2020 your best or worst moments?

[QuarterMillionMan]

1) sold a Hawaii 1 bedroom condo for $240k.
2) bought my first gun.
3) paid off 2018 Dodge Journey.
4) never have I been so scared of catching COVID and dying in March, April, & May of 2020. Still scared but not like before.

[srblanco7]

The Good: stuck to the plan during the market drop (even put some sideline cash to work as things were dropping) and ended the year with better than 21% increase in the value of our portfolio. And, recently added a new lab puppy to the household (she's a handful right now, but will be a great addition). Business in general was solid throughout the year and we avoided any layoffs due to the pandemic (though I did take a voluntary 15% pay cut for 3 months) and we're now hiring. And we're blessed with a basement full of fitness equipment - which is being used regularly.

The Bad: I can manage (begrudgingly) working from home though I miss many of the social aspects of work and neighborhood life. This has also been a challenge for our kids. DD graduated high school and started college in the 2020 - which means she "missed out" on senior year fun and her freshman year of college thus far, has been substantially from the kitchen counter (though it didn't hurt her first semester GPA @ 3.94). DS is in high school and is remote 3 days/week and the effectiveness of the learning environment is questionable and he's missing out on sports.

[disneysteve]

I always write a year-end post on Facebook with the highlights of our year. I used to mail it out with holiday cards but we stopped sending those ages ago and switched to the electronic format. I won't repost the whole thing but here's just a sampling.

Good:
My wife and I had a fun weekend in Maryland in February (the last travel we did for the year).
My daughter and I took our annual trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show.
We had a successful 90th birthday party for my mom on Zoom and nearly 50 people showed up, way more than could have actually attended had we done it in person.
We also used Zoom to connect with so many people, including many we hadn't seen or spoken to in many years.
I had my 4-year anniversary at my job.
I did a really nice adult paint by number to help pass the time.
I got a new car in September and paid cash.
My wife's sewing business finally took off. She's sold hundreds of dollars worth of items through a local shop that is handling her merchandise on consignment.
Our daughter got promoted to supervisor at her job and got a raise along with it.
The stock market was amazing and our portfolio grew by 295K for the year, an increase of over 22%.

Bad:
Without a doubt, 2020 was the most challenging, difficult, and scary time I've had in my 30 years as a doctor. The lack of information early on and the constantly changing policies and procedures was anxiety-inducing. I was more stressed than I have ever been by far.

My daughter actually commented yesterday that she feels a bit of "2020 survivor guilt". She sees so many people posting about being glad the year is finally over and hoping 2021 is better, but she and we actually had a remarkably good year. Coming from her, that's a really big deal as she's usually Miss Pessimism, so I'm very grateful to see that she recognizes and appreciates all of the good that we have enjoyed.

[kork13]

2020 saw alot of changes & dramatic swings for us. To 2020, I say good riddance.

Good:
- In March, I finished a deployment that has given me extremely valuable experience, and likely altered (for good) the course of the rest of my career. I also returned home the very day that DoD's travel restrictions were implemented that would have kept me away from home for another few weeks at minimum.
- After ~3 months' delay due to COVID, we were able to move from Alaska, gratefully got our house under contract to sell as we were leaving, and spent a couple months in AZ for my training.
- During that time, we also saw some initial fruits from buying heavily as the market was tanking, then as it quickly recovered in certain areas. In a change of plans, we were able to drain our non-EF savings & taxable investments (almost literally pulling quarters from the couch) to buy our current home IN CASH! That made us 100% debt free, house and all. It's awesome having full control of our income to use as desired, which gives us incredible flexibility by living on just 40% of our gross.
- As stated in another thread, we earned ~16.5% returns in our investments. We've also rebuilt our cash savings since buying our house (which unfortunately slowed down our investment returns somewhat).
- I started my new job in a good leadership role that again is an important step in my career progress...and as stated, my job while deployed earned me alot of trust and likely helped me to get my current position.
- I completed 3 more courses toward my masters degree... It's been a long slog, but I'm slowly getting it done, mostly just to check the box for the military -- this degree is paired with my professional military education. I'll get a degree I actually care about once I leave the military.
- It took a little longer than desired/hoped for, but DW is pregnant with our 3rd child/1st daughter, due in March!
- DS1 started kindergarten, and we got DS2 into a good pre-school. Both of our boys are very smart (aggravatingly so at times -- I'm sure this is karma coming back to me), so having an outlet outside the home is extremely valuable for our sanity & their development.

Bad:
- DS1 started kindergarten during a pandemic. Our schools are doing a hybrid system, where kids spend either the AM or PM at school, and the opposite period (plus all-day Friday while the school disinfects) at home doing assignments from class. Although DS1 is extremely smart & the work is frustratingly easy for him, he struggles with focus, which drives us crazy (mostly DW, who is SAHM & compulsory part-time teacher) as we try to keep him on task long enough to get the work done.
- Stress has been a silent enemy throughout the year. DW & I have dealt with significantly higher than normal stress with all of the COVID junk & related factors going on, and it's not been healthy for us. We've become very short-tempered, less productive with our time, and frankly we probably need some marriage/family counseling.

[Singuy]

The good: I made 3.5 million dollars in gains from my stocks.

The bad: the good was so good I don't remember the bad...

[disneysteve]

Stress has been a silent enemy throughout the year.

Agreed. I am not one normally bothered by that but the stress level at work was outrageous this year, especially in the early months of COVID when we didn't know what the hell was going on or what we were doing. Thankfully, it's gotten much better. We're seeing more COVID than ever because of everyone ignoring the rules, but at least we have proper supplies and a good workflow in place to handle the patients.

[HundredK]

The best: paid off all debt (and we had a ton of it), and are saving aggressively

The worst:
- we lost our favorite dog due to heart failure, and our other dog is on her way out too.
- realizing that people really are kind of ****ty and don't care about the health of others. The area I live in is filled with people that believe that wearing a mask somehow infringes on their freedom, and seeing that really made me feel pretty pessimistic about humanity.
- not being able to travel. We had planned to go on a trip as soon as our debt was paid off, and now it's looking like it'll probably be 2022 before we can realistically do that because of the time it will take for the vaccine to be distributed and for immunity to take effect.

But hey, all my worsts are very much first world problems, and I'm grateful I haven't had to deal with reduced income or going hungry or not having a place to live. So that's a thing to be grateful for!

[disneysteve]

- realizing that people really are kind of ****ty and don't care about the health of others. The area I live in is filled with people that believe that wearing a mask somehow infringes on their freedom, and seeing that really made me feel pretty pessimistic about humanity.

I'm glad you said this. I think it's not spoken about enough but between COVID and the election, there was a lot of angst from learning how awful a lot of people in our lives truly were and we just never realized it. The good thing is that it allowed me to cut quite a few toxic people out of my life. The hateful things, ignorance, and conspiracy theories that they were posting on social media made it very clear to me that I no longer wanted to associate with those people. Thankfully, none of them were that close to me so cutting ties wasn't a huge issue, though I know many people who had to cut off close family members which was much more difficult for them.

[kork13]

there was a lot of angst from learning how awful a lot of people in our lives truly were and we just never realized it.

While I agree with you both, there was also alot of bitter nastiness going the other direction as well. In general, Americans don't treat other people well unless you share some arbitrary label.

Just because someone decides to scoff (or simply not completely follow) the CDC guidelines isn't reason to treat them like scum, or accuse them of all manner of inhumanity/dysfunction. Yet I saw just add much of that as I did people spitefully throwing around accusations of oppression.

Seriously, we have a bunch of children in this country. So many reasons that Americans have such a bad rap overseas. We export bluster, arrogance, and self-superiority like it's our job.

[disneysteve]

While I agree with you both, there was also alot of bitter nastiness going the other direction as well. In general, Americans don't treat other people well unless you share some arbitrary label.

Just because someone decides to scoff (or simply not completely follow) the CDC guidelines isn't reason to treat them like scum, or accuse them of all manner of inhumanity/dysfunction.

Oh, I wasn't referring to the folks who aren't wearing masks. I was talking about much deeper stuff than that. Racism, homophobia/transphobia, etc. Also the conspiracy stuff. I know one person who really fell down the Qanon rabbit hole. I had to unfriend her on Facebook because the stuff she was posting multiple times a day was insane.

I certainly have a big problem with people ignoring the COVID rules since that's pretty much what I deal with all day, every day, but I'd never unfriend anyone just for that.

[HundredK]

While I agree with you both, there was also alot of bitter nastiness going the other direction as well. In general, Americans don't treat other people well unless you share some arbitrary label.

Just because someone decides to scoff (or simply not completely follow) the CDC guidelines isn't reason to treat them like scum, or accuse them of all manner of inhumanity/dysfunction. Yet I saw just add much of that as I did people spitefully throwing around accusations of oppression.

Seriously, we have a bunch of children in this country. So many reasons that Americans have such a bad rap overseas. We export bluster, arrogance, and self-superiority like it's our job.

Yeah, I've traveled enough to know that it's at times embarrassing to even admit you're American. I've also traveled enough to see that it's not just americans who treat each other like scum unless you share some arbitrary label; that's just a human condition. But I do think that the virus and the political nature of the last several years have brought out the worst in people and have generally given people license to feel more self absorbed than they should and to feel just fine about spouting their racist/conspiracy theorist beliefs as loud as they can to anyone who will listen (and thanks to the likes of facebook and twitter, you can always find someone who will reinforce your crackpot views, you will always have an audience to cheer you on).

[Singuy]

You know even though people here are "nasty", or "showing their true colors" more, the US is really still pretty progressive when it comes to this stuff. Sure maybe half the country is a little racist, but that's just 50%. But other countries like the one I am from (China) where people are 99% racist and classist. The entire culture of many nation is built on this, where you can't marry or shouldn't hang out with people of lower economic status or different skin color. Americans truly care less about the car you drive, the clothes you wear, or the parents you have. Hell my cousins parents had to hide the divorce just to get their son married or else it's an instant rejection no matter how much the two loved each other. All of that matters where anything goes here. So yes, we did go backwards a tad here but the grass is still super green compared to where I'm from.

[Like2Plan]

Bad.

Folks we know getting Covid. One of DH's co-worker's spouse passed away from Covid. DH has an elderly (in his late 80's) Uncle who was quite sick (on a ventilator for a while) --thankfully he pulled through, but now he has a long road ahead with rehab.

DH delayed retirement. (We couldn't travel, so he didn't see the point.)

We missed out on 4 college graduations and 2 weddings. I feel bad that we were not there to celebrate these momentous occasions and there really wasn't any kind of comparable "make up" for it--especially the college graduates who were anxious to start the next phase of their lives (and won't be going to the commencement exercises they are planning to hold later on). Sure, you can send a nice check (which they would have received anyway), but nothing compares with being there in person--showing how proud we are of the graduates and wishing the newlyweds well on their new life together.

The no travel was hard to get used to at first. DH and I traveled a lot and to go to a screeching halt (for over a year now) was a significant life style change.


Good.

I am most grateful that DH takes Covid very seriously and is very careful and takes all the recommended precautions. (Yes, he wears a mask.) During this pandemic DH has been the person doing the right thing (and declining) when others suggest getting together (or any other idea that goes against Covid precautions).

Reaching out to old friends and finding safe ways to stay connected.

DH delaying retirement--which delayed DH claiming social security and delayed us using our retirement assets, so we have saved more for retirement.

I took up sewing again. First it was Face masks and this has branched out to other sewing projects that I enjoy.

Cooking old time recipes from my childhood and adding some new recipes to our repertoire.

Working on projects around the house--painting and renovating--small projects that DH and I can DIY.

[disneysteve]

The no travel was hard to get used to at first. DH and I traveled a lot and to go to a screeching halt (for over a year now) was a significant life style change.

I'm with you on that. Our last trip was the 2nd weekend of February 2020. We did spend one night in a local hotel in August when our power was out, and that was quite a nice treat after months of quarantine. I've suggested to my wife that we do that again but it just hasn't happened.

Of course, our savings has appreciated the lack of travel, so that's been a bright spot.

[cypher1]

I've been avoiding this thread, but might as well start with the bad:

January my uncle passed away at 74 due to chronic illnesses. The positive was I spent almost 3 year visiting him every other weekend when he was in the nursing home.
June a friend from high school died of covid at age 40.
July a friend committed suicide at age 34.
I watched family owned businesses I grew up with go up in flames during the Twin Cities riots. The one positive was my buddy's garage (family owned for 40yrs) didn't burn down.

The positive:
I'm gratefully for my health, still working while in school. My family and friends are all safe and relatively healthy. Overall, that's really all I care about it and truly am happy. Solo traveling end of the year really helped re-evaluate goals and clear my mind. Yes, I got some financial goals and took advantage of buying opportunities in March/April. As I write these events down, I just realize those financial gains are meh, compared to everything else that occurred that year.