As 2022 comes to a close, I want to take some time to reflect on how this past year has been for me and also share what my plans are for the year ahead.
2022 Was Tough
The past year has been kind of tough for me, in the sense that it hasn’t been the easiest year.
Work started to kick into full motion, and I found myself constantly having much more work and responsibility this year than I did last year – reasonably so, since I had only just started working last year.
Even though I seldom have to work overtime (OT), it definitely takes a toll on me because work is now more mentally draining than it used to be.
Sometimes, after getting off of work, I don’t want to do anything and just let my mind settle down.
This leads to the next topic I want to talk about, which is my blog.
Despite changing my posting schedule to alternate between long and short posts every week, I still found myself struggling to meet the schedule at times.
Trying to think of topics I understood well enough to write about could take quite some time, leaving me with less time to actually write up the post.
And with work leaving me mentally tired, I seldom want to read up and learn about new things to write about.
At times, it got quite challenging to finish my posts on schedule, and it made writing posts feel a bit like a chore.
I still enjoy writing and sharing financial knowledge with others, but I definitely find it more difficult to do so consistently now that I’ve been working for well over a year.
I think that at some point during the year, I started to get caught up in trying to complete blog posts on time and lost sight of what are the things I’ve been wanting to write about.
Looking back at my 2021 reflection post, I mentioned that I wanted to write more about crypto, insurance, and personal reflections.
But in 2022, I only wrote 1 post about crypto and none about insurance or personal reflections.
When I realised this, I felt disappointed for not achieving the goals I set for myself.
At the same time, I think it was a timely reminder that I needed to reset my mindset towards my blog and my posting schedule.
If I keep allowing myself to get stressed out about posting regularly, I’ll only find it to be an increasingly arduous task that takes away from the joy of writing and why I started my blog in the first place.
On a more positive note, in 2022, I made the first step towards monetising my blog as an affiliate partner.
This might be a sensitive topic to discuss, but I want to be transparent with all of you.
For me, monetisation is not the reason why I decided to start this blog – it’s never been about money.
Honestly, with all the time I spend putting up posts and responding to comments/emails, I’d be better off working side gigs if my goal was money.
But I think becoming an affiliate partner is still a step in the right direction, even if my goal isn’t to earn money.
The reality is that owning and maintaining a blog doesn’t come free – there are costs involved in keeping the website up and running.
Not to mention the countless hours I put into it that could be spent doing anything else – quality time with loved ones, upskilling myself, working side gigs, etc.
Creating an avenue for myself to earn some money through my blog helps to compensate for all of this to some extent.
It also serves as motivation to continue writing posts, as long as there are products that are genuinely good and worth recommending.
After all, even if money was never my goal, it only makes sense to take advantage of opportunities as they come, right?
When it comes to being an affiliate partner, I’m proud of myself for upholding my values and remaining objective.
I’ve never tried to hardsell a particular product just for the sake of conversions, and I only ever recommend products that I personally think are good and would use myself.
Moving Forward, Into 2023
In the coming year, I want to give myself less pressure to churn out posts every week.
I’m not saying that I’ll be adjusting my posting schedule – I’ll still try to get out a post every week.
But if I ever feel like I need more time to prepare a post for that week, I may just skip that week’s post and take the time I need.
While this may result in me missing a few weeks of posts, I think it will help to make it more manageable to sustain my blog in the long run, so hopefully, you guys understand!
As for what I’d like to cover more about in my posts in 2023, I still want to tackle the topic of insurance, and I want to write more reflection-style posts, like what I aimed to do this year.
I’ll also be doing more posts on vanilla ETF investing.
I think 2022 has been a financial roller coaster for many people, and it’ll be a good way to reinforce our core understanding of investing.
However, I’m not so sure if I will be writing much about crypto.
What I’ve learned over the past year is that crypto is a rapidly-changing space and there are always new things to learn and keep up with.
Being late to some crypto news by as much as days or even hours can cause your investments to go to 0.
I realised that I simply don’t have the time to keep up-to-date about everything in the crypto space, which makes it hard for me to share knowledge about it.
Closing Thoughts
2022 hasn’t been as great a year as 2021 for me, and I definitely struggled a bit with managing work and maintaining my blog.
But I think everything still worked out fine, and after reflecting on the past year, I have a new found motivation to do better in 2023.
If you’ve enjoyed my content and want to support me, here are 3 ways you can do so.
- Sign up for products via links/referral codes found on my blog – this helps me earn some affiliate commission or referral rewards at no extra cost to you!
- Buy me a kopi – this allows you to send donations directly to me! (note: it is in USD)
- Share my posts that you’ve found helpful to loved ones who you think might find them useful as well – this is honestly the best way to support me because it helps with my goal of spreading financial awareness to others!
As always, a huge thank you to all of you readers who have been supporting my blog – I appreciate each and every one of you, and this blog would be meaningless if it weren’t for you.
If you ever have any questions or thoughts, feel free to leave a comment on a post or reach out to me and I’ll do my best to get back to you!
Here’s wishing you a Happy New Year and an amazing 2023 ahead!
2 replies on “2022 Reflection And Plans For 2023”
Hi there, been a avid reader of your blog since January last year. I’m still fairly new in the world of investing and my first baby steps would to be invest in low-cost world ETFs. I’ve seen your posts comparing Ireland domiciled etfs such as VWRA, ISAC, EIMI to US domiciled etfs like VTI, VOO and QQQ. Is it possible for you to write a more updated and in-depth article on the pros and cons of the these two type of etfs. E.g many brokers such as webull now offer free US stock and etf trades but IBKR charge $1.7USD per trade and if I were to DCA weekly or bi-weekly it will end up costing me a lot throughout the years. Some may say to DCA quarterly or every two months but then whats the point of it anymore. The point of Dca is to buy regularly. By withholding my funds and waiting every few months to buy, I may miss out on a few “market best performing days” which you probably know can affect your investment returns drastically. Then IBKR also charge a currency conversion fee. All in all there are so many factors to both types of etf (ireland and us), furthermore, the dividend withholding tax, acc or dist dividend, ireland domiciled etf usually have a way higher expense ratio compared to US. (e.g VWRA is 0.24% but VOO is only 0.03%, the crazy difference and so on. Sorry for the long comment, i really need the help and i’m bad at mathematics. Would like to know your verdict and if you do write the post, I am very thankful and appreciative of your effort
Hey Jackson,
First of all, thank you for your support on my blog all this time! It means a lot and I’m glad you’ve found my posts helpful.
Your request is very welcome! I’ve been thinking about writing an updated post about US-domiciled ETFs vs Ireland-domiciled ETFs myself, given how the ‘meta’ for brokers has changed a bit.
I can’t tell you when exactly I’ll be able to write the post, so do come back regularly to check out my latest posts!
For now, I’ll say only you will know the best strategy for your situation because you understand your situation the best.
The main things you’ll need to consider are which index you want to hold (world vs S&P 500), and how much fees are you willing to pay.
Hope this helps!