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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

Checking In

August 24th, 2021 at 01:25 pm

I posted recently that we had a dramatic week. It's only gotten worse from there. Ugh...

A lot of mini dramas. But the large drama is one of the big fires in our state. I expected last Tuesday night that our family cabin was long gone. The cabin still stands because... The wind has been blowing (for a whole week) in the opposite direction. Of course, now it is looking like it will be a miracle if either the cabin or our family camp site survives. Camp is about 30 miles away, but the fire is raging in that direction and getting very close. I never in a million years imagined a fire so big/fast that would knock out both at the same time. 😱

I looked it up, the last big fire that threatened our cabin lasted for a month. It seemed to drag on forever. I don't expect to have any finality to this situation for a very long time.

Oh yes, and the miracle did not happen, MH's movie shoot got postponed indefinitely. His filming locations are all under threat of fire. That's a super bummer and a huge blow to MH, but a small loss in the grand scheme of things.

This is not the stuff I want to blog about, but I did want to touch on. I just wanted to dive back into the minutiae and try to get back into blogging.

Had some new dramas after starting this post, so I think I will just stop here and work on a new blog post. I will update on fires when I have anything to update.

Posted in Just Thinking | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Checking In”

rob62521 Says:
August 24th, 2021 at 03:06 pm 1629817600
1629817600

Hope things settle down for you.
CB in the City Says:
August 24th, 2021 at 03:07 pm 1629817620
1629817620

I'm so sorry! I hope the cabin survives! My nephew's house was right on the fire line when the Ashland, Oregon fire was raging last year, but the wind blew the other way and the house survived. I hope that will be the case with you, too.
Wink Says:
August 24th, 2021 at 04:25 pm 1629822335
1629822335

I'm sorry MM. Hang in there! (((Hugs)))
VS_ozgirl Says:
August 24th, 2021 at 11:36 pm 1629848201
1629848201

So sorry to hear about the fires in your area and hope that the cabin withstands the fires! With DH’s movie could it be better to postpone until your fall season to be safe?
MonkeyMama Says:
August 25th, 2021 at 01:05 am 1629853556
1629853556

@VS, unfortunately Fall is the worst of fire season. & then there is also COVID. Both COVID and the fires postponed filming. Both are on a trajectory to just keep getting worse.
disneysteve Says:
August 25th, 2021 at 09:50 pm 1629928206
1629928206

So sorry to hear about all of that. The fires have been catastrophic for so many.
terri77 Says:
August 26th, 2021 at 07:05 am 1629961513
1629961513

I really hope both manage to survive the fires. So sorry you’re going through these troubles.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Checking In

7 Responses to “Checking In”

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