This year marks the beginning of my personal finance journey, which began one month after completing my PhD.  Thanks to a financially savvy friend, who was well on their way to financial independence, I quickly became motivated to do better. I also realized it would be a good idea to prepare for the unfortunate but likely scenario of disability retirement.

Liquid Assets	Jan-16	Dec-16	$ Change
Cash & Savings	$3,946	$2,357	($1,589)
FSA	$1,625	$0	($1,625)
Other	$0	$290	+$290
Retirement	Jan-16	Dec-16	$ Change
Roth IRA	$3,620	$11,749	+$8,129
401K	$4,069	$11,339	+$7,270
Liabilities	Oct-16	Dec-16	$ Change
Credit Cards	$773	$0	+$773
Medical	$0	$175	($175)
Piano	$2,893	$0	+$2,893
Net Worth	$9,594	$25,749	+$16,165
% Change			+286.5%

In the aspect of personal finances, 2016 went by smoothly.  My net worth almost tripled, and I surpassed  a $25,000 net worth!

Typically a bad health year is seen as a catastrophic event, but for me every year tends to not be so hot for my health. While I didn’t mention or record all of my medical expenses, they were high.  I ended up reaching my out of pocket maximum. This happened last year as well. Thankfully, my FSA cushioned a lot of the blow and I am do well at cost minimization when shopping for a health insurance plan.

Overall  I’m pleased with where I ended up.  The only thing that disappoints me is the lack of liquid assets. When I skim through my entries I can see that $2,000 in catch up IRA contributions and a $2,900 loan repayment were big contributing factors to this. With that in mind, my Cash & Savings did increase otherwise. Still this is one thing I really need to work on.

Half way through 2016 I changed the software I use to track my spending. I started off using both mint and personal capital, but after further consideration, I no longer feel comfortable having a third-party know my login/banking information. I now manually enter my transactions into Quicken, That being said,  below is my spending for the year.

According to Quicken, I spent $35,233.48 in 2016. There is a “Bill & Utility” payment for $2,375 to my company for over-reimbursment for my relocation. Therefore, I really only spent $32.858.48.  For reference, in 2015 I spent $37,389. A lot of this had to do with a $4,000 piano purchase, moving expenses (such as paying double rent) etc. When I lived exclusively in the midwest, I spent $22,569 in 2014, $19,409 in 2013, and $22,623 in 2012.