Ease Your Financial Payne

Why You NEED to Know What You Want to Do After Retirement:

Many people who choose the F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence Retire Early) way of life, have a rude awakening once they reach financial independence and quit their jobs: All of your problems don’t magically disappear and it turns out your job and money weren’t what was holding you back.

(This blog post was inspired by the Madfientist, who I think I discovered in 2018 or 2019. His Podcast majorly helped me get my husband and I’s finances on track, and on track to F.I.R.E.)

If you now have the time and the money to pursue all of your goals and dreams, what could possibly be holding you back then? The answer: Self-doubt. You’re scared you won’t succeed or already believe you won’t. The thing is, with enough practice, anyone can do anything, in my opinion. You just need to be dedicated and disciplined. Allow yourself to make mistakes and time.

Another issue that may come up is: what you thought you wanted to do with your time, you actually don’t, now you’re left feeling lost and empty. OR whatever task/hobby/passion you thought would be enough to get you out of bed in the morning, actually isn’t.

An entirely different outcome can also be: You feel content with your life and like you’ve accomplished everything you wanted to, which leaves you feeling bored & needing to want something again. This then causes you to make problems out of thin air, often in your relationships, especially with your partner. Think about it, you have all of your wishes granted, there is nothing left to strive for or work towards, it then becomes difficult to stay motivated enough to keep living your life. You NEED problems to solve and goals to work towards.

Just being aware of these potential problems is immensely helpful, so you can notice if these start happening in your life.

So, how can we avoid all of these not so great outcomes I listed, post-F.I.R.E.?

PLAN and brainstorm.

Write a huge list of potential goals, hobbies, or passions that lie entirely outside of money and your job. Things that you as an individual can work towards when money no longer adds to your happiness. I’ve already somewhat experienced this for myself. I remember when we hit $100,000 net worth feeling really proud and excited for a couple minutes, then I felt exactly the same forever after, so far. Same with when I lost my job, I felt a sense of freedom and excitement for a few minutes, but now I feel pretty much the same as I did before, even though I no longer have a boss telling me what to do. Luckily, I had built up my blog already, so I could really throw myself at it. Even so, my business only takes up about 20 hours a week. Then I clean for roughly 30 min a day, which we are now at a total of only 23.5 hours a week. Then I sleep for 56 hours, which leaves 88.5 hours a week that I am awake and have free time. As a result, I have been bored quite a bit recently. I do want to say though, being bored isn’t always bad, boredom often leads to creativity and connection! Ever since I cut out social media now, I have had SO many different blog post ideas come to me, a lot easier than before. It’s also not as bad in the warmer months, but it being the middle of Winter in Minnesota, during Covid, isn’t great. In the Summer I can go biking, walking, hiking, canoeing, spend time in my yard, garden, sit on my back patio and read, etc. There are just so many more options. This is a big reason why I have decided to go back to school, I just have so much time and energy that is being wasted right now, which I don’t like.

My list of ideas of what I can work on now in my free time and when I am post-F.I.R.E.:

Pick a martial art and try to become a black belt.
Go to a weekly, or more than weekly, yoga class.
Do home & landscape improvement projects.
Grow the garden.
Write more workbooks and/or book(s).
Keep writing and growing the blog.
Start up the podcast again with Eric.
Go for a daily walk as long as it is above freezing.
Go back to school.
Have a baby/focus on raising a child.
Annual or monthly reading goals.
Travel to all the places I want to.
Prioritize being by friends and family.
Keep decluttering our house.
Try to reach the top level of a video game I love. Most likely playing with a friend.
Meditate every day.
Volunteer! and donate money regularly.
In the non-super cold months, go hiking, canoeing, & biking.
Get back into skiing again. I used to love skiing in middle school -downhill.
Plan to go to concerts through out the year.
Go to museums.
Practice an instrument or instruments. I could even pay for lessons, including singing lessons.
Learn a new language (or multiple).

Some of these things are for when money is no longer tight. Also, I may discover some of these ideas are not for me, and that’s okay! Trial and error. Hopefully my list helped you get the idea. Notice how they’re not about buying things? They’re mainly about what I can do to challenge myself to learn and grow as a person. Your list may look entirely different from mine, but make sure your goals are meaningful. The goal is to feel motivated, content, and like you’re learning & growing, so you can avoid feeling lost, unmotivated, and a subconscious need to create unnecessary problems.

Like always, thank you for reading and I hope this helped you!

-Meghan

New blog post every week! Follow for more!

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Stuff Done!

Many people struggle with motivation and inspiration, especially when it comes to things like art, cleaning, work, school, & exercise.

I’m going to provide you with four great tips on how to actually stop procrastinating and find motivation!

First though I want to say that your value as a person isn’t solely reliant on your productivity. Things like rest, sleep, your relationships, and having fun are just as important!

(All of these tips can be used in any area of your life.)

Tip 1: Just start and do 5 minutes.

Have no expectations. Do not expect it to go great and remind yourself that something is better than nothing!! Often people set the bar too high, get overwhelmed, and end up doing nothing instead. For example, thinking if you can’t make it to the gym to do a 45min workout, then you’ll just do nothing instead. Going for a walk is exercise, doing yoga is exercise, dancing around your living room is exercise. If you’re not feeling motivated, just set a timer on your phone for 5 minutes and say you’ll quit after that. Then usually you’ll feel motivated and want to go for longer than 5 minutes! And if not, then you still at least did 5 minutes rather than doing nothing! I will say it again, something is better than nothing!

You can also use the 5 minute, 10 minute, or 15 minute tidy for cleaning. Set a timer and see how much you can clean within that time frame, make it a game/challenge. You will be shocked at the progress you can make in just 10 min!

Also, you will not magically receive motivation from someone else and especially not from social media. Social media often drains us without us realizing it and causes us to compare ourselves to others. I get most inspired with ideas to write about by just sitting alone with myself thinking or reading books. I know everyone is different, but I suggest taking a step back from socials if you’re trying to get motivated.

Tip 2: Write down how long the task will take next to it.

We often put off tasks for SO long and let them hang over our heads and stress us out, that often will only take us 5-15 minutes. For example, the dishes. Unloading and loading the dishwasher really takes about 5 minutes, but people will put it off for days. Or putting off an important, but simple call for work or an appointment are common things people procrastinate on too! Just writing how long the task will take you so you can see and think about it will make you realize the task isn’t as bad or as big of a deal as you feel it is.

Tip 3: Circle the top 3 most important tasks for the day.

Again, we overwhelm ourselves by making huge lists of things we need to get done. I suggest, after writing out your longer list, figure out the 3 things that will have the biggest positive impact on your day or that are the most necessary to get done. For example, let’s say this is your list for the day:

Dishes (5 min)
Laundry (10 min)
Go for a walk (15 min)
Dentist appointment at 2:30pm (45 min)
Vacuum under bed (10 min)

So, you know your appointment needs to be one of the top 3 most important things you need to do today. Then you realize you need clean dishes to eat off of so you have to do that and that today is the only day warm enough to go for a walk over the next week, so you really want to take advantage of it for your health. You realize the laundry can wait until tomorrow and so can the vacuuming under the bed.

Now you can just focus on getting those three things done and you realize it will only take an hour and 5min of your day! If you still feel motivated after accomplishing those things, then you can choose to do the laundry or vacuum under the bed. Or you can choose to not, and not feel guilty about it because you already know you got the three most important things done for the day!

Tip 4: Figure out what time(s) of day you feel your best and most energized & focused.

This will be very different for everyone! You can figure this out by reflecting on what times you notice you get the most done and feel the most focused throughout the day. Or you can take this quiz to find out your chronotype! Knowing your chronotype is great, because you can then be more mindful about how to schedule your time! Here is even more information about chronotypes. Your type also changes over time!

I personally feel my best usually between 8am-12pm, so this is often the time I do my focused work. I wakeup usually around 7am or whenever sunrise is. My lowest energy and lowest motivation point of the day is usually 2-5pm, so I know to go easier on myself during this time and allow myself to relax, read, sit outside, or nap. Then I get a bit more energy again from 5-7pm, then it tapers off with me usually asleep by 10pm-ish. I’ve taken the tests too and I either come out a Bear or a Lion, I believe I am a mix of the two.

This concludes my 4 tips on how to become motivated and get things done! I hope you found it helpful!

-Meghan (A recovered procrastinator)

New blog post every week! Follow for more!

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

Why I Share Our Finances Online:

I’m writing this for people, especially those who may know me in real life, who wonder why I share our personal finances publicly, or think to themselves something along the lines of, “that’s such an invasion of privacy, I would never do that.”

Here are my reasons why:

First of all, and the most important reason why I do, is to help other people. People can see exactly what we are invested in and can watch our finances slowly grow and change month by month, it’s great. It’ll be super helpful to look back 10 years from now and see how far we’ve come, exactly HOW we did it, and the ups and downs along the way. This keeps things super transparent, relatable, and realistic too.

I have seen thousands of people’s personal financial information and helped them. If people feel comfortable enough to share their information with me, I feel comfortable enough to share mine with them. To me, it’s about mutual respect and transparency. I want to show I practice what I preach and that we are doing well financially for our ages, so people know my methods and tactics actually work.

Second, you do not need to share what you are not comfortable with sharing. If you don’t want to share you finances, don’t! Also, I can choose to stop at any time. Of course what is out there is out there, but I can stop sharing those numbers whenever I want to. -Don’t worry, I don’t want to yet.

Third, there is a large community of people online that share their personal finances as well. Most of them in the F.I.R.E. community. I have always appreciated other people that do this and found their posts helpful, so I wanted to add to the community as well. Everyone has a completely different scenario that is playing out for them. Some people make 120k/year, some make 30k/year, some want kids, some don’t want kids, some want a home, some want to travel the world, I could go on and on. So some people out there may relate to my husband and I more than others in the F.I.R.E. community.

Finally, I want to have a record for myself and me sharing it publicly has allowed me to connect with others simultaneously. I’ve really enjoyed looking back every once in a while to see how far we’ve come. It also helps keep us motivated, because we can see the progress very clearly.

Well I hope that clears any questions or concerns about this topic. No one asked for this, but I like to make sure all my bases are covered now that I’m sharing my blog with people I know in real life.

Speaking of sharing finances publicly, here is our January Financial Update that came out on Monday. 😉

As always, thanks for reading!

-Meghan Payne

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

January 2022 Financial Update:

As most people know, there was a market correction in January, so our investments went down quite a bit, which is okay. If you invest, you need to expect corrections and crashes every now and then.

Not much happened in January for us, some more of our relatives got Covid and we were by someone who tested positive so we mostly just stayed home. Also it has been in the negatives outside.

Then I had one of my rare hemiplegic migraines that mimic a stroke on Monday January 24th. I’m okay, but my head hurt for a week after the event. They suck to have and are scary for those around me. I couldn’t talk or function for 24 hours and had no appetite. I even threw up for the first time since 7th grade from the pain, it made me so nauseous. I need to go to a neurologist again because this isn’t okay and apparently as I get older they will happen for longer and more frequently, which I do not want. When they happen, nothing helps. Of course I’ve had Tylenol, Advil, even Ativan and Triptans. They do nothing for the pain and I think they just make me loopy. They have prescribed me triptans, but there is actually research that says they can increase my risk of stroke with a hemiplegic migraine, so I don’t feel safe taking them. Doctors disagree on how to treat this rare migraine.

Other than struggles with migraines, I am very healthy and this has only happened 3x in my life, but like I said I lose my ability to speak and get very confused at everything. Part of me goes numb and I can’t remember the date or who the president is or write my name correctly. And it is by far the worst pain I have ever felt. Because these migraines mimic a stroke, they always say to go to the ER just in case, which I did.

I can tell when they’re coming because my vision goes funny, a little blurred or a zigzag line, then my hand goes numb, then about 15-45 min later the pain begins and lasts for about 24 hours. Then I usually panic and text Brandon at work and he takes me to the ER. I don’t know if it will ever go away or if we will find a treatment, but I hope so! I guess now we will have an expensive medical bill to pay unexpectedly this month… got to love the U.S. health system.

Edit: I have realized that the day before my migraine I ate multiple foods that can trigger one! I also didn’t eat breakfast right away which is apparently not good too and was mildly stressed, so the combination of those things resulted in the migraine! Then I also did a lot wrong when it came to treating the migraine… apparently I was supposed to put an icepack on my head, I did a hot compress. I also went out in the light, I should have laid down in complete dark and silence. Now I know!

Okay, that’s enough about my migraine problem! It’s the only interesting thing that happened this month. On to the finances!

If you haven’t checked out my financial planning e-workbook yet, I suggest you do! It’s a great tool that will make you and/or save you thousands of dollars, if not more, for only $9.99. I’m really proud of it and know it will help people so much! Feel free to click here to read more about it!

Our Partial Financial Independence Goals:

$0 Debt.
Brandon works part time at his job.
I am self-employed. I can choose how much or how little I want to work & when.
We need $2,000+/month in income, whether that comes from investments, Brandon’s part time job, my blog, my workbook, etc. it doesn’t matter.

Our Current Numbers as of February 1st, 2022:

Roth IRAs (Betterment -SRI Sustainable): $24,470.66 and $21,457.76
My small Traditional IRA (From an old 401(k) rollover -Betterment): $1,783.86
Tesla: $837.61
AYRO (Free Crypto from signing up with Robinhood): $1.13
Bitcoin: $1,041.91
Total Invested: $49,592.93
Savings: $18,003.18
Debt: -$120,983.82 (Mortgage)
Just Brandon is working full time.

For me, investing in Crypto & Tesla is gambling. I invested that money knowing full well that I could lose it all and be okay with that. I also don’t include the value of our house & car in our updates, any random cash we are saving up for house projects, or how much we have saved up in credit card rewards.

As always, thanks for reading!

-Meghan

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

Do You Fear Change or Crave It?

I’m addicted to change. I can finally acknowledge this and say it out loud. I’m not talking small changes like dying your hair or painting a room. I love big changes and accomplishments, like moving, getting married, starting a new business, traveling, having a child, going back to school, etc.

I’m not sure whether this is good or bad, or neither & just how I am.

I’ve noticed most people hate change, and try to avoid it unless it is one particular thing they really want or need to do.

Again, I don’t know if this is good, bad, or just how some people are.

I crave change. I’m obsessed with being outside of my comfort zone. I have this deep need to constantly be growing and learning, in intense ways. Because of this, the last two years have been challenging for me. They have been very stagnant, to me.

I’m only 23, already married, own a home, have a 2 year degree, have started different business ventures, and have traveled quite a bit for my age. I’m longing for the next adventure.

All I’ve done over the last two years is work alone in my house either for my former job or on my own business. I also read a lot. But that’s it; no major life events, very little travel, no formal education other than my insurance license, etc. I want to do more, I want to be challenged again. It doesn’t help that it has been averaging at 0 degrees Fahrenheit here in Minnesota and all of our family has been getting Covid, leaving us often alone at home. Losing my job in October & focusing on my business was a challenge, but I’m craving a different kind of challenge, something new.

Options I am highly considering moving forward:

Going back to school for my bachelors degree. I’ve already talked with an advisor at a local university and applied. I am 90% sure I am going back to school starting in May of 2022. I want to learn more again in a formal setting and meet new people. I might do a work study and travel study as well.
I want to travel again in 2022. I haven’t seen my best friend and my uncle since 2019. One lives in Oregon and one lives in Germany. I want to make my best effort to see them this year.
I will for sure keep working on, improving, and adapting my business. My main focuses are this blog and selling my workbook.
Brandon and I want to become extreme minimalists. We actually have tickets to see THE Minimalists soon in person!! We are so excited!
Having a child, sometime over the next 3 years. This really depends on school and if we decide to move or not, which leads me to my final idea…
The most wild thing we are considering for approximately 1.5-2 years from now, is moving to another country and renting out our house, most likely Germany. This one is a HUGE maybe and really depends on how the next two years go and what we want to do about a year from now.

See what I mean by saying I’m obsessed with making big changes? I’m not saying all of these will happen, but maybe they will. Life is unexpected and uncontrollable. We may decide against a lot of these options, you never know. All I know is that I want to learn and grow as much as I possibly can in this life.

Do you relate to this? Do you hate change? Do you love change? Have you ever moved to a foreign country and are you glad you did? Tried minimalism? Let me know in the comments!

My Link Tree! -All of my links. -Including affiliate & referral links to my workbook, BetterHelp, ThriftBooks, Betterment, Back Market, and my business email. 🙂

Things We Still Buy as Minimalists:

A lot of people think minimalists don’t buy anything except needs like food & shampoo, but that is not true. We have hobbies and unnecessary things we like to buy too. It’s about cutting out all spending that is not important to you and prioritizing how you spend your time and money.

My husband and I used to be terrible with overspending, I was the worst. We would go shopping every weekend and eat out multiple times a week. We have finally realized what matters to us and brings us joy.

Here are some things we spend money on that aren’t necessities like cleaning products:

Used books from ThriftBooks -I love reading and learning. I believe that books really change your life and everyone should read more. If you struggle with reading, audiobooks are a great way to go too. I just personally love having physical books, I like to share them with friends and family.
Secondhand tech -When we need a “new” phone, laptop, or Apple Watch, we go through Back Market to get great refurbished tech. We aren’t the kind of people that buy a new phone every 1-2 years, but when our tech can no longer function well, this is our go to.
Disc golf equipment -Brandon LOVES disc golf, so each year he buys, sells, and trades his discs all through the spring, summer, & fall. I’m not a fan of the sport, but I often go with him to walk around on the different courses to get outside and exercise.
Video games -We each have different video games we enjoy playing. Brandon plays the PS4 and I play on the PC. Sometimes we buy physical games, sometimes we just download the game, it depends what is more cost effective.
Home improvement stuff -We could leave our home as it is and be content, but we enjoy slowly improving our home to make it more our style. We often check the Habitat Restore first, then go to Menards for what we need.

Other than that, we don’t buy things anymore, we have everything we need and more. If we do spend money it is on experiences like concerts, museums, or canoe rental.

The main idea is thinking about what you would be willing to sacrifice spending money on so that you can reach financial independence faster and have more time for what matters most like taking care of your health and relationships.

If you’re a minimalist, what things do you still buy?

My Link Tree! -All of my links.

My Financial Planning Workbook!

Trying to Break the Social Media Addiction:

Two years ago, I took two month long breaks from social media. It was glorious and I missed nothing while I was off of it. There were many benefits, which I described in my blog post: 9 Reasons Why You Should Quit Social Media. Yet somehow I’m back scrolling on Instagram and TikTok like I was before… It weaseled it’s way back into my life. This is because I am addicted. It didn’t happen all at once, I slowly went on it more and more.

I have quit and started up again about 5 times now. The problem is, I am an all or nothing person, it is the way my brain is wired. I can’t set time limits for my socials, I just ignore them. Luckily, I am not addicted to anything else and don’t have an addictive personality, but social media for some reason is my Achilles heel.

I listened to an episode of The Mad Fientist Podcast where he had Dr. Cal Newport on, back when the episode was released. This led me to watch Cal’s TEDx talk about social media. Right after watching the video, I deleted all of my social media apps. In 2021, I even bought a book called “How to Break Up with Your Phone.” It worked for a while, but not going cold-turkey right away just doesn’t work for me, there were some amazing tips though and I highly recommend the book!

The main reason I went back on social media was to try to promote this blog. I am a writer, not a social media influencer. This doesn’t mean I’m a good writer, but I still am one ;). It turns out though, most people on social media want to stay on social media, not go find new blogs to read. I’ve also noticed I am spreading myself too thin again. Being active almost daily on Instagram, posting multiple times a week on TikTok, a weekly blog post, and writing & publishing a new e-workbook and site; it’s too much. It doesn’t help that if I open Instagram or TikTok once, I will be opening it 10 more times that day, wasting hours of my day.

I had a long conversation last night with my husband about this and I’ve decided to quit socials again, he is too. I will create Facebook ads to promote my new workbook, but I’ve never really liked scrolling on Facebook and don’t plan on sticking around after I make them. Once they are created, they just run automatically too. The only other reason why we use Facebook is to sell our belongings on there, which we will probably do once we complete our major spring declutter we have planned.

In light of these changes, I have updated my 2022 Goals post. I am only going to focus on this blog, improving the site for my e-workbook & creating ads for my e-workbook, and checking emails 3x a week. Other than that, I will be focusing on my health and relationships, that’s it.

I am so excited to say goodbye to social media, I hope it is the last time I do this.

As always, thanks for reading! ❤

My Link Tree! -All of my links.

December 2021 Financial Update:

Cover of my Financial Planning E-Workbook

Happy New Year! Let’s hope 2022 is a bit kinder to us than 2020 and 2021… Honestly, for me, 2020 & 2021 were neutral, boring years. I really didn’t do much other than work, read, & write. January 1st, 2022 is my two year anniversary of running this blog! So, thank you for reading & providing support!

I’ve decided to try my hardest to make 2022 the best year of my life, so far. I personally have never had a “best year of my life”, I’ve had amazing moments, but they were usually balanced out by not so enjoyable things happening too.

We didn’t do a whole lot for the holidays. A lot of our family members have been getting Covid over the last month and my side of the family was actually gone in Hawaii for Christmas.

I have some exciting news though!!! I have published a financial planning e-workbook for beginners! It is now up for sale!

In this 34 page printable e-workbook, we will organize and analyze your current financial situation, and figure out your goals! Then we dive into how to achieve them.

Included in this workbook: How to get a raise, sections to track your progress, a glossary to easily reference financial terms as you work through the book, and so much more!

It also works great if you just want to make a financial plan for 2022 and have all of your information in one convenient place! It would mean the world if you decided to purchase my workbook. I put a lot of effort into it and got feedback from many different people with appropriate career and education backgrounds, on how to make it great. I know everyone will learn something from it and/or use this helpful tool to reach their financial goals.

I love writing blog posts and creating content for my easeyourfinancialpayne social medias, but people need financial advice and a financial plan that is tailored to them and their specific needs! This workbook accomplishes that!

Anyway, on to our financial update!

Our Partial Financial Independence Goals:

$0 Debt.
Brandon works part time at his job.
I am self-employed. I can choose how much or how little I want to work & when.
We need $2,000+/month in income, whether that comes from investments, Brandon’s part time job, my blog, my workbook, etc. it doesn’t matter.

Our Current Numbers as of January 1st, 2022:

Roth IRAs (Betterment -SRI Sustainable): $49,038
My small Traditional IRA (From an old 401(k) rollover -Betterment): $1,801
Tesla: $1,044.58
AYRO (Free Crypto from signing up with Robinhood): $1.61
Bitcoin: $1,303.15
Total Invested: $53,188.34
Savings: $18,001.65
Debt: -$121,652.54 (Mortgage)
Just Brandon is working full time.

As always, thanks for reading!

-Meghan

My Links:

My Financial Planning Workbook for Beginners!
ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!

2021 Reflections & 2022 Goals!

I’m going to hold off on the cliché: “I can’t believe another year is gone! It feels like 2020 just started!”.

I set a ton of goals for 2021, and I (we, for some) accomplished all of them! There were a few that I ended up crossing out because my values/priorities changed.

2021 goals that I accomplished:

Spend time with friends or family members once or more a week.
Read 10+ Books
Visit one new place I’ve never been
Update the living room and hallway
Meditate/pray/manifest 5x a week
Get a raise
Keep up with finance blog
Buy a newer phone
Start my financial literacy TikTok
Start the Money For Everyone Podcast with Eric
Leave my job

Financial Goals we had for 2021 (all accomplished):

Pay off the car
Build up an emergency fund to $18,000+
Max out our Roth IRA contributions for 2021
Hit $100,000 Net Worth

I’m really proud of myself and Brandon for following through on our goals.

Our 2022 Goals:

My regular goals:

Healthy eating, with an emphasis on fruits, vegetables, & protein. -continue my vegetarian diet.
No social media.
Move my body mindfully daily, usually yoga.
Daily meditation.
Read 24+ Books.
Start a fruit & vegetable garden in the Spring.
Totally declutter the basement.
Post weekly on my blog.
Focus on making The Money Parent site better & selling my e-workbook to help others.
See my best friend that I haven’t seen since 2019.
See my uncle I haven’t seen since 2019.

Brandon’s regular goals:

Cook more.
New flooring in living room & hall.
Fix the fence in the backyard.
Help with garden & basement decluttering.
Read Beau Mile’s Book.
Get a raise.

We have a few other goals, but they are more personal, so I don’t feel like sharing them.

Our Financial Goals:

Put all of our extra money after expenses on the Mortgage.
Get the Mortgage down to $110k or less.

I may get a part time job to make sure we reach these financial goals. Everything in our life is really up in the air right now, so we’ll see.

I’m looking forward to 2022 and what it holds, I know even if it is challenges, it is for good reason.

What are your 2022 Goals? 🙂

Feel free to comment below!

Quit Being Realistic

Reality is created by the mind. We can change our reality by changing our mind.
Plato

First of all, “reality” is just perception. Two people can witness the same event, but the reality of it is different for each of them. So we have billions of people running around on Earth that each experience their own version of reality. What is unrealistic in your world, can be entirely realistic in another’s.

For example: the Wright brothers. In their reality, getting humans to fly was possible, in the vast majority of people’s realities (at the time) it was not. Often, the people who have more advanced realities, in my opinion, are viewed as crazy, radical, or unrealistic people during their time. If they had listened to all the people that told them how unrealistic they were, we wouldn’t have modern airplanes & air travel.

If we as individuals listen to the realities of the majority, we will remain stuck where we’re at.

This idea can be applied to any area of your life. With all of this being said, it is important to acknowledge the reality of the majority and do real research based on fact. If you keep trying, anything is possible.

For example, if you’ve done the math and figured out you can retire at 35 and people keep telling you how unrealistic that is, what they say is irrelevant because you’ve crunched the numbers. You have proof that it will happen, if you want it to.

When you say something can’t happen for you, it won’t. You’ve already stopped it from happening in your mind. So if you have a goal or dream that seems “unrealistic” just keep trying and trust that it will happen. It make take 30 years, or a couple weeks, but if you stay focused on it, it’s just a matter of time. This becomes easier when you remove distractions and really limit what you give your time and energy to.

Stop limiting yourself.

My Links:

ThriftBooks -I LOVE them as a company & order all of my books from them now! They ship super fast, great service, books always show up as described, super cheap, & good for the planet because they’re second-hand, but you get to choose the quality!
Mint -Great site/app to manage all of your finances in one spot!
BetterHelp -A week of Therapy for FREE!
Betterment -Invest your first $5,000 for FREE!
Back Market -My referral code: 6888f588d6f85083 -$10 off your order! Refurbished Tech! My sister & I both got “new” phones from there. They’re awesome, great quality, so much cheaper than buying new (by up to 70%), came super fast, was super easy to buy, AND we saved 123 pounds of carbon emissions, each!