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About Me:

Monkey Mama

Just a 47-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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2024 Goals

[ ]Small monthly Charitable Contribution
...($156 @ 6/30/24)
...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
MM YEAR 5

DL YEAR 1 ✔
DL YEAR 2
DL YEAR 3

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...($7,121 @ 8/31/24)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$7,500 to investments
...($3,691 @ 8/31/24)
...~~$350~~ $400/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs
...Note: Bumped up to $400 9/1, re: reduced food expenses

[ ]$2,025 to mortgage
...($0 @ 8/31/24)
...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% @ 8/31/24)
...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 @ 8/31/24)
...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>
2023: +$ 90,000
TOTAL: +$570,000

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

Oct 1 - Bad Work News

October 2nd, 2024 at 12:07 am

October 1

$ 7 Patreon (MH)

$105 Groceries

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ugh! The other shoe dropped. Had major work drama in May. I think that some of my coworkers thought I was being overly dramatic but I knew my assistant would likely quit after that. She gave her very short notice today. (What is up with these very short notices??) At least when awesome admin left (her spouse gave no notice; they moved out of state for his new job) at least she stayed on and worked as much as possible. She's a people pleaser and probably helped smooth the transition more than she should have. In this case, I was too shocked to really process that I will have to train someone from zero. What a mess. The way she told me, it just really threw me for a loop. Though otherwise not completely surprised.

A very rare work break (in addition to plans to pass off a lot of my work to this employee) just became a big mountain to climb. Which would be less of a big deal if it wasn't constant mountains.

Blogging relaxes me, and is appreciated today. But I am also now more skeptical about my badwith this month. I realized today when I looked for an old "expenses tracking" post (to copy and paste) that I gave up the last October tracking I tried because MH's grandfather passed away. I just gave up mid-month. That doesn't make me feel too warm and fuzzy.

In other news, we put away the grocery credit card for the year. We maxed out our rewards on that card.

The weather is absurd. 102F degrees forecasted for tomorrow. The plus side is that we are done with summer rates. Instead of paying $0.35 per kWh during peak peak times (which we mostly try to avoid) we get to pay just $0.16 for non-summer peak hours. Which will probably still equate to an absurd electric bill because we aren't usually running the A/C in October. But it will be a little more reasonable and less sweltering in the house.

I did buy some ice cream (Saturday?) when I saw the weather forecast. I am going to go turn off my brain and eat some ice cream.

Posted in Just Thinking | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Oct 1 - Bad Work News”

Tabs Says:
October 2nd, 2024 at 06:11 am 1727849514
1727849514

I haven't really been caught up with what's going on with everyone here, but whatever it is, I hope sure hope things improve.

As for short notices, I have noticed a lot of social media posts by gen Z complaining that many companies out there can fire "at will", so they are asking why they should give the same "courtesy" with 2 week notices.

Again, I don't know the age of this ex-assistant of yours, but I don't think there is a lot out there with feelings of loyalty to their jobs, especially with those who are younger.
PatientSaver Says:
October 2nd, 2024 at 01:46 pm 1727876784
1727876784

Either way, those electric rates are great. Here in Connecticut, I'm paying $8.99 per kWh and I shop around regularly for best rates.

I absolutely, unequivocally agree with the Gen Z posts saying that if employers can fire at will, employees should not feel compelled to give 2 weeks notice. This has been a longstanding double-standard, and while I am retired now, things like that really gall me.
MonkeyMama Says:
October 2nd, 2024 at 03:43 pm 1727883814
1727883814

@PS - Are you sure about that rate? That sounds about 20x higher than anything I've ever seen. I thought you must mean $0.899 but that rate looks like it would be a lot lower than average in your state. (The topic of electric rates comes up a lot in my EV Groups).

My employee who gave even less notice is not Gen Z. But her husband was really burnt out and hated his job. But he had to stay 5 years to get his student debt paid for. He just didn't have it in him to stay another day.
MonkeyMama Says:
October 2nd, 2024 at 03:46 pm 1727883981
1727883981

P.S. I am grateful not to have PG&E. PG&E is insane expensive, as well as unreliable.
rob62521 Says:
October 2nd, 2024 at 03:53 pm 1727884397
1727884397

I think the days of decent notice are gone because people don't worry about how they will come off. Good look with training someone new. Hope it is someone who works out well for you.
patientsaver Says:
October 2nd, 2024 at 07:50 pm 1727898628
1727898628

Yes, I'm afraid my state has one of the highest rates in the country, but this rate that I'm showing you is actually decent for right now.

I've posted a copy of a portion of my bill for you in a separate post since I can't attach screenshot here.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

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Oct 1 - Bad Work News

6 Responses to “Oct 1 - Bad Work News”

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