I have been writing yr in overview posts for over a decade now. It is a rewarding technique to doc what went properly and the place I can enhance. Whereas 2023 introduced extra failures than wins, being alive and properly fills me with gratitude.
My theme for 2023 was “Back To Easy Living.” After an exhausting pandemic interval, I aimed to chill out extra this yr. Nevertheless, particularly within the final quarter, 2023 was something however calm. I felt extra careworn than I might have most well-liked.
For the primary time since 2011, it looks like I aged twice as a lot in only one yr. Let’s break the main points down into my annual classes – Well being, Wealth, Household, Monetary Samurai, and X-Issue.
2023 12 months In Evaluate: Well being
I will spotlight my 2023 targets and put them in quotes, for readability. Then I will touch upon what occurred.
Despite the fact that I am simply quoting myself, I don’t want to be accused of plagiarism like a sure Ivy League president. As a Monetary Samurai {and professional} author, I need to uphold the very best requirements. If I do not, I’ll convey dishonor to my household.
1) Keep the identical weight
“I’ll keep the identical weight of between 167-168 kilos all of 2023. The ideal weight chart says I needs to be between 151 – 163 kilos at 5’10”. However screw that! I am not a young person any longer.”
2023 outcome: I gained about two kilos as much as 172 kilos, then went again right down to 167-168 kilos after deciding to eat much less in 3Q. Now I am again to about 170 kilos. Due to this fact, I failed my purpose. For reference, I am 5′ 10″ tall.
I blame my failure on my decumulation experiment with food! For 3 months, I used to be a glutton. Then I acquired sick of consuming calorie-dense meals so I went the opposite means. However then the vacations acquired to me.
Though I can now not grace the quilt of Males’s Health journal with my shirt off, at the very least I have never gained weight from 2022. Small wins!
2) Keep injury-free
“At 45, my thoughts is commonly stronger than my physique. I feel I can play 5 days every week however I actually cannot with out ache or a heightened threat of harm. All the things from my heels to my hips to my shoulders aches after taking part in sports activities.
I’ll stretch for 5 minutes earlier than and after each match. A foam curler will likely be my new greatest pal. Each off day I’ll soak within the hot tub. Lastly, I’ll use elastic bands to strengthen my shoulders 4 occasions every week.
Getting injured would additionally stop me from taking part in with my youngsters and I am unable to let that occur at their present ages of three and 5.”
2023 outcome: I injured my again twice. Consequently, I failed.
The primary time was once I was sitting cross-legged on the ground signing books for over an hour. For my newsletter, I did a 280-book Buy This Not That fundraiser for the residents of the devastating Maui hearth. I signed and mailed a e book to each subscriber who donated $65 or extra to the Maui Robust Fund or an analogous charity.
After an hour, my decrease again simply gave out and I couldn’t stand up. I needed to name my spouse to hold me to the sofa. I attribute this freak accident to the large quantity of unhappiness I felt for the victims whereas I wrote little notes and signed every e book.
The second time I injured my again was at 8:15 pm on a chilly evening taking part in pickleball. On the very first level, I ran ahead to get a dink and jammed a nerve between my decrease vertebrae. I could not stroll the very subsequent day. Warming up is essential! I’ve not been constantly stretching or utilizing my foam curler in any respect.
2023 12 months In Evaluate: Wealth
1) Observe the first rule of financial independence: by no means lose cash
“I feel we’ll be fortunate (~40% probability) if the S&P 500 closes the yr within the 4,000 – 4,250 vary. With ~30% of my web value in public equities, a ten% decline will drag down my web value by 3%.
I count on the nationwide median residence value to say no by about 8% in 2023. It will lead to a 4% drag on my web value given actual property counts for about 50% of my web value. Nevertheless, I’ve already priced my actual property portfolio about 10% beneath market costs.
Based mostly on the above expectations, my life like draw back situation is a 7% decline in web value.
A practical upside situation is that shares shut up 10% to 4,235, leading to a web value improve of three%. In the meantime, I feel the life like best-case situation is for housing costs to remain flat. Consequently, my best-case life like upside situation is a 3% improve in web value.
2023 outcome: Surpassed expectations. The actual property that I personal is probably going down round 5% in 2023, dragging down my web value by about 2.5%. In the meantime, the S&P 500 is up over 24%, which pulls my web value up by about 7%, for a web acquire of 4.5%. Add on financial savings from energetic and passive earnings sources, and my web value is up round 8.5% after a flat 2022.
Given I used to be anticipating my web value to be down 3% in 2023, I really feel like a 8.5% acquire is an enormous win. I am simply glad we did not go down the abyss as soon as SVB and First Republic began going below in March 2023. That point interval jogged my memory of when Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, and Salomon Brothers went below in 2008. That was traumatic!
My purpose after fake retiring in 2012 has been to extend my web value by 5% – 10% a yr with minimal volatility. Due to this fact, I am inside the goal for 2023.
2) Improve passive earnings by 5% to $400,000
“I count on CPI to go beneath 5% by year-end, if not by July. Therefore, my actual passive earnings purpose is to beat the common inflation price for 2023.
The rise in rates of interest helped enhance our passive earnings by 10% to ~$380,000 in 2022. As rates of interest come down and my Treasury bonds mature in 2023, I will want to search out new methods to generate extra passive earnings.
My hope is that by mid-2023, there will likely be extra private real estate deals at decrease valuations and better yields. In that case, I’ll roll a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} into non-public actual property funds and offers from my expiring short-term Treasury bonds.
Along with boosting funding yields by means of actual property, my plan is to reinvest 80%+ of all on-line earnings into shares, actual property, and personal investments.”
2023: Fail. Issues have been moving into the proper course, particularly because of greater Treasury bond yields. I saved dollar-cost averaging into private real estate funds and public actual state ETFs like VNQ.
Nevertheless, I made a decision to purchase a ceaselessly residence in 4Q 2023, which used up numerous my capital. Consequently, I’ve misplaced years of passive earnings progress. I will write about this example in additional element in an upcoming submit.
3) Increase spending by 20%
“We spent about $240,000 a yr after taxes in 2022, which is equal to about $320,000 a yr in gross passive earnings. Due to this fact, we plan to spice up spending by $48,000 to $288,000. $288,000 equals $384,000 in gross passive earnings. In different phrases, we plan to spend all of our annual passive earnings in 2023.
Though we’re pleased with our present spending, I’ve began my decumulation phase given I will be 46 in mid-2023. Dropping a number of cash within the inventory market in 2022 has made spending extra money in 2023 simpler. Given I count on one other tough yr, I would a lot fairly spend my cash than lose it.”
2023 outcome: Fail. I spent about $18,000 extra, in comparison with my goal of $48,000. I’ve discovered it very tough to spend extra money than I am used to. For instance, I attempted my greatest to spend more money on food, however solely ended up spending about $3,000 extra in comparison with the $12,000 goal. We additionally have not taken household holidays that required spending $12,000 extra. I saved up my donations at an analogous price.
4) Beat again real estate FOMO
‘If my expectations are right, there will likely be extra housing offers by mid-2023. By then, costs could possibly be down 10% and mortgage charges could possibly be again down to five% for the common 30-year fastened. The temptation to improve to a nicer residence will likely be nice!
However similar to how consuming a fifth slice of key lime pie is unhealthy to your physique, shopping for a fifth property in San Francisco is unhealthy for my sanity. Being a landlord decreases the standard of my life. Something always comes up. Plus, my spouse does not need to transfer and I would like to understand what we’ve.”
2023 outcome: Fail. My expectations have been certainly right for residence value declines, not a lot the mortgage price. A dream property I had been eyeing in Might 2022 got here again off market at a cheaper price. The agent simply contacted me immediately. After months of negotiations and two months of escrow, I lastly closed in 4Q2023. I really feel good understanding that at the very least we lived in our different property for 18 extra months.
Ever since I used to be in center college in Kuala Lumpur, visiting a wealthy pal with a mansion within the hills, I’ve beloved actual property. To have the ability to dwell properly and supply for my household are two of my favourite issues. Alas, now I am paying the value with extra bills.
2023 12 months In Evaluate: Household
1) Give as a lot consideration to my daughter as I did to my son
“My depth in the direction of childcare has waned. A part of the reason being that I’ve already learn all of the books, watched all of the movies, and know what to anticipate. Another excuse is because of a rise in laziness after being a stay-at-home dad for 5 and a half years already.
Now that our daughter is three, it is time to focus once more! Her recollections will kind and I’ve seen, similar to our son, she now desires to spend extra time with me. Consequently, I’ll do exactly that.
To be particular, my purpose is to spend two hours within the morning together with her, two hours within the afternoon, and half-hour within the night. She will likely be attending preschool two days every week.”
2023 outcome: Success! I stepped up caring for my daughter to the purpose the place I now not really feel any dad guilt.
One in every of my wins was convincing my spouse it was time for our daughter discovered the way to swim. Given her sensitivity to chlorine, prior journeys to the pool would lead to her waking up itchy with rashes in the midst of the evening, disrupting everybody’s sleep. We took a break for a lot of months after which determined to attempt once more utilizing Aquafor, an ointment-like substance, beforehand as a barrier to guard her pores and skin.
Different frequent journeys with my daughter included taking her to the carousel in Golden Gate Park, Stowe Lake hikes, limitless playground journeys, visits to the zoo to trip the steam prepare, acrobatics, seaside on heat days, and portray. Each journey was between 2-4.5 hours lengthy, which gave my spouse a lot wanted time to do her personal factor.
2) See my dad and mom twice
“It sounds type of unhappy to have a purpose of seeing my dad and mom solely twice a yr. However they dwell in Honolulu and I dwell in San Francisco. They made an enormous effort to go to us in 2022. I hope to persuade them to go to for every week once more in 2023.
I may also fly out to go to them for every week at the very least as soon as this yr, both on my own or with household. We nonetheless have not taken the children on an airplane but. However possibly we are going to this summer time!”
2023 outcome: Semi-fail. I flew my dad and mom, my sister, and her boyfriend out in June. Nevertheless, I couldn’t persuade my dad and mom to fly out once more. Once I requested if I might come go to them in Hawaii, they declined. How unhappy.
A minimum of I usually name and e-mail my dad about 4 occasions every week on common. I am undecided the way to persuade my dad and mom to see their grandkids and me extra. However I will maintain making an attempt.
3) Train my boy the way to swim.
“I regarded into non-public classes they usually price $80 for 20 minutes! WTF. The swim college stated it’ll take a baby roughly 24-48, 20-minute classes to learn to swim. Therefore, we’re speaking $1,920 to $3,840. Really, including up the whole price does not sound as unhealthy because the 20-minute price.
Given we do not have a pool and I can not seem to ever get a spot on the less expensive group classes, I’ll need to go this costly route. Regardless, I’ll undoubtedly give my boy classes once we go as much as Lake Tahoe.”
2023 outcome: Success! I skipped non-public classes and taught my boy myself over a number of 1-2-hour periods.
Whereas in Lake Tahoe in June, my boy lastly acquired the braveness to take off his floaty. After we acquired again to San Francisco, I used to be decided to get him to swim, so I signed us up for weekly one-hour rec swim periods on the Pomeroy Middle. We went each week and on July 14, 2024, I lastly let go and let him swim to me. We have been swimming thrice a month on common for an hour every time since.
Emboldened by my son’s potential to swim and my instructing outcomes, I made a decision to make it a purpose to show my 3.5-year-old daughter the way to swim by yr finish too. She is now additionally capable of swim because of a number of one-hour, one-on-one periods with me. Nevertheless, she nonetheless must learn to come up for air.
4) Be higher aligned on parenting kinds.
“Though I feel I am good, I am certain my spouse would say I’ve a extra “powerful love” kind of parenting fashion. She, however, has a extra mild parenting fashion. I would like for us to slender the hole.
One in every of my biggest fears is elevating gentle children who can not launch as adults. If we coddle our kids an excessive amount of, they could grow to be weak. If a perpetual security web removes their fear of failure, they may find yourself at all times being depending on us.”
2023 Consequence: Work in progress. I nonetheless assume we’re nonetheless too gentle on our youngsters. They’ve too many toys, eat an excessive amount of good meals, and will not be as appreciative as I would love them to be. However our daughter simply turned 4 and our son is 6.5, so there’s nonetheless time.
I made each of them work for 2 weeks with me on a laborious landscaping project. I additionally acquired each of them to assist paint an out of doors hand railing, a deck, and the partitions of a storage at our earlier residence. Hopefully, they may keep in mind this guide labor, understand that nothing lasts, and higher respect property.
![2023 Year In Review Financial Samurai - Teaching daughter to paint outdoor hand railing black](https://i2.wp.com/financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG_8562.jpg)
2023 12 months In Evaluate: Monetary Samurai
1) Publish thrice every week on common, not 4 occasions
“I stated I’ve revealed thrice every week on common since 2009. However in actuality, I’ve averaged nearer to 4 occasions every week because of my free weekly newsletter.
My publication often comes out on Sunday morning, which implies I typically spend Friday evening, Saturday morning, or Sunday morning writing it. This additionally means I can by no means absolutely take the weekend off. It will change in 2023.
I’ll both publish two posts every week and one publication or publish a bi-weekly publication going ahead. I additionally have to replace ~200 posts, so I’ll republish them through the years as properly.
For my 14th yr working Monetary Samurai, I have to take issues right down to rejuvenate the thoughts. My eyes are additionally getting extra simply fatigued, which implies much less display screen time.”
2023 outcome: Fail. I saved my three-times-a-week publishing cadence plus wrote one publication every week for 52 weeks in a row. Sadly, there have been many days once I did not need to write. This can be a signal that my enthusiasm for writing is fading. The decline additionally has to do with elevated eye fatigue.
Listed below are my best posts and podcasts for 2023. Total, I wrote 156 posts and up to date 400+. I additionally up to date the design of the location and the inner guts for extra reliability. That price about $2,000.
2) Write 25% shorter posts
“Because of social media, fewer folks learn great personal finance books and long-form content material on-line. Therefore, as a author, I ought to evolve with the occasions if I need to appeal to a youthful viewers.
Writing shorter posts additionally reduces my workload, in addition to my father’s and spouse’s workloads as editors. I’ll get to the purpose faster.”
2023 outcome: Largely fail. I did not shorten my posts, which most likely misplaced readers who’re accustomed to sound bites, solely studying titles, and watching TikTok movies. Once I write, I really feel unhealthy not going deep into monetary and life matters as a result of they’re so essential. I’ve additionally acquired an excessive amount of cash at stake to not be thorough.
3) Report at the very least 30 extra podcast episodes
“In December 2022, I got here up with the observe of recording podcast episodes in my automobile after dropping off my son in school. The acoustics are adequate and my ideas are contemporary. I additionally needed to be productive earlier than taking part in sports activities.
Releasing podcasts is a enjoyable technique to join with readers and share nuanced ideas about my newest posts. I typically incorporate reader suggestions, which comes within the feedback part after posts are revealed.”
2023 outcome: Success! I am proud to have recorded 64 episodes, greater than double my purpose. As well as, I lastly discovered the way to use recording software program to interview different folks. You possibly can subscribe and overview my podcast on Apple or Spotify.
X-Issue Objectives For 2023
An X-factor is one thing out of the extraordinary that may convey you pleasure, which means, and/or earnings.
1) Turn out to be a 4.5-level pickleball participant
“I am hooked on pickleball. It’s a sport I see myself taking part in by means of my 70s, if I dwell that lengthy. After a number of profitable years at 4.0 tennis, I acquired bumped as much as 4.5. Then on the age of 39, I acquired bumped up to 5.0 and stayed there for 5 years till 2022. The progress was exhilarating! I’d love to do the identical with pickleball by taking part in a match and attending to 4.5.
2023 outcome. Fail. After choosing up pickleball in October 2022, my enthusiasm for the game waned by June 2023. The general public courts acquired too crowded and the non-public courts grew to become very cliquey. I am most likely a few 4.25-4.35-level participant.
Once I was youthful, I discovered satisfaction in profitable league titles and tournaments. Now I discover satisfaction in simply understanding I’ve achieved a high-enough stage to beat most gamers I feel I ought to beat. My important purpose is to have enjoyable, get some train in, and never get injured.
2) Write one other e book
“Though writing a historically revealed e book is extraordinarily onerous, I would love to do it once more. My first e book, an book entitled, How To Engineer Your Layoff, has helped hundreds of individuals negotiate a severance. Having the ability to stroll away from a job you now not like with cash in your pocket looks like profitable the lottery.
My second e book, a historically revealed e book entitled, Buy This, Not That, went on to grow to be a Wall Road Journal bestseller. I feel it has an excellent probability to grow to be a basic private finance e book that can stand the check of time.
Publishing a bodily e book with a good writer has given me an amazing quantity of unanticipated satisfaction. My youngsters are proud to see my work. I spotted having some status is nicer than being a no one. Serving to readers acquire monetary braveness is gratifying. Lastly, it is at all times great to create one thing from nothing.
Now I simply have to hammer out a brand new e book deal.”
2023 outcome: 60% of the way in which completed. In March 2023, I ended up hammering out a two-book take care of Penguin Random Home. I did my greatest to barter an excellent deal with out an agent, however I fell about 10% in need of my preferrred quantity. Maybe the tip quantity I obtain would be the similar since brokers earn a 15% payment.
It’s partially because of the accountability of writing a second traditional book that I could not chill out as a lot as I needed in 2023. Some folks write books full-time for a dwelling. With childcare obligations and writing and podcasting on FS, I am busy sufficient.
3) Make one good new pal
“Making associates appears to get more durable as an grownup. Nevertheless, I would prefer to make at the very least one good new pal from my son’s college or by means of sports activities.
Pre-pandemic, I used to go to numerous fintech and startup meetups. Pre-kids, I used to go to conferences domestically and internationally. I am not lonely, however I would love a greater social life to make up for 2020-2021.
2023 outcome: Semi-win, semi-fail. I’ve met loads of new associates by means of pickleball, most likely round 15 whole. Nevertheless, none of them grew to become good associates. It takes numerous effort to create deep bonds.
Regardless of a scarcity of deep friendship, I am completely happy I can go to 4 completely different pickleball places within the metropolis and know somebody. It is extra enjoyable taking part in with folks you already know and of an analogous talent stage.
4) Perhaps get a job once more
“One other X-factor for 2023 is getting a full-time job once more. My daughter goes to high school three days every week and I’ve extra time. It is actually hard to stay retired once you retire early!”
2023 outcome: Fail and I am glad! If I discovered a full-time job, I would not have been capable of fulfill my purpose of spending as a lot time with my daughter as I did with my son. A rebound within the inventory market additionally decreased my nervousness about returning to work.
I attempted on the lookout for a full-time job in 2H 2023, however I could not discover one so I put my search on pause after a month. It has been harder to find a new job that pays well than I had anticipated. For individuals who are serious about retiring early, I extremely suggest retaining your abilities and community contemporary. You by no means know once you’ll need or want to return to work.
2023 Was Higher Than Anticipated
I began scripting this submit feeling a bit upset reflecting on 2023. Nevertheless, reviewing my photograph journal and remembering every part that transpired this yr crammed me with gratitude.
The inventory market carried out higher than anticipated, giving my household extra high quality time collectively. We additionally moved into our ceaselessly residence within the fourth quarter.
Most of all, I really feel grateful that my closest relations stay alive and wholesome. I cherish and admire life extra with every passing yr.
I skilled extra stress this yr than I might have preferred because of taking over new tasks – writing one other e book, studying podcast interviews, and shopping for a house. These alternatives brought on me to speculate extra time, make extra errors, and really feel extra strain.
My tendency is to tackle much more each time alternatives come up as a result of I’ve a tough time saying no. Clearly, some modifications are to ensure that 2024 to discover a higher steadiness!
Reader Questions
How did your 2023 go? What have been a few of your successes and failures?
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