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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

A Quick Update...

March 12th, 2009 at 08:42 pm

**Work is a little crazy. I don't think it is a bad year in particular though. Doesn't make it any less crazy. Wink

**I splurged and took the kids to IHOP on a whim Monday night after tee ball practice. NO ONE was there. Our rare lunch/weekend trips out show little slowdown, but WOW. So much for a week night. Tried to leave a nice tip. (Dh was volunteering).

**BM had a more advanced karate class Tuesday night. Oh, he LOVED it. Oh boy. My plan was to dabble in tee ball, soccer, piano and continue karate this year. From there let him narrow down what he likes. I guess good thing sports are seasonal. HE LOVES everything. He's like me - "Jack of many trades; Master of None." Pretty much. I think odds are stacked against piano. Which is too bad. One of the few things I have mastered, and I want the kids to learn to read music, etc. Excellent foundation for the future. But yeah, I don't want to have an activity every night either. Kindergarten has been so intense that we put off the piano thing. Thinking summer. My crystal ball tells me sports all year round for BM, and LM will be the musical one. At least I got one budding musician.

**Preschool seems to be going well. Though LM did tell his teacher, and dh, that it was "boring" and "stupid." Oy vey. It is only recently he vocalizes missing his old friends and preschool. I am hoping it is just the transition. (& I am glad he is vocalizing it - though very slow in coming). When he is there, when we pick him up, and when we drop him off, he couldn't be happier. I am sure this is his way of saying, "I miss the old place!" I am not sure something so grand exists. But I think this one will come a close second. I HOPE.

**My monthly ROTH contribution went in on the 10th, on the day the stock market rallied. I thought, "it figures." Then I looked at my buying history. Mostly been buying around $20/share. This year - around $11. Tuesday? $9/share. I am a firm believer in dollar cost averaging. I guess buying Tuesday wasn't so bad after all. Plus I am contributing 3.5 times as much as I did in 2008. So hey. The stock market is certainly not getting me down. Because we simply did not invest very much, very high... But yes, LOVING these low stock prices.

**Got our electric bill - it went down like $2. Maybe 3%? Yeah, I am thinking our major electricity usage is not lights. When we think about it, not surprising. We are very conservative with lights and have a lot of natural lighting in our house. So though we replaced a TON of lightbulbs with CFLs, seems to make little difference. Certainly not investing in more right now. I honestly am getting to the point where I feel there is little we can do to decrease our electricity usage further. We will see how our receiver/TIVO turn offs will do for the month of March. Maybe those are bigger electricity culprits? Will see!

Our gas bill is like $10/month in the summer months and electricity is like $50/month in winter. It seems we should be able to get that electricity down. I guess electricity is way more expensive. I'll be glad most of our appliances are gas!

Oh well, back to work!

Posted in Just Thinking | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “A Quick Update...”

JJ Says:
March 12th, 2009 at 09:21 pm 1236892880
1236892880

Even if you're not saving a lot of money on the CFLs, they will last a lot longer than incandescents so it was still a good investment.

Here in Florida the electric company has an analysis application that combines a survey with the information it knows from your bill. In my home, I was surprised that after my AC the next biggest culprits were Refrigerator, Washer/Dryer, Water Heater and LCD TV. And this is new construction with new appliances.

I turned the temp on my freezer/fridge down a bit and now when the freezer has unused space I put a 2-litre of water in there and let it freeze.
frugaltexan75 Says:
March 12th, 2009 at 09:24 pm 1236893055
1236893055

It is good that LM is voicing his feelings, even if it probably is more a matter of him missing what he was used to than really feeling like the new place is boring.
monkeymama Says:
March 12th, 2009 at 09:42 pm 1236894121
1236894121

It would be nice if the CFLs last longer, but I don't expect they will. Most of the incandescent light bulbs in our house are over 7 years old and still going strong. They must be some energy efficient variety. (CFLs s'posed to last 7 years, on average). It's definitely the bulbs. Before this house I'd be lucky for a bulb to last a year. (Bulbs came with energy star home. Could be wiring too).

I do suspect the fridge and washer/dryer account for most of our electric bill. Then TV/computers/lights. We could hook up the dryer to the gas, but prefer not to. All of our appliances are on the newer/energy star variety.
baselle Says:
March 15th, 2009 at 04:28 am 1237091288
1237091288

Regarding your Roth, and buying at low stock prices: they don't ding a bell at the bottom.
monkeymama Says:
March 16th, 2009 at 02:01 pm 1237212107
1237212107

BAselle - LOL. Yes, but this is lower than any prices I have paid as an adult. So LOVING it. I don't care if it's the *bottom* or not so to speak. I got 30 years to recover. This is my opportunity to fund thousands in my ROTH that i couldn't afford when I was 23, at prices when I Was 23. Seriously, how awesome is that? & if they drop further, well I will be funding more lower too.

I am enjoying my age today. I didn't have much in there to lose in the first place. But plenty to gain.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

A Quick Update...

5 Responses to “A Quick Update...”

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