We are more than midway through the first month of 2023, and it's a great time to look at our financial progress of the year that just ended. If you have been following this blog for a while, then just by reading each week, you have been increasing your fluency in financial concepts. YAY!
Let's take time to do a 2022 year in review of our personal financial picture, sound good?
If you have been doing some level of Step 2 for Financial Fluency--Keeping a Digit Tally, then you have some data about your spending and income. Let's assess!
Here is my suggestion:
Set aside an hour for yourself. Schedule it in as an important appointment. Get prepared, have what you need to review your 2022 financial picture. For me, I want to analyze my total expenses for the year, in categories, my total income for the year, and assess how I did according to my plan.
This process is core to investing because having a handle on our annual finances give us the ability to make adjustments, and plan more effectively for the coming year. It lets us know what what need from our investments for 2023 and where we have room to make changes. It gives us an idea of how much we can put aside regularly for Dollar Cost Averaging.
For this appointment, I will light a candle, and say a little prayer, and then I will dive into analyzing the numbers I have from 2022, using a combination of a spreadsheet, data from my bank accounts and what I have done with the app You Need A Budget. Some people use their credit card statements, which can be a very useful summary.
After the hour is over, I will close it all up, and then thank myself for doing such a good job with my numbers, by giving myself a gift or a treat of some kind (hint: I love good chocolate!).
How about you? Do you have any type of financial fluency practice for the beginning of the year? Would you be willing to try what I have laid out here? Let me know how it goes if you do? Tell me in the comments! And as always, thanks for reading this.
Image: Nappy.co @WOCinTech
Useful Links:
What is Money? is HERE
What is Investing? is HERE
Step 1 in The MGB Investing Starter Kit Process is HERE.
Step 2 is HERE.
Step 3 is HERE.
What is The MGB Investing Starter Kit? is HERE
To join for our next MGB Investing Starter Kit Workshop, sign up HERE
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