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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.

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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

Wednesday Doings

December 9th, 2010 at 02:08 am

**I am proud of dh - he is on top of things! He closed his AmEx, since we got our free gifts.

Dh said that AmEx said, "You are closing it already? After only a couple of months?" Dh truthfully said, "It's been kind of a PITA - a lot of people don't take AmEx." They tried to argue otherwise, but our first full of month of the Fidelity AmEx, I can tell you at least 20% of the businesses we tried to pay, did not take it! Not any small businesses. Not any utilities. Etc., etc. Not the parking garage. Not the haircut place.

I suppose I will wait for my Target gift card (reward) and then close the Chase Freedom. Will be closed by year-end.

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**One of the AmEx rewards was a $100 Amazon gift certificate.

For the work gift exchange I pulled a difficult name. Our office is 90% women, but I always get stuck buying for the men! No idea what to get. Decided to get a Amazon G.C. if I can. Will be free to me.

I also have not been able to find Pantene anti-dandruff shampoo any longer. I finally looked it up today - discontinued! To top it off, all they have is the shampoo/conditioner combo. A stylist recently suggested I not use the combos, to keep my hair less greasy. I hadn't thought of it and can't say I have noticed a big difference. (Actually, that was a year ago!) But I have noticed more dandruff cropping up since I have been using another shampoo in the interim.

Anyway, there are still some available, so I will stock up on a few bottles. Will probably last forever, and maybe by then they will bring back the anti-dandruff. I'll see if alternating it with other shampoo helps at all. It looks like there is other stuff out there, but I am partial to my Pantene!

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**A charity is coming by for pick up on Friday. I have a few things (not a huge purge), but will be nice to get rid of the stuff I missed last time.

Posted in Just Thinking | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Wednesday Doings”

FrugalTexan75 Says:
December 10th, 2010 at 04:51 am 1291956663
1291956663

Are you planning on using the Amazon gift card to purchase a smaller denomination gift card? If so, I don't think that you can do that.
whitestripe Says:
December 10th, 2010 at 05:51 am 1291960308
1291960308

wow, I thought AMEX might be accepted more in the US...? We have one that we got with our mortgage & offset accounts. It earns twice the points per dollar than our Mastercard does, but yeah, problem is not many people take it, or they charge 2.5% for service fees. HAHA. no thanks. But I do use it for groceries, paying utilities & petrol and it has made a difference in point-earning since I started using it. DF is embarrased to use it - we have both worked in customer service industry in places where the people who usually pull out their AMEX, do it as a status symbol, as if they are saying: 'hello, I have a platinum amex, i make over $100 000 a year obviously, therefore I can treat you like a servant.'
MonkeyMama Says:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:40 pm 1292024457
1292024457

FT - wish I saw that comment sooner.
WS-I have never had an AmEx before because of this, but everyone kept telling me it's different these days. May be better, but a long ways to go!

We lucked out because our health insurance accepts AmEx payment for premiums. Will earn some serious rewards with that part. So might make up for the $300 or so in visa charges (we get 1% cash back on both our visas).
MonkeyMama Says:
December 10th, 2010 at 11:41 pm 1292024511
1292024511

Which means I can charge my medical bills too - with surgery and all, will be nice.
frugaltexan75 Says:
December 11th, 2010 at 02:38 am 1292035084
1292035084

MonkeyMama,

I only know about that because of Swagbucks.

Are you members of Costco? The only credit card they take is AMEX.
MonkeyMama Says:
December 11th, 2010 at 06:46 pm 1292093189
1292093189

Nope - we don't use Costco.
terri77 Says:
December 15th, 2010 at 09:04 pm 1292447086
1292447086

I've had that problem with a few people not taking my Amex. However, I'm using it everywhere else until the end of the year as they are multiplying my reward points through December 31st.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Wednesday Doings

7 Responses to “Wednesday Doings”

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