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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

Stimulus/Unemployment Update

March 21st, 2021 at 12:06 pm

Final shake out of how the latest stimulus bill benefits us in direct payments and tax savings.

Stimulus (x4):

+$5,600

First $10,200 $20,400? of unemployment will be tax free for 2020:

Tax savings 2020: +$2,200

{I edited this part because of some tax loophole in community property states. We probably get the full $20K and will save an extra $555 I was not anticipating.}

Child Tax Credit changes:

Tax savings 2021: +$1,000

$1,000 tax savings for DL (increased child tax credit)

I decided to just file taxes on time and not play the game with getting extra child credit for MM(17). The more extra income we have, the less benefit we will get from playing the game. Will opt for simplicity for over a (big maybe) few dollars.

I will check if our tax software has been updated yet for retroactive tax changes, and might just file our taxes this weekend if we can. I already did our taxes a while ago, but then they changed 2020 tax laws. (The work is done, but hadn't filed).

Unemployment extension:

+$5,000

MH just got renewed for another $5,000 of benefits.

Because of this, I think I am just going to bite the bullet and do ROTH IRA contributions for 2020. I was initially hoping they'd extend IRA due dates and that I would have more time to decide. But... lots of college news this week and I think it's safe at this point to voluntarily pay an additional $1,500 in taxes.

-$1,500

Will use $1,500 of this money to fund ROTH IRAs. Basically, swapping Traiditional IRA deductions out for tax-free unemployment.

Total unexpected monies: +$12,300

$11,300 of this should be received this year (within the next month or two).

The rest will sort out when we file taxes next year.

A lot of college stuff is shaking out and I will do a separate post for that. But it sounds like we will most likely use this money to cover college costs this year. As of today, it looks likely that we will just stick with sidebar goals, and that college won't change anything. Plan A was always to stick to inexpensive public colleges and to cash flow with current income. This plan is shaping up pretty well.

Posted in Just Thinking | 1 Comments »

1 Responses to “Stimulus/Unemployment Update”

rob62521 Says:
March 23rd, 2021 at 08:01 pm 1616529669
1616529669

Sounds like a good plan to use the money for college. That's great that Plan A seems to be working well.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Stimulus/Unemployment Update

1 Responses to “Stimulus/Unemployment Update”

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