Simple Budget, Simple Life

 2 weeks into 2024. Crazy. Crazy that time flies, and how the first two weeks of this year were marred with negative news - earthquake in Japan, plane crash, tuberculosis cluster, layoffs... On a personal front, negativity hits again. First week of the year set out ok, I was hyping myself up - new year, new thoughts - good thoughts only. The second week got me back to old thinking. Anxiety and self doubts are creeping in again. I previously mentioned in my  end 2023 review post  that company is undergoing restructuring and my job security is unknown. Closing in to my mid 30s (to think I started this blog in my mid 20s) is scary. I didn't feel like I've grown. As much as my networth increased from  $200k in 2016  to  $819k in 2023 , I surely didn't feel that I've grown  better. As I age, I feel more depressed.  I don't know what I am living for.  For now, work is a key part of my life. And work thoughts consumed most of my time. The current ou...

  Earlier in my post , I mentioned that I will be topping up $2k+. Silly me. That was before the MA interest gets rolled out. Today, I made a top up of $3,000 via paynow. This is because my company contributions usually come in on 7th or 8th of the month.  Now that this is out of the way, I will have $5,000 more throughout the year to top up. Will ponder about this later. Till then :)

This always boost up my mood every start of the year 😊 My beloved CPF interests. This time, I crossed 5 digits interest, clocking in $11,291.01 for 2023. Back last year, I was receiving $9k+ interest. I will be topping up  $2,085.62  max out my MA and for tax relief purposes. I didnt hit BHS as at 31 Dec 2023 as my MA was deducted for my surgery.  -- Last night, I slept early and didn't do countdown. My hubby lie on the bed with me a while and hugged me. He wished that in 2024, I will be happier and able to achieve my goals, whatever that may be. He said he wished I will go back to my young happy self years ago, and the depressed me will go away. I cried. I recognised that I've become unhappy and unsettled easily, especially in the past few years.  I don't know if my younger me was really happy, but I do know as I grow older, negativity has been clouding me. He told me to cry out and let out my concerns. I wasn't able to articulate what's making me depressed. ...

Here's a recap of my finances over the years: 2016 -  Unexpected review of 2016: hitting $200k in net worth 2017 -  End 2017 review - net worth at $287k 2018 -  End 2018 review - net worth at $372k  2019 -  End 2019 Review - inching close to $500k net worth  (~$440k) 2020 -  End 2020 Review - net worth at $550k 2021 -  End 2021 Review - closing in to $700k net worth 2022 -  End 2022 Review - failing financial goal for the first time, $660k net worth 2022 wasn't a good year for me and I spoke about it  here . I summed up 2022 with: To sum up 2022: I paid tons of money on fertility treatments and embarked on the the most painful (physically, mentally and for my pockets) -  IVF . The worst? Seeing no result despite the money and efforts poured. Stocks, crypto crashed which means a beating on my net worth. Income received couldn't cover the losses. The best thing that happened was a new job, with a better compensation. I hope the 2023 r...