I went on a week-long Mediterranean cruise this month! It was my first time ever cruising and my first time ever in the Mediterranean so a very eventful trip indeed! So here’s my honest (what else would it be lol) review of this trip. Things I Like I loved all the shows and entertainment offered on the cruise! I saw a broadway musical, aqua show, magic show, and ice skating show to name a few. All within the span of…
A couple years ago, I worked in a contract position (yes, the one I was laid off from) where my trainer was someone who normally works from home, but was coming into the office to do the training sessions. While WFH is a dream for an introvert like me, I was shocked at a remark she made about sometimes going “for days” without leaving her home. While I’ve never been a super social person, I couldn’t fathom the idea of…
The time has come! After my most recent paycheck I finally hit $300k net worth. 🥳 There’s no telling if this number will stay as the market continues its roller coaster ride, but I’ll take it! The default view on Empower (previous Personal Capital) where I track my net worth is a 90-day lookback. I rarely switch from this view, but yesterday I decided to go as far back in time as possible. And boy was it fun to see!…
March has been a pretty rewarding month for me. As I mentioned last month, I received a raise, the first paycheck of which was reflected this month. On top of that, I received my bonus and March also happened to be a 3-paycheck month! I allocated the majority of my bonus paycheck to my 401k so for the rest of the year I only have to contribute the minimum to get my employer’s match. Of course, with every high comes…
I’m riding on quite a high this month. My manager was finally able to secure the raise I had been asking for! And I’m not kidding when I say I’ve been asking for it. I point blank asked for a raise over a couple of 1:1s with her because I honestly made a mistake when switching over to her team by not bringing it up. In hindsight, I realized that’s when I would’ve had the most negotiating power. Anyways, at…
I can’t believe the first month of the year is officially over. As for the title of this post, it is very literal. I really did get a brand new vision this month. After years of thinking about it, I finally got LASIK surgery! LASIK Experience I opted for Contoura Vision LASIK which is a newer technology that I was a candidate for. I’ve been having a harder time using contacts especially with allergies and dryness making my eyes itchy….
After two years of pandemic, 2022 marked the year of a new start. It marked a turn as I restarted international travel. It also marked the turn of a decade for me as I entered my 30s. But it was so much more than that. It was a start to a new mentality, one that I aspired to have ever since learning about FIRE as reflected in some of these highlights of 2022. A Stressful Start The first quarter of…
Goodbye 2022, hello 2023! This post will be a short one as I plan to do an in-depth 2022 Year In Review. December was fairly low-key. I didn’t have any big family gatherings this year so it was a pretty relaxing month. I was biting my nails to see how the market would end this year and if I would hit any net worth goals. I’ll keep the suspense going until my next post! December Budget Fixed Spending I went…
November was one of the best months I’ve had in a while. I went on my last trip of the year and it was so relaxing. I definitely went into it with the mindset that I wanted to have a really relaxing tropical vacation after the year I’ve had so while I did some planning, it was a pretty laid back trip. Mid-November, my team also finished up a huge project for work and since then, if I’m being completely…
I’m super late for my October updates, because I’ve been busy since the start of this month. First, right after coming back from my Europe trip, I went straight back to work. It was a lot of catching up at work especially as my PTO was back to back with my manager’s PTO. So not only was I catching up, I also had extra work as her back up. On top of that, my friend really wanted to go on…