2021 was a very good year for me, but then 2022 started and it turned sour quickly.

Most of us who have investments and own real estate had an extraordinary year in 2021 because of market gains. Surprisingly, my 401k portfolio blew my individual stocks out of the water in 2021. So my regular brokerage account and Roth IRA just did okay. I’ve been sick lately, so I wasn’t functioning at my peak level.

My Financial Pyramid results

With an increase in pay, investment returns, house value appreciation, and efforts to save money using extreme frugality, mowing my own lawn, selling stuff, killing unnecessary expenses, and working from home full-time, I doubled the yearly gain that I made last year. I’m still driving my 2010 car because the prices of used cars jumped dramatically, and new cars were hard to find, literally, so my lifestyle hardly change this year versus last year.

Grading My Performance

I was shocked when I touched My Secret Wealth Goal! I was in this state only briefly, but it was still an exciting moment. I don’t expect to really hit that goal again for at least 2 or so years (fingers crossed). So given that I hit my wealth goal, I would say that my performance this year was a low A (barely over A-), which is still amazing for me!

Last year I complained about my lack of dabbling in investment strategies, so I bought some crypto and stock options, both of which went poorly for me, but I only “dipped my toe” in these unfamiliar investments, so I only experienced small losses in them.

I feel comfortable saying that in 2021 I was about 50% into the upper-middle-class (UMC) level at the end of 2021 in the pyramid below, at least from a net worth perspective. Sadly, today (4/20/2022) I’m only a third of the way (from the bottom) in that same upper-middle-class tier. I’m only in the UMC tier based on a net worth perspective. I’m from the working or middle class so being in the UMC is new territory for me.

Future Goal Climbing my Financial Pyramid

I’m looking around, seeing what new options I have. I always have grand ambitions around wanting to do amazing things, but something always blocks me. So this time I’m going to let fate take me where she takes me while keeping last year’s thoughts about a middle-class wealth club in the back of my mind.

We’ll see…