(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
January 2022 did not start as well as we would have liked. We went back in quarantine after contact with somebody that turned out COVID positive, and Mrs. The Poor Swiss and Baby Poor Swiss had dome symptoms. But everybody is fine now!
We had to cancel plenty of things and refuse help when we would have needed it. This month was definitely not good for morale.
From a financial point of view, it was a great month with standard expenses and high income.

January 2022
Very early in the month, we got in contact with someone positive. We took precautions. The person did several auto-tests the days before and was three times vaccinated. But a few days later, we received a call telling us she was positive.
So, even though we were not

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
At the end of each year, I review my goals and plan the following year. And to keep me accountable, I publish them on this blog and follow them month after month.
I will do a single article for the review and the new goals this year. I think it is more digestible that way.
So, in this article, I will review my 2021 goals and their progress, what went well, and what did not go well. And then, I am going to show and explain my 2022 goals.

2021 Goals Review
As a reminder, here is the state of our goals at the end of 2021:
Our Goals as of December 2021Overall, our progress towards these goals went well. We failed some goals, some because of me, and others were poor goals.
So, let’s go over the details of each goal and how it went,

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
Recently, inflation has started to climb again, especially in the United States. And many investors are worried about what this will do to their investments.
So, I want to talk about what we should do to our investments when inflation rises and what assets classes perform best when prices increase.

The return of inflation
First, let’s not forget that inflation never went anywhere. In the united states, like in most countries, inflation has been positive every year in the last two decades.
The change right now is that the United States published a 6.8% in December 2021. You can read about this in the official news release. It means that the prices of a given basket of items increased by 6.8% over one year. 6.8% is a significant

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
Many people are wondering how much is our house costing us. But, it was difficult to answer that question before we lived inside for a while.
After one year spent in our house, I want to summarize all the fees we have paid. I am only going to compare what changed. For instance, we still pay about the same electricity as before, so this does not change. But heating is different, and we have to pay for water, for instance.
Hopefully, this will be useful for people wondering how much it costs to live in an owned house.

One-Time Expenses
First, I want to cover one-time expenses. These are expenses related to the purchase of the house. We will not have to pay these expenses again unless we buy a new place.
Withdrawal taxes
The first

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
2021 really flew by. I cannot believe it is already over! Overall, this was a weird year, with COVID and then the birth of my son. It did not look like any other year.
Nevertheless, December 2021 still felt a little like a usual end-of-year month. We had the (mostly) usual celebrations and the usual end-of-year bills.
Overall, it was a good month for us. So, let’s see the details of what happened in December 2021.

December 2021
For us, December has always been a month for the family, and this year was no exception. The parties were scaled-down but still great! One of the parties was canceled because two people had symptoms, but this will be done later in January instead. So, family time in December was quite good!
It was also

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
In the personal finance community, many people use the concept of Time Value of Money (TVM) to think about money. This concept helps you think about the value of money if it were invested.
I think it is an interesting concept worth talking about. However, we should be careful about using this concept because it leads some people to think too much about their expenses and understanding.
So, let’s see what the time value of money is and what we can do with it.

Time Value of Money
Any sum of money has some earnings potential. Indeed, you could invest this money in the stock market (or in another investment instrument).
The concept of the time value of money means that money has more value now than it has in the future. This means

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
We recently became the parents of a cute son. Before he was born and in the first few months of his life, we had to purchase and prepare many things. We tried to avoid spending too much while still buying everything we needed for him.
Overall, we did a good job at keeping these expenses reasonable. And we also learned some things later on.
Overall, there are many things you can do to spend less for your newborn while not changing anything to his quality of life. In this article, I share our tips on how to save money with your newborn.

 1. Do not buy (too many) tiny clothes
When a baby is born, he generally wears size 50 clothes. However, these clothes are pretty much useless. At most, they will last one month, usually much less

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
I cannot believe it is already December. These last few months are flying by us very quickly. It is crazy how a child can change everything.
We are still slowly adapting to life with our son. He is growing nicely and changing very quickly. It was an interesting month to follow his growth.
Financially, we bought quite a few unusual things but did not go overboard either. So, we managed to save a sizeable portion of our income again.

November 2021
Overall, November 2021 was a good month. We had a few family events again with our close family. This made a big difference in our moods. We are still careful especially seeing the current number of cases in Switzerland, but being fully isolated would be worse.
We are still not sleeping

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
Retire Early The Simple Guide is now available as an ebook and hardcover! I wrote this book with Thomas Walke, another blogger in Switzerland.
Our book is about guiding the reader to their financial independence and possibly to their early retirement. Retire Early The Simple Guide is a general book applicable to most countries, but we primarily think about European countries.
This article discusses Retire Early: The Simple Guide in detail and how we wrote that book.

Retire Early: The Simple Guide

My first book

Retire Early: The Simple Guide

A simple guide you through all the basics to your own Financial Independence and if you want it, your own early retirement. Start your journey to financial freedom now!