<< Back to all Blogs

About Me:

Monkey Mama

Just a 47-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.

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.

-------------------------------

2024 Goals

[ ]Small monthly Charitable Contribution
...($230 @ 8/31/24)
...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
MM YEAR 5

DL YEAR 1 ✔
DL YEAR 2 ✔
DL YEAR 3

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...($7,749 @ 10/31/24)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$7,500 to investments
...($4,786 @ 10/31/24)
...~~$350~~ $400/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs
...Note: Bumped up to $400 9/1, re: reduced food expenses

[ ]$2,025 to mortgage
...($0 @ 10/31/24)
...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% @ 10/31/24)
...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 @ 10/31/24)
...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.

-------------------------------

**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>
2023: +$ 90,000
TOTAL: +$570,000

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."}

-------------------------------

My Pages

Beer Sausage & FICO & Little League

December 13th, 2008 at 06:21 pm

We had the BEST dinner yesterday.

I will have to post a link to the recipe once it becomes public. (OR I could type it up later). Got it from our Taste of Home mag.

Anyway, essentially, boiled sausage in beer. Sliced it up and fried it in butter. Layered somehow in a casserole dish with sauerkraut, tater tots, and cheese sauce.

Anyway, could do without the tater tot/cheese part.

But the sausage was DIVINE!

I am a pretty picky eater and not very fond of new foods, so I Was kind of, eh. & then I tasted that sausage - had died and gone to heaven!

Just so completely unexpected that it would be THAT good.

The kids preferred the taters so maybe it works for us. LOL. They can have that; we'll eat the meat!

----------------------------------

The refi is moving along.

Dh and I pretty much run a 800 FICO with all 3 credit bureaus. (Got the reports back from the lender). Had some 790/810 scores.

I've been seeing lots of FICO posts. So I have to say again, as usual, length of time is not EVERYTHING with your FICO. If you have a good score, and a mortgage, I wouldn't sweat old credit card closures.

We do everything wrong FICO-wise. IT doesn't matter.

In 2003 we opened a new card and had closed all our old ones (going back to 1993). We opened another card in 2006. We opened some more in 2007 for our balance transfers, but will close those this year.

Sure, we have a few years history now, but our FICOs were still in the 800s in 2005. The credit cards seem to amount to a hill of beans, compared to our timely paid mortgage. & even then, none of our individual mortgages had been held very long, at that point. 2 years max?

Anyway, last 2 years we opened up a bunch of credit cards, in both our names, and maxed them out. For the 0% balance transfers. Paid them back and within 2-3 months our score was back to 800. (Down to 760, at worst?)

Even with my ID theft ($30k charged and maxed out in a day; numerous inquiries), my score never dropped below 700.

I think once you build some solid credit, it takes a LOT to sabotage it.

My personal experience. I think it's ridiculous how scared people **in our situation** get to close old cards. Just close them already! They're just a liability. My recent ID theft experiences make it so that I prefer to have less outstanding accounts to keep an eye on.

& if you WANT to keep open those old/unused cars, well, I guess you better get charging. That's another story...

---------------------------

Just signed up BM for Tee Ball. This will be interesting! Dh and I are NOT sports people. BM clearly is. HE is, like, coordinated and stuff. HE did not get these traits from us. From other generations I guess. Wink

As such, I have no idea what we are getting into. We can charge $125 next month. Starts March. We have to buy some uniform stuff too. Seems reasonable enough.

I would say that I don't think LM is going to be into sports. BUT, since he has to do everything BM does... Who knows.

& so it begins!

Posted in Just Thinking | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Beer Sausage & FICO & Little League”

Ima saver Says:
December 13th, 2008 at 08:33 pm 1229200424
1229200424

You know what, I was told my score would improve if I had a mortgage. The fact that my house has been free and clear for 30 years doesn't count at all.
Ms. Pearl Says:
December 14th, 2008 at 12:10 am 1229213413
1229213413

welcome to the world of kids sports. It is a very expensive world.
monkeymama Says:
December 14th, 2008 at 03:21 pm 1229268081
1229268081

Ima - I think I remember you mentioning that. Gives me hope that our score will stay high once we pay off the mortgage. That always bothered me a bit. (On the flip side, it's kind of like, does it matter? What our FICO is when the house is paid? Probably not much).

It certainly dramatically increased our score in the first couple of years, but we were quite young when we bought. I guess all our other credit and history will account for something when the mortgage is long gone. Good to know.
monkeymama Says:
December 14th, 2008 at 03:25 pm 1229268309
1229268309

P.S. Ima - I got into a giant debate with friends who were convinced you HAVE TO have a car loan to build credit. I told them my score was in the 800s and I had never had a car loan in my life. One of them told me well her friend was some financial expert and he told her so, so it must be true. LOL. & I am like, "I am telling you, I have an almost perfect score and have NEVER had a car loan." But they just thought I was lying or something? It's just sad that people think they have to borrow money to have a decent FICO. A credit card, paid off every month, on time, for a few years, will pretty much do the trick. For a good FICO score.

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)

Name:	*
Email:	Will not be published.
	Subscribe: Notify me of additional comments to this entry.
URL:
Verification:	* Please spell out the number 4. [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]

Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Beer Sausage & FICO & Little League

4 Responses to “Beer Sausage & FICO & Little League”

Leave a Reply