My 2023 Year-End Portfolio

by elmads

Introduction

"Documentation is a love letter that you write to your future self."

—Damian Conway

Do you sometimes look at your Facebook memories? If not, then try to quickly access your Facebook and go to your memories. Look at what you’ve posted a year ago, then scroll further down, and you’ll see your posts from as far back as you’ve been posting since you’ve started on Facebook.

What do you feel right now after seeing your previous posts? Does it make you cringe? Annoyed? Maybe happy? That’s the power of Facebook memories. It doesn’t just elicit our memories of when we posted something before, but also the specific emotions we had during that time, and then we reflect our past actions on our current state.

It’s sometimes annoying to think that we actually had that kind of rubbish post in the past. Looking back, if you had met your younger self in the past, you would surely want to smack your younger self in the face and say that what he or she posted was embarrassing for you to even remember. Hahaha!

But hey, that was you in the past; the fact that you now see the difference in your today’s mindset from your past self substantially means that you’ve changed. If that change is for the worse or for the better, it is up to your own self-assessment.

It’s not just that; sometimes seeing pictures, written words in the past, or videos would also help you remember a lot of things you’ve forgotten. Maybe you had a goal that you wanted to achieve, but because of specific events in your life, you have already forgotten to pursue it. How about now, though? It could be that today, this year, is the perfect time to rekindle it and take action to pursue that old dream of yours.

Your pictures, written words, and videos are all documentation of your past life. You cannot ever go back in time, but you can always go back to your most cherished memories and still rekindle every minute of them. To feel what you have felt at that exact moment in time.

Yet, there’s also one more important documentation method that most people don’t give much importance to, and that’s your finances.

Can you just imagine what 10 years’ worth, or even more, of your financial data can help you with? It would show you your past self, how you allocated your money, why you spent it, where you spent it, or why you’ve saved or invested it. It tells your own story. This also elicits memories and emotions.

Only a few do this because most people think that making one is complex just because it involves numbers, but it isn’t.

I’ve been documenting my finances in detail since 2018, and it has substantially helped me to see how I manage my money from a 3rd-person perspective.

As 2023 ends, I’ll be doing a short total portfolio update again, which I’ll be sharing with everyone. I hope this encourages you to start your own personal financial journey by tracking your own finances as well. That's why I made this blog.

So, let’s start with my personal financial tracker.

Personal Financial Tracker

The above image is taken from my self-made personal finance tracker Excel spread sheet. I'm still in the works of improving a lot of things on it, and then I'll be starting to put it on the market for everyone to be able to use it as well.

The core of my tracker is the input on my income and expenses; that’s it. Then I just used all of what I know about Excel to make it into a simple personal finance tracker with a dashboard.

It gives me a visual representation of my money management decisions in the past. It helps me reflect on whether I made a poor, good, or superb decision on my part or not. From there, I adjust my current money allocation based on my short-, medium-, and long-term financial goals.

It is a financial diary that helps me remember what I’ve done at a specific point in time. Let’s say, for example, that if I choose the income and expenses portion, then if I click fiscal year 2021, it’ll show me the income I’ve attained that year and all of my expenses. I can further zoom in by clicking a specific month within that year.

Why did I spend so much in that specific month? Therefore, I'll go back to that year and month and see what happened. That's when I'll remember why I did that. Afterwards, I ask myself if it was good intentional spending or just at whim.

With it, I can also make a realistic forecast of what my income and expenses could be this coming month or next year.

It helps me a lot by putting realistic financial goals on my part—goals on how much I can realistically spend to enjoy the present while still being mindful of my current and future financial responsibilities.

It’s balancing my present enjoyment with the enjoyment of my future self. Covering all timeframes.

TO BE CONTINUED

Knowledge is my Sword and Patience is my Shield,

elmads

www.elmads.com

DISCLAIMER:

This blog is for informational purposes only and not a Financial Recommendation. Not all information will be accurate. Consult an independent financial professional before making any major financial decisions.