It is that time of year again—our annual financial review for the AVI family. In many ways, 2025 was a year of intentional spending. We took two out-of-state family trips (a road trip to 5 national parks and a beach vacation in LA) and one international journey (visiting family in India), completed significant home renovations, and I made a long-contemplated vanity purchase: Rolex Datejust watches for both my spouse and myself. My son and I also fulfilled a personal goal by attending the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha—a pilgrimage for any serious value investor.

Despite this elevated spending, our financial position strengthened considerably. After adjusting our FI target for inflation, we moved remarkably close to our FIRE goals as measured by Adjusted Accessible Net Worth (AANW). This demonstrates that thoughtful spending and financial progress need not be mutually exclusive when managed with discipline.

Have a look at the table below,

For the third consecutive year, Net Worth grew at a robust double-digit rate—17.24% in 2025. More significantly, Accessible Net Worth increased 24%, while Adjusted Accessible Net Worth (AANW)—the metric I prioritize most during our pre-retirement years—grew 23% now within striking distance of our inflation-adjusted FI target.

The year’s most dramatic improvement came in our Liquid Assets/Debt Ratio, which surged 56% from 8.72X to 13.62X. This improvement reflects both asset accumulation and strategic debt management. Our largest remaining liability is the mortgage, a balance I have deliberated over for years. At 13.62X, I could eliminate it entirely with minimal impact on this ratio. However, I am preserving liquidity to diversify into additional real estate, so the mortgage will be reduced gradually over time. Our cash position also strengthened, now covering 0.91 times our two-year living expenses—up from 0.82X last year. This provides comfortable operational flexibility while maintaining our growth trajectory.

As I noted above, it was a year of splurge!  Given our strong track record managing credit card debt, I decided to use Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) financing for some renovation purchases. This resulted in higher credit balances than usual for the AVI family—a deliberate shift from our typical pattern. The experiment seems to be working well. BNPL, when used strategically for planned expenses, provides useful cash flow flexibility without straining our monthly budget. The key  for us has been to use BNPL for known large purchases rather than impulse spending. This approach let us complete renovations on our timeline while keeping liquid funds available for use as we choose fit.

Lets dig further into our NW progress in 2025 through the following chart:

Net worth growth has been consistent over the past three years. Since 2022, real estate in our neighborhood has largely stagnated, with property values barely keeping pace with inflation. As a result, our home equity gains have come primarily from mortgage principal reduction rather than appreciation.

Following the market turbulence in April after Trump’s Liberation Day tariff announcements, markets recovered substantially—and our investment portfolios recovered with them. For the third consecutive year, both our taxable and retirement accounts posted strong gains exceeding 20%, with retirement accounts showing superior absolute growth due to ongoing 401(k) contributions and deposits into my spouse’s SEP-IRA.

Our cash position spiked in March when I received my annual bonus, then normalized as those funds were deployed into investments. The cash buffer has remained steady since then, adequate for emergency reserves. Toward year-end, however, I have increased cash holdings to cover substantial credit card bills coming due in January from December purchases—primarily the Rolex watches and international travel.

Going onto goals for the year, myy top two priorities for the year fell short of expectations:

• Develop an Exercise Routine — Grade: D
  I set ambitious targets: 15-20 minutes of daily stretching, strength training 4+ days per week, and cardio/swimming 4+ days weekly. Stretching achieved about 50% consistency. Strength training was a significant miss. Swimming showed promise toward mid-year but tapered off by December. Clear underperformance.
• Grow Investment Business — Grade: F
  Complete failure. I hired assistance for business development, but the engagement did not yield results. The second half of 2025 brought heavy demands from my full-time role, leaving little bandwidth for growth initiatives.
• Be More Assertive About Personal Desires — Grade: B+
  Solid progress. When I wanted a luxury watch, I made it happen rather than deferring indefinitely. This represented a meaningful shift in prioritizing personal goals.
• Spend Quality Time with Family — Grade: A-
  Strong success. We took three family trips—the most in recent memory. I have been more present and made conscious efforts to prioritize family over work and other commitments.
• Read Six Books — Grade: C
  Mixed results. I did not finish any books from last year’s list, though I completed several new ones including Nita Prose’s novels and a travelogue about the Berkshire Hathaway meeting. Below target.
• Achieve AANW of  100% on inflation adjusted FI terms — Grade: A
  Came within striking distance of this target for the second consecutive year, demonstrating consistent progress on our most critical financial metric.

For 2026, my top priority is health and fitness. Given last year’s shortfall, I am carrying forward my exercise commitment with added accountability measures:

• Develop a Consistent Exercise Routine — Highest Priority
  Establish sustainable habits through daily execution: 15-20 minutes of stretching daily, strength training 4+ days weekly, and cardio/swimming 4+ days weekly. To maintain accountability, I plan to track daily compliance in a detailed log throughout the year.
• Maintain a Daily Journal
  I was disciplined about journaling in my 30s but lost this practice during COVID. Reestablishing this habit serves dual purposes: tracking fitness progress and maintaining broader life reflection. Daily entries will document exercise completion, creating built-in accountability for my primary goal.
• Read Six Books
  Clear the backlog of partially-read books while adding new titles. This remains a priority for for my intellectual growth and personal development.

Given recent performance on annual goals,  I am  intentionally limiting 2026 to three focused objectives. This concentrated approach should yield measurably better results—I am targeting B+ or higher on all three by year-end.

And there you have it. The year has been quite pleasurable in many ways– especially coming out of turmoil of 2024! Hoping for continuing this vibe into 2026 with renewed vigor to make a real dent into my health/fitness goals for the year!