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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.

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

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."}

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

My Pages

Feeling Blessed & SA Meetup!

December 25th, 2010 at 02:34 am

Feeling extra blessed this year. IT's just been a very pleasant holiday.

At work I got some divine isotoner gloves in the gift exchange. From clients? Homemade fudge and a $50 gift card!!!! Never gotten anything like that before. What a nice surprise! The boss actually gave us really nice work bags (very functional). & the usual bonus. Woohoo!

Just got home from Christmas with dh's family. It was more muted than usual. BUT, MIL always seems to bring more gifts Christmas day, so lord knows what she will bring up tomorrow! I got some clothing that I picked out, we all got tennis rackets, and I also got some new carry-on luggage. Some calendars. I think mostly stuff I asked for. We didn't get the roku box, but dh thinks we are getting that for his birthday. Will see. If not, we may use the Amazon gift certificate for that.

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Before the gift extravaganza, the kids and I got to meet up with an SA'er. FrugalTexan (Laura) !!! She was very sweet and we had nice meet up at the zoo. It was just kind of a frugal/neutral place to meet up. Was able to squeeze in a couple of hours. IT was our first SA meetup for the both of us.

She was visiting relatives in San Jose, where most of our family lives.

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We just got home and found our front door was piled up with cookies and cards. Feeling very loved this holiday season!

We probably get a few things throughout the week, usually, but just never seen it all piled up at the front door like that.

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My eggs hatched and I can cash flow that $3k ROTH contribution. That was my goal for the year, and I had intended to fund that with my tax refund. So, made the goal a little earlier than expected. Woohoo!

I was feeling hesitant towards the end of the year thinking I may need the cash for medical bills, etc. But, since I am also getting a decent tax refund, I will just transfer $3k into the ROTHs next week. Christmas cash of $1250 will help fund that. I scrounged $750 since I was able to start paying our health insurance with my credit card this month (& thus skipped the payment from the checkbook this month). The last $1k comes from my paycheck 12/31. I have been saving $1k per month to cash. That's the last big push. Next year will focus more to retirement than cash.

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The initial report on the neighborhood fire was "very minimal damage."

BUT, today I heard that the family was staying at a hotel for 3 months (estimated) while the damage is fixed. Wow! We may have $50 - $100 left at the end of the month (got $100 from my mom yesterday, too). I think we will just send it to the family. The neighbors put together a nice haul for their Christmas (their presents were destroyed in the fire), but I can't help but think they may be worried about shelter more than gifts. I think I would be! Will see if there is anything we can do to help.

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Tonight we have our own Christmas traditions, and tomorrow we will spend a nice day with our folks, at home. The fridge is filled with take and bake pizzas. We keep it very low key!

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To my SA family - Happy Holidays!

Posted in Just Thinking | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Feeling Blessed & SA Meetup!”

boomeyers Says:
December 25th, 2010 at 04:00 am 1293249621
1293249621

That is so awesome you and Laura got to meet up! How lucky for you! Merry Christmas!! :-)
Ima saver Says:
December 25th, 2010 at 08:33 pm 1293309231
1293309231

Merry Christmas!
nmboone Says:
December 26th, 2010 at 12:42 am 1293324159
1293324159

That's so cool that ya'll got to meet up! It would be nice to meet all of my fellow SA'ers.
baselle Says:
December 26th, 2010 at 02:07 am 1293329229
1293329229

Merry Christmas to both you and Laura! My one F2F with an SAer was meaningful too.
Looking Forward Says:
December 26th, 2010 at 11:52 pm 1293407529
1293407529

So cool you and FT got to meet!

Nice tree too.
frugaltexan75 Says:
December 28th, 2010 at 07:44 am 1293522258
1293522258

It was great meeting you in person. You are sweet too and I just loved your kids - so full of energy!

I haven't kept up on the blogs, but tomorrow is our trip to
Hearst castle, so I plan to catch up then. Sorry to hear about the fire in your neighborhood.
terri77 Says:
December 31st, 2010 at 06:58 pm 1293821883
1293821883

Sounds like you had a great Christmas. Happy New Year!

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Feeling Blessed & SA Meetup!

7 Responses to “Feeling Blessed & SA Meetup!”

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