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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.

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

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

Pictures

June 11th, 2009 at 12:47 am

These are pictures off dh's phone. I was surprised by the quality on some.

Also found these...

Sourdough bread store in San Francisco:

We saw the Weiner Mobile a few months back:

LM's favorite Fry's store. (He is train crazy. Dh is Fry's crazy).

{My cell phone has a camera, but we have no (cheap) way to get them off. Quality sucks anyway - it is a 4-year-old phone. I think this is our official first cell phone camera picture download}.

Posted in Picture Project | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Pictures”

Broken Arrow Says:
June 11th, 2009 at 12:53 pm 1244724834
1244724834

Yeah... some cameraphones can actually take decent pictures, but it depends on the condition too, especially lighting. Some phone cameras are also slightly better than others....

The pictures are really cool by the way. Is that your neighborhood in your first picture? Huge houses everywhere, in front of a beautiful lake.

What exactly is the bakery? Is that a tour?

And that Fry's store front is awesome. I've actually never seen a Fry before until now. We don't have Fry's here.

My cheap Tracfone doesn't have a camera. However, the models that do have it doesn't have an easy way to transfer the images out either so, this wasn't a huge loss to me... except when I see funny license plates that I wish I could take a picture of.
monkeymama Says:
June 11th, 2009 at 02:01 pm 1244728880
1244728880

BA - reminds me when we were considering making a LCOL move again, dh only agreed to Oregon/Washington because they had Fry's! I think it's just a west coast thing.

I believe that was the Boudin sourdough store. That was just the view from the street (though I think they do have tours).

Yes, that is our neighborhood. This is the fancy/gated part and we have (had?) some celebrity neighbors. We live just outside the gates where it is considerably cheaper. Though this part keeps our home values pretty high compared to most the rest of the city. (Many neighborhoods here have man-made lakes for flood control). But yeah - it's like a 2-block walk to the lake, for us.

My other computer was dark - now I see my son was in the pic - hehe.

The dark pictures did not come out so well - for sure.
Apprentice Bliss Hunter Says:
June 11th, 2009 at 02:19 pm 1244729975
1244729975

LOVE the first pic ! Beautiful sky...
Broken Arrow Says:
June 11th, 2009 at 03:09 pm 1244732953
1244732953

He will only move somewhere because they had Fry's?

....

THAT'S AWESOME! I laughed so loud that one of my co-workers actually heard it and thought I was laughing at him or something.

I tell you, that's my kind of man right there. I mean, he's crazier than I am, but I'll bet we can tear up a town with sheer nerd geekery.

Ask him if he has a steadycam?
monkeymama Says:
June 11th, 2009 at 03:21 pm 1244733690
1244733690

He has a monopod. Is that what you mean?

The geek talk is over my head -hehe.
frugaltexan75 Says:
June 12th, 2009 at 12:52 am 1244767945
1244767945

We have Fry's in Texas. Great store - great place to part with what's in your wallet a little too easily.

I recognize that bakery. It's by Fishermen's Wharf. When I was in SF last year, my brother, sil, and I stopped there to use their bathroom. LOL!
monkeymama Says:
June 12th, 2009 at 07:02 pm 1244833326
1244833326

FT - that is good to know if we take the kids there (bathrooms for the public - woohoo!)

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Pictures

7 Responses to “Pictures”

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