How to Kick-Off the New Year with $1 Trillion in Losses

Kick-Off Season: Executive Orders and a DeepSeek AI Wealth Missile

This time last year, my wife and I came back from Brazil rejuvenated. The holidays for 2024 were spent back home in Orlando, Florida. It was a good time to unwind and relax. And then January happened. The world is changing. One day, it turned out that Millennials are the new Boomers. Prices are still relatively high while homes are still uniquely unaffordable.

Stocks started tenuous at best. However, the market plummeted to China. It was likely one too many executive orders. The DOW managed to gain 4.8% in January. The S&P 500 continued its gains from December and rose another 2.8% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ nabbed a modest 1.7%. The Feds aka the Federal Reserve held interest rates since inflation is still around.

If the January Barometer theory holds, the year might be rocky but good. The crux of the theory is that the investment performance of the S&P 500 in January predicts the year’s performance. Inversely, if they are lower in the first month, they’ll be lower for the year. 

As such, the TNFG household was stuck in the terrible middle. Our portfolio went up in smokes but landed +$8,000. This is still a better start than 2020, or 2021 when we took our $50,000 tumble.

Welcome Back! New Season, and More Information

Welcome back to a new year with TNFG’s monthly breakdowns. Our household’s 2023 Net Worth crossed the $1 million mark. Now, we have our sights on $2 million by January 2026. My wife and I also hit a total investment portfolio of +$1 million. We are nearly 7 years away from early retirement. Yep, we are retiring early.

When the executive orders started flying, we took a stray. All Federal workers must return to the office in March. This put a damper on our move to Orlando. Mrs. TNFG will have to come back from Orlando and we have to draft a new plan for the family. No sad eyes here. Just additional motivation to garner more assets, buy a new expensive home, and settle down in the DMV. By all accounts, it’s not that bad since we have a light footprint, we don’t have kids yet and we are flexible.

There is no progress without challenges. This is just one of them. We rest easy knowing that even if we don’t invest another dime, our investments will be worth over $2.5 million by 2032. After taxes, we’d be traveling the world.

“Building wealth is cheaper and easier than advertised, but finding true happiness and purpose is free.”

Although the Net Worth jumped a little, It’s Important to Stick to the Plan

One thing to note, we are very aggressive when it comes to our cash flow. Because of that, we can maximize the yield of 90 percent of the dollars we earn. With our next goal of a $4M portfolio by Year-End 2032, we will have to re-balance and reassess our investments as needed. Low performers have to go in favor of quality companies. On top of that, we will have to put $250,000 into our Acid Emergency Savings Plan.

It’s a lot to consider but it’s doable. I recommend going bold with your ideas while keeping them feasible. After that, imagine what you need to do to make those big ideas work. It all starts with a financial plan.

When we started, we started at the bottom too. That’s where all good stories start. Sharing the journey is important because we have never seen anyone who looks like us, shift from the poor working class to millionaire status in one lifetime.

The US is still one of the few countries with an incredible upward mobility social class slope if you do it correctly. Building your Financial Intelligence through diligence and effort is the golden ticket.

Kick-Off Your Best Year with SMART+ER Objectives for the First 90 Days

Wealth comes down to three easy steps; 1. Decrease your expenses, 2. Increase your income and 3. Invest in the Difference. However, before you get there, create a 3-year vision and construct the plan. Be specific; the plan should have objectives and can be evaluated in 12-week intervals.

This will improve your life by 400%. If you aren’t addressing your smarter goals, you are merely working backward. Here are TNFG’s top three books to alter your life toward wealth.

Happy to See Our Net Worth Grow even with a Massive Drop for Nvidia

Our net worth went up 0.51% – a cash value of $8,322. There is always a bit of discrepancy between the last-day number and the first-day numbers slightly fluctuating. Or there are late banking adjustments.  

We were overweight in tech and we got caught slipping. I’m hedging future investments with more healthcare and consumer staples throughout the year. Apple $APPLE and Google earnings came in mixed. Increasing our overall dividend yield could be the play. Buying stocks that had a bad 2024 seems to be working like Bank of America and Exxon Mobil. I’m also seeing a look of optimism from the Financial sector ie. American Express, JP Morgan, etc.

Travel, Groceries, Auto and More Fees

My wife is always wondering, “When will we feel rich?” The answer is that we are rich together. But the real answer is, never! Just kidding. After that, she pouts again. Our 2025 household goal is to close out with $2,000,000 by December 2025 (+/-$50,000).

Beyond that, we have travels to plan. We found that a Swiss trip gets expensive. It’s already $3.5k for the flights and an estimated $5k for lodging. It’s going to be a great but pricey trip. We are estimating $25,000 in total travel costs for the year to cover two international and at least three domestic. We haven’t even addressed the home renovations of over $30,000 (estimated). My wife needs a new bathroom to function. She is likely to throw out all my stuff.

There’s a lot of work to do. We are cutting down and strategizing. This is not a time to get cute, it’s a time to go lean and mean.

Our January Investment Performance Kick-Off and Fall-Back

Our investment went on a run in January and dropped off the cliff. We aren’t out of the fire just yet. We expect more corrections in Q1-Q2 2025. For now, we gotta restructure our investments. See the graph below. The price of long-term investments is a rapid drop on any given day. One day, a negative $250,000 will be possible with a 5 million dollar portfolio. You need to have the nerve to be wealthy.

Expect extreme volatility through 2026, with the new administration. But I guess that it swings the opposite way to close out the year. As I stated before, this is an unequal economic recovery. However, if you aren’t investing today, you are compounding your issues for tomorrow.

This uneasy/perpetual struggle is what the majority of the world lives with. It’s not new. At this rate, Americans will have to learn to fight for every inch of a better life.

Savings Rates Stalling with Debt Climbing

Back in 2022, we opted to lower our interest fees by withdrawing $4,500 from our basic savings account (earning 0.01%) to pay off credit cards. We stalled out since. This year we are building back our savings account to $7,500.

We will have to pay off debt the good old-fashioned way. One dollar at a time. Our goal is to keep investing since it earns our future while simultaneously keeping our interest fees as low as possible. Don’t sweat the increase since we have to buy the flights early. This might not have been the best kick-off for the year but we are still happy so it’s a joy.

How will TNFG Ride This Solid Kick-Off?

First, we have to look out for false stock positives. You can’t get too over-optimistic. Time to readjust away from low-performing stocks and stock up 10% dry powder for the next low. That’s our strategy moving forward.

Beyond that, we are paying down debts and investing:

1. Even though financial resources are low, Investing at least $1,000 per month in M1 Finance Brokerage focused on Growth and Dividend Income that generates at least $1,000 per month in passive income in 2027, is still the goal.
   • Check out the portfolio in real-time. If you like the platform and want to start investing, I have the $10 for $10 referral if you need it – https://m1.finance/SYdqDJ2SyADC.
2. Shooting for a sustained investment rate of $7,250 per month.
   • To help monitor your savings, cash flow, net worth, investments, retirement, and freer with Personal Capital! Sign up with my link & get a $20 Amazon gift card. *Terms apply. https://pcap.rocks/lawrencegonz
3. Hitting 15,000 followers on IG.
4. Work on blog consistency while adding eBooks (at some point).
   • Pushing to build out for the next year until we hit a $2,000,000 net worth as of January 2026.

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