Accumulating assets

One of the struggles this past year with big life changes like having a kid and also moving to New York has been financially related. I should say that we are by no means “struggling” financially. Sophia and I are very fortunate to live good lives out here in New York.

With that said, the cost of living bump of moving to NY, even from SF, and the increased cost of living of having a child has me thinking about money more than I have the previous 5 years before that.

Firstly, moving to New York City even from San Francisco in itself would mean a cost of living bump. Simply put, housing is more expensive here and you get less bang for your buck. While the day to day may be comparable, it is definitely more expensive to live here. On top of that, having a kid is just more expensive. You need an extra bedroom which adds to the cost of living. And you also add childcare on top of other expenses to provide for a human.

Again, I am not complaining. I live a great life and Sophia and I are fortunate to be very happy with where we are at. At this point of my life at 35 with one kid though, accumulating assets has been top of mind and unfortunately, that has really stalled out in the last 6 months since moving to New York.

I’ve been telling myself to give myself a bit of a break as this increased spending would happen to anyone. At the same time, I want to make sure that we get back to a world of accumulating more assets in 2026.

A half-year break from saving due to life changes is acceptable, but it’s time to start reeling things back and putting some more cash and investments on the balance sheet.