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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.

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

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."}

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My Pages

BUSY

January 23rd, 2009 at 10:03 pm

I am still alive.

It is just busy.

I was trying to time our weekend away, Bay Area dentist visit, and our weekend off from work (for carpet cleaning) all at the same time. Instead they ended up 3 different weekends. I should have been more insistent about pulling BM out of school early this Friday. This is crazy. We're s'posed to be working all these hours and I get 3 weekends off instead.

So I worked really hard to justify it this week, and well, I guess it has paid off. I finished all my W-2s (8 days ahead of schedule thank you) and made a pretty good dent in the 1099s. I could have gone to the dentist next Friday and drove back Saturday a.m. to work, but I think I won't have to. I may work Sunday instead as a compromise. But glad to be mostly done with the deadline stuff.

Plenty more deadlines on the horizon thought! 2/15, 3/15, and of course 4/15!

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

The weather looks sucky (wet and gloomy) for our weekend getaway, but I guess we will survive. It will still be nice to get away.

Dh called to ask if they had a DVD player. Score. He had downloaded season 2 of Big Love. Not that we have HBO he suggested if it was too rainy we could watch some of that and he would record season 3 on the DVR.

It feels like it's been years since we watched that. I'm like, "They are only on Season 3?" Not as behind as I thought.

I LOVED Six Feet Under & Curb Your Enthusiasm but I am not like dh. He has to see everything the second it airs. Or he will just die. I have patience. So I have just been watching them all on DVD as they come out, etc. So if I get hooked on some new shows, I won't sweat it. Dh is another story though. Wink

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Not much else to report. I have struggled with putting in the hours my boss really wants me to work the last few years. Since 2002. He seems okay with it, but he also rewards well financially for lots of overtime. So, I don't know what it is. Getting more sleep, hormones settling down, all of the above, but I feel like I can take on the world. I am going to work hard on extra hours this tax season. The hours I've pulled this week I have not been able to do since pregnancy and kids. They are just so exhausting. In another life I worked non-stop. Not that I wanted to work like that forever. But it's been frustrating to go from that to this. BUT things are looking up.

Even with the fam I don't mind kicking it up a notch for tax season. It's only a few months of the year. Makes the rest of the year feel like easy street really.

Anyway, my main online time is in the a.m. before work, so I will have to work on a new schedule. This week I mostly skipped it (blogging at all). Plus with it so busy I just haven't had much to say!

Posted in Just Thinking | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “BUSY”

homebody Says:
January 24th, 2009 at 01:38 am 1232761126
1232761126

We planned last Sunday dinner around the Season 3 premiere of Big Love! However, we don't have Showtime so we have to wait for Dexter Season 3 to come out on DVD to rent!

Oh and I lied, my sister paid $900.00 each for her and BIL's tickets to China, Korean airlines.
Koppur Says:
January 24th, 2009 at 04:16 pm 1232813795
1232813795

I love Dexter but I watch it when the DVDs come out on Netflix. I don't mind, except when I see clips from it on TV entertainment news shows.
boomeyers Says:
January 24th, 2009 at 07:22 pm 1232824977
1232824977

Happy tax season!

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

BUSY

3 Responses to “BUSY”

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