2017 budget based on 1998 spending

[respond2u]

Here's my guess (are you going to tally things up for a "wisdom of crowds" experiment?)

$5100

Rent: 1700 (that's about 1/3 of what I'm paying for my house that's half your's size )
Utility: 400 (light/gas/water)
Household: 400
Auto loan: 400
Auto insurance (2 cars): 200
Gas etc: 200
Food (grocery & restaurant): 800
Clothes: 300 (including gear, etc. for kids)
Entertainment: 200
Others: 500 (including vacations)

[HillCountry]

We lived at the corner of Mary and El Camino (Sunnyvale) in 98. A small 1 bed room but nice and convenient.

Never could we at that time imagine we will pay twice as much for property tax 20 years later In Austin.

As rodi said, we traded property tax for state tax. We actually saved a bunch during the 9 years here, though saving money was not the main reason we moved to Austin.

We are very happy with the current home and really enjoying it. The similar houses in Bay Area easily cost 3 to 5 times more.

We definitely will sell after kids leaving for college. We expect to downsize to 2000 sqft and cut every housing related expenditure in half.

Austin is not very cheap any more. But we don't plan to relocate immediately after retirement. We want to stay somewhere warm, so that it is easy for kids to join us for Christmas, at home.

[FANOFJESUS]

HillCountry and the answer is?

[W2R]

My guess is $10,000/month, but that is not based on any computations. Just life.

[kimcdougc]

And the answer is?

[Whisper66]

I give up. Time to move on.

[HillCountry]

Here is the housing cost numbers.

1998
Rent 850
Utility 100
Household 100

2017
Property tax 1700
Insurance/HOA 250
Utility 500
Household 500

Insurance at 2100 per year is a pretty reasonable number for a structure valued at 600k. I believe it's much lower than east/west coast. It is lower than other major cities of Texas.

Utility includes biweekly gardener service. Household includes any house repair, such as deductible for roof replacement (average one every 10 years in Austin).

Currently, hosing is the largest non-discretionary category.

There was one category missing but is now growing fast which is health care. We paid pretty much nothing then but now we are paying 450 monthly premium for HDHP. And all our family need glasses and dental work. That comes at about another 400 per month.

[euro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whisper66 I give up. Time to move on.

That!

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HillCountry Here is the housing cost numbers. 1998 Rent 850 Utility 100 Household 100 2017 Property tax 1700 Insurance/HOA 250 Utility 500 Household 500 Insurance at 2100 per year is a pretty reasonable number for a structure valued at 600k. I believe it's much lower than east/west coast. It is lower than other major cities of Texas. Utility includes biweekly gardener service. Household includes any house repair, such as deductible for roof replacement (average one every 10 years in Austin). Currently, hosing is the largest non-discretionary category. There was one category missing but is now growing fast which is health care. We paid pretty much nothing then but now we are paying 450 monthly premium for HDHP. And all our family need glasses and dental work. That comes at about another 400 per month.

So who was closest to your monthly spend? You implied this was a game... who won?
(Pick me, pick me!!! LOL)

[Shanky]

outside of housing, Month costs

4000 monthly school tuition
1500 Country Club Dues
3000 Month Vacations averaged
2000 Boat dockage
1000 Month gas /diesel
5000 Month Brokerage fees
15000 Month Federal Taxes Averaged
2000 Month Insurances (cars, Boat, Umbrella Etc)
1000 Grocery
1500 Restaurants
1000 vet/equestrian
500 Recreational Drugs (Alcohol / Other)
2500 Auto Leases (Bentley & Extended Pick-up)
5000 Charity

$40 - $45K Monthly Spend. Balance to savings / investment.


Am I close?