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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

Chase/Citi & Citi/Chase

October 13th, 2011 at 04:33 pm

I called Citi to activate my $300 rewards card today.

I set the health insurance to pay today and next week. Other than that, I just have to spend $58 to get this reward. (One tank of gas should do it).

I'll skip $750 ROTH contribution next month, and just contribute twice in December, to even it all out. I prepaid one month health insurance so I can KILL this card at month-end.

I then e-mailed Chase to close my two open cards (Sapphire and Southwest). On the phone I'd just want to get it over and done, but in writing I told them how I was happy with their Chase Freedom for years, but how they tried to charge me a fee (I declined) and how their new rewards suck. Once these cards close, I will no longer be a Chase customer. Too much better stuff out there. IT was nice while it lasted!

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I haven't been able to redeem dh's $250 Chase bonus yet, so his 2 Chase accounts will be open for a bit more. If this e-mail closing works well, will just do the closing for his 2 cards, too. He will still be a Chase customer, because he has some ancient Chase card that hasn't tried to charge him a fee. (For reference, his credit score is identical to mine, though he has had said card almost 20 years and my oldest credit line is only 2 years. I don't know why he is so attached to that thing).

In the interim, I will have him close his Citi card ASAP.

So, yeah, I closed Chase and am waiting to finish with Citi. Dh will close Citi and will wait for Chase.

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Citi sent me my FICO score with my new card. If they did so for dh, I didn't notice!

Official FICO - 785. Not bad considering I just opened like 5 credit cards, and that it's not the first time I have done so. Ever since having a mortgage, paying bills on-time seems to account for 99% of FICO. I do just about everything else *wrong.* I can't say I'd have the patience for FICO if I Really had to jump through a ton of hoops to keep a nice high FICO.

I look forward to getting rid of these infinite credit card accounts, for one.

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ETA: FOR WHATEVER REASON, CITI *REALLY* LIKES MY DH. THEY GAVE HIM 10,000 POINTS TO STAY 1-2 MONTHS. THAT'S GOOD FOR ABOUT $95 AMAZON GIFT CARDS. HE COULDN'T SAY NO - NEITHER WOULD I.

THE REWARDS KEEP ADDING UP.

Posted in Credit Card & Bank Rewards | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Chase/Citi & Citi/Chase”

ThriftoRama Says:
October 13th, 2011 at 06:10 pm 1318529450
1318529450

Just so you know, I am now playing the rewards card game. I wouldn't have bothered but our favorite card just got the axe, so I'm now-- inspired by you-- trying to max out all of my potential rewards. We should get about $650 in cash and two free round trip tickets to a wedding in New Orleans in March. Hooray!
PatientSaver Says:
October 14th, 2011 at 12:24 pm 1318595074
1318595074

Gawd, you guys are amazing with this stuff.

I'm happy to report that today I redeemed 20,000 Chase Freedom points and should receive my $200 check in about 15 days.

That's free money for doing largely nothing, and I probably wouldn't have triedit if I hadn't been reading your amazing accounts!

I doubt I can match your productivity because except for my phone bill, I think it is, I can't pay for any of my other utility bills with a credit card, for free, anyway. And certainly not my mortgage.

Any suggestions for the next best CC reward to go for given that scenario? I was thinking Chase Sapphire earlier, but I can't, cus now i know there's no way I could charge up $3,000 in 3 months. I seem to average $354 in monthly charges on my bare bones, jobless budget. So that comes to $1062 a quarter, which is pretty close to the max I can charge.
MonkeyMama Says:
October 14th, 2011 at 02:05 pm 1318601157
1318601157

Just check out mymoneyblog.com - he has good summaries about all the best credit card rewards.

Southwest Chase - if it is still available - you only have to make one purchase to earn $250 in Amazon gift cards. That said, there is a $69 annual fee. But that and Chase Freedom are the only ones that had very low purchases, off the top of my head. (I think I've said before that I generally avoid annual fee cards, even for one-time rewards, but I gave it a go because I made so much cash this year. It's just my don't count chickens before they hatch thing - I don't like to pay money to earn rewards).

Interestingly, Chase is crediting me back my Southwest annual fee - since I requested to close the card. I am not sure if that is standard, or because I told them I didn't appreciate all their fees. ???

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Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Chase/Citi & Citi/Chase

3 Responses to “Chase/Citi & Citi/Chase”

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