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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

Extra Money

November 2nd, 2007 at 07:26 pm

I am not sure about November/December as a whole but October was tight. I don't expect it to be much better.

But luckily today we had good money news.

Dh got a call about a focus group for $75. I guess who knows if he qualifies, but they don't really seem to care anyway. So desparate for people we both did the same one (not sure they really wanted 2 people from the same household... yeesh).

Dh is all disgusted with them since he is a marketer himself. Oh he thought the last focus group was just horrid. He talks about getting hired over there and fixing them. Not only are they so desparate for participants that they bend all the rules, but their questions were pretty awful. Lots of leading questions, and all sorts of stuff. So since we both did the same one I got to hear dh rant and rave about all that was technically wrong with it. Probably more than I care to hear - LOL.

So yeah, I figure odds are they will have one for him soon enough. They call him all the time. Me, not so much.

I also sold $54 in jewelry so made an easy $27 this morning.

All good for the budget. Big Grin

I was horrible on the overtime with the fam gone since I worked all weekend and then took a good chunk of the week off. LOL. Defeat the purpose. But I had fun. November is a weird month. A little slow and lots and lots of days off. I have so many days off I think I will probably have to work some OT to keep ahead of the curve. I need to catch up on much and December will be terribly busy. But all through November I only come to the office 2-4 days each week. IT's just a weird month. Thanksgiving, Vegas, and lots of continuing education courses out of the office. Those are always easy days too. I am enjoying. If I did something as simple as 4 hours OT each week though then I could make another $400 or so. Something to consider. I don't think it would put me out much as I will barely be at work anyway.

I also think Thanksgiving will be rather simple this year. So phew. My mom and I were just saying last night it would be silly to cook a turkey for 6. Think we'll just go with ham or something. KEep it simple. MIL is all into turkey and fancy and on and on, but it's our house and if we others coming over this year (all the extended family is busy) then who cares. I am going for SIMPLE. Big Grin IF dh wants fancy then it is all his (I think he did most of it last year. But I don't mind helping more if it is simple!!!)

HEck, my family would be happy with pizza or something.

Posted in Just Thinking | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Extra Money”

Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
November 3rd, 2007 at 12:24 am 1194049479
1194049479

To me, turkey is simple. Just pop it in the oven till it's roasted and -voila- meals for millions! We like to cook turkey "off season," too. It's usually fairly frugal.
monkeymama Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 02:43 pm 1194273802
1194273802

That's true. Just figured since we don't have to feed millions it will be really too much. But the turkey would certainly be cheaper than a small ham! I just don't want to eat leftovers until New YEars - LOL.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Extra Money

2 Responses to “Extra Money”

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