2022: What I Learned
It’s been a wild ride.
2022 brought a whole lot with it. Like most years we had lots of politics, economic shifts, and social issues.
However, unlike most years we had:
Runaway inflation with a long way to go to the 2% target (is 2% the goal anymore?)
An economy and market that screams recession with a consumer and job market that says otherwise
Layoffs at major companies, who likely over hired in 2021, that put workers into a better than usual job market
A Federal Reserve that is still saying soft landing is achievable, but to do so wants to see more people laid off (what’s transitory anyways?)
A multi-billion dollar fraud case from a company run worse than Enron (they used QuickBooks to manage their finances 🙃)
The world’s richest person buy a major social media company at an extremely overvalued price, duping the media while doing so
That’s quite a year, and that’s only some of it.
But those are things we can’t control and don’t always directly impact us. I’m sure all of us had major events, growth, disappointments, joys, and all the other emotions this year.
As I’ve begun to reflect on this past year, I look back on everything that happened with a feeling of gratitude. No matter what came with it, every event was meant to happen and brought some sort of learning with it. I take note of as much as I can, whether it be journaling, photography, and just random notes. Whenever I look back, I see how much I’ve grown. This might sound woo-woo, but I really recommend taking stock of your past year, seeing where you succeeded and failed, and how to grow yourself even more. I think this video from Ali Abdaal on how he failed this past year is an excellent example of recapping your personal year.
A few things stood out in my personal recap session that I’d like to share. Hopefully some takeaways can be had from my own learnings or mistakes.
Giving brings the greatest joy
This year I found myself finally leaning into giving what I’ve been blessed with. I always tithed at church, and it’s been a core financial foundation for Kelsey and I. However, there was always hesitancy for me to give more when we’re able. God has blessed us so abundantly with the means to help others. It was finally letting go of that selfishness that I found myself with the greatest joy from money, more than any stock return or Apple product could bring. It was knowing that we could help someone else with what we have. This wasn’t just at church though. It was picking up someone’s lunch. Or buying a random gift for someone just because. Those little things bring so much joy to others, but what I found was that it also made me happy!
But it’s not just giving financially. Giving my time and abilities to others has been something I didn’t lean into enough in the past, and finally did this year. I always struggled with giving my time. We’re all busy, but I’m not going to lie - for two 26 year-olds we seem extremely busy. I used that excuse for a long time as to why we couldn’t do something. While true, it begins to wear on others, and myself. It wasn’t until some deep thinking with myself (woo-woo once again!) that I realized connection with others is so important. Family, friends, strangers, and not to mention my spouse; I needed time with every component listed. It’s not easy to give our time when we all have so much going on. But even the busiest among us have time. I realized the 5 minutes in between meetings, workouts, dinner, etc. all were areas I could use for others. That adds up, and eventually equates to a lot of time we can give.
I’m not saying these things to give off a holier than thou sentiment, or that I’m an enlightened being who is great at self-reflecting. Rather, it’s to show that we can all give in some way. We often think that those we don’t know are the most in need, and that is very much true. But, it can be those closest to us who need something, and it’s not always in the financial form. Often, it’s our time. Nick Maggiulli’s article on “The Gift of Time” details this well.
Putting others before myself changed me, and it made me see how my money and time can be used so much more effectively.
Spending is Okay
Spending money. This might be the one I struggled with the most, and still do today. In society everyone wants to spend money, but the idea of it is often shamed within personal finance. Heck, even in our own circles. We’re jealous of the person who has it all, yet judge them at the same time for spending on “frivolous” things. We even shame ourselves. There’s this internal guilt every time we spend on something not deemed essential. It’s a feeling of not deserving something, oftentimes stemming from an endless comparison trap we’ll never break out of.
This year I dedicated a lot of mental capacity to identifying the areas that caused this guilt and being intentional in stopping them. For me, a lot of this guilt came from my upbringing around money. As I’ve written about before, money has a strong psychological component to it. Unfortunately, I’m not sure this is something that ever leaves you. However, I think taking time to understand why you think the way you do about money, be it family or societal pressures, is important. But, what’s more important is the actions you take to change.
I prayed a lot about this. Going to God and admitting weakness and needing His strength has helped tremendously. I’ve also journaled even more on this topic. Getting my thoughts out on paper, as opposed to internalizing them in my head, was key. I also talk a lot about this with my wife. She always keeps me grounded, and helps bring me back when I’m straying from the money principles we believe in: not having guilt.
There were two key concept I learned this year when it came to this topic that have helped me with spending:
Are you meeting your goals?
Contentment
As I said earlier, the associated guilt often comes from comparison. But, keeping focused on your personal financial goals alleviates this. When it came to our financial health I saw that we were putting in the necessary work, and having the required discipline, to hit our goals. If there’s leftover money, spend it! Use it on things you want. That led to point #2.
Staying focused on our finances, and not comparing, also made me realize I’m content with what we have. If there’s something I truly want, I’ll know it and I’ll buy it. Similar to Ramit Sethi’s money dials, when you spend in the areas you truly love, and cut out the fluff of other categories, you gain more fulfillment. This might require drilling deeper into your money dials. For example, I love technology. Specifically, I love charging accessories. I can’t tell you why, but I do. Every Amazon suggestion or tech blog inundates me with $20 charging bricks and $12 cables. I’d love to buy every single one as soon as I get hit with that ad. This is dopamine. That feeling you get when you impulse buy something. We crave it. Yet, when slowing down and taking a step back, you realize you’re content with what you have. This is what I’ve done. Slowing down and controlling my emotions. If I really want something after a couple days, I buy it. More than likely, I probably don’t want it. This idea of realizing what you have is so important in ensuring that you feel thankful when spending on what you work hard for, not guilt.
Savings are meant to be used
Similar to the point of “spending is okay” is the idea that when you set aside money for something, you should be using it. This has been difficult for me in two areas: emergency funds and saving for a specific goal.
The purpose of emergency funds is in the name - cash for emergencies. Usually 3-6 months of your expenses. The gray area is what you define as an emergency. Rear-ended and have to pay a $1000 from savings while waiting on insurance approval from the party who caused the accident? To one person that’s an emergency, but to another person that’s $1000 less in savings for the next emergency (this is a true story for us if you couldn’t tell). This only gets worse when it comes to job security. Though I write about focusing on your personal circumstances, it can be hard to practice what you preach. Nevertheless, this year I really started to think about what is an emergency. And I realized, like my previous posts, it’s truly up to us to decide. If we define that “insert household item breaking” is an emergency, then so be it! We pay for it with those funds, and set a goal to replenish the emergency fund. Personal finance is truly that - personal. We get caught up in worrying that we don’t realize we’re the ones in control of how we spend. We can define our own goals.
But, what might be harder to use savings on is the “saving for a goal.” Let’s say you want to take a great vacation with your friends. For months you’ve diligently been setting aside money for that vacation. When you finally hit that goal, do you pay for the trip? Or put it off because that money is now gone from your savings account if you spend it? This has been an even greater struggle for me. Setting a goal and achieving it was one thing, but feeling good about myself to spend the money I saved on was not easy. There was this sense of guilt I would have knowing that money would be leaving our savings account. It was as if I didn’t feel like I deserved it. The deeper issue stems from a fear of not having enough money when I needed it. “What if a huge emergency, larger than our emergency fund, happens and that money I just spent could’ve helped” is what I’d ask myself. I would be very surface level in this thinking. It took me digging deeper to realize this level of thinking was not backed in anything. It was purely fear. What am I really fearful of that is realistic? The more I thought about it, the more I realized everything is fine! Trusting the process that we’ve set in place is rooted in sound financial principles. Though things can go awry, we have emergency funds in place. If we set a goal, and reach it, then we should go for it! Why purposely restrict yourself because of the fear of what might happen? Being present, a 3b learning this year if you may, is one of the most important things in life, money or otherwise.
Bringing it all together
Regardless of the macro things that happened this year, 2022 was an amazing year for me. Reflecting upon this year showed me that the lessons I thought only applied to money, actually apply to so much of my entire life. Whether it’s giving, not comparing yourself to others, or being present; I see how amazing life is when you take control of your life. As Tony Robbins as that might sound, it’s the truth. We all have one amazing life and the ability to live it to the fullest.
Take time to reflect upon the recent year when it comes to your finances. What was great? What could have been better? You might see something that goes beyond dollars and cents. And this is where the greatest change can happen.