These days are so fast and so slow at the same time. It feels like they fly by, and I never get nearly as much done as I’d like.

Add to that shorter days of less daylight, and it’s nearly a sunk cost. Despite it, I’m up nearly $14,000 this month and striking distance of $400,000 toward my $500,000 goal — as of now, I’m 71% of the way there. That seems… close.

After hovering around the $300,000 mark for what felt like foreverrr, the stock market is picking up wind. I bit the bullet and used a balance transfer offer on an existing card that’s good until March 2026, so that gives me 15 full months to catch up on my credit cards.

That’s slow going, too. I feel like I spend as much as I earn, and that’s with side hustles and a pretty healthy income otherwise. Having three kids is no joke, and the grocery bills… well. How are berries so expensive?!

December 2024 Freedom update

• Link: Track your net worth with Empower Personal Dashboard
• Link: Join Points Hub — the ultimate points, miles, and travel rewards community — on Circle!

2024 was a weird year. It feels like I barely made any financial progress at all. To my credit, there were many, many setbacks like:

• Oh I dunno, paying for the birth of a whole new human in January
• Moving away from OKC in February
• Renting a house in March
• Selling our old house in April
• Getting laid off from my job in June
• Sending Warren to kindergarten in August
• Having more lawyer bills roll in throughout the year
• And allll the diapers, baby clothes, and little stuff for our entire household

Wow, when I type it out like that it seems like a lot. And it was. Also:

• I have nothing in savings
• Haven’t paid down my credit cards
• Haven’t maxed out my Roth IRA

In January, my net worth was ~$343,000. And now it’s ~$357,000. A whole year of ups and downs, and I’m “only” up $14,000. But I know 2024 was a weird year in a lot of ways — not just me.

I feel like I’m ending the year with a big sigh and not a lot of hope for progress in 2025.

Let’s see: I get two checks a month. The first goes to groceries, car, and utilities; the second goes to rent. I have barely anything left over even though I’m working basically seven days a week.

It’s just… hard to feel motivated when I sit and look at it in black and white. And again — I know sooo many are in the same boat right now.

This month’s progress

To recap the last month, I:

• Contributed $1,000 to my 401k
• Transferred $12,000 to a new 0% APR card

I was hoping to tackle my credit cards, max out my Roth IRA, and build up my savings. That now seems sooo insanely optimistic. I feel like I won’t get there for a long time, and that’s kinda depressing for me.

I don’t know what else I can do other than find a new job making more but… have you heard about the bloodbath of layoffs in the content industry recently? I am extremely lucky and grateful to be employed at all.

So — I’m going to keep doing my best and hope for baby steps. To be honest, any progress would make me feel a lot better right now.

By the numbers

Nearly all of my net worth is wrapped up in the stock market. Credit card #2 is the one I rolled to a new 0% APR card, so I have a while on that.

The second I feel like I’m “getting ahead,” my lawyer slams me with a $5,000 bill. Plus student loans — whatever’s going to happen with that under the new administration. I feel like I’m drowning. So, I’m just getting through the rest of this month and year. Hopefully I can turn the ship around in 2025.

	Current	Last Month	Change	2024 Goal
ASSETS
Overall investments	$342,394	$325,402	+$16,992	As much as possible
Roth IRA total	$90,510	$86,382	+$4,128
Roth IRA 2024	$2,700	$2,700	xx	$7,000 (in new contributions)
Taxable brokerage + UTMAs	$4,354	$4,153	+$201	$25,000 (total invested)
Savings	$44	$141	-$97	$30,000
Raw land	$40,400	$40,400	xx	No goal, just including for completeness 🙂
LIABILITIES
Car loan	$22,890	$23,283	-$393	?
Credit card #1	$8,452	$8,324	+$128	$0
Credit card #2 (0% APR)	$11,554	$11,351	+$203	As much as possible
Net worth in Empower Personal Dashboard	$356,870	$343,348	+$13,522	$500,000 (overall goal)	Track your net worth with Personal Capital

Short- and long-term goals still include:

• Pay off all credit cards 
• Build my savings account again in 2025
• Work up to 15% in 401k contributions 
• Save $7,000 in my Roth IRA (to count toward the 2024 limit)
• Is this like, possible?

December 2024 Freedom update bottom line

• Link: Join Points Hub

Sorry to sound so dour. Everything just feels so heavy, and December is traditionally a “SAD” month for me anyway.

I have $140,000 to go before I hit $500,000. If I can increase my net worth by $10,000 per month for 14 months, that’d put me at my goal by March 2026. That’s not far. Just a little over a year. And anything could happen, of course, so I won’t take mental possession of it. It’s just helpful for me to keep an eye on the end goal.

Also, I kinda let Points Hub drift over the last few months, but I haven’t forgotten about it. Between the layoff, starting a new job and then another new job (kinda), I’ve been tossed around quite a bit. But it’s still there — and I’d love to have more members.

Join me on Points Hub. No politics, no social media, just points and travel chat with zero fluff. There are a few partnerships and many resources already. Think of it as a Facebook group without having to be on Facebook — and I encourage members to share and use each other’s referral links! Here are the membership options:

• Pro Monthly – Just $5/month forever with coupon code OUTANDOUT -> Join now.
• Pro Annual – Just $49/year forever with coupon code HALFOFF -> Join now.
• Pro Lifetime – $99 one time → Join now.

As always, thank you for reading and following my journey. Hope everyone is doing well!

Stay safe and scrappy out there! ✨

-H.

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