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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

Speaking of mortgage chips...

May 17th, 2011 at 03:42 pm

Thanks to MyMoneyBlog - I just found an easy way to make $500.

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/chase-sapphire-preferred-card-new...

I haven't seen an offer this enticing... Ever???

Dh signed up for an AmEx last year and got a free kindle and a $100+ Amazon gift certificate.

I'd probably put this $500 cash to the mortgage. I was about $1,000 short of my goal, and this is an easy way to make up the difference. All I have to do is sign up for a credit card, and charge everything for 3 months. Our health insurance alone will get us 70% of the way there. (Spend $3k in 3 months).

There is a high annual fee. Will close the card the second the reward check clears. That's how we do it!

This may turn out to be a lucrative credit card reward year. I expected $600 in ROTH deposits with our Fidelity card. This may lower the Fidelity amount to $500-ish (if we don't use it for 3 months). Add $500 cash, and we will hit $1,000 in cash rewards this year. I'll apply since I think dh already has several Chase cards and I haven't applied for a cc just for a one-time promotion in at least 1 year - maybe 2 years. I haven't seen anything very enticing in a while.

Woohoo!

Posted in Just Thinking, Credit Card & Bank Rewards | 11 Comments »

11 Responses to “Speaking of mortgage chips...”

creditcardfree Says:
May 17th, 2011 at 05:49 pm 1305654562
1305654562

That is a tempting offer. Any extra cash for us this year would be welcome.
dmontngrey Says:
May 17th, 2011 at 06:51 pm 1305658266
1305658266

Whoa... that's tempting. TOO tempting!
Petunia 100 Says:
May 17th, 2011 at 06:51 pm 1305658268
1305658268

Wow, $500! That's quite a nice reward.
MonkeyMama Says:
May 17th, 2011 at 07:11 pm 1305659483
1305659483

Since I already have a Chase card, that application took less than a minute.

I don't like spending a lot of effort to earn very little money, but I always find these type rewards to be SO EASY!
ceejay74 Says:
May 17th, 2011 at 07:13 pm 1305659598
1305659598

Wow! Hmm...I wonder if it's kosher to have AS apply for one separately in addition to me? (I'd also have to look over our upcoming budget and see if it's even likely that we'd be spending $6000 in 3 months, to make that bit of chicanery worth it.)

I didn't see anything in the T&Cs about people with the same address not being able to apply separately. I did see stuff about current Chase cardmembers maybe being rejected. I have two Chase cards, so I wonder if I would even qualify...
MonkeyMama Says:
May 17th, 2011 at 07:31 pm 1305660710
1305660710

@Ceejay - I am sure it's fine - to get 2 cards with same address. If it doesn't say otherwise in the fine print.

I don't expect to be declined since my current Chase card is unused. (I just haven't gotten around to closing it yet - the good rewards dried up). So, I have the feeling they want to win my business back. But, will see!
Petunia 100 Says:
May 17th, 2011 at 08:18 pm 1305663491
1305663491

I am trying to calculate how I could spend 3k in 3 months, I don't think I can do it right now. Hmmm.

Having another Chase card didn't disqualify you? That's great.

Congrats on the nice reward, and thanks so much for the tip!
dmontngrey Says:
May 17th, 2011 at 10:53 pm 1305672828
1305672828

Consider it done. DH applied since I already have 4 Chase cards. $3K would have been a breeze a couple months ago, but we're still confident we can do it.
MonkeyMama Says:
May 18th, 2011 at 02:25 pm 1305728703
1305728703

@Petunia - I don't know for sure yet. I have a fraud alert on my credit report, so they are usually slow to approve me for these things. Will let you all know if I get approved or declined. My understanding was they were more weeding out people who already had that particular card before, and who had a history of signing up for one-time bonuses. I have signed up for a few with Citi, but not which Chase. BUT, I will be bummed if they decline me for my one existing account that I don't use. Just crossing my fingers for now.
debtfreeme Says:
May 18th, 2011 at 07:05 pm 1305745551
1305745551

I applied, too, thanks for sharing about this card. I totaled up all of my expenses that I usually just put on the debit card and if I transfer to this card each month I can earn points and the cash will be nice.

My expenses per month come to about $1100-1200 so I just made the cut off but paying all to one cc, never carrying a balance, paying off at one time after pay day (only one payday a month) yeah, I went for it.

I will be shocked if I am turned down with a fico score over 780 and cc debt totally less than 5k.

The no extra fees when traveling internationally is great, too!
MonkeyMama Says:
May 20th, 2011 at 01:10 pm 1305897044
1305897044

I just saw a $250 bonus for a similar card on the same blog. Same $3k purchase rules, so hoping it will still be around later. Maybe have dh apply for it once we get $3k on this card...

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Speaking of mortgage chips...

11 Responses to “Speaking of mortgage chips...”

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