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About Me:

Monkey Mama

Just a 46-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH).

We were a one-income family for 13 years. In late 2015 my spouse returned to work (minimum wage/part-time/seasonal). Something recent on his resume just buys us more options for the long run. The main benefit of this job is that he just works while the kids are in school. As always, we are saving 100% of his income.

{2023 Update: I expect that MH will retire from this job when kids are done with college and/or home is paid off. I think he likes the idea of finding more interesting or full-time work, with kids both adults now. But practically, might just stick out the *good* and very flexible job as long as possible. The very part-time job is allowing him to pursue his film passions. We are only about 5-ish years away from financial independence. Would be very different if we "needed" the money or he thought he might have decades of working years ahead of him.}

We saved a lot while we were very young and also moved to a lower cost-of-living area, to make life much simpler. We still live in California though (in one of the most expensive regions of the U.S.). *Simple* and *inexpensive* is relative.

Likewise, we have never had debt aside from our mortgage.** My blog is a testament to how much simpler life is without debt; how we have that much more money to both save and enjoy!

**Caveat: I have no problem whatsoever with credit cards paid off monthly, or low-risk credit arbitrage (for example, 0%-interest debt while earning 5% on FDIC-insured cash). These are the kinds of debt we have had. Just not interested in high-interest debt, using debt to buy beyond means, and not interested in the hassle that comes with loans and payments. With age and means, the latter (hassle) is our biggest debt avoidance motivation.

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2024 Goals

[ ]Small monthly Charitable Contribution
...($35 @ 1/31/24)
...Trying to be more mindful about how the little amounts add up and are helpful.
...This is not an all inclusive list of charitable giving but it is a new habit I want to add in addition to other donations of time, goods and money

[ ]Pay cash for college
...This is so much a given, to me. But I realize not everyone can read my mind, and so will memorialize in my goal list.
...#1 We don't do Debt
...#2 The student loan system is a scammy and corrupt mess.
...Seriously, wouldn't touch these student loan servicers with a ten foot pole.
MM YEAR 1 ✔
MM YEAR 2 ✔
MM YEAR 3 ✔
MM YEAR 4

DL YEAR 1 ✔
DL YEAR 2

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...($4,529 @ 3/31/24)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$7,500 to investments
...($1,750 @ 4/30/24)
...$350/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$2,025 to mortgage
...($0 @ 4/30/24)
...Topping off with snowballs and/or excess cash
...Keeps us on track with $10K principal paydown per year

[/]9% of household income to work retirement plans
...(9% @ 3/31/24)
...This is the minimum for the match; I'd otherwise rather fund IRAs.
...Note: Total retirement savings rate is 20% (with IRAs)

Goal savings rate = 25% of gross salary, plus funding IRAs from other sources.

[ ]$14,000 to IRAs 2024 (MAX)
...($0 @ 4/30/24)
...Will fund with MH's income
...Will not fund until the year is over. This is for tax and planning reasons. I won't know what mix of Traditional/ROTH IRA we literally can contribute until we do our 2024 taxes. In addition to that, can make a more informed decision based on our financial and tax situation for the entire year.

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**Long-Term Goals**

[X]$500,000 in retirement accounts by age 45.

Current big picture goal:

[ ]$1 Mil in retirement accounts by age 52.

Stretch Goal: Achieve by age 50

Have decided to pretty much stay the course. Keep saving 20%+ to retirement. This means taking 401K match & maxing out IRAs.

NOTE: WE HAVE NEVER CONTRIBUTED LESS THAN 10% TO RETIREMENT. NO EXCEPTIONS.

If we can't achieve at least 10%, then something else has to give. I share because it's infinitely easier to save for retirement if you start early. Let the investments do the hard work for you.

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Debt: $85,000 mortgage
{Home Purchase Price $290,000}

Ongoing goal is to *never borrow money again.*

Took on a $230k mortgage in 2001 and have not added to that.

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Net Worth: Increase net worth by $600,000 in the next 10 years. This is my "financial independence" goal.

2017: +$ 70,000 (partial year)
2018: +$ 51,000
2019: +$105,000
2020: +$104,000
2021: +$215,000
2022: <$ 65,000>
2022: +$ 85,000
TOTAL: +$565,000

This is in line with prior goal, saving 100% of our expenses every year.

{Our expenses are far more consistent than our income. Also, helps to prevent "living up to income."}

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My Pages

Net Worth

November 13th, 2006 at 07:30 pm

www.networthiq.com

Time for my monthly update I guess. I posted the link before without much interest but I try again. It can make you feel real good, depress you, motivate you, I don't know.

Sure Cali is super expensive, but once you get in, these days anyway, watch your net worth skyrocket. IT is certainly a trade off - housing costs more, but rewards you more as well. Though buying at the peak can REALLY hurt you I guess. IT is hard to say where real estate is. You know, when we bought our condo (1999)and then our house (2001) the sky was falling and we were crazy to buy - it was the PEAK! So here we are almost $300k equity later. So many friends still renting waiting for the peak to be over. Missed the boat I think. Though I certainly bow my head to luck - we certainly never foresaw this!

Well, my net worth is $363k!

Without house, hmmm, $78,000. Not bad. But you see where most of my net worth comes from.

Of course we easily could have really stretched ourselves for some house we could not afford and maybe even have a higher net worth. I am comfortable where we are at - very comfortable with our mortgage no matter how ugly it compares to other areas of the nation. Wink

Being comfortable is what is important. At the time we bought a house we felt we could afford on $40k/year comfrotably. I think we underestimated how expensive child rearing could be. But at $70k/year our mortgage is extremely comfortable regardless. Dh could bring in a few hundred bucks a month sure, would be great. But don't need the whole second-income thing to reach all of our goals. In this kind of market it is so easy to get in over your head so I am proud we thought it through and decided getting in over our head was unacceptable.

Actually my net worth was $464k in january. A lot more cash and the house was worth way more. But it is funny, my net worth besides house was $81k. Today it is $78. I feel so behind over that $3k because I have a nice new car now but a lot less cash and a small loan. I am really not that far behind. In fact I Will catch up soon enough. Car will depreciate but we can save and will pay off the loan soon enough. IT is not as dire as I thought. IT all comes down to we have a lot less cash and that makes me uncomfortable. But if not I wouldn't be cracking the whip so much on our finances - I think we will come out ahead soon enough.

Minus real estate I am average for 'All' and Education. Way above average for income and age. (That feels good!) Below average for occupation and state. Throw in the house and I Am doing 10 times better than average. But I don't really like to count it overall - here today, gone tomorrow. Real estate is finicky.

Posted in Saving, Just Thinking | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Net Worth”

Broken Arrow Says:
November 13th, 2006 at 07:33 pm 1163446417
1163446417

Wow. I jealous.

I updated mine a couple of weeks back. I went from -38k to -16k. Still in the negatives, but it's looking more and more doable as time goes by. Who knows, I might even be $0 someday!
laceshawl Says:
November 13th, 2006 at 07:33 pm 1163446434
1163446434

I joined up with networth in Sept. Happy to say my value increased last month. I'm doing well for my income size; not so well for my age group compared to others.
monkeymama Says:
November 13th, 2006 at 07:38 pm 1163446725
1163446725

BA - that is a $22k increase without some crazy real estate floating you. That's great! Imagine how much you will save once you pay off the debt!

We developed most of our net worth when dh was working and we saved his check. I find it a lot harder to accomplish on 1 income!
happyzookeeper Says:
November 13th, 2006 at 07:45 pm 1163447100
1163447100

Way to go! You are doing great!!!!!! I really need to do a net worth!
I followed your link and signed up~ thanks!
fern Says:
November 13th, 2006 at 09:16 pm 1163452583
1163452583

Thanks so much for the link to this fascinating website! I just calculated my net worth, under "Fern."

Wow, there really is a website for EVERYTHING. Very interesting.
Ima saver Says:
November 13th, 2006 at 09:37 pm 1163453823
1163453823

I wonder how we can get to each other's net worth site? I haven't figured that out yet??
Broken Arrow Says:
November 14th, 2006 at 02:11 pm 1163513514
1163513514

Thanks for the encouraging words, monkey mama.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Net Worth

7 Responses to “Net Worth”

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