2022 Post | 2021 Post | 2020 Post | 2019 Post

For the 5th year running, I present the money post. It’s funny as I read the prior year and wonder what I’m gathering from this exercise. One advantage is it tracks what I do. I look back and say, “oh yeah, I remember that day.” Another oddity is when I see an absurd amount of money spent, and compare that with the amount I had been drinking for the day, they are usually correlated. It’s easy to lose all financial wherewithal under alcohol. Either way, I’m still out making what I’m spending, so here we go.

The #’s

Breakfast 2019 – $1,653 | 2020 – $1,508 | 2021 – $1,961 | 2022 – $2,110 | 2023 – $2,584

Lunch 2019 – $2,575 | 2020 – $2,100 | 2021 – $2,779 | 2022 – $3,630 | 2023 – $3,517

Dinner 2019 – $2,619 | 2020 – $1,047 | 2021 – $1,568 | 2022 – $2,070 | 2023 – $4,417

I spent more on dinner as I picked up a few more tabs this year. Clearly this is also inflation at work as I hardly change my habits. Breakfast expense is also slowly increasing. I look back at the 2019 number and I used to spend $4 and Dunkin and $5 and the Museum Deli…now it’s $7 at Palm Tree and $14 and Bagel Co.

Alcohol 2019 – $8,975 | 2020 – $4,280 | 2021 – $6,673 | 2022 – $8,605 | 2023 – $9,671

This number is always a bit of a disappointment to me, but not surprising. I’m a big tipper, and as I make more money, I tend to give out more as well. Combine that with alcohol = less financial care = more money spent. So this number gets inflated due to my nature and not the cost of the drinks, although I’m sure they are more expensive as well.

Drinks 2019 – 1,680 | 2020 – 1,090 | 2021 – 1,306 | 2022 – 1,376 | 2023 – 1,287

Slightly lower than last year, but not the improvement I’m looking for. A large amount comes from golfing. I’ll drink 4-5 beers a round, and if I play 50 rounds, that’s a fair amount of the consumption. I’ll still throw in the 12 beer day and there was a trip to the UK this year where I had 80 drinks in 9 days. So, it’s possible I am doing better in this category than it appears, but a number is a number. Seeing the pandemic number is most unusual as I STILL consumed that many drinks hardly doing anything.

Subscriptions 2019 $39,970 | 2020 $42,105 | 2021 – $38,457 | 2022 – $39,906 | 2023 $39,583

This category is Comcast, Verizon, Spotify, Sirius, Netflix, gas, water, electric, mortgage, car payment, Amazon Prime, Bradley Todd, and the gym. It’s the same as past years and this is essentially the minimum that I would need to survive. I could easily cut this down by a few grand, but most of this is relatively fixed. This will be increasing by at least 20k this year as I’ll be double paying for living.

Things 2019 – $22,403 | 2020 – $34,095 | 2021 – $30,989 – 2022 – $36,059 | 2023 – $33,224

Money spent on trips to Austin, the UK, Germany, Austria, Latvia, Florida were all included in 2023. I purchased plenty of clothes for events, items for a new place, and many golf rounds add up and this number is not out of control. I could easily blow more money if I wanted to on a new car or more luxurious goods, but I’m pretty content with 30k a year on fun activities. This will go up considerably this year as I plan to remodel parts of my home.

Daily Fantasy Sports 2019 $-1,650 | 2020 – $-1,444 | 2021 -$1,540 | 2022 – $970 | 2023 – $-1,346

Bad year. I couldn’t hit a tournament to save my life. I don’t look at this as major damage to my life as I think I’m having fun. It’s more the deck is stacked against me. I purchased an optimizer called Solver and it didn’t produce the results I had hoped, but I am of the belief that the guys who do win use these, along with the sims, and it’s not my life goal to be profitable in DFS.

Betting 2019 $-681 | 2020 – $-1,258 | 2021 -$3,059 | 2022 $-899 | 2023 – $-10,052

Last year I wagered 69k and this year I was up to 79k total. I’m curious where that puts me on DK’s list of gamblers. Is that the top 1% or 25%? Clearly losing 10k, mostly on golf betting, is a bona fide disaster. It’s not quite as bad as it looks as I hit 2k in the survivor and won a Fantasy league for $1,800, but it’s still ugly. It got really bad these past two months where I wouldn’t hit a bet if it was -2000. Probably will be limiting the golf this year. Not that anyone cares, but I bet each of the tipped golfers by Bradley Todd to win outright, he bets them to place. This means I win fully or lose fully instead of losing less, thus leading to big losses. I’ll do better this year.

Miles 2019 896 | 2020 – 863.5 | 2021 – 746 | 2022 – 864 | 2023 – 894

It’s nice to see a year with more miles. I had, and still do have, a heel injury that’s been nagging, but not debilitating. I’ve grown to enjoy the treadmill running as it prevents me from getting injured. It’s when I get outside on the concrete where my injuries get me. I also did one race this year at Belmont to show I’m not completely gassed. I also plan to run a 5k or two this year. As a whole, it’s nice to see this part of my life maintain consistency as I do believe it helps me look and feel good.

Golf Handicap | 2020 – 15.5 | 2021 – 13.2 | 2022 – 12.1 | 2023 12.8

This was one of the more frustrating years of golf as I stink around the green. Putting is a disaster and I don’t have the time to get better. When you are consistently able to get the ball to the hole in regulation, and you walk away with bogey after bogey (if I’m lucky), there’s not much else to say. I won’t be re-joining my country club this year so I expect the number to go up. There are times where I question if I’m having fun if I’m not improving, and I still think the answer is yes. Considering I quit bowling, I need something to do.

Baby I’m a Rich Man

The total expenses for my life are $92,996. You have no idea how much money I make so you can’t possibly comment if this is a lot or a little in relation to my financial situation. Undoubtedly, I live a comfortable life. It can be argued, by me, that I’ve purposely set up my life for financial success. This main motivator has guided my entire life. Fellow peons could argue this is shallow and that I’m missing the “big picture”. Well, I have news for you, there is no big picture.

When I think about my family’s business starting in 1853, and how the original John Stortz started a business that has now lasted 170 years, is he smiling from up above? Do I pray to the lord how lucky we are all for original John Stortz? No. I never think about him. He gets zero attention all these years later and his legacy is only a blip in the spectrum of life. We come and go and the world doesn’t care one way or another. This is perhaps a glib way to look at life, but it’s the truth. We’re not holding original John Stortz celebrations each year to commemorate what we have. As much as I can say my success comes from having this business, the truth is more like I worked on this business for 20 years in a row. So, here we are.

I don’t look at age as an indicator of where you are in life. I don’t think having more money makes you better than anyone else. I don’t believe that money is the only path to a fulfilled life. I only feel that having money gives you the financial flexibility to live your best life. It offers doors that do not open otherwise and I’m looking forward to continuing opening more doors and seeing where that leads me as seeing as much of the world as you can is a means of achievement in my mind. My next goal is to head over to Asia and see what opportunities lie over there. Maybe even Russia. Maybe even the deep blue sea.

Don’t forget to wish Jeff a Happy Birthday.