This morning I have been thinking about “next year”, not in the Cleveland Browns sense where “there is always next year”, but that I am eagerly awaiting what is to come next year. If you have read my articles, there are probably a few reasons that you can come up with as it relates to next year, but I was hoping to write about them and the impacts that it will have on my life, beginning January 2017.
Over the last few months I have begun talking about how I really cannot wait for the next year to start. There are so many great things to come in the upcoming year, and that is not to belittle the year of 2016, but something about 2017 seems “fresh”. I’ll list out the overarching ideas and thoughts that have come through my mind when I begin to think and discuss the upcoming year and what will be different, what it will bring and what I’m ultimately looking forward to.
Why 2017 will be another great year
My tax strategies can be smoothed over in 12 months, as opposed to a shortened four. As you may recall, this year I was trying to maximize my 401(k) of $18,000 in a few short months and the $2,850 (2016 max less $500 employer contribution) in the same time frame. That, after excluding what I did for the 401(k) through the first 8 months with no HSA contributions, has been $3,436 per month of contributions to these vehicles (pre-tax of course), which definitely limited other areas of my life (as it is just a pure number adjustment).
However, creativity helped me bridge the gap, such as side hustles, swagbucks rewards, credit card rewards redemption, you name it – that all helped cushion the amount that was going out of the pocket into these pre-tax vehicles. However, now I have the chance to do this over 12 months instead. For pure math purposes, instead of $3,436 per month, this now breaks down to $1,500 for the 401(k) and $325 for the HSA (maximum 2017 is $3,400 less $500 employer contribution) per month. The new total per month is $1,825, which is a whopping $1,611 less! Now that will be able to keep the engine moving, but also providing more liquidity to buy individual stocks, other investment vehicles, other events that come up, etc. This will greatly reduce some of the stress and intense monitoring that I do on my budget (well, I’ll still be like white on rice as it relates to my budget!).
Big Events: There are big events in 2017 coming up already; it will be tax filing time come March/April for me, and given the tax strategies I deployed above, this should be a fun form to submit. I am very curious and excited to see what my 1040 ends up at and to see if my projections were fairly accurate on the tax savings side of things.
Closer to Freedom: This wouldn’t be an article unless I brought in financial freedom into it. It’s funny how when the calendar churns another year older, we feel like we are closer to something, almost something innate in our souls tells us that it’s a new chapter. The year 2017 will signify yet another step closer to financial freedom. I’ll be turning 29, the last of my twenties, and I believe I’ll have a few years left on the intense path I’ve been on. So very lucky, that as of this writing when including dividends, almost $35,000 has purchased assets that produce income. What 2017 means is that all of those assets that are producing income, have the ability to buy more assets in a faster, snowball-like fashion. 2017 will be another year to see if all of this hard work, saving, investing, pursuit to freedom is paying off.
Overall, I am excited, scared, anxious and curious on the year 2017. So many things can happen that are least expected. That’s what life is sometimes all about, right? However, I also want to take more control over the time that is being committed to other/various aspects of life, to lean the pendulum more towards what brings more happiness. I am starting to find out that if you have more happiness in life, that it ends up being more contagious to others and in the other areas of your life.
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