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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

Too optimisitc I guess

August 20th, 2007 at 01:59 pm

I just got am e-mail from WAMU that my credit score has dropped to 670. !!!

I am frustrated as I have signed up for the credit monitoring and I am hopeful that it will alert me to new accounts and stuff, but I don't show 5 false accounts showing up like WAMU does. Ugh. Plus I logged in to the credit monitoring today and 2 of the cards are showing up balances and all.

It is just frustrating. It will get cleared up in the long run, but lord knows when.

I am extra frustrated as I actually expected it to be up because 2 of the Credit Bureaus wrote me to say they had removed all the false inquiries, and I asked the third too (they were probably already in the process). They had also blocked the false accounts that were showing (I have to wait until the others show to block them though?).

& yet WAMU says it is reporting 5 credit cards I do not own and 7 inquiries (most not mine).

It's just FRUSTRATING. What else can I do?

I am still concerned about my Balance Transfer 0% rate. I was reading up and don't see anything that you credit score has anything to do with universal default. But lord knows why these are showing up on my credit report and what is to stop them to report them as unpaid or late, etc. until this is resolved? Well great, you won't do that but you will obliterate my credit score anyway.

I am also peeved with "Citi ID Theft Solutions." They are idiots all around. Not very helpful. The reason they need a whole ID theft department is because they perpetuate the fraud by letting people borrow $5k-$8k in other states and pay little attention to fishy activity. Under the non-city cards (2 of them) only $1 was stolen. All the theft happened with Citi for the most part. & they are idiots. (I just found out they had not closed 1 card they told me was taken care of). !!!! Luckily this is not the one obliterating my score as it was a small balance... But I had to call and sit on hold again with them another hour. They had told me oh I don't have to worry about it - they'll take care of it...

I am just peeved all around. If it's all taken care of, why is my score down over 100 points? Hardly taken care of...

I will probably pull all my credit reports in 2 weeks and send complaints off to the Bureaus again. Fun fun.

Posted in ID Theft | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Too optimisitc I guess”

Ima saver Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 03:13 pm 1187622805
1187622805

Gosh, that is terrible!
monkeymama Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 09:48 pm 1187646505
1187646505

I think there is a time lag. I am trying to figure this out because the FICO score says it was dated 8/1. Though that was not the score it showed me 8/1, it has obviously updated. I just don't know when.

I am starting to think the score is lagging a bit behind all the events so hopefully it will clear up. On my triple advantage score check thing it says TransUnion shows nothing new and NONE of the fake cards - though they are s'posedly reporting this awful score.

Then again I can't believe a few inquiries and a card (only one ever showed up on TransUnion as far as I knew) could devastate my score. What's up with that? I had no idea FICO was so precarious.

I know my balance transfer isn't helping but who knew borrowing money would suck so bad for such a good score in the first place? I think the killer is it thinks I took out 5 cards in the course of a week. That would be a little crazy, wouldn't it be? Maybe FICO is just smart...

We'll see...

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Too optimisitc I guess

2 Responses to “Too optimisitc I guess”

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