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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. 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.

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
...($230 @ 8/31/24)
...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
MM YEAR 5

DL YEAR 1 ✔
DL YEAR 2 ✔
DL YEAR 3

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...($7,749 @ 10/31/24)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$7,500 to investments
...($4,786 @ 10/31/24)
...~~$350~~ $400/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs
...Note: Bumped up to $400 9/1, re: reduced food expenses

[ ]$2,025 to mortgage
...($0 @ 10/31/24)
...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% @ 10/31/24)
...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 @ 10/31/24)
...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>
2023: +$ 90,000
TOTAL: +$570,000

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

Something About October

August 31st, 2012 at 03:14 pm

It seems the stars have aligned in October. It will be a totally insane month. We already turned down an invite to Vegas and to a couple of concerts. At this rate, 20 more enticing events will show up the first week of October. It's been bizarre.

Anyway, I was just thinking about it because we purchased concert tickets. One of our favorite artists is doing a "living room tour." We offered to host. I figured it probably wasn't the best idea (inviting 30 strangers to our house) - but what are the odds we would picked anyway? [& if we were picked, what an awesome experience!!] Not picked (city not picked), but we decided to go to the San Francisco show. We are bringing 10+ people - not sure how many people will fit. I don't know if this is literally San Francisco, or more suburb-y. This artist is popular among our family and friends. This sets the bar pretty high for the kids' "first concert."

The same weekend is also the combot robot wars - which I put on the calendar ages ago so that we would not forget.

What's neat is that these are both going to be WAY COOL experiences, but due to lack of popularity, neither event is terribly expensive.

Of course, we are going to another concert in October, AND going to Florida. Yeesh! Busy Busy Busy. Couldn't all this fun stuff be spread out a little more? Big Grin

In the meantime, I think we are going for "super low-key no spend" in the month of September. Maybe a little less for financial reasons and more because October will be a bit of overload. I think we should therefore be pretty content for a very low-key September.

Posted in Just Thinking | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Something About October”

rob62521 Says:
August 31st, 2012 at 11:43 pm 1346453015
1346453015

Well, you won't be able to complain that your life is boring, right? :-)
Homebody Says:
September 2nd, 2012 at 10:37 pm 1346621853
1346621853

Life is always busy when raising kids! Enjoy every minute, it is over too soon!
Monkey Mama Says:
September 3rd, 2012 at 05:34 am 1346646863
1346646863

Maybe, but none of this stuff is particularly kid-centric. I'd be doing it all anyway.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Something About October

3 Responses to “Something About October”

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