2021...what a year

[rennigade]

The good, bad and ugly. How was 2021 for you? Milestones, life events, finances, etc etc.

In terms of finances, it's been a really good year. The market seems to be responding to the pandemic. People are traveling more. The world is starting to resume again. Baby steps.

We abstained 4.5 acres next to our house. That took an entire year to acquire but worth it. Completely surrounded and no neighbors. Privacy is hard to beat.

We just started our kitchen remodel. Load supporting beam is up. We did it ourselves. Pretty straight forward and only took a few hours. Now wall can come.oit. Kitchen layout is getting drawn up.

An in law passed away so that totally sucked. Death is never fun.

[kork13]

Good:
- DD3 was born in March
- DW started her 25-month accelerated hybrid DPT program in August.
- I finished my master's degree last week
- Financially pretty successful -- strong growth & contributions to our investments, and our cash savings are fat (probably overly so), with zero debt on the books. Total net worth has climbed north ~$1.6M, up ~20% from a year ago. We met basically all of our financial goals for this year.
- Professionally, I moved into a senior leadership role in my unit, which helps toward my career progression. I'm also looking ahead to a promotion board in March, and I think I have good chances for getting the promotion.

Bad:
- I was deployed or otherwise away from home for 3.5wk in Jan/Feb & 7mo Apr-Oct (though professionally, they were great opportunities for me).
- COVID restrictions & impacts have foiled or challenged alot of our plans this year. Plus, I'm just really tired of wearing a mask everywhere.....
- Freak weather has also been a pain in the butt -- ex: we came up to Fairbanks, AK on Christmas to see aurora, hot springs, North Pole (city nearby), etc.... but with 20" of snow in the morning followed by an inch of rain followed by sub-zero temps (no joke), the roads are a sheet of ice & we're basically trapped in our hotel. Another one: 2 of DW's sisters went hiking in eastern Idaho, got lost in a random mid-October blizzard, and over 12 hours later were finally found by the county search & rescue. On the upside, it was an opportunity to make a sizable donation to the county's volunteer search & rescue team.

Ugly:
- My family is basically mainlined on stress. Between DW's heavy course load, my deployment/job travels, finishing my degree, DD3's needs as an infant, and all the issues of daily life... It's been a mess. Plus our stress level has impacted our interactions with the kids, which undoubtedly has caused some of the behavior problems they've been having at home & in school. Frankly, the relationship between DW & I has also suffered alot with it all as well.
- Relations with DW's mother has become even further strained. While I was deployed, DW relied heavily on family & friends for help with our 3 kids, including her mother. I won't go into her self-destructive drama, but suffice it to say that it's not pretty.

[ua_guy]

2021… was a lot. I’m battling some personal stuff, lost my job(layoff), and am trying to find a new direction for work. DH lost his grandmother and it’s been a hard year for his dad too. It was a big year of random sickness for my parents who are getting older... DH pivoted his role with a new company and secured our footing back in the NW, which I think will work out well given time, but the transition was a lot of stress, worry. He's in the thick of trying to build his empire there. It hasn’t been easy.

The good? We’re still able to save, investments are up, and we’ve made a good effort to “get away from it all” — lots of time and miles in our RV this year, lots of good memories doing that. We’re so thankful to be back in the Northwest, near family. Our dog is still with us, and DH and I still have our health. We’ve made significant progress to paying off our house. My time off has been a good boost in getting on top of stuff at home and around the property and I’ve enjoyed doing it.

I get the sense that 2022 could be the year we finally get some traction and things could ease up. The setup is there, ready to go. What we don’t need is any more significant setbacks or loss. If the world could just hold it together, minimally, for 2022, that would be great.

[corn18]

Retired 21 Mar 2021. Awesome! Love having zero responsibility. No corporate planning. No big proposals to win. No bonuses. No STF to meet. Life is very, very good.

We got a puppy. She's very cute.

Spent a lot of money and we are still $65k above plan. Mr. Market has been good this year.

No one has died or gotten really sick (knock on wood).

Overall, a great year.

[bjl584]

Good year overall for me.

My portfolio is near a record high
I remodeled the bathroom at our cabin
Built some furniture
Did a little travelling

I can't complain

[srblanco7]

2021 has been (knock on wood) a pretty good year. Family has remained healthy, DD is doing well in college. DS is doing well in high school - especially since it’s back in person. Achieved my fitness goal of running at least 50 miles every month. We hit our FI number at the end of March and, as of this morning, are sitting at 115% of our goal. Still on track to transition to part time at some point in 2022, with a targeted retirement in early 2023.

[jenn_jenn]

The good:

I started a new job in January that was a step up professionally and was a big step down in stress.

We bought our SD condo in March that saved my sanity with living on the East Coast and has proven to be a great financial investment as well.

I hit my savings goal of having 1x salary saved in retirement accounts by 30. I almost didn’t make it because my income has gone up significantly the past few years but the markets have been good.

My husband was able to sort out his VA disability and received a 90% rating. He will receive $2k a month for the rest of his life. It’s a nice little savings cushion because we’ve never factored it into our budget.

On a personal note, we had our wedding in July and it was wonderful to be able to celebrate with friends and family. It was definitely our year highlight.


The bad:

My husband has been less than happy with his new job. Going from military aviator to boring corporate desk job was a harder transition than he expected. I think he’s finding his groove for 2022 though.

The ugly:

I turned 30.

Much more good than bad. Looking forward to the new year!

[disneysteve]

Not to be negative, but I'll start with the bad as it led into some of the good.

Bad:
We lost my cousin in May. He and I were very close, more like brothers. Fortunately, DW and I got to spend a good amount of time with him in his final few months and she helped care for him until his passing. I then took a 2-month leave from work to clean out his house and settle his affairs, which was both difficult and rewarding.

A spring storm ripped the siding off our garage. Due to COVID supply chain issues, it took months to get materials but it finally got repaired a few weeks ago.

COVID continued to be a major factor. It eased up a bit in late summer and early fall before returning with a vengeance and now being at the worst point ever with record number of cases, insane volume at work, tremendous strain on the healthcare system, schools returning to remote learning, businesses going back to WFH status, and shops and restaurants shutting down again. I hope this is the last big surge and by spring we'll see improvement but it's shaping up to be a very challenging winter.

On Halloween, for no particular reason, my wife developed rather severe back pain. After a series of tests, scans, labs, and doctor visits, we determined it was coming from her back and not anything more serious. She had one epidural injection which got her some pretty good relief for about 3 weeks before the pain returned. She got a second injection which unfortunately didn't do much and she's been suffering ever since. She'll speak to the doctor on Monday and see what the next step is. She is scheduled to start some PT on Wednesday to see if that helps.

Our daughter's job went downhill for various reasons and she left a month ago. She's currently searching for a new one.

Good:
The silver lining of my cousin's death was that I inherited his estate, which came to somewhere around $1.2M. As a result of that along with strong market performance, our portfolio more than doubled in 2021 ending up at $3.3M. That put us over the finish line for our retirement numbers.

As a result, I gave notice in August to drop to part time which became effective November 28. I went from 36 hrs/wk to 24 hrs/wk. I now work 3 days/wk instead of 4. It's only been a month but it's been nice having that extra time around the house.

We did manage to squeeze in some travel when the COVID situation allowed it. We attended a 3-day convention/fundraiser for Give Kids The World in Disney World. We then returned to Disney a few weeks later for their 50th Anniversary celebration. And just a couple of weeks ago, we and another couple spent the weekend in National Harbor, MD to celebrate a couple of birthdays and just get away a bit. Somehow, largely due to the travel back and forth to see my cousin, we managed to hit Platinum status with Marriott for the year. Two more years and we'll have Lifetime Platinum status which will be nice as it brings with it some extra perks.

[jenn_jenn]

On Halloween, for no particular reason, my wife developed rather severe back pain. After a series of tests, scans, labs, and doctor visits, we determined it was coming from her back and not anything more serious. She had one epidural injection which got her some pretty good relief for about 3 weeks before the pain returned. She got a second injection which unfortunately didn't do much and she's been suffering ever since. She'll speak to the doctor on Monday and see what the next step is. She is scheduled to start some PT on Wednesday to see if that helps.

So sorry to hear this! I hope she finds relief soon!!

[disneysteve]

So sorry to hear this! I hope she finds relief soon!!

Thanks. Me too. It’s already clear that she’ll need to permanently alter some activities which is a bummer. Like roller coasters for example.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Good - started our own businesses. Who could have known? Markets have been kind to us.

Bad - started out own businesses - less money and tighter budget and more work difficult in someways with kids and work.

Ugly - aging of my family. I wonder if 2022 will be a good or bad year. When was i was home for the holidays my mom kept saying 2022 will be a bad year for dying. I certainly hope not. We avoided it in 2021 but a lot of family members got sick but not covid. Just other stuff like cancer, stroke, heart attacks. And they seem to be okay. What this bears out I have no idea. But I hope that 2022 is a better year.