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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

School Starts Next Week

August 7th, 2010 at 02:34 pm

It will be here in a blink!

I suppose this year is very interesting as we move on to another phase of our life. The last 8 years or so have been pretty difficult (yet, so rewarding!). I have such mixed feelings about dh possibly returning to work. We have gotten accustomed to a much simpler life. BUT, we are also aggressive savers, and miss having a second income to blow through all of our savings goals.

As such, I have told dh, he may just need to work long enough to pay off the mortgage. Honestly, he only worked post-college/full-time, about 2 years. It made a tremendous difference to our savings. 2 more years would do the same.

But anyway, as school starts next week, our cost of working goes down considerably (no daycare needed? For 30 hours a week?)

Will see. We will not proceed with anything drastic. I don't expect more than very part time work, this next year.

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We found out who LM's teacher will be. Was disappointed because we had no idea who this teacher was. ??? I theorized maybe the teacher got married and changer her name. I wasn't coming up with much from this angle, or from googling this new teacher's name.

SO, I finally just googled the missing teacher's name, and quickly found out what was going on (& why we didn't know).

Um, the teach is pregnant with quadruplets. Holy cow!

Put on disability, of course. OF course, she blogged this in late July, so she probably just told the school.

So, this teacher was a rather last minute hire, it seems. Will see how that goes!

Posted in Just Thinking | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “School Starts Next Week”

PNW Mom Says:
August 7th, 2010 at 04:00 pm 1281196858
1281196858

Wow! Your neck of the woods starts school early....here we don't start until the day after Labor Day. DD1 though will be starting Aug 28th but she will be in her first year of college. I'm sure everything will work out with the "new" teacher
terri77 Says:
August 7th, 2010 at 07:22 pm 1281208947
1281208947

School starts here next week as well. I never started school in August until I moved here before 9th grade. Before school ended the Friday before Memorial Day and started the Tuesday after Labor Day. Every year like clock work.
PatientSaver Says:
August 8th, 2010 at 12:34 am 1281227689
1281227689

Wow. I guess that's what you call "instant family."
Miclason Says:
August 8th, 2010 at 02:42 am 1281235329
1281235329

Ale starts school on the 16th. I have almost everything ready (between what we bought in bulk last year and buying during the "normal calendar" back to school sales). The scholl decided to change uniforms this year (grrrrrrrr....Ale�s skirts, made at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year, were supposed to last at least 2 years, possibly 3!)... I have the money ready, but the school still doesn't have the new uniforms!
Looking Forward Says:
August 9th, 2010 at 04:15 pm 1281370556
1281370556

Good luck to you and your boys for the first day of school!

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

School Starts Next Week

5 Responses to “School Starts Next Week”

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