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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

Denied

November 11th, 2011 at 10:29 pm

I went to fill up my gas tank and was met with this reply from the little credit card screen: DENIED

Of course, my may concern was that I could still use my coupon. I hurriedly dug out my "backup" credit card and tried again. Coupon still took, so, phew! (The procedure at this gas station is to scan the coupon, and then to choose payment method. I wasn't sure if I could use it a second time, easily).

While I pumped gas I remembered that dh's gas tank was empty, we had lots of gas coupons, and he had gotten groceries this morning. He usually gets gas at Safeway and it's rare we both get gas on the same day anyway. But we get groceries and van gas at Bel Air. So obviously he had used a gas coupon while getting groceries, today.

We did the exact thing about a month ago. They lock the card because they assume you dropped it and someone else tried to use it. IT's annoying to me in this day and age that they can't seperate that we are DIFFERENT users. That our cards are different, even if the account # is the same.

I thought it was funny that their system was so blunt. DENIED. Usually they tend to word these things a little nicer, like, "CALL YOUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY."

I lost $0.56 in rewards due to bad planning (earned 1% instead of 2%). Worse, I have to go call the credit card company. Bah!

---------------------------------------------------

WE always get gas coupons for spending $50 or $100 at this grocery store.

TODAY they had a promo - spend $75, get a $10 gift card. Dh saw the advertisement and planned his week around this promo. You may recall that a month or so ago he went to the store, he spent $100 like always (for best gas coupon) and their coupon printer wasn't working, so they handed him a $20 bill. He had NO IDEA WHY. IT was a similar promo. They just did cash since the "free $20" was not printing correctly. We were both stunned that we seemed to have no idea about said promo. I googled it and figured it out pretty quickly, that time. So, I am glad dh caught this one. We wondered if we missed it without the newspaper. Could be. But, this time it was advertised in the mail.

My mom also sent me a $10 "off everything at Kohls" coupon. I haven't gotten one of those in ages! She told me she got it from the Kohls ad in the paper. I told her to tell me next time so I can go buy the paper!

Posted in Just Thinking | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Denied”

dmontngrey Says:
November 12th, 2011 at 08:21 pm 1321129305
1321129305

What card issuer is this? Seems no matter what we do, we can't get a card issue to deny anything or call fraud on anything. We have plenty of transactions that might look suspicious, but aren't. We both gas up on the same day ALL the time. We got a new credit card and took off half way across the country the next day - using it heavily everywhere. Nothing!
MonkeyMama Says:
November 13th, 2011 at 02:06 am 1321149980
1321149980

FIA card services?

That said, I was wrong. When I called they said they hadn't locked my account. Turns out dh had gone to a different grocery store and gas station. It was some gas station issue. In fact, the customer service person kind of laughed at me saying they don't lock cards for that. I said, "Um, you have before." We must have hit the same gas station in a very short time frame, that one time.

My dh had a Chase at some point they denied charges ALL THE TIME. It took quite a few incidences before I convinced him why *I* always carried a second credit card just in case. But, of course since having multiple cards it has very rarely been an issue. (That was back in like 1999).

Besides this example, the only time a credit card company has every had any fraud alert was when there actually was fraud. (In the last 10 years?) I am always kind of impressed how they seem to know. They KNOW.
dmontngrey Says:
November 13th, 2011 at 02:23 am 1321151030
1321151030

Odd. Guess it was just a fluke! We both carry multiple cards because you just never know. We did have the fraud department at Chase lock down a card over a $30 purchase - all because the guy who swiped the card punched in the wrong exp date. Figures. DH just used another card instead. No big deal.

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Denied

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