I shall name this year:
THE YEAR OF SPENDING
(Because let’s face it, that’s pretty much all I did this year.)
Past Years in Review
- 2009 Year in Review = – ($22,484)
- 2010 Year in Review = +130,101
2011 GROWTH IN REVIEW
Worked 3 months then took the rest of the year off and traveled to:
- Visited Asia: Tokyo, Kyoto, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore
- Visited Europe: Salamanca, Evora, Lisbon & Madrid
- Re-visited Europe: Paris, London, Stockholm, Brussels and Vienna
NEW YEARS’ RESOLUTIONS
2010: New Year’s Resolutions — Past, Current and Future
For 2011, I have 3 things I’d like to accomplish:
- Move to the U.S.
- Make and save money (as much as I can, as I feel G-U-I-L-T-Y..ish)
- Aim to achieve $200,000 net worth, which means saving at least $75,000* net
*The actual savings will be $45,000 but I have to pay my personal taxes, so I need to save about $75,000 in total next year
This crazy ones poster‘s profits go to Acumen Fund‘s mission to end worldwide poverty.
True (Funny) Story: I once quoted the above to a friend of mine (I didn’t tell her it was Steve Jobs who said it), who then read it out to a friend of hers.
Being a first-year psychology major, he immediately told my friend to tell me to get some therapeutic help IMMEDIATELY because I was CLEARLY a psychopath who was about to slit her wrists in a warm bathtub.
My friend called me in a panic and told me she was there for me, she didn’t want me to kill myself if I ever had such suicidal thoughts and she would do anything to help me get through this.
The sound of my incredulous, disbelieving, confused voice on the phone was enough to convince her that I was NOT suicidal and I had never been.
I told her it was Steve Jobs who wrote that, and she calmed down. 😛
Moral of the story? Don’t ever listen to other first-years spouting off like they know anything just because they unwrapped their shrinkwrapped textbooks and read a little bit of it.
2011 FINANCIAL YEAR IN REVIEW
2011 Budget Roundups and Net Worth Changes
Increases and (Decreases)
Note: I stopped working at the end of March and took the rest of the year off to travel.
- January 2011 — ($8154.88)
- February 2011 — +$17,706.18
- March 2011 — +8945
- April 2011 — ($16,053.87)
- May 2011 — ($11,230.19)
- June 2011 — ($818.66)
- July 2011 — ($1853.29)
- August 2011 — ($2089.15)
- September 2011 — ($15,277.09)
- October 2011 — ($3361.53)
- November 2011 — +$3921
- December 2011 — ($1872.06)
TOTAL INCOME FOR 2011: $59,260
- This is GROSS income for the 3 months I worked
- I still have to pay my personal taxes for 2011, this year
TOTAL BUSINESS & PERSONAL EXPENSES FOR 2011: $44,618.92
PERSONAL EXPENSES: $41,525.66
- As mentioned, I stopped working in March and took the rest of the year off to travel
- Almost half of my personal spending was on Traveling
- I manage my budget using my Budgeting and Spending Analysis Tool
BUSINESS EXPENSES: $3093.26
- I had minimal business expenses
- The rest of the year was Personal Spending
TOTAL NET
- It LOOKS like I saved $18,474.34, but I didn’t
- I am using gross income (before taxes) in the calculation
- I paid my business taxes in full already and I still have personal taxes to pay on top of that
- I really base everything on what my net worth looks like from month to month, year to year
FINAL NET WORTH FOR 2011: $155,217.05
I started the year with $185,355.64 in net worth.
I ended it with $155,217.05
It’s a decrease of $30,138.59
MY NET WORTH FOR JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2011
Okay so the decline doesn’t look quite as sharp as I had expected, but it is a hefty decline.
MY CUMULATIVE NET WORTH SINCE 2006 – 2011
I was in debt by $60,000 by late 2006 and now I’m at around $150,000.
I’ve saved $210,000 in 5 years or $42,000 a year on average, without working at all in 2009 (recession) or for most of 2011 (year-long traveling vacation).
Click on it to make it larger
I love seeing how money tells the story of my life. It isn’t just numbers or amounts of money or debt, it is what I’ve been doing since 2006.
TOP 5 CATEGORIES OF 2011 SPENDING
- Travel = $17,325.34 or 28.88% of my gross income
- Wardrobe = $6164.07 or 10.27% of my gross income
- Groceries = $4169.66 or 6.95% of my gross income
- Books & Gifts = $3323.17 or 5.54% of my gross income
- Electronics = $2317.84 or 3.86% of my gross income
I obviously spent a lot on traveling, and wardrobe was up there too because I can’t resist shopping overseas *sigh*
(Must sell more stuff!)
As for Books & Gifts, it was more that I paid for a lot of stuff for my parents. I bought them a new TV (I accidentally burnt the side of their old one), and 3 huge toolboxes to organize their tools and items.
Electronics includes a Macbook Air and an iPad (WHICH I LOVE!). I use it for e-reading all the time now.
HOW I DID IN 2011 COMPARED TO 2010
I spent $20,000 more but amounts shifted from one year to another.
I spent less in Rent, but more in Travel (obviously), and WAY MORE in Wardrobe. *embarrassed*
2010 looked like this:
2011 looks like this:
READ: Cut everywhere, not just where you want to buy
I DECLARE 2012 TO BE:
THE YEAR OF RE-BUILDING NET WORTH
I am expecting that 2012 I will buckle down (hey, I’m setting a goal and saying this aren’t I) and rebuild back up what I spent this year.
Sounds counter-intuitive, and perhaps you’re going to slap me and say: FB why didn’t you JUST NOT SPEND in 2011 and you wouldn’t need to re-build as much!!?
Touché!
But what’s done is done, and we can only look forward, not back.
I also had a hell of a time (LOVED IT!), so no real complaints or regrets here.
My goal is to be back up to $200,000 in net worth.
A lofty, but achievable goal, considering I still have to pay hefty personal taxes.
Here’s to 2012!
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
here we go again with the big BS. So, you only worked 3 months in 2011 as a business consultant, but you expect to reach 200k this year???!!!
Any retard would know that in order to make money when customers are involved, requires a CONTINUsly working enveriment. There is no way you could maintain your business in good standing for only 3 months then expect 200K. I trully believe you run a porn website or something like that.
So, you took your small kids overseas for 8 months? WOW. You are a super hero.
Sounds like you had a delightful year, and I hope that the “buckling down” and rebuilding is fun, too (different fun than travel of course, but there’s something fun about rewarding work and achieving goals :). I’m glad that you got to travel so much!! My hubby and I totally agree with your philosophy of creating memories and experiences instead of accumulating lots of stuff! We’re in the process of saving up the $ to head to Europe for super month long vacay this summer. What was your favorite thing that you did in Europe?
Sounds like that $18K was worth it! I would love to take a year off and travel the world. One day… 🙂
Now it’s to get back into ‘working’ mode 🙂
Holy ****! I’m glad I don’t like to travel. Love the Kerouac quote HH! Where is this coat they speak of? I have to buy a whole new business wardrobe. Ouch!
The coat was the Burberry Regimental Trench for $1900 — http://fabbroke.wpengine.com/2011/08/what-i-am-currently-eyeing/
I like it a lot as a winter coat. 🙂 It won’t work for -15 without a warm sweater underneath, but otherwise, at 0 – 10 C, it’s fine enough for me.
As for a new work wardrobe, if you can swing by a place called Cassis, they have nice things for a decent quality.. J. Crew is good too, but a bit pricey.
Your year amazes me; I’m envious of your travels! I think you’ve done an incredible job, and I know you’ll knock it out of the park in 2012. And my inner data/table/graph chart is LOVIN’ this yearly re-cap!
Love that Apple quote! I have it framed in my office, along with Kerouac’s quote: “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live,
mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time,
the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn,
burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across
the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and
everybody goes “Awww!”
I obviously can’t type b/c I meant to include “nerd” between graph & chart…haha
Thanks!.. Charts are my thing. I like tracking and calculating.. ever since I got into budgeting, it’s been insane.
That sounds like an excellent quote as well 🙂
Taking time off to travel is priceless, so I think the small hit your net worth took is well worth it! I’m blown away by your detailed graphs 🙂
My 2011 had a few financial ups and downs, but at the end I reached my goal of clearing my debt by the end of the year 🙂
I’d love to work 3 months and travel the rest of 2012 🙂 I’m excited to watch you re-build your net worth this year!
I’m actually excited to embark on a new journey to a new country. 🙂 I probably won’t be able to replicate what I did in 2011 for 4-5 years (I need work authorizations), but I’m going to do my darndest to hit $200k this year.
This is a great review because it pretty much sums up what your blog is about and who you are (plans, dreams, hopes and such!) Oh and that coat! I am drooling just writing about it.
Thank you! 🙂
The coat is lovely, I have to say. I put it on and love it.
But all those memories and a fabulous Burberry coat will last forever 😉
I think you did pretty well this year consider all the traveling! I still need to do some tallying up. My December alone is not too pretty…
That coat BETTER last forever at that price.
Actually I still love it. I keep looking at it in the mirror when I wear it, and it makes my bottom half look bigger, which is a bonus for my inverted triangle shape.
You my dear, need to tally up December and a list of your purchases 😉
Wow – the detailed figures and images are just freaking me out!!
I congratulate you on all the travel that you were able to do. I wanted to know whether your net worth for the year came in at around the figure that you had expected or if it was lower that you thought.
Victoria.
It was actually higher than I thought!
I really estimated for it to drop to about $140 at my worst, $150k at my best.
So for it to come in at $155k, it wasn’t bad at all for me. I’m not pleased (I could have definitely made it to $160 had I been more *ahem* conscientious), but I’m not angry either.
I agree with the others, I think you’re still doing great, and you had a great year.
Thanks!
Your net worth took a little slide, but you’re still young and I don’t think it’s a big deal. You’ll remember your trips forever and I think it’s well worth it. Have a great 2012!
A slight tumble 🙂
I’ll have it back up. I’m re-committed now that I don’t really want to travel around the world. Got it out of my system!
My financial resolution for 2012 is to actually put money into my TFSA! I have one, so why not use it?
It’s a great place to stash emergency funds to earn higher interest rates. Plus, you can take it out any time. Just remember that if you take out the amounts mid-year (August 2011), you cannot re-contribute to it until the following calendar year (Jan 1 20*12* for instance).
Can you pack me in your suitcase the next time you jet around the world for a year? I am very small, and incredibly polite ;).
*laugh* I’d love to 🙂 I’d be happy to have a polite guest come along.
But I need to save more money this year. I don’t want to travel for pleasure until 2013!
2011 went well for me. I set a savings goal of $30k and exceeded it while cutting down on spending and clutter. 2012 will be my jump off year for travel. I intend to travel every year from now on.
Good for you!
My 2012 should also be: Year of Decluttering
I really feel like I need to make my suitcases have less. They’re packed to the brim and I want them to have a bit of breathing room, because I JUST KNOW I will need it some day.
Hey I think what you did was great, taking time off and travelling like that. I’m actually amazed you still kept costs so low even when going all out. Two years ago, before I became a minimalist, I went on a trip with my bf, we spent $20,000 in a bit more than a month! I will never do that again!
Did you stay in amazing hotels?
I am always wistful when I hear people talk about the W, or other great places with amazing service.