2020 Report and New Year Planning

Happy New Year, readers!

I hope you are all having a relaxing winter break. The Forever Friday household have been having a low-key holiday at home and just basking in the warmth that only comes from eating way too much food and not moving as much as we should.

With the end of the 2020 and the start of 2021, it’s time to take a quick look at how we did in terms of our personal finances last year and using it, make plans moving forward into the new one. Please join in and compare!

Did you reach your financial goals in 2020?

Since I do a monthly spending post every month, I am not going to bored you with the same thing with the annual totals.

In the chart above, you can see that a lot of my money this year went into savings. This consist of just a regular account and a tsumitate savings account which I don’t really touch.

I just finished my first year with Tsumitate NISA and and my 4th year iDeCo. They are both accounted for but made a really small part of the chart since both are limited when it comes to the amount you are allowed to invest with.

My investment for the year.

My progress with iDeCo this year.

We can put a check on maxing out our NISA and iDeCo accounts. I also set a goal for how much to put into mutual funds and did not falter. We put more into our emergency accounts this year because of COVID and considering my partner was let go by her company last month, it was a wise choice.

We were also able to put a bit of extra into our mortgage this year. We built our home 4 years ago and as of this year, we have about another 22 years to go. But we will continue to add some extra cash in our year-end payment and hopefully we can shrink that number of years down. We do get a tax kick back for the first 10 years which is always a plus.

Overall, I would say we did okay with our financial goals for 2020.

How do you want 2021 to look?

I think one of the biggest goal for 2021 is to spend more mindfully. As I was putting together the pie chart above, though I was happy with my investments and savings, I was a bit surprised at how much I spent! Not that I am aiming to be more of a cheap ass this year, but I do want to spend my money more mindfully.

Other than that, maxing out my iDeCo and Tsumitate NISA is always on the list. Everything is automated so it shouldn’t be a problem. I am considering putting more money into mutual funds but would love to hear some others thoughts and experience with that. For those putting money into mutual funds, what do you think of upping a 50000 yen limit/month? Worried about taxes in the future? All thoughts and suggestions are welcome!

I want look into the areas that can help with the growth of my finances. I will be working towards a raise during my performance meeting for this coming April. At the same time, I will be in talks with the Chamber of Commerce in my work area to help out for a month or so as a mini side hustle.

As I do every year, exercising more is always on the list. While it might not be a financial goal, it does bring up the question of how I would like to spend my time. While I could work extra hours or take on more side hustles, I want to concentrate on how I want to spend my time as well. Keeping a balance between the two is one of my goals for this year.

And lastly, I will continue to update this blog and hopefully get more comments and conversations going about personal finances in Japan!

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How doe your 2021 goals look? While looking at the previous year, did you feel like there was anything you wanted to change and do differently this time around? Let’s chat and plan for the new year!

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