We Spent $75,000+ This Year... 🫢

Where did 2025 go?! 

The last month of the year is officially here, and we’re really excited to finish the year strong. There’s still 31 days left, and we plan on taking advantage of them before the new year hits! 

Today, we have a really fun issue of Money Convos to share with you, so let’s get right into it. 

Here’s what’s up in this copy 🤑🗞 

• Who spent and invested more this year? 👀

• Comparison is the thief of joy success 

• And the award goes to… 🏆

• Set yourself up for success in 2026 ✔️

Money Convo Of The Month

How Much We Made, Spent and Invested in 2025

Now that it’s officially the last month of the year, it’s time for us to look back on everything that happened with our money throughout 2025! 

We track our income, spending, saving and investing all year long using our budget tracker. We input everything on a monthly basis, and then that information automatically feeds into the Annual Budget tab - so, when it comes time to do our annual review, we can just go to our Annual Budget tab to see the results…

…luckily for you, we’ve already done that, and we have all of the results ready to share! 

In terms of how much money we made in 2025, we kept our salary consistent throughout the year. Our salary is $70,000/year each pre-tax, which ends up being $53,518.92/year each post-tax, or $4,459.91/month each. We also paid ourselves an end-of-year bonus of $15,000 each from 2024 in January of this year. We plan on paying out our 2025 EOY bonus in the new year, too, to keep it consistent! 

I (Steph!) ended up investing 100% of that bonus, and Dennis invested $8,000 and saved $7,000 (he needed to top up his emergency fund). On top of that, we both kept up with our monthly investing goal of $2,000/month each from February to December, and Dennis added an additional $1,200 on top of that. So, to sum that up, Steph invested $37,000 and Dennis invested $31,200. That money went towards maxing out our Tax Free Savings Accounts and First Home Savings Accounts (and I maxed out my Registered Retirement Savings Plan, too!).  

Now, let’s talk spending (spoiler alert: we spent more money than we did last year!). We both have our own individual budgets, so let’s start by breaking down each of our spending totals. Keep in mind that it’s only December 1st, so we haven’t included all of our December expenses - but, we did project as many expenses as possible (aka our fixed expenses!). 

I spent a total of $36,172.88 this year, which is an average of $3,048.07 (keep in mind that some expense categories are divided by 11 since December hasn’t happened yet!). For context, in 2024 I spent ~$32,000, and my monthly average was closer to ~$2,600/month… so, I definitely spent more money this year. I’ll share why (aka what three expense categories I spent more money in this year) in a YouTube video later this month, so stay tuned! 

Dennis spent a total of $39,227.58 this year, which is an average of $3,302.62 (again, keep in mind that some expense categories are divided by 11 since December hasn’t happened yet!). In his case, he actually spent less money than he did in 2024 for his regular monthly spending… but then he proposed to me this year! That cost him a total of $7,753.20, which of course had a big impact on his budget this year. We’ll talk more about how his spending compares to last year in that same YouTube video that’s coming soon. 

And that’s it! That’s how much money we made, spent, saved and invested in 2025. Like I mentioned, we’ll share even more details on how we did with our money this year on our YouTube channel in December, so make sure you check out our channel (and take some time to review your budget’s Annual Budget tab, too!).

Comparison Is The Thief Of… Success? 🤧

The end of the year brings a lot of different feelings - hopefully, there’s moments of happiness, peace, relaxation and celebration…

…but, sometimes, feelings of comparison can sneak in there, too. 

And it makes sense, if you think about all of the highlights that you’re seeing from everyone else, both online and IRL. When people reflect on their money wins (*cough* like we just did *cough*), share their biggest accomplishments for the year, or even just seem to be having a nicer time than you are with their family and friends, it can make you feel like your money wins, personal accomplishments and family connections just aren’t good enough. 

The thing is, you’re only seeing everyone else's highlights - and you’ve probably convinced yourself that everyone else has all of those highlights at the same time. But, that’s not the full picture - you have no idea what someone else’s financial situation is like, or what’s going on behind the scenes. 

When you let yourself play the comparison game for too long, it won’t just steal your joy… it’ll steal your success (and specifically your future success, by stopping you from setting yourself up for an even better new year). 

We bring this up because it’s important to remember that you’re doing great right now, exactly where you are. If you want to do even better, that’s amazing - take inspiration from other’s, but focus on you! 

If you want a little extra motivation, check out this video.

The 2nd Annual Money Awards 🏆

It’s time for our 2nd annual Money Awards, where we share our favourite - and most interesting - money moments from the past 12 months! *round of applause* 👏🏿👏🏻

So, here are our ‘Money Awards’ for 2025 - 

If you can’t tell, we love reflecting on our year, and taking the time to acknowledge the facts (aka how much we made, spent, saved and invested) and the wins (aka our Money Awards)! We’d love for you to take some time to think about your biggest money lesson, and biggest money win, at some point this month, too!

End-Of-Year Money Checklist ✔️

FYI - December = the last month of the year, and that means it’s time for you to think about our End-Of-Year Money Checklist. 

Save this checklist for later this month when you have a second to relax, reflect and get yourself set up for success for the new year ahead! 

• Review how much money you made, spent, saved and invested - Take some time to look at these numbers. If you’ve been using a budget template, then this is an easy task, but if not, you can review your bank statements, credit card statements, and investing app(s) to gather all of the info. 

• Review your budget tracker categories - Are your current budget categories and goals still relevant for next year? Are there any that you can adjust? Is there anything you want to do differently when it comes to your spending next year? 

• Set up your new budget tracker for the new year - Get your new, fresh, empty tracker ready to go so you can get right to it in 2026 (if you’ve signed up for our budget template in the past, we’ll directly send you a new, updated version later this month!) 

• Review your investment account contribution limit(s) - Make sure you review your tax-advantaged and/or retirement accounts specifically, and see if you have more room - or more money - to add to your accounts before the end of the year. 

• Review your subscriptions and fixed expenses - Go through all of your current subscriptions and automatic bills, and see if there’s any you don’t use and can cancel. Also, remember to negotiate lower rates for your fixed expenses! Every year we call our internet provider and negotiate a new rate, and you can do the same thing for your internet bill, phone bill, or any recurring bill that may automatically increase in price. 

• Create your 2026 money goals - A new year means new money goals! Write down your top three money goals (or more!) for the new year, and make an action plan that will help you actually hit those goals over the next 12 months to come.