About Me

Monkey Mama

Just a 30-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. Big Monkey (BM) is 5 & Little Monkey (LM) is 3.

We have been a one-income family for 6 years. This arrangement used to be "temporary." Our goal is to make this a long-term arrangement.

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. "Simple" and "inexpensive" is relative.

Likewise, we have never had much debt but our mortgage. My blog is a testament to how much simpler life is without debt; how we have that much more money to enjoy!

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We have done well financially and are taking a little break to raise kids and allow dh to follow his dreams. Trying to pinch pennies a little more so we can continue a simpler lifestyle and yet enjoy a few luxuries too.

My brand of frugality is that you can do just a few "simple" things to keep ahead, but keep in mind you only live once, so enjoy your money too!

Kids cost more than I could have ever imagined (in lost wages and expenses) so we are pinching pennies and trying to get back to saving more best we can with rising health insurance and such.

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Liquid Assets:

Short-term $ 990 (escrow/slush)
Mid-Term $ 3,000 (car/house fund)
Medical $ 835 (deductible fund)

Emergency - 3 months expenses

Long-Term:

2008 IRAs: $950
2008 PSP: $6250

Liabilities:

Mortgage $207,330
(-$330/month, no pre-payments for now)

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My Pages

The rich get richer...

August 29th, 2007 at 11:36 am

Well it is so true.

A good article which illustrates how if you get a little ahead of the game everything is cheaper/easier from there.

I guess I am enjoying this guy's articles too. I just get a bunch of relevant articles e-mailed to me every day from my CPA society but he had an interesting article a week or 2 ago. (I think I used to ignore these because I do not have a wsj subscription but I guess a lot of the time they are public artciles - so I should always check).

The Small Ways Wealth Begets Wealth
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118833722444811379.html

Posted in Just Thinking | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “The rich get richer...”

maismom Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 11:51 am

Good article. Thanks!
Broken Arrow Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 12:45 pm

I heard a faint rumor that the WSJ was going to remove their blasted subscription system. I guess they have. Thank goodness for that too.

As for the rich getting richer. Oh yeah. What's more disturbing to me is the apparent thinning out of the middle class, while the disparity between the rich and the poor widens ever more. At least the "smart rich people" (a la Gates and Buffet) recognize the severity of this issue.
Ima saver Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

I enjoyed the article. A lot of it made sense to me since I have never payed PMI, atm fees, interest on charge accounts and I get lower expenses at Vanguard because of the length of time I have been with them.
disneysteve Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 03:52 pm

All makes sense to me too. Actually, just last week I got a packet from Vanguard telling me about their Voyager services for account holders with over 100K. That includes reduced account fees, lower brokerage commissions, etc. But that all makes sense because it costs them more to maintain small accounts. They earn more from big accounts and they pass the savings on to the investor.
JCARD Says:
August 30th, 2007 at 08:42 am

I think broken arrow missed the point of the article. I would be surprised if he even read it.

Very good, glad I stumbled upon your blog.
Broken Arrow Says:
August 30th, 2007 at 09:56 am

Why do people have to naturally assume that if you have a similar remark that may or may not be directly related to the original topic or article, surely that must mean:

1. Someone has missed the point.
2. They didn't read the article.

I read it, before I made my first comment. No need to call me out. I'm rather offended, and this all is the time and energy I'm going to waste on this.

Monkey Mama's Monkey Money Blog

Just Blabbing about Finances! Excuse my wordiness...

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The rich get richer...

6 Responses to “The rich get richer...”

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