My 2024 in Review
2024 Goals
I did not read nearly as much as I meant to in 2024 but I have a selection of fiction and nonfiction on my docket for 2025. I did pick up a hobby that I find so truly rewarding. Reef and fish keeping. My saltwater aquarium has increased my depth of happiness and emotion that I highly recommend anyone who has been interested in one do some research to see if it is the right fit for you.
2024 Financially
This year was a year of compounding. It is starting to be evident to me the vast majority of value will come not from income but rather from net worth compounding. The S&P was up roughly 25% YTD as of this writing. And while I am mostly invested in passive index funds my under-performance was bolstered by my continued high savings rate. Overall my net worth grew at 37% for 2024. In 2024 I switched to tracking everything as gross so my expenses include all taxes including withholding which in trued up on 2023 tax owed as withholding is not a true expense. The move to gross was due to some non-taxable income distortions unless I switched to gross. This year I ended up with 49.86% of my income going to expenses or essentially 50%. Due to switching to gross my restated 2023 savings rate was only 42%. Further for 2024 I had large portion of one-time expenses so it seems realistic for me to target 65% savings in 2024. Much of this high savings is for anticipated large expenses in 2026 and 2027 including home and wedding costs.