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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

Learned Something; Controlling the Beast

June 29th, 2010 at 05:58 pm

Learned something interesting.

What do you call the @ symbol used in e-mail addresses?

http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/atsymbol.asp

There really is no name for it, but "at." So I feel like less of an idiot trying to figure out what that symbol is called.

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

For the short summer, dh signed up for a free trial of Netflix. Now that we have the internet/HD TV.

Netflix - their streaming service sounds really awesome.

We currently have Blockbuster online. The blu rays do not cost more (huge plus, to dh). Their shipping is lightning fast, we get free game rentals (in-store) and the store exchanges, and free in-store rental coupons, are uber convenient.

Oh, and dh can't stand to wait for new releases. Blockbuster makes them available immediately - Netflix has to wait a week or something? Do I have that right?

Clearly, Blockbuster is the better service. BUT they don't do streaming.

SO, I am worried dh will want BOTH. That said, he may just get a more bare bones Blockbuster subscription and the barest bones netflix one. It's probably not horrible. I suppose he could also just go back to in-person renting at BB, occasionally, if it is cheaper than a full subscription.

Though he did tell me he may want to subscribe to HBO for a few months next year. It's hard to tame the beast. You would never imagine how patient his nature is when you talk to him about stuff. He couldn't possibly wait until it came out on DVD. Rolleyes

Anyway, I can only hope the netflix sucks. Wink

But, he figured it would be good to subscribe with the kids home for the summer. For now, he is just trying it out, and we will go from there.

I will be pushing to choose just one service - of course. If it were just me - I'd probably take the streaming. I could care less about the rest.

Posted in Just Thinking | 10 Comments »

10 Responses to “Learned Something; Controlling the Beast”

creditcardfree Says:
June 29th, 2010 at 06:32 pm 1277836355
1277836355

There are some new releases on netflix, but not all are available...you might be disappointed in the selection. My kids like the streaming for some of the kids shows where they can watch 20-30 minute episodes. That part would be great for your boys.
Looking Forward Says:
June 29th, 2010 at 06:42 pm 1277836950
1277836950

Boys and their toys!
Broken Arrow Says:
June 30th, 2010 at 02:48 pm 1277909300
1277909300

Looking Forward: HEHEH!

Yes, due to limited quantities, not all Netflix titles are immediately available. Sometimes, it may take up to a week before you can get one.

Streaming is nice but.... If you're someone with a big screen and you're used watching HD content, I think you're going to be disappointed with streaming, which is more like standard 480p type video. Think YouTube or even Hulu.

I do like streaming personally. Sometimes, I just want to watch the simple stuff from the Discovery channel or History channel, and much of that older programming wasn't HD to begin with. It's very convenient.
MonkeyMama Says:
June 30th, 2010 at 05:24 pm 1277918643
1277918643

Actually, the streaming is good. Dh is particular. I don't know the details - is high quality.

That said, not sure how it plays into his BIG movie screen. For that, sure he will prefer Blu Ray. Is a big reason why he will want to combine the convenience of Netflix with sticking with Blu Ray for the movie room, probably.
MonkeyMama Says:
June 30th, 2010 at 07:53 pm 1277927596
1277927596

Actually, the streaming is good. Dh is particular. I don't know the details - is high quality - due to the TV and internet service we have. & I can vouch that it is full HD - nothing like YouTube.

That said, not sure how it plays into his BIG movie screen. For that, sure he will prefer Blu Ray. Is a big reason why he will want to combine the convenience of Netflix with sticking with Blu Ray for the movie room, probably.

I hadn't thought about it, but not sure we can play netflix on our other TV, either.
Broken Arrow Says:
July 1st, 2010 at 02:06 pm 1277993172
1277993172

Hmm, you guys must have big pipes. I'm getting only standard streaming video. But Netflix I think calculates your bandwidth before it streams the quality according to what your relative speed is.

Which makes me sad because my pipes are suppose to be pretty big too.
MonkeyMama Says:
July 1st, 2010 at 03:22 pm 1277997749
1277997749

We got FIOS. Doesn't really matter for everyday internet, as we've discussed, but dh does a lot of video streaming and uploading, etc. I should have foreseen where that was going.
frugaltexan75 Says:
July 2nd, 2010 at 12:26 am 1278030407
1278030407

I have the cheapest Netflix plan (on hold currently) $4.99/mo ($5.07 after tax). I'd have to up to the next level plan in order to get streaming via Wii, etc.. If I did that, I'd lose the ability to do the $4.99/mo plan (grandfathered in I think.) I can watch up to two movies a month streamed on my computer, and love it (well, while my subscription was active.)

I bet you're going to end up with both.
Broken Arrow Says:
July 2nd, 2010 at 12:58 am 1278032282
1278032282

Oh that explains it. I have DSL, and it's pretty fast... for DSL. But it's still no match for FIOS. In fact, I just checked real quick, and it can get as much as 6x the speed of my DSL. Yikes!

By the way, did you change the color scheme again? Not bad!
MonkeyMama Says:
July 2nd, 2010 at 03:37 pm 1278085034
1278085034

Yes. I think dh is in the, "It's ONLY $9.99" stage. At face value, is a steal, but he just talked me into Surewest FIOS, recently, which isn't exactly cheap. The free trial is nice though, to see if it is really that great.

We probably can't get a cheaper BB plan because we are grandfathered there, too. But, we will figure something out. Might make sense to do their cheapest plan, for the occassional new release. OR so dh could always have one Blu Ray on hand. We don't have the cheapest plan - we could probably live without some of the extra we pay for now.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Learned Something; Controlling the Beast

10 Responses to “Learned Something; Controlling the Beast”

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