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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.

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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

Vacation Priorities

May 29th, 2009 at 11:31 pm

Well, I am not totally crazy. I am NOT a big vacation person, overall, because usually vacation is expensive. I am not a fan of spending a lot of money on a fleeting experience. I've said it many times, and I stand by it.

That being said, these low vacation prices are enticing.

I am a little more enticed by this Florida thing now because the airfare is so extremely reasonable (cheap).

I still REALLY want to go to Hawaii, but the discount just isn't really there. We are looking at airfare more expensive than the last time we went. I just heard a report the other day that Hawaiian hotels were offering more amenities, like use of a Wii for a week, or complimentary coffee. Sorry, that ain't going to do it for me! LOL. Regardless, we have a free room anyway. But yeah, we need more than that. They said hotels were resistant to lowering rates because it would be harder to raise them again. Fair enough, but it's just not going to sell people like us.

The Alaskan cruise post reminded me though, I have been seeing some insane deals on Alaskan cruises. I guess that's another industry that has been pretty hard hit. I was looking into it recently. (More on a whim than anything). We could drive up to Washington and set sail from there. The expensive part for us is we literally have no warm clothes. Wink

So basically, as much as I would love to go to HAwaii, we may end up doing Florida, Colorado and Alaska instead. What the heck. Big Grin

Well, we need to prioritize. But with deals like these, places like Florida and Alaska make take priority in our near future vacation plans. Which were simply "no plans" before... We really had no near term vacation plans before - but to vacation in state, go camping, do some 3-day weekends and staycations, etc. The thing is we can go to Florida or Alaska on our existing bare bones vacation budget. Well, I am in then!

I guess that's the other thing - it's not that I never want to go on vacation. I am just good with something exciting once every few years. That's plenty for me. Alaska Cruise is on our "short list" of things we would like to do, eventually, some day. The time has maybe arrived sooner than expected.

We may have to resort to drawing vacation destinations out of a hat though. Too much to decide!

Posted in Just Thinking | 1 Comments »

1 Responses to “Vacation Priorities”

broken arrow Says:
May 30th, 2009 at 05:46 am 1243662409
1243662409

Not really related, but when I saw this article, I thought of your hubby.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/maximum_tv

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Vacation Priorities

1 Responses to “Vacation Priorities”

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