2020 Life, Financial & Business Review

2020 Life, Financial & Business Review

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For the past several years, I’ve always posted my year in review with photos only. Since we didn’t go out much in 2020, this post is going to look a bit different this year.

2020 was a year no one saw coming, but I did my best to find joy when I could and learn from the painful experiences. And man, were there painful experiences, but I did come out stronger in the end. 

P.S. My sister Michelle from Making Sense of Cents inspired me to write a year in review post.

Personal Life

Family

My grandma passed away this year and although we knew it was coming, it was still a shock. It still doesn’t totally feel real to me because I thought she was going to live forever (she was almost 100 years old). I do find solace knowing that she’s in a much more comfortable place now.

Partner

My partner found his dream job as a web developer for a company in the sustainability space. Even better, it pays very well and is remote. This was a dream come true after we applied to 600+ jobs and heard crickets. 

And with life comes the good and the not so good. My partner lost both of his grandpa’s. The first passed away in January, with the second passing in October.

Pictured below: Photo of hike with my favorite person.

Pets

Our dogs had a healthy year which is something I’m very grateful for. Years previously were tough with several visits to the vet, emergency vet, and surgeries. 

Pictured below: Ba’cho. 

Me

2020 was spent mostly indoors, with a few hikes here and there. I did lots of cooking, baking, and reading (over 65 books last year). I bought a Peloton, and yes, I’m absolutely obsessed with it.

The biggest change of 2020 was ditching dieting, living a “healthy lifestyle”, and weighing myself. I’ve had disordered eating issues for the past decade but often cloaked it under as living a healthy lifestyle. I’m happy to say I don’t remember the last time I counted calories or checked my weight. In 2020, I started living my life. If you’re interested in learning more about this, I highly recommend reading these books: Intuitive Eating: 4th Edition, Anti Diet and The F*ck It Diet. I also recommend the podcast episode: The Anti-Diet on the podcast 10% Happier with Dan Harris.

Although 2020 was a shit show, I really did my best to find joy in my everyday life. 

Then in November, I completed a health exam for a life insurance application. I found out that my results didn’t come back clear and that I needed to see my primary doctor for next steps. November and December were some of the most anxious, depressing moments of the year for me. But I’m glad to say I’m feeling a lot better and trying to remain optimistic about the diagnosis. 

Pictured below: Finding my Christmas tree.

Books

You guys know I’m obsessed with reading, so it didn’t feel right making this post without sharing my favorite books of 2020. I read over 65 books in 2020, despite taking several months off from reading.

Personal goals for 2021

  • Live in the present and pulling myself back from thinking about the future. Being thankful for today.
  • Experiencing as much joy as I can.
  • Work with my life coach (Candice Toone) on finding solutions to my everyday problems and meeting goals.
  • Getting back into crocheting, which was my 2019 winter obsession.

Finances

2020 was an amazing year of growth and learning. I stopped penny pinching and learned how to intentionally spend my money. I also went ham on my investments despite the stock market going on an insane rollercoaster (wow, was that a learning experience!).

Net worth

At the end of 2020, my net worth was around $70,000. Which is something I’m very proud of since I was in the negative just 3-4 years ago. For clarity, I do not include my car or depreciating assets in my net worth. If I did include my car, my net worth would be around $90,000.

Financial goals for 2021

  • Hit net worth goal of $100,000 
  • Save $35,000 for a house down payment

Business

My business had slight growth in 2020, despite many businesses seeing differently. When March hit, I had no idea what was going to happen and buckled down to expect loss. Fortunately, it didn’t go that way and I still saw some growth by the end of 2020. 

Growth

I do not share my business income anymore for so many reasons. The main reason is privacy. I’m still debating on if I even want to share my net worth.

Sponsorships

Sponsorships went well in 2020 and I worked with a lot of brands that I love.

Here are some of my favorite sponsorships from 2020:

If you want to learn how to make money with sponsored posts, check out my course Making Sense of Sponsored Posts.

Pictured below: Photo from Tuft & Needle Review.

Business goals for 2021

  • Learn how to write with a more authentic voice. I tend to write like I’m a robot. The goal is to write like I’m actually talking to someone in a regular, everyday conversation.
  • Be more strategic with how I help people pay off debt and hit their financial goals. I want to make learning about financial literacy as easy as possible, so anyone can do it. 

If you’re new here, I recommend starting here to learn more:

I hope you guys enjoyed this post. I mostly wrote it for myself because I love looking back at these. I usually write a “year in review” in my journal, but this was a lot of fun to do as well. 

How was 2021 for you? 

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