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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

Doings: Nom nom nom, Anniversary, Library

March 19th, 2015 at 07:15 pm

**We have a corned beef and cabbage tradition this time of year but Saturday dh made it in the crockpot. O.M.G. (I couldn't tell you why we hadn't tried that before since we us our crockpot so much). 5 stars!

We will probably have again this week.

Saturday we invited up the in-laws and they brought up a pie for Pi day. We ate too well! We also had Irish soda bread.

**I didn't end up going out last week for lunch and I hadn't thought about the kids having short days all this week. So we will have to make sure to get a lunch date in the week after.

Maybe for the best. I wasn't overly stressed this past week and we will be taking the kids out to celebrate their A+ report cards. Initially their wants were very modest, as they tend to be. But I think now they both want to go out to two different restaurants. I am fine with it. They always do well, but lots of A+s this past trimester. Extra impressive since 6th grade has been pretty intense for older child.

Oh, and another reason to celebrate! Dh and I met 20 years ago! Crazy! We will quietly celebrate that alongside the kids' successes. (I don't know the exact day, but was March 1995. We met one the first day of our seasonal job when we both transferred to the same department - was the tail end of our freshman year in college. We probably would have crossed paths eventually, regardless, as we were both studying for the same degree at the same college and worked several years for the same Company).

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**So our library started a program where they will lend out more things. "Library of Things". I had heard about it but just saw that starts this weekend and they will have an online catalog on Monday. Off the top of my head, I saw sewing machines, Go Pro, board games, etc.

My spouse and kids collect board games and it would be so nice to be able to try more of them before buying them. My dh also noticed they have video games. Which historically we are more apt to rent or to buy used and sell afterwards. But I guess there is no one really renting out video games at the moment. (Er, there is nowhere dirt cheap to rent video games, like we have done for the past 20 years or whatever. At this point it makes more sense just to buy used and sell for the same price when done. We are used to renting games for essentially nothing). The library option might be a nice alternative.

Of course, this library is right by my office, so very convenient. I have the feeling I will be picking up things for the family once in a while.

Posted in Just Thinking | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Doings: Nom nom nom, Anniversary, Library”

Kiki Says:
March 19th, 2015 at 11:51 pm 1426809062
1426809062

Did you hear that the librarians who thought up the library of things got a national award this week? What a great achievement for the county library system!
Miz Pat Says:
March 20th, 2015 at 12:52 am 1426812746
1426812746

Congratulations on meeting spouse. I made corned beef in the crockpot too and boy does that take care of the saltiness.
FrugalTexan75 Says:
March 20th, 2015 at 02:37 am 1426819062
1426819062

That is so cool - Library of Things. Libraries are pretty awesome in your neck of the woods. (I like my local one too, but they are somewhat limited in programs outside of books/dvds/cds)
LuckyRobin Says:
March 20th, 2015 at 04:50 am 1426827011
1426827011

Congrats on the anniversary. I haven't found anyone local who rents video games. There is gamefly, which is like Netflix only for video games, but that's the only place I know of.
VS_ozgirl Says:
March 20th, 2015 at 08:49 am 1426841354
1426841354

Congratulations you have so many great things going on!

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Doings: Nom nom nom, Anniversary, Library

5 Responses to “Doings: Nom nom nom, Anniversary, Library”

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