much room for guests or a private office. We both put a little bit of extra money aside to prepare for a more expensive apartment. After tirelessly searching for 3+ months, we found the perfect apartment for us that was new, had air conditioning, and the room that we needed to live a more comfortable life at home since we are now spending most of our time at home due to COVID-19.

I also made it a goal of mine to exercise at least 3 times per week and take about five minutes each morning to meditate and reflect on what I’m grateful for. Without having to deal with a commute to work, I had extra time in the morning to stretch, breathe, and think about what I am grateful for in my life. It’s a practice that I try to do every single day and helps me feel more present in my daily life.

Planning Ahead for 2021

I’ve started setting my money goals and personal goals for 2021. I want to front-load my 2021 Roth IRA by March next year so that my money has more time to grow in the market instead of contributing $500 per month over twelve months. Since I already have my emergency fund saved up, I plan to put as much of my commission money as possible into my brokerage fund to invest at least $24,000 in 2021 in both my Roth IRA and brokerage account. I know that I can do more, but want to leave room for any other purchases or expenses that may come up.

As far as personal goals go, I want to continue to be vigilant with my blog, travel internationally (if I get a vaccine and am allowed to leave the country), go swimming in the summertime at least twice per week at my apartment’s community pool, read at least one new book per month, and make a stronger effort to stay in contact with friends and family. I’ll be adding more goals and want to be open to living in the moment, continuing to be grateful, and taking advantage of opportunities as they come along.

In conclusion…

Have you made any goals for 2021? Or are you just grateful that 2020 is almost over? I’d love to hear from you by commenting below.