2020, Thats A Wrap!

Well 2020 has come and gone. For me this year has seen some truly wonderful times as well as some very difficult and strange times. Here is a wrap up of the key parts before we get to the finances.

January 2020 for me started off only a week out from my wedding. A really special and wonderful time. Lots of family and friends around! It was such a beautiful way to start the year. Not long after the wedding, we learned of Covid-19 and the beginning of the pandemic.

In February we received notice that we were finally going to be receiving a puppy. We had been on a waiting list for over 14 months. My partner and I both grew up with dogs and decided that the happiness and joy of having a dog in the home was worth the financial costs of pet ownership, which we still firmly believe is right for us.

In mid Feb we were ready to start investing in ETFs but were very nervous about taking that next step. A bit of luck struck us because while we were dragging our feet, the market experienced the Covid Crash. When we decided it was time to start investing, the market had just started to recover but was still down which meant we were able to get more bang for our buck.

We purchased our first round of ETFs. We had been planning and saving for so long which made this step all that more momentous for us.

Lockdown 1 was hard but we got through it. Working from home, saving and investing what we can. Puppy preparation is well underway. We bought everything we needed and we were counting down the days until we got to bring home our 4 legged friend. He came the day before Lockdown 2 here in Melbourne and I was thrilled! Working from home with a brand new puppy. What could possibly go wrong?!?! It was amazing to have him with us finally.

We continued to invest funds every month towards our portfolio. Slowing working towards our financial goals.

During this lock down we missed many key family events. My wife’s family said good bye to their family dog of 17 years. Unfortunately we were unable to be there to say to bye. My sister who lives interstate had a baby, who we are still yet to meet. Our honeymoon was cancelled, we missed big family and religious holidays, and finally I consumed over 7000 minutes of financial Podcast information (binged may be a slightly more appropriate term here).

However, all in all we still have work. We are healthy and safe. We have a lot to be thankful and grateful for this year.

Now for the Financials.

Our Portfolio is tracking well.

Overall portfolio performance

Since the start of 2020 +24.50%. This result is largely due to a single individual stock which has been performing well above average all year and is pulling the average up.

Our EFT’s have grown by 8.33% since we first purchased them earlier this year.

Portfolio breakdown 70.9% ETFs (made up of 3 exchange traded funds) 29.1% Individual stocks. (made up of 5 individual stocks, all purchased Pre-2020)

This is on par with how we planned our portfolio to be split.

Budget & Saving Rates. Targeted savings rate: 25% Actual Savings Rate: 28%

This year’s target savings rate was lower than normal for us as we had 3 larger expenses we were planning for.

1) A honeymoon which was cancelled due to Covid-19. As a result, these funds are now contributing to the extra savings.

2) We were getting a dog which included some large upfront costs.

3) We finally did our garden renovation, which came in ever so slightly under budget (Yay)

Overall my partner and I are feeling very strongly about our financial position and plan. We feel we will be on track to reach our next major milestone in the coming months which is something we are looking forward to.

Review of 2020 goals.

- Start investing in a more structured way (consistently & regularly) - Done

- Create a personal Blog to track my progress –Half done. Blog is up and running, but I didn’t write as much as I would have liked.

- Have 50K invested in ETF’s by end of 2020 – Done. This was a close call, but we got there.

Financial Goals for 2021

1) Publish More content on Myfireology, target at least 1 per month.

2) Build back my savings rate to a minimum of 30% for the year.

3) Start a side hustle which can bring in additional income.

Happy new year!