<< Back to all Blogs

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.

-------------------------------

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.

-------------------------------

**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.

-------------------------------

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.

-------------------------

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."}

-------------------------------

My Pages

Citi Beat us to the Punch!

January 7th, 2009 at 03:56 pm

Oooh, it happened to us to. I pulled out the Citi BT card of my hubbies and handed it to him yesterday. Told him it would take a minute to close. Don't think he got around to it. (He spent the day having it out with Chase actually. Yeah, I think it's pretty official we are going to leave. They couldn't possibly fax an affidavit over. They have to mail it over. S'posedly this is their 4th attempt. Yeah, sure! Not holding my breath).

Anyway, got the mail and a note from Citi that they lowered the credit line on that card from something like $11k to $2k.

Dh does have a Citi card that he does use as a backup card, so I told him he may want to make a purchase on it if he wants to keep it. Though I don't think we really care if they lower the limit.

--------------------------------------

Yesterday I made dental appointments, an appointment with our insurance agent, and called around for a handyman. Haven't got anywhere on the last one, but the rain has let up and we need our gutters looked at. A couple of spots are leaking.

I was REALLY annoyed because we were going to San Francisco in a couple of weekends and dh has yet to make the reservation. He is just annoying me to no end. It was for him, so I told him. "FINE" the other day. If he doesn't want a weekend away. I don't want to hear any whining how we never get away.

Anyway, may work out for the best. We had dental appointments in Bay Area that weekend, but he thought I meant the weekend before. When I corrected him he was pissed off because BM has school. I think my plan was to change the appointment once I got the school calendar, but I never did. The appointments are VERY hard to come by. So I rolled my eyes and told him leaving school a couple of hours early one day was not the end of the world. But I called yesterday to make sure. I was right, I knew the date, but we were able to switch it to a Friday where kids had no school. Phew. So, appointments are still in January, and now I am rather relieved dh did not book the time share yet. We will go to the dentist in San Jose, drop off the kids, and drive up to San Francisco for the weekend. If dh ever books it anyway...

Anyway, yes, I am feeling accomplished.

Posted in Just Thinking | 1 Comments »

1 Responses to “Citi Beat us to the Punch!”

frugaltexan75 Says:
January 8th, 2009 at 05:37 am 1231393073
1231393073

How annoying of Citi to drop your limit like that.

Hope the dentist appointments go well - no surprises.

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)

Name:	*
Email:	Will not be published.
	Subscribe: Notify me of additional comments to this entry.
URL:
Verification:	* Please spell out the number 4. [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]

Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Citi Beat us to the Punch!

1 Responses to “Citi Beat us to the Punch!”

Leave a Reply