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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.

-------------------------------

**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."}

-------------------------------

My Pages

2015 Rewards Update (Ummm... Bought a CAR with Rewards!)

November 7th, 2015 at 01:44 pm

2015 TALLY:

$525 Gift Cards (Citi, dh)
$300 Cash (Chase checking reward, dh)
$200 Cash (AmEx Card Everyday, Moi)
$200 Cash (Barclay card, dh)
-----------
$1,225 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

Other Rewards:

**Free Prime For One Year

**$40 cash back (Amex Reward for spending $40 at Amazon)

**$85 Citi Price Rewind

Ongoing rewards (projected through 12/31):

+$200 deposit to ROTH (Fidelity Am Ex - 2% cash back; health insurance charged to this card)

+$300 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/3% fuel)

+$100 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)

+$40 Visa Rewards (3% back at restaurants)

+$525 Citi 2% card (2% back everywhere)

Grand Total = $2,515

Year 2011 = $4,164
Year 2012 = $2,782
Year 2013 = $2,623
Year 2014 = $3,128
Year 2015 = $2,515

Total 5 Years = $15,212
***Mostly Tax-Free Income***

***CAVEAT - I absolutely do not recommend utilizing credit card rewards in this manner, unless you are in full control of your credit card spending.***

-----------------------------------------------------

We have utilized credit card rewards for decades. It's only in the past 5 years I have been tracking them so closely in my blog because they started to get so substantial.

This year started out kind of slow and I Wasn't expecting much for this year. But as the rewards started to pile in for the last quarter of the year, I decided to do a tally.

& I realized, WE BOUGHT A CAR WITH CREDIT CARD REWARDS. Seriously! The $15,197 we amassed the passed 5 years was more than enough to pay for our most recent car purchase.

WOW!!

That said, I can not stress the CAVEAT part of this post enough. We personally have extreme fear of debt and have never paid a cent to a credit card company (no interest or late payments or carrying balances or whatever). I know not one penny of that $15,197 went back to the credit card companies in the form of any kind of interest or fees. The bulk of what I charge up for rewards is our health insurance (a bill we obviously are going to be paying regardless). Also, groceries and utilities. We charge up the fun stuff too, because we charge up everything, but I've never justified a splurge for a credit card reward. That would defeat the whole purpose.

If you are going to end up paying one single cent to the credit card companies, or can't treat your credit card like simply like it's an ATM card, then I would never recommend going for these kinds of rewards.

On the flip side, if you avoid debt like the plague and you have the personality for it, it's really not that big of a deal. You know, in response the DR mentality that it's impossible to win with credit cards. To that, I say: I got a FREE CAR! Big Grin

P.S. On average I'd say the earning power on these rewards is about $1,000 per hour of time and energy. This is the most efficient income stream that we have, by a mile. Least effort/most reward.

Posted in Living on One-Income, Credit Card & Bank Rewards | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “2015 Rewards Update (Ummm... Bought a CAR with Rewards!)”

Ima saver Says:
November 7th, 2015 at 03:10 pm 1446909050
1446909050

I agree with you completely. I pay off my credit cards in full as soon as I get them, and never pay one penny of interest.
I am just starting to track the rewards that I get also.
Last month, I got $38 from citi card, $143 from Chase rewards card and last week, $248 from my new Barclay credit card. That is $429 in just over a month.
I charge things like my car insurances, electric bill and all my husband's home depot building supplies purchases.
Joan,of.the.Arch Says:
November 7th, 2015 at 04:34 pm 1446914055
1446914055

!!Zowie!! Some of our billers tag on a 3-6% fee for CC payments, but if we could time something like real estate tax with a super one-time reward, it could come out in our favor. We do auto, home, and earthquake on CC without a fee. Health insurance, our biggest bill, has to be directly deducted from our bank to coordinate it with the group plan. Foo. We are just in such a low spend part of life that I don't know if we could meet the spending requirements on those juiciest reward offers. But, yeah, I need to look again. We only do one every now and then.
MonkeyMama Says:
November 7th, 2015 at 04:46 pm 1446914769
1446914769

@Joan - our health insurance is more than our California mortgage. So I know that gives us an edge on the credit card rewards, to have those big bills to charge. & our grocery bill these days with almost teens... Yeesh! But I suppose these rewards help take the sting out of some of our BIG bills.

We can't charge our mortgage, property taxes, income taxes (any government payments), gas for home, or payments to out gardener, and my life insurance and disability insurance. We charge absolutely everything else. (The government will take cc payments, but charge for the privelege). Our city and county utilities do all take credit card payments though, as does our DMV, with no charge. I keep checking our giant private gas company because I have no idea why on earth they don't accept cc payments. That is one of our smallest bills, but it would just make my life easier if they would get with the times. I understand why individuals and the government are slower to accept the merchant fees.
Livingalmostlarge Says:
November 7th, 2015 at 06:11 pm 1446919916
1446919916

Sounds good to me. I believe we are in the same boat. I think I've tracked some of it. We are definitely on the high end of usage.
creditcardfree Says:
November 7th, 2015 at 06:38 pm 1446921522
1446921522

Nice! I guess I'm not too surprised as we were at $5200 in various rewards last year. This year we have opened far fewer credit cards thus we are only at $2200. And some of those rewards I don't track...such as Target. Although just checked a Target receipt that says we have saved $250 for 2015.

Thanks for sharing!!
FrugalTexan75 Says:
November 7th, 2015 at 07:36 pm 1446925014
1446925014

Pretty good!
VS_ozgirl Says:
November 8th, 2015 at 02:55 am 1446951354
1446951354

Your credit card reward dollars earned definitely had a purpose!
scfr Says:
November 8th, 2015 at 01:32 pm 1446989575
1446989575

N-I-C-E!

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

2015 Rewards Update (Ummm... Bought a CAR with Rewards!)

8 Responses to “2015 Rewards Update (Ummm... Bought a CAR with Rewards!)”

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