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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."}

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My Pages

Google Wallet

September 28th, 2012 at 07:33 pm

When we got our new phones, one of the perks was getting a free $50 balance on google wallet. Woohoo!

*Woohoo,* except it has *never* actually worked. Rolleyes

So yesterday I was talking to my mom and she mentioned how my dad liked to pay things with his phone. I said, "Really? Is he using google wallet?" Yes, he was. "Where the heck did it even work?"

CVS!

So dh and I have a mid-day CVS date. HA! I told him I would gladly help spend that money. I have no idea on what.

I am trying not to get too excited because odds are it will not work. My mom was kind of like, "Gee - I wouldn't give up on a free $50 like that!" I was like, "you don't even know." You don't even know how many stored we tried. & then it's frustrating because you planned things around the "free" purchase but maybe you needed it anyway and didn't want to not just pay for the stuff and move on. A lot of the places are food places. Dh went to a food place and it didn't work. But you still want to pay for the food. On and on and on. Which as why at some point we just gave up.

I know the whole point of the free stuff is to get you to like it and use it - but this is something that has really backfired.

Oh, and apparently dh's balance expires like next week - so it's use it or lose it time! Glad I had that random conversation. Big Grin

Posted in Just Thinking | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Google Wallet”

Looking Forward Says:
September 28th, 2012 at 08:30 pm 1348864252
1348864252

Crossing my fingers for you!!

On a somewhat unrealated topic - my phone came with a bunch of free storage space at Dropbox. I have been wondering which "Cloud" storage site you guys were using? Has your DH heard if Dropbox is any good?
FrugalTexan75 Says:
September 28th, 2012 at 11:09 pm 1348873768
1348873768

I'll vouch for Dropbox. I've used it for several years with no problems. Other "cloud" services I've used include box . net and ummm another one can't remember right now.
--
MM - Hope the CVS trip does the trick!
Monkey Mama Says:
September 28th, 2012 at 11:28 pm 1348874901
1348874901

I believe we use IDrive. (I just looked up the bill and it is ProSoft - which seems to be IDrive).

We tried another service - I don't remember which one - but it didn't work well with our set up. Of course, we pay for the backup because my dh has so much music and movies and all that jazz he wants to back up (personal video stuff). I'd just google a bit for reviews - there are plenty of free services that I have heard good things about.

Idrive is free for 5GB - I highly recommend that one - has worked very well for us.

I'll ask the dh about DropBox.
Looking Forward Says:
September 30th, 2012 at 01:22 am 1348968143
1348968143

Thanks ladies.
MonkeyMama Says:
October 2nd, 2012 at 12:40 pm 1349181623
1349181623

Dh says dropbox is probably fine. Not a lot of space and not as secure as others.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Google Wallet

5 Responses to “Google Wallet”

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