$50 per day revisited

[Dreamer]

*The total 24k annual budget would be $40,500 now, about the average budget for this board? *In any case, our "Modest" category from a recent posting.

Is this annual budget of $40,500 pre-tax? Does it include health care and long term care insurance also?

As The Wizard of Oz said to Dorothy, "You have forced
me into a cataclysmic decision."

Here is my first year of complete retirement as best I can reconstruct. Note the inclusion of child support, and I could have cut plenty out of this had I wished to:

Rent 3180
Child support 3600
Truck (gas, oil, repairs, etc) 1500
Health insurance 1800
Groceries and household 2000
Utilities and phone 1500
Personal (travel etc) 1200
Prescriptions 100
Total 14880

This is with one (older) vehicle, no cell, no cable, no computer. Ate many meals with my parents plus hunted and fished a lot. I may have missed something, but what you see is pretty accurate. And, like I said, I can see
lots of "fat" if you got really motivated. BTW, this period
was immediately post-divorce and I was able to do pretty much whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.
If that's an important part of ER (I believe it is to most of you), then there you go. It's mostly how bad you want it. Your income is a way distant second.

JG

[retire@40]

Quote:

Rent * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 3180 Child support * * * * * * * * * * * 3600 Truck (gas, oil, repairs, etc) *1500 Health insurance * * * * * * * * *1800 Groceries and household * * 2000 Utilities and phone * * * * * * * 1500 Personal (travel etc) * * * * * * 1200 Prescriptions * * * * * * * * * * * * *100 Total * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *14880 This is with one (older) vehicle, no cell, no cable, no computer. *Ate many meals with my parents plus hunted and fished a lot.

Unless you retired in 1970, this is not even close to a realistic budget today. Rent at $265 a month? Health insurance for a single 50 year old for $150 a month? No cable, no computer, and having your parents paying for some of your food isn't what most people aspire to in retirement.

[unclemick]

To repeat a very old post - Dory36's - 33% Thats my story - our standard of living didn't change much and we lived on less than 33% of our old working incomes for years (eleven so far).

Now being a cheap bastard and prone to experiment( I were an en-ga-neer) - my personal best was 12k for one year.

Generally - many ER's(with exceptions) project their current living costs into retirement minus tax adjustments, savings changes,cost of working,etc.

That's basically what we did. Oh - and I don't bother with health insurance.

The last few years have come in between 23-24K. That includes all airfare, traveling expenses, etc. If we stayed put in the US I am sure it would be well below that, but we want to travel. The countries we visited in the last 13 months are Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, China, Ecuador and the USA. Remember, retirement is a lifestyle, not a vacation. Our best year was when we were living "full time" in Mexico, and the Peso devalued. Just luck for us, not for the Mexican people.

Billy
Website www.geocities.com/ba264

[John_Lee]

Referring to the Boston College study, the numbers in the various charts appear to be "per capita", and not total household expenses, which would place the median household expenditures for a married couple much higher than $50 per day.
John Lee

Mostly for retire@40..............

I retired 100% in 1998. I am not suggesting my budget can
(or should) be attempted at home Most folks can't/won't cut to that level, and that includes me.
I cut back "to the bone" as it was my first year of
full retirement and I was still nervous. I only posted
those numbers to show what a little motivation and creativity can do. Remember YMOYL? Some of those folks lived on practically nothing. I am not promoting that, only supporting my claim that it can still be done right
here in the USA in 2005.

JG

[gayl]

Quote:

Personal (travel etc) * * * * * *1200

If I had $100 a month for travel & personal, I'd go back to work! That isn't even a bare bones existence for me and I retired to live it up! :

[polloloco]

Quote:

Mostly for retire@40.............. *Remember YMOYL? *Some of those folks lived on practically nothing. * JG

I don't remember. Sometimes I'm a bit dense. Enlighten me.

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

I don't remember. Sometimes I'm a bit dense. Enlighten me.

He's referring to the book by Dominguez called Your Money or Your Life (YMOYL). The book is worth reading for the first half where he talks about dollars for hours of life and how to figure out how much you are really getting paid. That part is a pretty good motivational text.

In the second half he talks about his investment strategy which you should ignore completely. He says to invest solely in US government bonds. If you do that you'll end up after 20 years living like he did - in a group home with strangers, doing your own dentistry with a pair of pliers, and racing roaches for entertainment.

[MSDOGS1976]

Galt's $14,880 budget from 1998 is doable today. I do it. Sub his $3,600 child support with my country club fees, cable and computer and you have my annual budget. I'm 50 and do pay 150/mo for BCBS ins although I have a 10k deductible. I'm still working but only 23 more months to go.

[intercst]

Quote:

Galt's $14,880 budget from 1998 is doable today. I do it. Sub his $3,600 child support with my country club fees, cable and computer and you have my annual budget. I'm 50 and do pay 150/mo for BCBS ins although I have a 10k deductible. I'm still working but only 23 more months to go. *

If you came down with a chronic illness that cost $10,000 each year to treat, could you remain retired?

intercst

[MSDOGS1976]

Quote:

If you came down with a chronic illness that cost $10,000 each year to treat, could you remain retired? intercst

Yes. I know everyone can't go with high ded but I recommend that if you can. I do have LTC insurance as who knows what nursing homes will cost 20-30 years from now.

[unclemick]

Easy - provided I stayed in La or Ms outside certain higher cost areas.

[newellcr]

Hello Folks,

It seems like an interesting paper, I found it here, http://www.bc.edu/centers/crr/papers/wp_2005-03.pdf#search='Understanding%20Expenditure%20Patte rns%20in%20Retirement'

While I haven't read every word yet, I find table 13 interesting. Very few folks are very satisfied with the purchasing power of their income. There is some related discussion on the bottom of page 19.

Cheers,

Chris

Sure glad I started this one. Some excellent posts and
questions.

First re. my $100 per month in 1998 for personal and travel..........we spend a LOT more than that now, but back in 1998 I was staying close to home, hunting and fishing nearby, and had not starting "dating" yet. The $100 a month was plenty. As to health insurance, I carried a 10K deductible
and continued there for years. Actually, I would have gone even higher, but I didn't have the guts to "go bare"
like unclemick. However, I could have withstood a
$10,000 hit without going back to work.
LTC is out for me, so I'm taking my chances with that.

Finally, re. YMOYL, as I recall Dominquez retired 100%
on $180,000 total. But, that was a long time ago and
as Hyperborea pointed out his retirement was
SUPER bare bones. Practically subsistence level.
Very few would opt to live that way. I know I wouldn't.
But, here again, it supports my point. Dominquez was
motivated and opted out of the workplace on almost nothing.

JG

[azanon]

Perhaps Dominquez realized after the fact, man this sucks so he wrote Your Money or your Life. */shrug I assume he made/is making a fortune from it.

I just got around to ordering my copy from Amazon yesterday.

The book isn't helping him now. He's dead.

JG

[azanon]

doh! Sorry, i didnt know.

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

Perhaps Dominquez realized after the fact, man this sucks so he wrote Your Money or your Life. */shrug *I assume he made/is making a fortune from it.

No, I think he was pretty hard core for the life of abject poverty. IIRC the proceeds from the book went to some financial education foundation. While the number of people who want to FIRE is small I think the number that want to live that kind of life in FIRE is even smaller.