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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

This & That

September 28th, 2011 at 08:58 pm

Why Emergency Funds can Provide the Best Return on Investments

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/why-emergency-funds-can-provide-t...

Amen to this! Very good article.

Unfortunately, the benefits of keeping cash are rarely spoken about. Particularly in this type economy (with abysmal interest rates). This just kind of puts my own feelings into some very good words.

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Nothing much to report on the cable transition. All that really matters is that dh is content - he is the cable lover in our house. Time will tell...

Anyway, as my initial feeling was, I didn't think I'd really care less one way or another. So, I'm maybe watching different shows (some), but other than that, nothing much to report. Streaming everything to the TVs (roku). Using a different remote control. Desperate Housewives has been waiting for me on Hulu (since Monday morning). Monday night we purchased and watched an AMC show that aired Sunday. (Thanks Amazon)! I think TV habits will remain pretty much unchanged in our house. Just WAY cheaper in the end. It's kind of like just switching cable providers, for me. (Dh is more proactive in getting the shows on Hulu, buying them on Amazon, etc. For me it kind of all magically appears. Big Grin

)

It's only in the last few months that the technology is there - let's hope it stays this way for a while. I think we prefer that "buy what we want" style versus "pay a bajillion dollars for a bunch of stuff we don't want and a few things we do want." I hope that is the way all this trends for the log run.

I'd be totally content with Netflix streaming, honestly. But I am not the only one in the house.

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I am pretty much in vacation mode. Wrapping up some big deadline stuff at work. BUT, going to San Francisco tomorrow all day, and vacation soon after that. So, eh. Just trying to get things done, and looking forward to a pretty non-work week and a half or so.

It's funny because seems like lots of kids will be going to Disneyland on break. The kids got these BRIGHT orange spirit shirts at school this year. It's usually blue or green. Lord knows why bright orange (did they get a deal on the color)? Anyway, I told the kids to pack their shirts so maybe they could find some of their friends. Plus, harder to get lost when wearing bright orange? Win-win?

We live so close to Disneyland (5 hour drive?) it's not really a big deal thing. It's more of a decent weekend trip most the time. For us. What we will be hearing from the other families? (OR what we usually hear, anyway)? You DROVE? You drove in the COMPACT CAR? You only went to Disney ONE DAY? You are not staying at a DISNEY hotel? But, with the economy and all, I am kind of curious if that will be the same story. I am actually surprised so many people are going.

Anyway, if the kids were 6 feet tall (& they probably will be soon enough) I could see the compact car might be torturous, but since they take up absolutely no room in the car - whatever. We've done it before and we will do it again. The car gets almost 40mpg - of course we take that one on big drives. Maybe what they are really thinking is, "You are driving that OLD thing?"

Sometimes just feels like we are from another planet, is all!

But yeah, stopping at Disney was kind of a last minute decision - it is not the focus of our trip. So, this is by far the most slimmed down DISNEY trip we have done with the kids. I don't know if it matters - all the comments I mentioned above were in reference to more grand Disney trips than this one.

Posted in Just Thinking | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “This & That”

baselle Says:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:09 am 1317254974
1317254974

Amen to the emergency fund. The other intangible is that with an emergency fund, one can stand a little bit taller, maybe not take as much blankey-blank from your job. Its not much perhaps, but if you have nothing saved in reserve, the powers that be really sense it.
MonkeyMama Says:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:16 am 1317255374
1317255374

@Baselle - that is exactly one thing I Was thinking about. Well, I Was thinking simply that it's easier to walk away from a job, knowing you can survive several months without it. One thing I have never felt is *Stuck.*

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This & That

2 Responses to “This & That”

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