Here are some notable events from my 2024. This might turn out a bit long.
Overall: below is a non-exhaustive account of notable (to me) things that occurred this past year – accomplishments or events that I’d like to write about while the experiences are still fresh in my mind.
Turning 30
I briefly touched on this in a previous 2024 post. There’s a weird feeling associated with the end of one decade and the starting of another. Hopefully this feeling doesn’t originate too much from external sources of judgment or social expectation.
In the grand scheme of things, 30 is still quite young (at least, this is what every older person I’ve encountered has told me). It seems to hold true when considering that the average female lifespan in Canada is around 85 years old, depending on the data/circumstances considered.
However, there is still a sense of unease that comes from feeling like I’m running out of time. The other day, my Dad dropped this philosophical bomb on me mid-conversation: “30 comes fast. 40 comes faster.” That certainly didn’t help.
At some point in 2025, I’d like to sit down & reflect on how I spent the past decade and how much I’ve changed since age 20. Where I was, vs. where I am now. It could be fun to reflect on what was, I’d like to avoid dwelling too much on the past – I don’t want to diminish my accomplishments or zero-in on any regrets.
Instead, I’d like to consciously focus on what’s to come in my 30s since I have control and say regarding what happens next in my life – more so than ever before in my existence! Cool~
First Permanent Full-time Salaried Job!
This was also briefly mentioned in a previous post. After 16 months of contract work, the consistency of asking about full-time paid off and my employer made an offer for a permanent position. This raised my income to a gross ~$85k. This was more than I thought I would be offered for the type of work I do, and I am incredibly grateful that previous 16 months paid off.
The change to a permanent position became the first time I’ve had access to paid vacation, and the promotional bump in salary made a huge difference in my ability to meet my savings goals.
FI Focus: Savings Progress
By the end of 2024, my net worth reached 275k at year-end (exceeding my initial expectation of 250k)!
Aside from the obvious raise in compensation, this wealth increase was largely due to exceptional performance of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which observed an amazing 25% gain in 2024. This would be a great time to remind myself that these returns are not typical, and that it was very lucky to experience this much growth in 1 year.
Therefore, this year’s performance gives no indication of how 2025 will go and I should temper my expectations accordingly. At present, I am setting a modest goal of increasing net worth to 300k before the end of 2025.
Death in the Family
My grandmother had been in palliative care for a while, so I knew that she might not have long. Based on her symptoms, the nurses suspect that she had a stroke and passed away shortly after.
This was my first loss of a close family member. It hit me harder than I thought it would – I thought that I was well-prepared for it mentally, and I was wrong. I’m extremely grateful that at the time it occurred, I was eligible for a workplace benefit covering paid bereavement leave (instead of the standard 2-day unpaid minimum required by Ontario law.
Both Parents Retired
By the end of 2024, both my parents had retired.
To me, their “retired” status was a reminder that I had set a retirement learning goal this year. Clearly, this goal needs to become a work in-progress for the next couple years as my parents and I navigate their lifestyle transition and eligibility for senior government benefits.
It also dawned on me the other day that I’m currently the only member of our 4-person household that is working. Thankfully, both parents are receiving some form of workplace pension. But I am not confident that my parents would be ready for a financial emergency (if one arises).
I am preparing for this by slowly increasing my allocated emergency savings as a precaution.
Expense Tracking: A 2024 Goal
Speaking of goals: I mentioned expense tracking as a 2024 goal in this post. I’m happy to say that I met this goal! Since I make most of my transactions with cards (debit/credit), tracking my spending amounts & the stores where I shopped wasn’t too difficult.
Later in 2025, I plan to analyze how I spent money in 2024.
For now, I am delaying this a bit. I’d like to forget how I spent my money in 2024 so that I can view my spending history with fresh perspective. I’m looking forward to this exercise later in 2025!
I haven’t started tracking any expenses for the new year, but I think I might start – it could be useful to have 2 consecutive years of spending data to reflect on my habits as a consumer.
What’s that common saying: “you put your money where your mouth is?” What I choose to spend my money on could potentially tell me a lot of valuable insights about myself.
Reading Goals of 2024
I tried to accomplish more recreational reading last year in an attempt to fulfill my hobby goal. I honestly thought that leisure reading would be an easy goal to fulfill.
Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to finish any books associated with my leisure reading this year. At first, I was really unhappy about this – however, I’ve identified two main takeaways:
- It’s ok not to finish all the books that you start. Just because I didn’t finish a book, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t learn or gain from the experience. Looking back, sometimes I stopped midway because I had found the info I was looking for. Other times I realized halfway through that the book’s content wasn’t resonating with me anymore, and it just wasn’t a good use of time to keep reading it.
- The majority of my time spent reading in 2024 was associated with my job. In order to deliver on the projects I was (unexpectedly) assigned this year, I read a lot of reference materials for my field. This was a key reason why my recreational reading was so low – at the end of most days/weeks, my eyes and brain were completely burnt out from all the job-related content I had read & absorbed at work.
In other words: don’t be so hard on yourself. If you miss fulfilling a goal, don’t let it eat at your soul (lol)
To improve & track my leisure reading in the future, I might consider writing blogpost summaries to remind my future self of key takeaways.
Alright – I think that’s enough for one day, and I’ll conclude this ramble here. In a sense, this is my attempt to start the new year on the right foot: I wasn’t very successful in contributing to this blog throughout 2023 and 2024. If I don’t write regularly, it kind of defeats the purpose of starting this project in the first place – a chronological, time-stamped history of (hopefully) reaching my goals, with financial independence (FI) as the central theme/motivator. I might not have posted as much as I’d like over the past couple years, but I’d like to stay focused and emphasize that FI is still a high priority of mine that I intend to pursue.
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