About Me

Monkey Mama

Just a 42-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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**Ting Referral Code**
https://z181d126bt4.ting.com
$25 off for you & $25 credit for me

In 2017 we are adding both our kids to our cell plan. This will add a whole $12 to our monthly cell bill, which was only $30/month for the two of us. Thank You TING!

BTW, Ting did also lower their rates, if you haven't checked the numbers recently.

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2019 Goals

**Financial**

[ ]$12,000 to IRAs 2019 (MAX)
...($0 @ 1/1/19)
...Not entirely sure how we will fund this. Because my salary decreased by $12,000 this year, this was the obvious thing to give. It will have to come from gifts, MH's income, my bonuses, and/or shifting money from taxable investments. Funding our IRAs is always our first priority, but just will not be funded from my salary.
NOTE: For 2019, ended up funding with second job.

[ ]$7,000 to savings
...($6,930 @ 5/31/19)
...$550/month, plus interest.
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$1,500 to investments
...($874 @ 5/31/19)
...Funded with snowflakes

[X]9% of my full-time income to work retirement plan
...This is the minimum for the match; I'd otherwise rather fund IRAs.
Note: Maxing out IRAs is additional 15% to retirement. This is very deja vu to lower income years. The last time we saved 20%+ to retirement was during our lowest income years. This is due to substantial tax savings and employer contributions (how I am funding the 9%). Plus, if we max out IRAs regardless, it's a bigger percentage of a smaller income.

Goal savings rate = 20% of gross salary, plus funding IRAs from other sources

STRETCH GOAL:

[ ]$6,000 to mortgage
...($0 @ 01/01/19)
...$3k per year to pay off in 20 years (from last refi); also ensures that we pay more principal than interest
...In years past I had funded with OT, but am no longer working at a job with OT. This is a placeholder because we skipped 2018. If we have a windfall of any sort, I'd like to pay down $3,000 for 2018 and $3,000 for 2019. For now, this is our lowest financial priority (expect to fund some home improvements instead during 2019, and tend to other expensive cash flow items first).

In addition, we save 100% of MH's (net) income ~ most goes to 401k/taxes.

--Note to self: Utilize library museum freebies

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**Long-Term Goals**

Current big picture goal:

$500,000 in retirement accounts by age 45.

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: $150,000 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
TOTAL: +$121,000

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

Credit Card Statements

June 19th, 2013 at 07:18 am

I don't particularly look at my credit card statements, because I download everything. So basically, I find statements to be rather useless in this day and age, and for my own purposes.

So these newer disclosures kind of trip me up when I see them:

O.M.G. The balance on this card was about $1,425. (Minimum payment of $25?)

Well, at least my month of Target groceries could be paid off in 5 months. Doesn't sound so bad in comparison.

I tried to look at my CU Visa credit card and I could not access them. I wonder if I have *ever* looked at them???

For reference, I have always carried credit cards for rewards and convenience. I have never in my life charged a penny that I didn't already have the cash to cover. So, these balances are all paid off each and every month. The idea of taking 12 years to pay off one month of expenses makes my skin crawl.

Posted in Just Thinking | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Credit Card Statements”

creditcardfree Says:
June 19th, 2013 at 08:14 am

I agree! I remember when these disclosures first came out, my friend was actually thrilled to see the math and see when she would be done paying on the card. She didn't care a whip about the interest she was paying. I think she was still using the card...thus the date wasn't going to stay the same! My hope is that some people actually see that disclosure and it motivates them to stop using the card and pay MORE than the minimum.
Chy Says:
June 19th, 2013 at 08:49 am

We recently had a statement that said at the bottom it would take 47 years and 8 months to pay off the balance if we only made the minimum payments! We also only charge what we have, so we have never, in 32 years ever paid a dime of interest. That particular month was very high because we had a film shoot and all the rentals, catering, wardrobes, etc. we charged. The day the invoice came in with payment, we took it to the bank and paid it off before we even got the statement in hand. It didn't lay out the interest just the time factor. Scary!
monkeymama Says:
June 19th, 2013 at 09:02 am

@Chy - O.M.G. !!!
Xtreme Thunder Says:
June 19th, 2013 at 10:35 am

I just got my card statement recently as well and only had a $25 balance and the minimum due was $10 and total payoff time was 3 months paying just the minimum!
elle Says:
June 19th, 2013 at 07:40 pm

I've never looked at these before (also pay off cards each month) but next month I'm going to!
frugaltexan75 Says:
June 26th, 2013 at 01:25 pm

I look at my online statements from time to time just to see what the current interest rate is, and have seen those disclosures. It's pretty scary to think how long it could take to pay small amounts off with just minimum payments.

Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Credit Card Statements

6 Responses to “Credit Card Statements”

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