How We Created $10,000 Worth of Wealth in December

December was tentative and then turned sour. The Santa Clause rally for 2024 never came, though we had some spikes. It made for an interesting end to a positive year. Who knows?

Well, back to the intro. My name is Lawrence Delva-Gonzalez aka the Neighborhood Finance Guy. I write about financial literacy topics that include, but are not limited to, Personal Finance, Better Budgeting, Tax-Efficient Money Management, Steady Growth Investment strategies, Retirement tips, and Net Worth Tracking. The goal is to help you make effective decisions and set S.M.A.R.T+E.R. goals with your money.

To keep it simple, I’m sharing our journey from being Poor/Working Poor to being fortunately wealthy. As always, the information is free but the struggle is not sold separately.

Table of Contents

Prolonged Inflation, More Recession Fears, and no (Santa Claus) Rally in December

December 2024 was a rocky month that followed an even wackier political cycle. The stock market peaked right before Christmas to give everyone warm and fuzzy feelings. But it dropped right after. More proof that you can’t time the market.

The Cocaine Bear market turned into a Red Bull market by November 2024. And now, we are back to square one unit the new administration takes over.

While some people struggle to live in the red, the wealthy are positioning themselves for the next super cycle. Analysts are predicting that the US will come in positive for 2025 but subdued at 8%. We grazed the soil and refueled mid-flight, however, problems (both social and economic) are mounting. One of the troubling aspects of 2024 that went unnoticed is insurance companies pulling away from homes. The current zeitgeist is overall consumed with toxic information and we are missing major signs of disaster.

The December CPI numbers are out and people are spending. Jobs picked up so the Federal Reserve is pushing out the next rate hike until October 2025. This means that higher prices are here to stay, along with blood pressure and diabetes. Hint Hint, that might have been a warning or a tip for investing in the future.

Be careful out there. People are on a short post-pandemic fuse. It might be a New Year, but it’s still the same confusion. Credit card spending is up and Savings are down. See Exhibit #A below

A terrible financial trend. Be careful out here, this won’t end well.

All things considered, brace yourself.

I once wrote “Try not to scare yourself into putting all your money in a bank savings account at 0.01%. A lot of great companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, and Microsoft are on sale. Down as much as 40%, translates to a solid buy in 2023. You will have to hold until late 2024 to see the wins.“

It was all true. S&P 500 returned 24.23% and 23.31% respectively for 2023 and 2024. Those who bought and held learned an important lesson. This year, don’t try anything fancy. The economy or the stock market will be struggling to get a footing in Q1 2025. This might linger through Q2 until we galvanize over the 4th of July. Old wounds will close and maybe we all start to remember that we are on the same old boat. Consumers will be struggling so this won’t be easy. I’m anticipating at least a +15% increase. I’m not counting out American innovation and Consumer spending.

(When it comes to building wealth) the goal is to lose less when others are losing and win more when others are winning.

A Million dollars worth of Investments, and a Staycation in December

Stocks rebounded from 2020 levels. But it’s going to be tricky.

Why is that? When the economic cycle contracts people start to feel tense. Beyond the stress, most begin to blame others for their woes. This includes the rich (first) and politicians (second). Both of which, leverage communication and reach to blame it back on immigrants and eventually the poor.

The media pushed both sides for ad clicks for so long, that no one trusts authority anymore. The White House tried to redress public concerns but failed again. The forever political season is wearing us all down. Misinformation was allowed to spread for far too long and now we are paying the price.

With that said, we will once again set our eyes on a restart after the Fourth of July 2025. People are celebrating until the money runs out.

“Sit tight and Assess.” Just in case you are bored, feel free to implement the month-to-month financial plan that can help you get rich quickly.

Now Back to the December Breakdown

I have a total of five fans who read this so here we go.

If you are new, this article showcases the TNFG monthly Net Worth Breakdown for December 2024. There are always usable financial nuggets and aha moments that might help you along the way.

Just five fans. Unfortunately, that’s true.

Stocks Decimated Our December Goals

We peaked at Christmas and then Settled by New Year.

My wife and I are moving south (as planned). The downside is that our jobs will come with pay cuts of at least $40,000. With that financial challenge set, we are still on track to retire early. We have to be a bit more diligent so we are traveling more in 2025. Yep, that makes a lot of sense.

Don’t mind the upcoming photos on Instagram. This will be expensive (nearly $22.5k). I brought that up to warn you guys that Instagram travel is more expensive than these influencers pretend. On the flip side, we hit our $1M investment mark this year.

This is enough for a victory lap considering the year we just had.

Here’s the Quick Summary:

What Happens Next!

The world is changing post-COVID. It’s getting increasingly expensive and nationalist. There is a rise in mental health issues and a slide back to poverty for a lot of people. The transition will be harder by July 2025. Until then, my family plans to keep our heads down, work out, and plan for the next trips.

To close out, the year we opted for staycations since th family missed us for the holidays last year. All in all +0.60% increase. The cash value growth is shy of $9,816. We will keep socking away money in the first QTR of 2025. However, our expectations have decreased in comparison to 2024.

Our Expenses for December 2024

Travel aka Staycation prices came in just around what we budgeted. That’s mainly because I planned it like we were exploring Orlando. Lots of food, biking, cafes, and expensive dinners.

Our mortgages on two properties are up this month, however, that’s due to extra January 2025 payments. We do that to get the extra mortgage interest credits on our taxes. Additionally, we decorated the in-law’s house with Christmas decor. It was the first time. Even the neighbors were surprised and happy.

Our Food and dining budget simmered to our average spend. The gifts exploded this year since we got a computer for my godson. It came in around $1,700. Here’s hoping it gets him through high school. And, I did surprise Mrs. TNFG with an iPad that she wanted for years. The rest of the expenses fell into final home renovations.

And we were hit with annual credit card fees for 2025 which explains the $1,442.

So Where were the December Wins? Losses?

Debt Repayments. It’s been a long road to debt-freedom and we still have more years to go. With extra mortgage principles, we hit $118,251 in total repayments. I received a last-minute bonus from work so that played out well. And, we received extra passive income.

The bumpy road for investing. In total, we added nearly $70,000 to our investments for the year. Short from our goal of $100,000 at the top of the year. However, that’s the point of lofty goals. You miss them sometimes and still end up doing better than most.

December’s investment performance helped us finish north of 39% for the year. We contributed to the max in our 401ks, ROTH IRAs, and HSA. Investing is the missing piece to gaining wealth. Even when the market is down. That’s the best time to get into the game while quality companies are discounted.

If you need tips on how to set up a solid portfolio, read How to Build a Long-Term Investment Portfolio Earning 250%.

Savings held at $5,000. After a year of unexpected health crises, we had to up our Acid net/max EF. The net/max financial plan hasn’t failed us yet but it’s time to hedge our saving bets. We should be pushing that to $50,000 by YE 2025.

What can we honestly do better?

Food and Unexpected expenses

As stated earlier, we can’t control inflation, shipping costs, and global labor shortages. However, we can control food waste and our waistline. We can also slow down spending on unnecessary items. Travel is our vice so we aren’t cutting that. But we can acknowledge that it’s a luxury.

We closed out the year with over $1,633,829. That’s the highlight. Now we are setting our eyes on the the multi-millionaire goal by YE 2025 ($2M).

What is the Next Step for Us?

Completing the move south, and travelling 3x internationally.

Beyond that here are our overarching goals for 2025:

Keeping our expenses where they should be. “So stop equating happiness and social acceptance based on the money you spend.“
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Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Neighborhood Finance Guy. We highlight financial literacy information, resources, and more on your way to money management goals and personal wealth. Our goal is to help you make S.M.A.R.T.E.R decisions with our money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. Your finances are up to you. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we earned $400 as of 12.2024. We operate independently.

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