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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

Ting Update

November 29th, 2014 at 04:25 pm

I got a $50 Ting credit for a referral. Woohoo!

The timing is good because my dad had some setting switch (mysteriously) on his phone and he racked up some crazy data this week. It would have cost us an extra $10, but now we have a $50 credit to offset that!

My mom used to reimburse me $180 every 2 months for Sprint and so I told her to just pay me once every 6 months on Ting. They gave me a check in August (since the first several months were free) and I will ask for one this month since I don't think the Ting credit will be applied until our next bill. Then they will be paid up for the year and I can clear some of the "negative" in my checkbook for them owing me.

Anyway, this week is our Tingaversary and this is how our bills shook out. (This is just our half of the bills).

Dec $0
Jan $0
Feb $0
March $0
April $6
May $30
June $30
July $34
Aug $35
Sep $33
Oct $30
Nov $35

Total = $233 for 2 phones, 12 months of service

That's $19/month average for two phones.

{The first several months were free due to black friday deals, referral credits, and early termination fee (ETF) reimbursements from Ting. It made more sense financially to ditch Sprint early and to reduce our phone bill down to $0 (or even down to $30) for several months. Ting reimburses some of the ETFs}.

I expect that we can do same for next year. We already started out next month with a $50 credit. I am also getting wifi at work, which will significantly reduce our data usage. BM seems more than happy with wifi-only phone and so I don't see adding him to Ting for quite a while. I am continuing to budget $35/month for Ting, but I know we will pay less than that.

Of course through this weekend you can get $100 off a new device or $100 in Ting credit if you buy used or bring a Sprint device to Ting! If you use my referral link:

https://z181d126bt4.ting.com

Posted in Just Thinking | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Ting Update”

FrugalTexan75 Says:
November 30th, 2014 at 05:43 am 1417326203
1417326203

I used my phone today on my walk with RunKeeper. It used 4 MBs of data for a 35ish minute walk ( I walked a total of an hour, but turned it off after the 30 minute walk - all I needed for GymPact.) So ... if I do that 8 times a month (GPS walks on weekend days only) that is 32 MBs/mo. If I can curb my habitual need to check FB and my email whenever I'm standing around in line somewhere ... maybe I can keep within the first bucket of data use.

I'm halfway tempted to use it normally this month and just see how bad it could be - though I know I'll have some extra phone minutes on my upcoming birthday .. though maybe I can get both of them (mom/brother) to face time me so it'll be free.

Happy early birthday
MonkeyMama Says:
November 30th, 2014 at 06:02 pm 1417370520
1417370520

Thanks FT! Here is to really low cell phone bills, for you!

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Ting Update

2 Responses to “Ting Update”

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