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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.

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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

Mortgage Update

April 5th, 2011 at 02:24 pm

I am copying Petunia's idea.

Of course, I was rushed and it isn't so pretty, and now I realize I highlighted the wrong payment.

But, here goes:

At this rate, we continue to find an extra $100/month. & we usually get around $1500 for Christmas, so we may just use that for the last $1k.

We wanted to pay off some of the closing costs we borrowed from our last refi, and psychologically hit the $199k mark since we expected this year to be pretty good financially.

So far we have knocked off $17/year in interest. If we pay off the extra $3k we plan to, we will save about $150/year in interest.

That said, once we reach our goal, I don't foresee continuing to put so much to the mortgage. Will wait until dh finds a job, and then we will put a TON more to the mortgage. IT's just one of those things I don't want to tie a lot of resources into while we still have 300 payments left. When we can start to significantly and rapidly knock it down is another story. This is why I don't mind putting a chunk of a second income to it - because we can knock off years very quickly in that case. In the interim, we have more pressing financial goals where I don't want to tie up all that money for eternity.

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Today I redeemed $100 in credit card rewards. $100 will be deposited into my ROTH in the next few days.

I am mailing off my property taxes today and watching my cash balance dwindle down to $22k. Frown It will hopefully be back to $25k at the end of the month.

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I was thinking about those studies that show people's pain centers (in their brains) are not activated when they use a card instead of cash.

That might be true for the average person. I am just wired differently. I think I get more pleasure from saving than spending, personally.

Anyway, with how horrific April is with the property taxes, medical bills, and all the other bills due, and even being prepared and having saved up for it all, I think I am going to cringe every time I make a purchase this month. Credit or cash doesn't matter - will be painful! (I've never carried a balance so credit is same as cash to me! I just don't treat it any differently and can attest it is just as painful).

Posted in Saving, Just Thinking, Budgeting & Goals | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Mortgage Update”

LittleMsMom Says:
April 5th, 2011 at 03:49 pm 1302018579
1302018579

Did you go online for your mortgage chart or did you create it?

I really need to start paying extra on my mortgage and if I had a chart that self adjusts as I add the extra snowflakes to the mortgage each month I might me more motivated to pay extra.

Thank you
NJDebbie Says:
April 5th, 2011 at 07:46 pm 1302032782
1302032782

It will be a horrific month for us next month; our property taxes are due! ;(
MonkeyMama Says:
April 5th, 2011 at 08:04 pm 1302033850
1302033850

It's just an excel mortgage amortization. I compare it to the online mortgage information - they have a similar thing. I make sure they are calculating it correctly!
Petunia 100 Says:
April 7th, 2011 at 02:45 am 1302144302
1302144302

I like your spreadsheet with the column headers. It is visually more appealing than mine, and much more reader friendly. I suppose I assume that if it makes sense to me then obviously it makes perfect sense to others. A ridiculous assumption, of course.

Maybe I will improve mine to be more like yours!

LittleMsMom, seeing the impact of even a few extra dollars is very motivational to me, that's why I do it.
monkeymama Says:
April 7th, 2011 at 03:02 am 1302145330
1302145330

I didn't even notice - I suppose I imagined the headers were there. Actually, I thought yours was colorful and more fancy. Apparently, I made all that up too!

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Mortgage Update

5 Responses to “Mortgage Update”

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