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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

Filed!

February 9th, 2008 at 09:20 pm

I already did my tax return, but was waiitng for all the 1099s to pour in - to double check everything.

Anyway, I always do my tax return like 1/31 (in this case I think I started in 12/31/2007 because I had all my data in Quicken). But I usually figure the return, and rush to file in case of refund. Wait to April in case of payment.

E-file changes all that. You can file early but don't have to send in your check until April 15th. Which is sweet since no matter what I always get a state refund. I only withhold $50/paycheck now. Still refund! But I am not going to lower my withholding any further...

So I saw that these rebates will be issued in order 2007 tax returns were filed. Figured I'd better get on the ball. (Got all my 1099s as of last week).

I'll get a $62 state refund, to be exact. But $1182 due to the Feds, to be exact.

I'll get the refund in a couple of weeks.

I'll mail my IRS check April 15th. Big Grin

& now I have secured my place in line, for rebate. Yay! We'll see if this is true...

Which reminds me, I know they are saying May to start mailing out rebates. But wow, I really wouldn't hold my breath. We'll see but the IRS is SWAMPED!!!!!!! The government sure has put a lot on them the last couple of months, and they were already swamped, as is. Which makes MY life difficult. Blech. I mean it's impossible to resolve anything with them these days without "We'll get back to you in 6 weeks about your simple inquiry - we have a backlog." Anyway, I think Congress and government has been pushing for April rebates. Maybe it was the IRS who said, "are you kidding??? May at the earliest!" So maybe May it is. But we'll see.

Posted in Just Thinking | 1 Comments »

1 Responses to “Filed!”

scfr Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 02:24 pm 1202653450
1202653450

Congratulations on getting it done, and way to go timing everything just so! I already know we'll owe ... a good thing since we're self-employed ... so I was going to put off doing our return, but now I'm rethinking.

I too feel a bit sorry for the IRS this year (imagine that) what with the last-minute AMT patch and the refunds coming hot on the heels of getting returns processed.

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Filed!

1 Responses to “Filed!”

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