Another year went by really quickly. Yes, another transitory year. So basically again like in the last few years, this year was all about the future and preparing myself and my finances for enjoying life a little bit more a couple of years from now.
What can we say about 2021? First of all, the pandemic from last year is still going strong. Covid / Corona lasted longer than previously expected. Last year, the consensus was that we would get a vaccine in late 2020 (we did) and that we would then defeat the virus (we did not). So, even now in december 2021, we still have lockdowns, still wear masks, still have new variants that the vaccinations may or may not help against.
On the positive side, this meant lots more home office for me. Actually, I was scared during the summer days that we would "defeat" Covid and have to go back to normal working environments at my job. But instead, the maximum that I remember is having to go to work for 2 days every week. And even after that, when things got worse, we moved back to total home office. So I enjoyed staying at home.
What happened this year in terms of vacations/fun stuff? Not much. Got a nice visit from the sister in law, so that is something I enjoyed. Apart from that not much happened, just sitting tight and waiting for things to stay normal. My wife went to Singapore without me, which is okay because it would have been a nightmare in terms of covid-related measures that need to be considered. It could have cost a lot of money if things went wrong.
Then of course there is investing. We saved a lot of money between 2017 and 2021. I went through the numbers and they are insane. We put so much effort into saving. And it becomes like an addiction to some degree, because there is always some way to spend the money to invest it and grow it into something bigger. So you are left asking yourself: Why would I spend the money on consumption (new phone, new computer, new vacation) if that money is worth a lot more just a couple of years from now? But there needs to be a balance, or else things go out of control and you dont live life as you should.
Portfolio update: A lot changed from last year. The concentration is really crazy. 80% of the portfolio is now Tesla. Big risk, little diversification. But the company is doing extremely well and I feel well-informed about them. The remaining percentages are made up of Broadcom (which has tripled since I bought it), Abbvie, Medifast, a little bit of Palantir and my genomics stocks (Crispr therapeutics, Intellia, Editas and Beam).
New stocks I am watching right now: Palantir (maybe buy back more since I sold them to buy Tesla), Rio Tinto (soon a lithium miner), Celsius Holdings (interesting low-calorie energy drink) and perhaps going back to Shopify (again, sold for Tesla). There are always more investing ideas than there is money.
A crazy thing worth mentioning: The portfolio value more than doubled compared to before the pandemic. Now, to be honest, a part of that doubling is that I was not all in before the pandemic, also we kept saving money. So it is not all gains, but also partially savings. But the amount of money we now have is beyond what I dreamed for looking at January 2023, when I turn 40 years old. It is also possible that this number will have doubled some time next year - from January of 2021. It is the crazy power of compounding on steroids.
What am I looking forward to in 2022? Here are some things:
- Saving money for stocks (not as much as before though)
- Buying some necessary items (new bed, new phone, new PC)
- Going to maledives (if covid allows)
