Everyone’s got to start somewhere!

We didn’t start tracking our net worth monthly until 2016, but we did make a note of these numbers in order to document our starting point.

I’m so glad we did because it’s easy to feel like you’re not making progress until you zoom out a bit and see where you’ve been!

Here’s some context:

In 2015, we were 30 and 31 with one child, aged 12.

We were living in an area with an average cost of living relative to the rest of the US. We had lived there for 5 years.

Mid-2015:

• We realized that even though we had achieved the “American Dream”, it didn’t make us happy.
• Mr. Unsettled accepted corporate expat position with his current company.
• To prepare for our move, we sold our house, cars, and most of our stuff.
• We used the proceeds from the sale of our home to pay off the last of our debt, so we were 100% DEBT FREE.
• We stashed the rest of the profits into a regular cash savings account (see below).
• Finally, we moved out of the US on a 2-year contract, living rent- and car-free overseas.

Here’s how our financial picture looked at the end of 2015: