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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

Weird Week

September 6th, 2012 at 02:29 pm

To set the stage, lightning storms are pretty rare where we live.

So, this morning I woke up or was awaken by a large flash of light (that I could see with my eyes closed). We have a lot of windows in our house and the door was open, but our bedroom has blinds and heavy black drapes. I had a second or two to wonder if I was going crazy (what the heck was that?) when the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life, clapped right over my house. O.M.G.!!!! Our house is so insulated that I could not even imagine what it might have been like to be standing outside. & if I hadn't of noticed the lightning, I might have thought someone dropped a bomb in our neighborhood. I don't know if I would have known what that sound was!

So, okay, I am awake!!!!

I figured we could enjoy the show, but that was it. No thunder after that. ???

WEIRD!

I am also not sure what to do with work today. Yesterday I went in and the phones and internet were down (we have fiber optic). I didn't think about it until later, but we are supposed to have a backup internet line, too.

Maybe it's because I am young, but in these instances my older co-workers are inclined to sit around and twiddle their thumbs (& be seen). & it doesn't help that when we had a weeklong power outage at some point that I went home to get lots of work done, and the boss's wife called me back to sit around in a heatless/dark office. Yeah... In the end a client had some computer problems so I had to go home to help them. I think I got my point across why I stayed home. Doh!

So, yesterday I had some urgent stuff to take care of, and came home.

I called a co-worker's cell phone at some point to get the dish. IT turns out that the electric company probably severed a bunch of lines. AT&T and the power company had like 10 trucks out there. What a mess!! AT&T told someone in my office that SMUD did something they were trying to fix. Probably explains why we also have no backup internet. IT affected *everything.* AT&T, Surewest (fiber optic), and whoever we have our backup line with (could be ATT).

So, I just called the office and the phone line is *still* down.

Ugh!!

I think I will go to the office in the a.m. and dig around for files to bring home. I don't have a ton to do because of the holiday and end of the month - hoping some clients dropped off some stuff yesterday. Maybe will drop off things today? I'd probably rather just take the day off and go work Sunday. This is so annoying!!

Smart phone saves the day. I can at least have my e-mail forwarded to my phone, so I have some form of communication with my clients, while I am in the office. It *Really* helps.

{All of our programs are in the cloud- so it's impossible to do any work without internet}.

Posted in Just Thinking | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Weird Week”

Joan.of.the.Acrh Says:
September 6th, 2012 at 03:01 pm 1346943678
1346943678

Wow, that's a big problem. Hope AT&T can fix it fast. I can't imagine how they can splice those optical lines to make a reconnection/repair.

Did your kids awaken to the lightning? One time we had such a bolt of lightning during the night that it turned on an electronic game on my kid's bookshelf! It had this loud deep man's voice and it spooked me more than the lightning scared me.
Monkey Mama Says:
September 6th, 2012 at 03:52 pm 1346946721
1346946721

Wow on that lightning!!

My kids sleep through anything, so I don't think it woke them up, BUT they also like to awaken at dawn (they are more early birds than I am), so they told me the storm had gone on for a while before that boom of a thunder clap. & BM heard it rain last night. I slept through it all.

It's all sunny and pretty now! Back to our regularly scheduled weather.
Swimgirl Says:
September 6th, 2012 at 04:28 pm 1346948932
1346948932

It's impossible to do anything without phone and internet! What's the point in sitting there doing nothing? Ridiculous!
MonkeyMama Says:
September 6th, 2012 at 08:52 pm 1346964774
1346964774

Well, we had everything back online for 2 hours, and then it was on-again/off-again, so I am back at home. But, at least got some work done today - can probably bill 8 hours, so I am less annoyed. & sounds like odds are it will be 100% fixed today.
FrugalTexan75 Says:
September 8th, 2012 at 03:33 am 1347075222
1347075222

Internet problems are so frustrating - especially when it's used for just about everything!

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Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Weird Week

5 Responses to “Weird Week”

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