A Christmas letter| What it means to believe

Dear Readers,

We walked into 2018 on a high note and with every intention that the year would be one of those run-of-the-mill, go through the motions kind of years.  Financially, we planned to have our investments on auto pilot, pay down the remaining debt on our rental property, pursue worthwhile opportunities for advancement at our jobs and keep laying a foundation for this platform word-by-word.  If you’ve been following our journey, then you know things didn’t quite work out that way.  It’s all good though.  We’ve grown to truly appreciate the inevitable turbulence life brings on the way up.

One of our “richuals” is to look back on each year and to define it in one word.  Honestly, we don’t remember what we thought this year would be but if we had to guess, we think it was something like momentum.  We expected to see a few signs of picking up speed and positive results.  Instead, it was all of that and more.  So as we sit in reflection of what 2018 actually was compared to what we thought it would be,  it’s clear that a better definition for the year in one word is—believe.

We’ll run through the details in an upcoming annual recap but here’s the quick rundown.

Starting with our family, we put our son in daycare and he handled it like a baby boss despite the whirlwind of change we introduced to him at once.  Both sets of parents are relatively healthy and we welcomed an adorable little niece into the world.  Baby r&R wasn’t too happy about sharing the love from his grandparents but hopefully he gets over that soon.

Personally, our relationship grew thanks to mutual and consistent contributions of persistence, trust, communication and teamwork.  We didn’t get to completely unplug as much as we’d liked to but we’re able to enjoy our day-to-day more after moving into our new home.  Going into 2019, we both know that this is an area we have to be more intentional about so our love doesn’t get swallowed up by the responsibilities and rigor of everyday life.

In terms of our careers, Mrs. r&R received a long overdue promotion which helps to expedite our plans and gives us some much needed perspective on what it really means to trade time for money.  Her success helped to soften the financial blow of Mr. r&R walking away from his job.  It’s been 6 months since we made that decision and we don’t regret it one bit because it’s enabled us to work towards our long term ambitions with a clear-head and our whole selves.

Which leads us to this website and our word for 2018—believe.

What does it mean to believe?

No, we’re not going to slip into a sappy story of a 8 lb, 7 oz chocolate baby Jesus in a manger.  But we will reflect on the role self-doubt can have on you.  Listen, the run we had this year was nothing short of spectacular.  We won Best New Personal Finance Blog at the Plutus Awards, we were featured by Vice News, Glamour magazine and in a mini-documentary in partnership with The Atlantic.  We were interviewed on several podcasts and made the cut in the trailer for the upcoming documentary, Playing with Fire. But even with all of those wins on the board, sometimes we lose sleep mulling over ideas, possibilities and whether something will be well received.

Though we regularly receive emails and notes of appreciation for the work we’re doing, we still have moments of self-doubt.  Auntie Michelle Obama spoke about this in a recent article where even she admitted struggling with her own self-doubt stating “it never goes away, that you’re actually listening to me“.

Mrs. r&R spoke about this in one our most popular posts stating—”There’s no escaping it, no one is exempt. You have to keep chipping away at your harmful Belief Systems (BS), otherwise having money will just amplify them.”

So in 2019 we’re committed to changing that.

Next year, we’ve committed to stand and sit up a little straighter, be less hesitant to invest in ourselves and radiate with authority.  Mrs. r&R has done a better job at this having admitted her own struggles with impostor syndrome.  Mr. r&R, on the other hand, still has some room to grow in this area.  Stepping out of the corporate arena and squarely into full-time entrepreneurship is a difficult task but is one we believe is perfect for us and our family.

As we reflect on many of the exchanges we’ve had with many of our friends and readers, we can tell that many of you struggle with your own versions of this.  So our wish for you is to believe in yourself as well.

Believe that you are as dope and capable as you thought you were, despite not getting what you thought you deserved at the time you expected it.  Believe that original idea you had is just as big and far-reaching as it was the very moment it popped into your mind.  Believe that if you don’t take control of your financial future, someone else will.  Believe that you are not alone in your struggles despite what your peer group looks like on social media.  And believe that you can be rich regardless of your past, what you have today or how clueless you may feel about money.

We know many of you feel like getting to where you want to be is damn near impossible, so for 2019 we hope you can have years like we’ve had in the past.  If you’re just starting out, then we hope your 2019 is affirming.  If you’ve started but got lost along the way, then we wish you clarity.  If you’re well on your way and can see a light at the end of the tunnel, well…we wish you velocity and we hope to meet you at the finish line.  But wherever your starting point is, it starts with you believing in yourself.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Love,

Mr., Mrs. and Baby r&R