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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

Health Insurance up 15%

November 21st, 2008 at 07:48 pm

But what else is new, eh???

It's actually, not SO bad...

Our premiums are going up from $478/month to $549/month. ($71 month increase).

Deductible remains at $3k.

& we actually get prescription benefits (we had none last year). It's something, I guess.

We've had WAY worse years, so this I can handle. As awful as it sounds, I can handle it.

If we're lucky we can squeak by only paying $6588 in premiums all year (really not bad for private insurance for 4, in an area like this - far cheaper, and better might I add, than any benefits my boss offers). AND our max out-of-pocket is $9588 if we use our deductible.

So yeah, overall, this HDHP thing is still easier to swallow, then our old plan. Our old plan is over $1k/month and has a bunch of additional "out-of-pockets" anyway. I don't actually *get* that plan in the least. For the "cash poor" I guess. (Though you end up paying more in the end? & who can afford those premiums? I've read all the fine print and it's all lost on me. There must be some catch I am missing. The only difference I can see is I may pay $3k for a emergency room visit or a hospital stay, but that sure beats paying almost double the premiums, or another $5k a year. at least with the deductible there is a slim chance we pay $0 for the year outside our lower premiums).

Thank GOODNESS for these HDHP and HSA plans. They will save our bacon.

Anyway, I am very zen with this. I expect a $100/month raise at the very least. So I am happy. & anything above that goes in my pocket (which I do expect more). Yay!

& next year LM finished up preschool, and I can take whatever my health plan throws at me. So I can relax for 2 years... IT's just year by year here, and now I can relax. Phew.

I Wasn't going to look until after my birthday, but they sent me an e-mail to me. I didn't expect the new premiums until next week. & well, once I got the e-mail, of course I had to look! Glad it didn't stress me out too much. I Was going to wait because I didn't want to ruin my vacation.

Posted in Just Thinking | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Health Insurance up 15%”

kdmoffett25 Says:
November 21st, 2008 at 08:21 pm 1227298865
1227298865

My husband's went up 13%, but last year we forgot to do the health assessment that gives us a discount on it and I remembered to this year, so his premiums are actually going to go down...

Wish you luck and I know it will work out in the end.
Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
November 21st, 2008 at 08:21 pm 1227298891
1227298891

Ugh. Thoughts of unaffordable insurance have been afflicting me for weeks, though our increase is not to come until June.
swimgirl Says:
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 am 1227313586
1227313586

Depending on what the prescription benefits are, you could recover the part of the $71/mo right there. We had insurance with $35 copay on prescriptions at one time. Now, it's $5. $30 savings every time we fill something. 'Course we have more people than you do!
ME2 Says:
November 22nd, 2008 at 01:54 am 1227318897
1227318897

I have no idea how much my insurance costs. This is due to the fact that my boss/employer pays for 100% of my health insurance. Yay!

However, he was grumbling a few months ago that 2 years ago, when he had 3 of us on Blue Cross, (and while it wasn't the "upper class" of insurance, more like the "upper middle class" of insurance)he was paying less than he is currently for 2 of us on some "lower middle class" insurance. Yikes!!
monkeymama Says:
November 22nd, 2008 at 03:17 pm 1227367025
1227367025

Actually, the prescription benefits don't kick in until we use the deductible, swimgirl, and I don't remember the last time we filled a prescription. So we won't be recovering the $70 any time soon.
But if one of us becomes (expensive) medicine dependent, I guess it could help. I am trying to look on the bright side...
monkeymama Says:
November 22nd, 2008 at 03:21 pm 1227367311
1227367311

ME2 - yeah, my boss would cover me but not my fam. But to cover them is something like $10k/year, and that is some really god awful plan (like a $10k deductible????. He only has like 5 employees, if that, in the plan so he doesn't get any particular employer discount).

It has gotten so crazy over the years. I gripe because it is the one thing I did not foresee when we had kids. No idea our health insurance would skyrocket so out of control. If I hadn't of gotten such big raises in recent years my spouse would have had to return to work YEARS earlier to help with the health insurance. No doubt. (When I turned 30 our premiums rose 40%. Ugh. We were preparing for when we turned 40, and expected a big premium increase. & then of course the year I turned 30 they restructured the rates to start shouldering more costs on the 30-somethings. We were not happy, for sure).

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Health Insurance up 15%

6 Responses to “Health Insurance up 15%”

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