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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

Raise & Budget

January 16th, 2012 at 09:07 pm

Phew!

Got another $1000 raise - now I can work on budget now that I know the income side.

{Side note: Really interesting talk with boss. He told me I am the only one in office to get a raise the last couple of years. Of course he said before raise would be bigger if economy didn't suck. But today he told me this tidbit and that it's "coming out of his own pocket, but he doesn't care." So I was kind of surprised by that, but very pleased. To be fair, most everyone else in the office is MUCH older and paid much more. But I think it kind of explains one reason everyone seems so tight with money lately - even all the ultra conservative accountants. I think they were getting accustomed to the big raises of the last decade, and buying things assuming more raises. How it seems. It's not like I identify how hard it must be to *only have a $200k income* - their spouses work good jobs and all that. But it never occured to me everyone else had a salary freeze over the course of the last couple of years. It at least explains a little}.

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As to the budget:

Health insurance went up $73/month and raise is $83/month. With taxes though, I am a little bit behind. But the *phew* is for getting another raise to cover health insurance increases. I Certainly was not counting on it.

This means I can continue to save:

$750/month to ROTH (about 12% income)**
$400/month to savings
$150/month payroll tax holiday to mortgage or savings

**Between this and credit card rewards, is $9500 per year. Last $500 per year will come from overtime. The only reason I am putting so much away at this point is that we dropped cable. I just bumped it up from $650 to $750/month when we dropped cable.

I am still waiting to finalize refi to revise numbers for new mortgage. The plan on that is to pay more principal than interest, from the start. So I may pay an additional $50/month (over current payment) to do so. Though I am not sure where that $50 will come from. Maybe will just have to do the "more principal than interest" thing on an annual basis. Or just deposit $600 when I get my overtime bonus ($50 x 12).

I'll post the numbers later - I have my little budget excel sheet.

Posted in Just Thinking, Budgeting & Goals | 9 Comments »

9 Responses to “Raise & Budget”

Petunia 100 Says:
January 16th, 2012 at 09:31 pm 1326749506
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Do you mean "$750/month to Roths"?

Congrats on the raise!
creditcardfree Says:
January 16th, 2012 at 09:44 pm 1326750271
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Congrats on the raise!!
MonkeyMama Says:
January 16th, 2012 at 09:51 pm 1326750676
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@Petunia - you read my mind. Thanks!
Jolie Says:
January 16th, 2012 at 10:42 pm 1326753754
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$1000 a month raise???? Wow:-)
MonkeyMama Says:
January 16th, 2012 at 10:49 pm 1326754161
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@Jolie - That's $1000 per year.
LuckyRobin Says:
January 16th, 2012 at 10:56 pm 1326754594
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I'm glad you got the raise and that it will make the rise in medical insurance doable.
Jolie Says:
January 16th, 2012 at 11:07 pm 1326755230
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Ohhhhhh :-)

$1000 for the year is great!

Congrats.
frugaltexan75 Says:
January 17th, 2012 at 01:12 am 1326762750
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Nice raise
Looking Forward Says:
January 17th, 2012 at 06:10 pm 1326823856
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Any raise in pay is great!

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Raise & Budget

9 Responses to “Raise & Budget”

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