During Year 2 of COVID, I was fortunate enough to expand my focus on multiple streams of income.

This fueled a savings rate of 17% (not including retirement contributions), and helped increase my net worth +28% in 2021 compared to 2020.

Net Earnings Overview

I consider Giving, Taxes, HSA Contributions, and 15% gross salary Retirement Contributions non-negotiable. Given this, I excluded these categories when reviewing my 2021 net earnings, outlined by the pie chart below:

Net Earnings Key Takeaways

Paycheck. In 2019, 91% of my net earnings came from my 9-5 job. In 2020, this number dropped to 65%, and dropped again in 2021 down to 62%.
Side Gigs. The percentage of income from side gigs, like drop-shipping, buying & reselling goods online, and dabbling in the gig economy, rose from 23% in 2020 to 30% in 2021.
Rental Income. I sold my rental property in early 2021 to use the proceeds to pay for a primary residence in the pricey northern California market.  The lot size is large enough to build a 1-bedroom detached ADU, which will enable me to again have rental income for monthly cashflow.

Net Income Allocation Overview

As stated above, since I consider Giving, Taxes, HSA Contributions, and 15% gross salary Retirement Contributions non-negotiable, I excluded these categories when reviewing my 2021 net income allocation, outlined by the pie chart below:

Net Income Allocation Key Takeaways

Savings. My 2021 savings rate was 17%.  This was down from 46% in 2019 and 68% in 2020. This decline was expected, given the purchase of a primary residence that also required substantial remodeling. Again, this is savings excluding retirement contributions. By comparison, the average American only saves 7-8% of their income.
Housing & Utilities. Housing + utilities for the full year was 19%, but this included living in a tiny apartment for half of the year. I anticipate housing + utilities to be 40% of my 2022 net income allocation.
Groceries. With few options to enjoyably dine-out as COVID life continued on, 9% of net income went toward groceries with another 2% on restaurant take-out.

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