Hello All of You Great People and Welcome to a new December 2020 Newsletter. Wherever you are on your financial journey I’m glad you are here with me- Steven Donovan aka Even Steven Money!

What’s been going on this month

I would describe the month of December as mostly relaxing. With winter upon us in Florida I was outside more enjoying the weather. I also spent extra time with my wife who took vacation during the holidays. Unfortunately my in-laws all got Covid-19 so our holiday season was just the three of us(wife and Siberian Husky).

We continued a couple of traditions like cooking lasagna but missed making nacatamales with the family. In past years my wife and I kept our gifts very small and few, but this year we stepped it up a little and enjoyed the gift of giving.

✍Writing On the Blog✍

​Money Saving Tips for 2021​

Do you wish you had more money saved for 2021? Everyone wants to save, earn, and give a little more in the new year. So I walk through some tips to get you started towards your financial goals of saving more money.

​The Really Quite Good Guide to Become a Millionaire​

Growing up I thought becoming a millionaire involved picking the right stocks and making loads and loads of money in my profession. Turns out that while those can certainly help the situation there is a better path, one that is repeatable to get you there.

🗓What’s coming next month🗓

My main goal is to work with my coaching clients in January as this is a big month for many in terms of creating financial goals and putting together a plan to achieve them.

I’ll be helping to figure out my client’s goals and putting an action plan to reach those goals in the year ahead. Having a plan to reach your financial goals and someone to hold you accountable along the way is important in any goal you may have.

It's also really fun for me as the same exercise my wife and I do each year is the same exercise I use with my clients as well.

Coaching Feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

All was quiet with my coaching clients as December is usually when future clients book appointments to get started on the right foot in the new year.

🧛What I Sucked at This Month🧛

• Writing

Another month of not being motivated to write. I will say I have been working more on my project “Reach Your Financial Goals” with spreadsheets, design, etc. so I hope that makes up for some of the lack of writing and content this month.

Share with me your goals and reply to this email. I would love 😍 to hear them!

What's New

🆓Coaching Client Guidance

I’m not a big fan of new year’s resolutions as most end up quitting very early on in the process. I tend to take most of the month of January and really reflect on what happened last year, think about what I want to improve on in the year ahead, and have a plan to make it happen.

I encourage you to take a look at your finances from last year and see how you did. Take a look at your income, spending, saving, and investing for the year and see if you are satisfied with you currently stand.

Did you make financial goals last year? Did you reach your goals? What went well? What needs improvement?

Take the first couple weeks of January and see where you are financially. Talk about or write down some of your financial goals that you want to accomplish in 2021. Most financial goals are not reached in a month, so don’t worry about reaching yours today either.

It’s also a great idea to test out what you are thinking about for your goals in the year ahead. For example lots of people over commit and have a goal of going to the gym 5 days a week or saving $1000 per month. Do you know how hard it is to go to the gym 5 days a week or find $1000 in your budget, especially if you haven’t been going or tracking your expenses and budgeting?

That’s right it’s darn near impossible. What about instead you try 2 or 3 days at the gym and see how it feels or save $500 this month. This way when February rolls around and you are planning your goals for the year you already have a feel of what you will need to do.

📈Stock Market📈

The stock market rose again in December 2020 as vaccines and stimulus checks seem to catapulte the market and expect at a better year ahead.

So while small businesses were closed and thousands of people lost their jobs, the stock market did just fine. In fact it did quite well actually.

I’m excited to turn the page on 2020 and see what 2021 has to offer. I certainly hope and pray the vaccine has an impact on the everyday lives of us all.

What's coming in 2021

I’ll be interested to see how the markets react after we inaugurate a new president. It will be even more interesting to see the first 100 days of Joe Biden’s presidency and what he accomplishes.

Biden could very well affect the stock market especially as it relates to taxes, jobs, student loans, technology companies, etc.

Every article I read seems to be painting this rosy picture of 2021 as if we are reliving the roaring 20’s. Plus the number of people that I see and listen to talking about day trading and individual stock investments is scaring me.

That in itself makes me cautious towards all of this certainty about the stock market rising to greater heights in 2021. What do I know? I'm just some guy on the internet.

I let my action do the talking when it comes to investing. I invest every single month in low fee broadly based index funds. If the stock market goes up, I invest. Stock market goes down, I invest.

While I do invest in individual stocks it’s less than 10% of my overall investment portfolio. If my investment portfolio were a house, the individual stocks I own would be the size of my closet.

Personal Side of Life & What I’ve Been Listening, Reading, & Watching

I have adjusted my listening/reading in the morning and now listen to Robinhood Snacks daily and then whatever book I’m reading at the time.

🎧Here’s what I listened to:

• ​​Robinhood Snacks Daily-If you like learning about individual stocks, market trends, and enjoy the business side of it all. It’s absolutely for you.
• ​The Van Life Series-Recently I have been itching for adventure and travel. I have looked at van life, airstream, overlanding, etc.to see what people are doing and how they are living their lives today.
• ​Radical Personal Finance-I’m always interested in new perspectives and while I don't regularly listen to the show I do think he does a great job of providing insight and making you think more about your life and financial situation. He had a few episodes that were especially helpful during my research on creating financial goals.
• ​Bigger Pockets Money-I’m a fan of Scott and Mindy and whenever an episode catches my eye I’m sure to give it a listen. Especially when it involves financial independence.
• ​Millionaires Unveiled-This was my first listen and it was an interesting listen. This is especially good to see how others have achieved different net worth's. I’ll probably check out another episode in the future.

​​📙Book listening this month:

• ​The Year of Living Danishly ​
• ​The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
• ​Invested (In progress)
• ​Grit (Read but not finished)
• ​The Nordic Theory of Everything (Read but not finished)

I have shown a lot of recent interest in how other countries, especially countries different from the US live their lives. There is a large difference in healthcare, taxes, etc. and overall just way of life.

I think the US is the best country to live in. However I also think we could do so many things better. Healthcare is the most concerning. So it’s interesting to read because I’ve never had another prospective. Reading The Year of Living Danishly and basically skim reading The Nordic Theory of Everything gave me that prospective.

📺What I’m watching this month:

• HBO Max & Sports

Recently we subscribed to HBO Max (6 months only and at a discount). This was a Christmas present to my wife who repeatedly asked for HBO the last few months and I was happy to oblige.

We were able to watch Wonder Woman 1984, which I really need to watch again as I’m an old man and fell asleep halfway through. Plus a number of really intriguing shows. Anything from Dark Materials to documentaries as we usually choose to relax at home during the weeknights.

My Philadelphia Eagles almost made the playoffs but appear to have a lot of questions this offseason. While my home team Green Bay Packers are currently the best in all of the land so Sunday has been filled a little more with sports since they have been on.

The Milwaukee Bucks started their season and seem to be getting a good amount of national coverage. I was able to watch 2 games already through the early season. I’m excited to continue watching in the new year and years to come as Giannis Antetokounmpo signed to play for a rather large multi year contract.

🥕Looking Ahead🥕

I look forward to working with coaching clients in the new year, especially when everyone is starting fresh and has that new excitement for the new year.

It’s like the start of the season and no matter how bad your team was last year, you are currently 0-0.

I’m planning to make a big push for the first part of the year in regards to everything with my financial coaching business. Should be fun.

It’s important to remember that working to get a little better each day is the answer.

🏋Health and Fitness🏋​

My garage gym time continues but I’m quickly approaching going back to the gym in the weeks ahead. I purposely put going to anything live and in person on hold until after the holiday season as a precaution, especially as Covid-19 numbers are spiking.

I’m excited to start off January as it’s a great time to reflect on last year and look ahead to my goals for the next year. I might even do a fitness challenge to get started towards my health and fitness goals.

Until next month and the end of the new year my friends!

Insert Financial Professional Photo;)