Happy Year of the Rabbit! May your riches multiply like bunnies, heh.
2023 is off to a great start, I’ve been on vacation for a month now because Chinese schools pause for a month for the Spring Festival. I had the chance to visit my family in southern China and just explore a few destinations there. The entire time, I don’t think I felt hunger, it was literally walking-eating-sleeping and seeing cool southern architecture.
Spendings Report: $3,200
No surprise, leisure spending is the highest this month. There are a few memberships I paid for upfront that I’m not sure how to account for. For example, at the hot springs I usually go to you can deposit $600 for a 10% discount each time and the cost is deducted directly from the account, and it can be shared by as many people as you’d like. When I go with friends the cost comes out of my account but my friends give me money back, so I’m not spending all the $600 myself. I’ve decided to record the full cost for now and just treat any returns on that as surprise income. A few other places I also have this type of deposit-based membership like my hair and nail salons.
I got a better deal on my phone plans so my subscriptions cost $5 less each month. This is cancelled out by now having recurring health expenses that roughly cost $5/mt. Kids, take care of your teeth, dental is really expensive (and worth it!).
Net Worth Update: positive growth!
Slowly but surely crawling towards the goalpost, though I’m not sure where the goalpost is anymore.
As part of this month’s accounting, I did some calculations about my average monthly net worth increases for the last three years and found some interesting and painful results. This year, I saved half of what I did in the covid years. I increased my net worth by $48k, $58k, and $59k previously, and this year it was…$27k…ouch.
Part of it is covid, for the last three years China has experienced various lockdowns and quarantine measures that meant leisure activities were curbed, and with the re-opening this year it was like a lot of pent-up energy being released at once. My savings rate was artificially boosted by government restrictions that limited where I can spend my money so in comparison to this year my growth looked even crappier.
Another part of it is of course the kinda-sorta-maybe recession we’re going through right now that’s negatively affected my investments. For the first time since I’ve kept records, there were multiple months in 2022 during which my net worth went down from the previous month despite working and saving. No worries, I haven’t panic-sold anything, but it is a bummer. On the graph, you can see the clear stagnation that starts at the beginning of 2022. I’m quite excited to see how the graph will look as I keep longer records and in another year I’d like to compare major world events to the dips or spikes in the graph.
I’ll be more mindful going into 2023 because while I don’t want to go back to covid levels of restrictions on my wallet I also don’t want to actually half my savings rate… The new job I’m starting in August has a higher salary and I want to save that instead of spending the difference.