Unbeknownst to anyone, a shift occurred in the life of Beau Pearson for the year 2023. Dare I say it, I slowed down. I slowed wayyyy down! I burned the candle from both ends so to speak, making less money and spending more. Just saying that out loud as I write this makes me cringe. And yet..this was on purpose and just because.

Why you ask? Why purposefully spend more and make less? Well, I wanted to see what that would look like financially at the end of the year and how I would feel about it is the short answer. Would I wish I didn’t do it? Or crave more of this new found easier path? Perhaps I would want to tighten up and grind extra hard to make up for the lost productivity. So many things to consider. But I did feel it was time to pivot. After 12 years of grinding due north to strict GPS coordinates, it was time to put the boat on cruise control and simply check in from time to time to make sure I was still heading what I will call “basically North.” I wouldn’t call it burn out, but at some point there has to be a course correction. So what did I do differently and how did the chips fall at year end?

For one thing I bought a “just because” car. I didn’t need a new car. I just wanted the feel of a new one and the experience of driving around in style. Especially when I want to go for a nice night out or cruise around for pleasure. I kept my old one to use as a daily driver. Which has been working out great. Averaging well over 40 mpg in the city, it’s a perfect commuter car. Plus I’ve had it since 33k miles and I take really good care of it. So now I have two cars. I don’t like the added insurance but it’s not that much more. Anyway, cost of this new car was $35,154.62 out the door. In May of 2023

Then, around the middle of December 2022 some long term tenants I had notified me they wanted to break their lease early. They were extending their family and needed some more space. Due to this, I was going to have a dreaded vacancy smack dab in the middle of my 12 day vacation I had planned in February! Now, the old me would have surely used that time to save money by fixing and painting things myself.

The new me however, said the heck with it. I made a detailed list of 27 items with photos, called my handyman/contractor and did a walk through with him explaining what needed to be done.

As for me, I came into work one morning shortly after and decided to take a cruise during this vacancy instead. I called Norwegian and said “I want your biggest and or newest ship for a week.” You have to understand, this would have been unthinkable not that long ago. Not only was I going to have an expensive contractor bill when I returned, I was going to spend a pretty penny for this cruise. But I was in pivot mode so, let’s go!!

Finally, the last change I made was just indulging and spending more freely. I didn’t just throw money away. But if I wanted something I didn’t hesitate let’s just say that. While this may be normal to my readers, certainly not normal to me. Up until this point there would have been a rigorous debate in my head if I truly needed it or if could I do without it. Or put another way, was the purchase a want or a need? Those questions still happened but I relaxed my justifications and happily purchased some things that without a doubt made my time on this earth more enjoyable, more efficient and/or just plain better. I also took the liberty of updating my wardrobe and shoes.

Taking stock of 2023, how did I do? Here is a summary of what I refer to as retained earnings for 2023:

• Free Cash Flow $33,437.10
• 401k $24,500.00
• Net Rentals $8,673.53
• Total $66,610.63

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So it was a pretty damn solid year. I ended up spending $7,432 more than the average over the previous 5 years. Some of this was due to inflation, but some my own doing for sure. Certainly the cruise and added auto insurance for a second vehicle played a big roll. Nonetheless, my total retained earnings for 2023 were $66,610.63. I took $6,500 of the $33,437.10 in free cash and transferred it to a Roth IRA. The remainder went to paying off the car note of which $23,418.29 was paid down. Also, I decided to build up my cash on hand. As a result, I decided to open an American Express High Yield Savings to store this excess cash, so whatever I didn’t put towards the car note I moved to the HYSA, which has an APY of 4.3%. It’s not the best interest out there but well above average. I have multiple Amex cards so it was just easy.

All the work I’ve done over the last 12 years really paid off last year. Stocks and real estate both had impressive years. My net worth climbed $263k on the back of both my stock portfolio and the equity increase in my investment real estate. My stock portfolio climbed a whopping 173k for the year. I did contribute 31k of new money to the stock portfolios between the 401k and Roth IRA. Also I had $15,142.63 of dividends reinvested. So all in all, $46,142.63 was invested in stocks taking into account new money and dividend reinvestment.

So what’s my take on the new Beau? I would say this experience was worth it. I’ll keep being a bit more loosey goosey with my monies and continue heading “basically North,” being sure to at the very least keep it between the navigational beakers.