It has been a bit of a rough month. We had a few setbacks and were not able to pay off as much debt as we wanted. My plan was to be almost completely paid off with our credit card debt by December. Now the date may be closer to January.

The good news is that this particular debt does not have interest until April. We also had a few unexpected expenses in addition to the larger emergency. My spouse’s car needed new brakes. I debated doing the work myself but then I remembered the nightmare of when I worked on my truck.

I am actually a good mechanic but had a frozen lug nut and spent time, effort, money, and the skin of my knuckles before I could actually change my brake pads. Since we had an emergency fund I just had my mechanic do the work for me.

The good thing is that I will not have to use my emergency fund, but just adjusted my debt repayments since I still have some time to pay off without accruing interest.

The Numbers

My current financial situation is:

Credit Card 1: $4,200.00
Automobile: $21,747.51

I get paid again next week and will add another $1000 to credit card one and another $150 extra towards my car payment. I also increased to six percent on my retirement account and will increase another one percent in the next few weeks.

My net worth is currently: $67,847.10

I am still amazed that this number was once negative at the beginning of this year. I am also increasing my investments and trying to focus more on my work.

My Emotional Well-being

This week was also a tough one mentally. Between the election stress, the pandemic, and an increased workload I have been hit a bit hard emotionally. I am looking forward to a few days off next week. I will spend that time working on school work and a bit reconnecting with my daughter and just getting away from my desk for a bit.

One good thing, usually when I get emotional, I start looking inward. I began to question a lot of my decisions over the past few years. Did I make the right choice to go back to school? What is my five-year plan? Where am I in my relationship? Am I truly happy?

To answer these questions I went over where I currently am and what my goals are. I also looked at where I have come from in the past five years.

Positive Outlook

At the beginning of 2015, I was making $57k, now I am over six figures. I was also working in a dying industry, now I am extremely respected in my current job. I was also terrified of public speaking. Last year I spoke in front of over 500 people and have since done virtual speaking engagements.

In 2015 I was in quite a bit of debt. This year I am nearly debt-free. Quite a bit of this can be attributed to my current salary, but I would not have accomplished this without taking chances.

I am teaching leadership classes, earning my MBA, and sit on the board of an international organization. This year I have also been working on my physique. I went vegan, began working out more, and lost ten additional pounds. A month ago my cardiologist who was about to put me on a statin has decided that I am once again extremely healthy and may not need the medicine.

To say that this year has been good is an understatement. While the pandemic rages around us, I have been focusing on myself. When the schools once again shut down and my spouse is facing another possible furlough I am not worried about it.

We have enough in savings and I make enough to cover all of our expenses if she were to end up out of work. This is progress. This is why I started writing this down and tracking my personal finance.