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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
...($6,653 @ 4/30/24)
...$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% @ 4/30/24)
...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.

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

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

Storm Aftermath

January 18th, 2023 at 01:19 am

I think that the storms are over. The reward was this sunset.

I was sad to see that this plant had toppled over.

(Picture is from summer 2021)

Between all the storms, and also having a class (online) Weds/Thurs, I didn't venture out until my dentist appointment on Friday. I left our newer neighborhood 'small tree' bubble. I was driving on a road that had a large park on one side and an older neighborhood on the right side. O.M.G. It just looked like such a disaster zone. Tree limbs and tree stumps and cut up trees just filled yards and lined up streets. The park had a lot of fallen trees that were clearly low priority because they weren't blocking roads. & I mean, I just drove by and saw a small glimpse of a very large park. This was 6 days after the big wind storm. There's still a lot of work to do.

I saw an estimation that 1,000+ trees fell in the city.

Saturday we had a big rain deluge. It didn't last long but caused a lot of street flooding. I am grateful it was short.

On New Year's I heard that was the biggest storm in 30 years, or during the time we have lived here. That just feels like "nothing" at this point, after all these mega storms the last couple of weeks.

Now it's on to sunny skies. Phew!

Note: Still storms elsewhere and a lot of snow expected in the mountains. But it sounds like the last storm or two will pass us by.

Posted in Picture Project | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Storm Aftermath”

Wink Says:
January 19th, 2023 at 01:28 am 1674091712
1674091712

Glad you made it through ok. That is a beautiful sunset!
CB in the City Says:
January 19th, 2023 at 09:08 pm 1674162504
1674162504

Sounds just terrible. I'm glad it's over!
LuckyRobin Says:
January 20th, 2023 at 08:20 am 1674202855
1674202855

We had a bad year like that. It started with a massive snow storm, followed by a silver thaw, followed by massive flooding, followed by wind storm, after windstorm, after windstorm, etc., etc., ad nauseum. The estimate was that the city lost 1/3 of its trees and the county close to that. You can still see the stumps after 33 years, but a lot of them became nursery trees. You can still see scaring on some of the big, old trees that lost limbs or missing patches halfway up on some trees that are beautifully filled out above and below. My kids used to ask about those when they were little and we would tell them the story of the winter that left so much visible damage on the trees in the park they love most.
LuckyRobin Says:
January 20th, 2023 at 08:40 am 1674204047
1674204047

I forgot to say that is a gorgeous sunset. I love the layer after layer of colors and then the reflection in the water is lovely. I am sorry about the plant, whether it was yours or just one you drive by often. It was pretty and it seems unreasonably sad when we lose things like that from the landscape, but it really isn't. Losing a unique plant is like losing a landmark. It kind of upsets your equilibrium.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Storm Aftermath

4 Responses to “Storm Aftermath”

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