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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

Taxes Done, Cash OUT

December 8th, 2011 at 05:05 pm

I've basically got all the information I need to do my tax return. It's SIMPLE.

So I plugged in numbers to see where I was at. Last I projected was that we'd owe about $1000. Unfortunately, not much has changed.

I was just happy to put $8k into ROTHS. The rest seems like gravy. We are maxing out this year ($10k), so I decided to shift some of that to my regular IRA. It looks like we will probably do $7500 ROTH and $2500 Regular IRA. I really didn't foresee putting any more money into regular IRAS, but I feel rather "eh, it's just one year." & only 25% of contributions, at that. If it makes it easier to max out... I whittled our taxes owed down to about $500 with this move.

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

I was feeling really great about finally reaching cash goal this year. But, maybe I got excited too soon. I need to take the following from cash:

**$900 to replenish cash in our ROTH efund. I had bought stock and planned to replenish the cash with regular ROTH Contributions this month. Instead, I am diverting that money to my regular IRA. (I often use this money to jump on stock market dips, but usually replenish it ASAP).

**$3,000 if we refinance? (Closing costs)

**$300 short on maxing out IRAs, 2011 - will transfer from savings before April 15.

**$500 or so due for taxes. Admittedly, will just pay those in April.

**$400 to meet mortgage goal by 12/31

& on and on it seems to go...

I think the refinance cash outflow is mostly what is stressing me out, and is compounding the rest which wasn't so bad on its own. IT will be SO worth it though, if we get that through. I realized the interest portion of our mortgage will be HALF of what it was, initially. With a loan balance of exactly $200k and an interest rate of 4%, we are looking at $8k per year interest, and dropping.

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I am going to submit loan application with creidt union today. Cross your fingers for me. I would love love love to have my loan with them. It just simply won't work if rates go up before I lock the rate. (I've tried before, believe me). But it costs nothing to *try.*

I talked to broker, which is my second choice but most likely to go through smooth. He said he could not offer me 4% but it was so likely to happen soon, so I Should fill out an application. No commitment to either until they can lock the rate. CU rates are 0.125% lower. I am not holding my breath, but will try.

Posted in Just Thinking | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Taxes Done, Cash OUT”

Buckeye Says:
December 8th, 2011 at 07:32 pm 1323372758
1323372758

Thank you for the strong suggestion to call my city.
After pointing out that for the last two years I had a rebate coming to me and my income was down even more,they let me set my amount I owed. Of course, the city will get the proper tax owed when it's declared.
Your advice was helpful.
MonkeyMama Says:
December 8th, 2011 at 09:02 pm 1323378120
1323378120

Glad it worked out!

I think *it never hurts to ask* is a frugal staple.

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Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Taxes Done, Cash OUT

2 Responses to “Taxes Done, Cash OUT”

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