Where the money resides
For the New Year, I am working towards a more automated approach to handling my money.
I am one of those people who ABSOLUTELY loves the smell of NEW things, and a new year is no exception.
I like how a new year offers a renewed sense of hope; a willingness to go after things we may not have attained, or, you know, just a new burst of energy to reach for things we previously believed to be out of reach. Either way, I LOVE new years.
Besides the new energy a new year brings with it, it allows me to look back on what I spent money on in the last year (QUACKTAILS); how much I spent on clothes in the whole year (N68,840, which I’m happy about because I had a 100k annual limit last year), how much I earned from my investments (redacted), and how much I re-invested from my passive earnings (80%). I’m not sure if you can tell but I am pretty pleased with my money performance. Last year saw me switch careers and I still somehow managed to keep both eyes on my personal financial journey.
For the New Year, I am working towards a more automated approach to handling my money. I am approaching a decade of work experience and almost 5 years straight of tracking my expenses, so I am making two major changes to in my personal finance journey for 2021:
Optimizing the process of tracking my expenses
Diversifying my investments at a more granular level
Previously I had a standing meeting with my trusty excel sheet and all my account statements weekly, but this year I am leveraging technology and making it a monthly appointment. I will be moving my expense account from GTbank to Kuda bank where their banking app allows you to categorize your spending and pre-groups it so when you download the bank statement, it is already pre categorized. Hence copy and paste into my excel sheet- I can’t wait to see how this is going to work out but I am confident that by the second month it will be smooth sailing.
The granular level focus for my investments will involve me looking into the US index funds, specifically the Vanguard VTI. For foreign investments, I had previously just used specific investment vehicles via trusted parties, but this year I want to get into the US stock market. Never Nigeria because inflation erodes all the possible gains. I am looking to leverage the magic of compound interest and constant dividends from the index funds that have historically returned an average of 13% per annum in the last ten years. Nothing too crazy but since the rule of 72 shows that it will take approximately 6 years to double whatever I invest; I’m hoping for a nice dollar nest once I turn 40.
The one thing I love more than the energy of the new year is a year that you have created with good financial decisions in prior years. This article https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/10/20/wall-street-will-soon-have-to-take-millennial-investors-seriously quotes BOA research that says that Millennials are about to enter the peak earning years of their careers, and their earning power will jump by almost 75% in this decade (AMEN?!). Millennials are born between 1981 and 1996, so if you are reading this, E FIT BE YOU. A new year allows you to plan a life and future that you want, and the best way to predict this future is to create it with a financial road map that you will follow, tweak and trust that it will get you there in one piece.
Look, if 2020 was bad for you money-wise, that’s fine- let it go because it’s gone. You are here at the precipice of a new year and endless possibilities lay before you to create your new future. If you think this is going to take time, I want to encourage you to do it anyway because the time will pass. The year will come to an end and 2022 will come. Let this year be the year that you sit with your money and figure it out, I am rooting for you to be victorious. Do not be afraid to have BOLD money plans but remember to break them down into bite-sized steps that will not overwhelm you. Remember, the confidence from small wins compounds and snowballs into concrete trust in ourselves, assuring us that we are making the right decisions for our money, for ourselves, and our future(s).
In the words of my favorite December 2020 meme,
In 2021, I’m going to be where the money resides!
Happy new year my darlings!
Ps: If you are overwhelmed with planning your financial 2021, send me an email at contact@peermentorcircles.com and I will send you a copy of a money workbook I think will be a decent guide to create an annual plan.