It’s hard to talk about finances publicly, but it’s an important part of an annual review. That said, as I wrote this post, I realized I wasn’t comfortable talking about this publicly after all. But two parts I am comfortable with: investments and giving.
Investments: We invested 8.1% more than 2023, excluding our maxed-out 403(b) contributions. I felt good about this number, because we also bought a car, which substantially ate into our ability to invest on our planned schedule.
Giving: We gave 16.7% more to charity than 2023, which now represents 5.1% of our gross income (up from 4.7% last year). (What do I think about that? On one hand, 5.1% is less than 10%, which makes me feel like we ought to do more; on the other, the tithe is an Old Testament concept, and Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that we should give what we feel called to give. The absolute number of dollars is significant, and we can see it’s not only growing but growing as a percentage of our income, so I’m comfortable with it for now.)
