Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

[youbet]

10 months into RE, I happily report we're spending more than when we were working. We're still in the same house, driving the same cars, keeping up with the same hobbies and all that. But we've added extra vacations, extra entertainment (especially live music), hospitalization premiums are higher, some long procratinated remodeling projects are finally done, etc. Health, energy and the financial markets permitting, we hope to keep this up for the forseeable future!

 

[kcowan]

10 months into RE, I happily report we're spending more than when we were working. We're still in the same house, driving the same cars, keeping up with the same hobbies and all that. But we've added extra vacations, extra entertainment (especially live music), hospitalization premiums are higher, some long procratinated remodeling projects are finally done, etc. Health, energy and the financial markets permitting, we hope to keep this up for the forseeable future!

Yabbut your commuting costs are gone and you will not be buying new wardrobe as often. Your expenses for lunches and coffee (or the after work brew) and dry cleaning are down. 10 months is not long enough. Your renovations are a capital expense. If you drove a car to work, your insurance costs are lower.

But the extra time for entertainment and travel usually generates some significant new expenses which as you say are fine as long as your portfolio can afford them.

 

[youbet]

Yabbut your commuting costs are gone and you will not be buying new wardrobe as often. Your expenses for lunches and coffee (or the after work brew) and dry cleaning are down. 10 months is not long enough. Your renovations are a capital expense. If you drove a car to work, your insurance costs are lower.

But the extra time for entertainment and travel usually generates some significant new expenses which as you say are fine as long as your portfolio can afford them.

For me, talk about potential savings from not working was highly exaggerated and is amounting to only a few $K per year. Your situation will be unique to you........

Wardrobe? Dry cleaning? I worked in a factory until the last few years!

Call the remodeling costs a capital expenditure or whatever you want, but the money is spent, gone, and being happily enjoyed in another form! With time to plan and execute remodeling, we're excited to be looking at other additional changes to enjoy now that we spend more time at home.

Increases in travel and entertainment expenses are dwarfing any savings achieved by not working. It's amazing what you can find to do that cost a little money when you have time to do so. And that's one of the things we enjoy most about RE......having time to go and do!

We budgeted to spend more in RE. We are spending more in RE. And our budget projections for the next few years call for spending at a somewhat higher level than our last few years of working.

To OP......... You will have to come to grips with what you want or need to spend in RE. Essentials can be calculated. Do some serious research on housing, hospitalization and all of life's basics. Desires have to be planned for too, and are harder to nail down. But, don't cut it too close if you can help it.

 

[audreyh1]

Our expenses went up after retiring. Why? Because a) we were no longer saving and b) we could afford it!

We had pretty low expenses pre-RE and stashed a whole lotta money away. We were too busy working to spend a whole lot.

For us it was really a matter of realizing that we were well off enough to retire without dropping our standard of living. That's what prompted us to retire. But not before we felt we had enough to finance a pretty decent retirement budget that included lots of travel, etc.

So in our case we didn't look at our pre-retirement spending. We looked at what we thought we might spend our time doing once we retired and what that might cost annually. That's how we knew we could pull the plug.

Audrey

 

[Nords]

And you guys who still have young kids - wait till you hear what the orthodontist will want.

At tae kwon do the parents talk a lot about $4500 mouthguards...

 

[rw86347]

Also was able to slash my tax bill from "oh my god, did I just pay for a B1 Bomber?" to "ha ha, you get nothing from me this year you $#^%'s!". Thats a bit of a savings right there...