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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. We've always saved 100% of MH's income, but we are starting to dial that down a bit in 2023-2024.

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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2025 Goals

[ ]Small monthly Charitable Contribution
...($115 @ 2/28/25)
...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
DL YEAR 4

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...($2,156 @ 2/28/25)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$5,000 to investments
**STRETCH GOAL $7,500**
...($700 @ 2/28/25)
...$300/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$1,700 to mortgage
...($0 @ 2/28/25)
...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% @ 2/28/25)
...This is the minimum for the match; I'd otherwise rather fund IRAs.

Goal savings rate = 25% of gross salary, plus funding IRAs from other sources.

[ ]$6,000 to IRAs 2024
**STRETCH GOAL $14,000 (MAX)**
...($0 @ 2/28/25)
...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 2025 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: $75,000 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
2024: +$95,000
TOTAL: +$665,000

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

July!

July 2nd, 2010 at 12:05 am

Hard to believe it is July already!

In July we celebrate both our kids' birthdays. It also marks 15 years since I began dating my dh.

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**Birthday party RSVPs up to 15. Mind you, we invited about 50 kids and hoped for about 15. Phew... About 10 more days, but I can live with that. We can squeak in 25 if we pay "per child" over 15. Seems best, since I know people won't show. There are always the flakes... Crossing my fingers that 15-20 is the magic number that shows up. Any more will cost a big premium.

**LM's graduation was a bit over the top. Ah, but it was SO CUTE!

I never much got into the whole thing. I don't think any one of us did. We all missed Ms. Preschool WAY too much. She was one in a million. I suppose all of our hearts were too broken to dive in head first into this new preschool. The hours were weird so I was the most removed. I never much went to the preschool. LM attended for 18 months.

People all talk about this preschool in about the same esteem as the old one. But, we feel rather "eh" about it. We will probably feel the same letdown when BM finishes with his current grade school teacher. It's hard to go up from the BEST - they have been so blessed. If this had been our only preschool, I am sure we would be in love.

SO, last night was quite an event. The sang a lot of songs, showed off their preschool learned skills (some we didn't know he had learned???). They did quite a production, ending in gown wearing and "diploma" handing. The kind of thing I'd probably roll my eyes at, but we all had fun, so we just went with the flow. LM, in particular. He could have easily been a sour puss, but he was so excited to stand on the stage with his girlfirend for the evening. (Phew!)

His teacher had like 20 graduating kids, and made them each these big, huge scrapbooks. Holy cow. (She actually did 2 ceremonies - so the one we went to had about 10 kids).

I think I made a good call. Out of nowhere, I just had the urge to get flowers. I know a lot of teachers, and they usually just give away their abundance of never-ending gifts. Gift cards and cash get boring after a while. So, flowers popped into my head. Something to enjoy but "disposable," all the same. The flowers went over very well.

& so ends a chapter...

Posted in Just Thinking | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “July!”

frugaltexan75 Says:
July 2nd, 2010 at 01:03 am 1278029026
1278029026

Yep, flowers are very nice. I still remember the flower I got from the little boy who was a major handful for my birthday. Still have it in fact (dried it.)
baselle Says:
July 2nd, 2010 at 03:59 am 1278039593
1278039593

Girlfriend????? Kids today. They age so fast!
MonkeyMama Says:
July 2nd, 2010 at 03:38 pm 1278081517
1278081517

Yes, LM is my little casanova. He is very lovey dovey with this girl (holding hands/hugs), but he's got 2 other girls that he really adores. He's like a babe magnet - not sure what it is.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

July!

3 Responses to “July!”

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