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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

Back to Reality

January 27th, 2009 at 08:44 pm

I was jolted back to reality this week rather quickly.

Foreclosure 2 doors down. Asking insanely low price of $240k (for smallest home). I don't mind. Last foreclosure so close asked $300k a bit ago and sold FAST. As long as it sells fast I am happy. We don't need a row of forelcosed homes on the street. Some in the greater neighborhood have been sitting empty for YEARS. I am curious which banks own those and which ones are acting so fast. Kudos to the banks owning near MY house!

So, we'll see.

$240k is just about prices when we bought. Still $10k higher. Still have equity equity. YEah, not for long!

Also, lay offs seem to be contagious around here all of a sudden.

I don't know how it is in other regions, but Cali has been hit HARD this decade. Most of our friends and family had lay offs in 2002 with the tech bust. MANY of them had lay offs again in 2005. & of course the same people are being laid off again now (a lot of lay offs last week I guess). I mentioned before the housing bubble was not ALL about greed. I know a lot of people used their equity to get by layoff after layoff. Not sure what there plan of actions is this time. It is scary when it comes to the foreclosures. It's BAD but everyone laid off can only make it worse. Since the people who can afford their mortgages won't be able to if they are out of work for a long time.

It's pretty scary out there. Just wondering if our slice of suburbia will become a foreclosure wasteland...

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P.S. I am closing all my old credit cards and my FICO will still be over 800. How do I know? Because I always close my old credit cards (My oldest card I have only had about 3 years though I have used cards for 15+ years) and my score is just about always over 800. & if it dips down to like 790, well, I could care less. This whole fear of FICO strikes me as completely ridiculous most of the time. Fair enough if you are working on improving a low score. BUT if your score is already 780 or 800, I think you have way more important things to worry about!

What do I know? My score has mostly been 800+ for my entire adulthood.

I did obliterate my score a bit (down to 750, which is the same as 830 to most lenders BTW). Anyway, with all the balance transfers. & then I paid them off, closed the cards, and my score went right back up (to 805 as of Jan. 1).

I am not too worried about it. !

Anyway, if I read one more article or comment how I shouldn't close my old cards. Egads!!!!!

Posted in Just Thinking, Credit Card & Bank Rewards | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Back to Reality”

whitestripe Says:
January 27th, 2009 at 09:15 pm 1233090902
1233090902

bah. i couldn't care less either. but i think it's different here in australia. here they just have a record that you have applied/had a card with them.
Phenomenal Woman Says:
January 27th, 2009 at 11:08 pm 1233097697
1233097697

240K??? wow! I am just south of you by 3 hours and jealous how cheap others can buy homes for now days.
frugaltexan75 Says:
January 28th, 2009 at 01:13 am 1233105187
1233105187

All the layoffs happening right now really is scary. Today we had some representatives from Halli*burton at our company (they brought us breakfast) and I had to hold my tongue to stop from saying anything about all the people that were just laid off from their company.
monkeymama Says:
January 28th, 2009 at 03:51 am 1233114670
1233114670

2001 prices! This is a NICE house- there are plenty cheaper houses around here.

I was just saying in the forums, median house price here is 33% of Bay Area. It always has been (since we have lived here about 7 years, anyway).

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Back to Reality

4 Responses to “Back to Reality”

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