January 15, 2025
Welp. New year. The wider world in 2024 was NOT kinder than 2023.
COVID is still a problem. This country is targeting trans people and taking away reproductive rights, with likely more horrible stuff on the way since half this country’s voting public chose THAT fucking guy to be president again. I can’t stress how much THAT is stressing us out. Russia is still trying to destroy Ukraine. Israel is hellbent on destroying Palestinians. The Syrians did overthrow Assad, that was amazing. The South Koreans showed us all how to properly fight for democracy, though, I don’t think they may have the same militarized police problem where they’re all too happy to run over and shoot protestors.
We had our first tsunami warning in the Bay area this year.
2024 Highlights in Health
- I continued brain therapy – I have a lot of work to do. One big improvement this year was catching myself at the start of a depressive episode, recognizing the self-hating thoughts after a particularly fraught parent-child conflict as part of that cycle instead of a Truth to bludgeon myself to pieces with. I managed to stick to a holding pattern instead of doubling down, and walked back from that ledge instead of spiraling headfirst into self-loathing. It wasn’t easy, it was uncomfortable, but a sight better than past episodes that ended up with me curled in a ball.
- Massage therapy was irregular but removing the mental load by scheduling appointments for the whole year really helped. I just did the same for 2025.
- I took antivirals all year which helped fend off viruses and the general YUCK that was the entirety of 2024 enough to make it through.
- I’ve worked with a trainer for five months and, for the first time in more than two decades, have been able to keep up a regular routine of mildly challenging exercises without ending up in near-traction with pain and fatigue (at least as a direct result of the exercise) every single workout. I DID end up laid up for days with pain and fatigue from overdoing it a few times but that was more to do with life than the exercise. I started taking a medication that helps ward off my nightmares so I may not be rested when I wake but I’m not more tired than when I went to sleep. That’s pretty huge.
- Smol Acrobat’s immune system seems to be working better this year. They still won’t / can’t sleep through the night on their own but they stopped getting sick every single week finally and I’m so relieved for that much.
- We battled Sera’s final illness from January until April. It was an incredibly compressed and intense experience of caregiving followed up by a great deal of grieving. I’m still deeply sad about being dogless.
We continued to be cautious about socializing, avoiding crowds, getting vaccinated, and staying masked around other people. I’m leaving PiC and JB out of these sections going forward unless there’s something critical to include.
2024 Highlights in Life
Work was 110% terrible. There were some late in the year developments that suggest it might maybe start to get better in 2025 but I’ll believe it when I see it nope. Not better at all. Parenting has been hard. There have been small bright spots with the kids that I try to appreciate fully as a bulwark against the grief and sadness but it’s hard to see the bright during the endless slog of conflicts.
We had so many losses this year. Three human friends, three canine friends. Serving as a support to the friends who have had their child-related losses has also been a special type of challenge.
2024 Highlights in Money
- We ended 2024 with a bit less cash in our checking account as we started the year.
- Our net worth climbed steadily but incrementally.
- I invested in my own 401K for the first time in many years.
- I opened a savings account for JB’s earned income so they can observe interest rates in action instead of a Roth IRA – it was easier for now. I still haven’t decided what to do with the kids’ cash savings but it’d be nice to get their gift savings into an investment account for them.
- The Lakota families project helped so many people. I need to find some time (where??) to summarize 2024.
We had two full time incomes and did our best to supplement that with extras (surveys, etc). His employer continued with three more rounds of layoffs which we were lucky to avoid this year. My employer may or may not follow suit in the next two years depending on the new administration. I’m practicing mindfulness around appreciating what we have despite the fear and worry.
Expenses kept rising this year with big lumps of spending: $$$$$ on Sera’s care, $$$$$ on daycare, $$$$ on the washing machine, $$$$ on security equipment, my therapy ($$$$), LOTS of food (take out, groceries, convenience foods), $$$ my retainer plan, $$$ reupping hosting for this blog for another three years.
Financial Checklist for 2025
WE DID IT. We finally got through the process of update our wills and trusts to include Smol Acrobat, to exclude my nuclear family members from being considered as guardians for the kids or beneficiaries, changed our executors to two friends who have more ability to deal with our mess in case something happens to us.
Now, I need to get a complete set of the documents to each set of people in different states. I also intend to lodge our vital records with a set of friends for safekeeping in case we get hit by a giant quake or mass deportations really do become a reality and we get scooped up. A government sanctioned sweep isn’t going to care that we’re citizens, born and raised, they just care if we visually fit a profile. I see politicians drumming up anti-Asian sentiment already and I clearly remember the effects of the Japanese internment – that directly affected close friends. This country has hated Asian people, along with Black and Hispanic, for all throughout its history. I’m never able to forget that.
Thoughts for 2025
I’m not sure what 2025 holds, other than more stress and terrible things on the political landscape. I’m trying to do my best to take care of the people within my sphere, and to try to put supports in place for myself as well so that next year isn’t awful like 2024 was. I’m cherishing the friends who care enough about their own and our health to test and mask and get vaccinated so that we can see each other with some measure of safety.
Our money
Same goal: Save more, invest more, give more. Achieve FI in 5-10 years.
Basically all our expenses will go up next year. The increases are substantial enough that we may start losing ground financially. We can’t expect COL salary increases to keep pace with the expenses, nor can we expect the stock market to continue to perform like it did this year. I’m looking into what we can do to mitigate rising costs.
Little life things
I’m putting a couple more people on my monthly call list.
Last year’s big picture project: Declutter, donate, organize. ✔️ Still my big picture project this year in semi-regular spurts. Bought myself more Sterilite storage boxes for both organizing our stuff and to store donations in between times that I pack up boxes. It’s already working out well – I can just pull out the storage totes to pack up a shipping box now instead of stumbling over piles in the office or hallway.
I stuck with gift bags this year, and will keep doing that. I like the much reduced waste aspect of fabric gift bags.
Prep better for 3/4 of the kids in 2024: Sort of. Everyone we saw received a gift, at least, plus a few I didn’t see. I’ve picked up more books for next year’s kid crop, will need to do some research on good comics / graphic novels to gift in 2025.
The Lakota Giving project was chugging along at a lower level of donations as expected considering how hard it’s been to share the needs. However, we got a boost from new contributors at Bluesky at the end of summer and then a really big boost from friends sharing on Mastodon when I dug into another round of fundraising after the election. I get the sense that a lot of people felt how I did after the elections: direct aid feels real and meaningful. As always, I’m very grateful that our regular contributors stayed the course with us this year and I hope that also means they’re also fine overall financially.
:: Let’s be real, 2025 is going to be some kind of shitshow and we’re going to need to pull together big-time to get through. How was your 2024?
January 1, 2025
On Money
Income
Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have minimal income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from Swagbucks, cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates) and affiliate links to Bookshop and Amazon sometimes pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running. The sidebar has ways to support the blog and our charitable giving.
Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.
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Dividend income. We received $501.10 in dividends from the stocks portfolio.
We banked $260 in gift cards for participating in a big study. That covers a lot of household essentials.
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December 5, 2024
On Money
Income
Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have minimal income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from Swagbucks, cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates) and affiliate links to Bookshop and Amazon sometimes pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running. The sidebar has ways to support the blog and our charitable giving.
Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.
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Dividend income. We received $1060 in dividends from the stocks portfolio. One of two big months in the year.
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November 6, 2024
On Money
Income
Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have minimal income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from Swagbucks, cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates) and affiliate links to Bookshop and Amazon sometimes pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running. The sidebar has ways to support the blog and our charitable giving.
Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.
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Found money. We routinely pick up paper trash off sidewalks to pop into the nearest bins wherever we can and PiC picked up a receipt that was worth $4 in Ibotta cash. Woo!
Mystery money: I found a deposit in a checking account with no explanation where it came from or why it was there. It took me a week to unearth a letter from the bank saying this was restitution for having restricted outgoing transactions on our account and for the inconvenience and fees caused by their doing so. Huh? When did they restrict my account? When did they cost me fees? I’m mostly confused, but if I can’t find any record of any harm done, then this will just go towards defraying the car repairs.
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October 2, 2024
On Money
Income
Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have some income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (that is all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates) and affiliate links to Bookshop and Amazon sometimes pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running. The sidebar has ways to support the blog and our charitable giving.
Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.
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Dividend income. We received $519.25 in dividends from the stocks portfolio. That all goes to buying more index funds.
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September 4, 2024
On Money
Income
Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have minimal income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from Swagbucks, cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates) and affiliate links to Bookshop and Amazon sometimes pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running. The sidebar has ways to support the blog and our charitable giving.
Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.
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Dividend income. We received $1,056 in dividends from the stocks portfolio. Immediately reinvested, we need to grow our portfolios enough so that if we lose our jobs, we won’t be totally up a creek. That’s a concern again! Layoffs at PiC’s, absurdity piled upon absurdity at mine.
I was gifted a $100 Clipper card in a stroke of pure luck. A friend of a friend didn’t need their card anymore and wanted to give it to someone who would use it. My Clipper card had malfunctioned several months ago and after too many phone cards PiC managed to at least rescue the balance, but that solution meant I needed to replace the card itself.
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August 7, 2024
On Money
Income
Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have minimal income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from Swagbucks, cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates) and affiliate links to Bookshop and Amazon sometimes pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running. The sidebar has ways to support the blog and our charitable giving.
Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.
***
Dividend income. We received $295 in dividends from the stocks portfolio.
I’m getting an FSA account of my own! This doesn’t change our planned spending, it’ll just reimburse us for that planned health spending that isn’t covered by the first one. There’s the increase in dental fees for our dentist going out of network, at least $600-800 we weren’t previously charged and a number of my brain therapy sessions that aren’t covered by our first FSA. That’s a help. If it works! I’ve been fighting with United Healthcare for weeks and months trying to get them to pay out the very valid claims I’ve submitted repeatedly.
I finally got fed up and asked PiC to call them and find out what the hickory sticks was going on. Would you believe they kept him on the line for almost two hours fiddling and hemming and hawing? They claimed they couldn’t identify the problem claims and that the claims submitted at the start of the year were only “courtesy” approvals. Lies.
So I’m furious and report them to the Department of Labor. Turns out they have a whole department specifically to handle these types of complaints. Magically, when we got on a conference call with them and he introduced himself as a rep from the DoL, you could hear the shift in attitude in that long moment of silence. There was hardly any hot potato at all, they only transferred us once. When he asked the exact same question that PiC did: why are these being rejected when the same type of receipt was provided in Jan and Feb and approved without issues, they paused for a long time, put us on hold for almost an hour, and then came back to say that they sent all of the claims back for reprocessing. That hold time really ticked off our rep so he’s ready to open an investigation into them if they still don’t resolve this within the required amount of time.
Edit to add: This is the Employee Benefits Security Administration – they specifically deal with complaints like this for ERISA related plans. They can’t do anything with medical denials unfortunately which really really needs a department for that, but they can deal with fiduciary-related fails.
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