November was an absolute roller coaster.

From the opening bell to the wedding bell, almost $200,000 in wealth growth year to date. Blessed to jump the broom, surrounded by family and friends who brave COVID fears. Update, we are all still COVID Free.

Table of Contents

Mini-moon Over, Back at it!

Welcome back to TNFG’s monthly Breakdown, where I review our household’s November 2020 Net Worth with a dab of personal finance tips that you can use.

While October ended with the finals leading to Biden vs Trump 2020, by mid-November, it was jubilation on the market. Trump did say that the vaccine was on the way and Pzifer $PZE delivered.

How to FIRE up Your Post Presidential Election Investment Strategy: 15 Stocks You Should Buy For the Next Bull Run 2020+

Stock Market Highs: New Bull Run?!

The stock market had a very strong November, despite uncertainty over the election results (which will be studied for years).

Though the 3^rd wave of Covid-19 is here, a team of positive vaccine developments was announced.

Stocks surged a robust +10%. TELSA ($TSLA – 855.31% YTD) waltzed in as one of the GOAT of 2020 investments while NIO $NIO was not far behind with 1,896.02% YTD.

The initial days of December trading started with a bang, as Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and NASDAQ closed at record highs.

20 U.S. market strategists reveal their 2021 predictions for the S&P 500

“We believe that as we head into 2021, the broader story will continue to be the true “reopening” of the economy in the U.S. and globally, driven by the distribution of vaccines and increase in global economic activity,” said an analyst.

It is pandemonium. If you are not invested. Now is the time. The market is slated to bring in an additional 8%-22% in 2021. If you have money stuck in a Bank savings account making less than 1%, at this rate, it is simple arithmetic.

20% is bigger than 1% to me.
Lawrence Gonzalez, TNFG November 2020

Time in the Market is better than Timing the Market

President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, laid out a three-point plan to begin defeating the coronavirus pandemic during his first 100 days in office. He plans to sign an executive order the day he is sworn in to require Americans to wear masks on buses and trains crossing state lines, as well as in federal buildings.

Biden-Harris administration pledges to distribute “at least 100 million covid vaccine shots”. From front-line workers to educators, the goal is targeted at getting America back to work by Summer 2021.

The second goal is to enable “the majority of our schools” to reopen within that time and to remain open.

Closing Out a Tough Year on a High Note

The goal for 2021 is to hit $500,000 and we are close to the investments doing the heavy lifting. From the screenshot below from our Personal Finance account, you can see that our debts (final wedding costs) were going up but those investments were giving them all the smoke.

Wedding Expenses!!!

“For the record, I love my Wife and I loved our wedding. I like to share the cost to prepare others so they aren’t in complete shock”

Not too bad considering all the red ink last month.

Like a true accounting nerd, I factor in all costs associated with the wedding from the purchase of the engagement rings. I also itemized trips associated with wedding location scouting, tastings, fittings, etc. The total came up to about $44,000.

The wedding day itself was likely $30,000. As I said, I’m an auditor by trade and I love cost accounting. Itemize it all!

For those heading done this road, be prepared to get creative and cut unnecessarily large guests list and overages. Keep it love and faith-based, and it will work out.

Keep it Instagram and you will end up in debt. I did hear about people taking out personal loans to cover $60,000 weddings and that is just the day off, not even factoring in the rings and the other stuff.

Weddings are expensive. I am blessed to have a wife that is also a wedding planner. Along with the Maid of Honor, they were able to hold it together.

I also started to use credit card points to keep the balance lower but alas, that 850 credit score is now debt to me

In the end, our net worth went up a solid 10.30% – a cash value of $44,336.95+. Ironically, God has a sense of humor since it was the cost of the wedding.

The majority of that, $41,000 came from the stocks. A 180-degree flip from October 2020, when stocks were struggling. I did call a rally of at least 12 percent to close out 2021 and look at this. I will state it again; there is another 20% in the market for 2021.

1. Where was the bulk of the wins?

Shifting investments and re-balancing for more growth. Understanding market flow does matter. Being knowledgeable helps squelch fears and it is working.

Cash came in early at the end of the month. It is a WIN. The paychecks dropped before the month ended so they count too for the assist.

2. Not all Sunshine and Rainbows

Stacking Debt to Repay in 2021. As stated before weddings are not cheap so we are stacking credit cards but most of it is APR-free or reduced until 2020. I am not too worried about it since we were going additional remodeling and shaping up future 2022 wins. On top of that, we are using the points for cash balance repayments. That is how you use Credit cards.

If you want to know more about the costs associated with a wedding, read this For Richer or for Broke: How Millennial Newlyweds Get into $100,000+ Debt

3. What’s the Next Step for Us?

Re-imagining December – Remodeling the rental property in Tallahassee, so wish us HGTV luck.

Investing $1,128.00 in M1 Finance Brokerage focused on Dividend Income that generates at least $1,000 in passive Income for starters in 2021. 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.
Boosting back the EF savings with $2,000.00. 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
Build out Financial Literacy Workshops for 2021 – Setting new goals and pushing the community forward.

Roller Coaster November. From Opening bell to wedding bell, +$200,000 growth YTD. Blessed to jump the broom, surrounded by family and friends.

Best Takeaways YTD

Set audacious goals and work on them constantly. Past failures are the down payments for future successes. Don’t be afraid to lose. If you want to know more about our technique, check out the Net Max Financial Plan for Couples.

Our Net Worth is up +80% this year, a total value of $190,000.

All about wealth velocity in our household over debt freedom. We will likely have the ½ Millionaire marker by June 2021. A far distance from the struggling city of Negative $125,000 in 2014.

Now that we formed up like Voltron, we are working to build our version of home.

Aiming to prove that it is possible to normalize wealth for regular folks.

Click below for some of my favorite articles (below):