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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.

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

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

Death to Checks

December 2nd, 2011 at 04:29 am

I mailed all my deposits to my credit union for years (15 years?) without an issue. The primary reason I switched to a local credit union (2006?) was because things started to disappear in the mail for weeks at a time. Turns out there was a mail theft ring at our post office. But, regardless of any shenanigans, the speed of the post office has certainly slowed down over the years. Between getting a local banking institution and bill pay and all that jazz, I really have no need to mail much of anything.

Of course, it could be the holiday mail onslaught and business holidays and all, but everything I mailed the last few weeks has taken about 2 weeks to get to its destination. Really frustrating.

SO, anyway, I was just paying the property taxes and saw the option to just pay online by e-check. I was very excited by this and thinking, "Death to checks," since this is about the only bill I pay by check.

BUT... Of course there was a service charge. $1.50. My gut reaction was, "nevermind." BUT, as I pulled out a stamp, I wondered if it would even get there in time. So I told dh I was going to waste $1, in the hopes of saving $200 in potential late fees. I was thinking of my recent mail experience. It's not due for 10 days, but 10 days doesn't quite seem enough time to mail things, lately.

So, will see how that works out.

My gut feeling is that the only other checks I write are to the school. I checked and yup, that's it - school and property taxes. Everything else we charge or just pay through online bill pay. Or can pay directly, online. I don't even write checks to individuals any more - online bill pay does the job.

I wonder how many checks I have left and if I will ever use them! (& I know - soon enough we will all be paying our bills with our cell phones, or something like that. "In the OLD days, we paid with paper money...")

Posted in Just Thinking | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Death to Checks”

LuckyRobin Says:
December 2nd, 2011 at 04:37 am 1322800661
1322800661

I don't know about in Cali, but in my state property taxes only need to be post-marked by the due date. They don't have to actually arrive by the due date, and they don't charge late fees as long as the post-mark is on time. Usually I just go in to the court house in person, though, since it is six blocks from DS's school.
Amber Says:
December 2nd, 2011 at 04:42 am 1322800924
1322800924

I too haven't paid a bill by check in a long time. I use to pay my car payment by check until I found out I can do so over the phone at no additional fee.

Here in Florida, your account will be credited the day it's received, I think
MonkeyMama Says:
December 2nd, 2011 at 04:42 am 1322800928
1322800928

They use postmark date, but honestly lord knows when they are postmarked with our post office (it's pretty terrible here). But that is a good point. We have a post office at the grocery store - should probably have dh drop it off next time while he is there (otherwise there is no convenient post office and I wouldn't bother - gas would definitely be more than $1). At least that way we know it is postmarked that day - he can hand it to them and watch them stamp it. I will have to remember that... Though convenience may win in this case.
baselle Says:
December 2nd, 2011 at 05:57 pm 1322848649
1322848649

I only pay one bill by check any more, but I really needed to send by check - last time I tried bill pay for this somehow the emailed link made it to the receiver's spam filter and ... well, pay by check for now. My box of checks is a bit like the old landline telephone with a jack. Gathering dust now, but if the SHTF, a primitive technology very useful to be able to pull out and have in hand.
North Georgia Gal Says:
December 2nd, 2011 at 06:29 pm 1322850590
1322850590

I don't pay anything by check anymore. I use my online bill pay for everything. It is much more convenient and there is no charge for it.
patientsaver Says:
December 3rd, 2011 at 02:50 am 1322880644
1322880644

I'm an oddball then. Cus i pay most recurring bills by check, mainly becus i don't want to pay a fee to pay by credit card and i'm still a little leery of Id theft online.
jolie Says:
December 3rd, 2011 at 04:22 pm 1322929378
1322929378

I still use cheques for school fees, fundraisers, sports fees etc. The only other option for these would be cash and I prefer using the cheque for record keeping purposes.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Death to Checks

7 Responses to “Death to Checks”

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