My annual expenditure

[PatrickA5]

Disregard my lofty goal of $100K for 2013. Just remembered I have a DD getting married next year. Crap. Maybe 2014.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

It's looking like $60-62k for a family of 4 (DW and I are 43 with 2 young kids), no mortgage or car payment in reasonable cost of living area.

It’s a 10% increase from prior year, but it’s an intentional lifestyle change. Since we’re borderline FI, I’m taking the approach of enjoying life more now with increased spending (family activities and vacations). We might spend more next year as I converted to contract work (work less hours, more free time) but getting about 30% more pay.

 

[Texas Proud]

Disregard my lofty goal of $100K for 2013. Just remembered I have a DD getting married next year. Crap. Maybe 2014.

I hear ya.... not about the DD marriage, but some of the other things that make the number higher... as an example..

HI and other medical costs are close to $10K higher with the two kids and DW...

Car and boat costs, including insurance, are about $4K higher (I would not have a boat with DW)....

Food costs are probably about $5K higher

Housing cost are probably $4 to $5K higher.... I was just fine living at my old place... but, needed more room with family...

Vacation costs are about $10K higher... DW LOVES to go places... and we have to pay for 4 people...

Other misc items are another $5 to $6K....


Even subtracting all of these, I still was cheaper when single than the number left over.... so there must be other items I am not seeing right away...

 

[Lsbcal]

Some of these posts are interesting because several of them show the love/hate relationship we have with wealth (big and little wealth).

So who are the good guys? Is there a definition of the proper and maybe saintly income (spending) level? I sure don't have a (non-political) answer.

Anyone want to venture a definition?

 

[REWahoo]

Anyone want to venture a definition?

Sure.

Anyone who spends less than me is a miserly tightwad. Anyone who spends more is a gluttonous spendthrift.

Howzzat?

 

[W2R]

Some of these posts are interesting because several of them show the love/hate relationship we have with wealth (big and little wealth).

So who are the good guys? Is there a definition of the proper and maybe saintly income (spending) level? I sure don't have a (non-political) answer.

Anyone want to venture a definition?

We are ALL the good guys, Lsbcal. Every one of us. We are all doing our best to set goals that are reasonable for us as individuals, and to meet those goals as best we can. It's just interesting to read where others are on their parallel, though often different, journeys through life.

 

[MichaelB]

Sure.

Anyone who spends less than me is a miserly tightwad. Anyone who spends more is a gluttonous spendthrift.

Howzzat?

Sunds like my family

 

[nun]

You have to consider taxes, but whether you have them in your budget depends on how you pay them. If they are withheld at source I can see how you might exclude them, but in ER when income is coming from sources other than IRA or SS you must budget for them or be faced with a nasty surprise at tax time.

 

[NW-Bound]

So who are the good guys? Is there a definition of the proper and maybe saintly income (spending) level? I sure don't have a (non-political) answer.

Anyone want to venture a definition?

A good guy is anybody who spends enough to buy his happiness, provided that he is using no more than 4%WR.

A super guy is someone who is happy with 3.5%WR, while having no SS, no pension, and has to buy his own health insurance, and only retires after putting his children through college with no student loans.

And a saint is someone who meets the above qualifications, yet can find happiness living in an RV in the boondocks, and spends only $15K/yr. Oh, I forgot to add that he must also have enough left over to indulge in a bottle of XO cognac every so often, while alone in the boondocks of course.

 

[scrabbler1]

You have to consider taxes, but whether you have them in your budget depends on how you pay them. If they are withheld at source I can see how you might exclude them, but in ER when income is coming from sources other than IRA or SS you must budget for them or be faced with a nasty surprise at tax time.

+1.

Furthermore, some of my income is taxable only at the federal level, some of it only at the state level, and some of it (actually, just over half of it) is taxable at both the federal and state levels (and some of it is fully tax-free). I have no taxes withheld so I have to write checks to both places during the year (i.e. estimated taxes) and the following April.

 

[Mulligan]

Some of these posts are interesting because several of them show the love/hate relationship we have with wealth (big and little wealth).

So who are the good guys? Is there a definition of the proper and maybe saintly income (spending) level? I sure don't have a (non-political) answer.

Anyone want to venture a definition?

I am not the jealous type, and am more on the lower end of spending scale. I for one am getting tired of all the frugal posts since I do enough of that myself. I want some of you big spenders on this forum to quit being modest and complimenting us frugal-its.. Start posting all the good stuff so I can live vicariously through your life.
Btw- I could ramp up my spending, but there are really only a few things that I would really want, but the ongoing increased carrying cost of those items (such as a second home at my favorite vacation place) would stress me financially more than the benefit of having it would provide satisfaction.

 

[haha]

I for one am getting tired of all the frugal posts since I do enough of that myself. I want some of you big spenders on this forum to quit being modest and complimenting us frugal-its.. Start posting all the good stuff so I can live vicariously through your life.

Sorry Mulligan to disappoint you, but I live on $8/day, and I am researching ways to get it down to $7.50 next year. I think that my modest personal inflation rate may help.

Ha

 

[FIREd]

Including taxes, we spent over $280K this year - so far.

 

[aaronc879]

Including taxes, we spent over $280K this year - so far.

Wow!! That's more than i've spent in my entire adult life. However, it fits within your means so that's great for you. I know most people say money doesn't buy happiness but I promise i'd be happier with more money.

 

[Mulligan]

Sorry Mulligan to disappoint you, but I live on $8/day, and I am researching ways to get it down to $7.50 next year. I think that my modest personal inflation rate may help.

Ha

Ha, I hope you are just talking about food costs per day, not everything. Because that would mean you are lumping me in with the big spenders, and all wealthy people most deservedly would be personally offended by my inclusion.

 

[haha]

Ha, I hope you are just talking about food costs per day, not everything.

Neither actually, I am just blatantly lying.

Ha

 

[Lsbcal]

Neither actually, I am just blatantly lying.

Ha

And how do we know for sure with a signature like "Ha" ?

 

[Major Tom]

We are ALL the good guys, Lsbcal. Every one of us. We are all doing our best to set goals that are reasonable for us as individuals, and to meet those goals as best we can. It's just interesting to read where others are on their parallel, though often different, journeys through life.

It's posts like this that make me instinctively look for the "like" button, before I realize that I'm not on Facebook!

I think you've summed it up well W2R.

 

[NW-Bound]

I for one am getting tired of all the frugal posts...

I do not get enough of the frugal posts!

So, I have been reading blogs of full-time RV'ers who live in the boondocks to get more. They live close to nature, and get lots of exercise. Good stuff! The smaller their RV, the more interesting story they tell.

 

[Lazarus]

Including taxes, we spent over $280K this year - so far.

I could live on that for 5 or 6 years with 0% return on investments.

 

[Meadbh]

Including taxes, we spent over $280K this year - so far.

Including taxes, I could get by on that for 4 years, and save too.

 

[FIREd]

Including taxes, I could get by on that for 4 years, and save too.

We could too. DW just needs to retire (it would go a long way to cut our tax bill) and we can move back into our paid for house in the South where we used to live very comfortably on less than $75K a year until last year.

 

[Major Tom]

Wow, impressively low for someone who lives in CA. I am humbled. Do you grow your own vegetables? Do you cook most of your meals?

Congratulations on the kitties. We adopted a kitty this year too, she is a wonderful addition to the 2 existing doggies. Everyone getting along and are spoiled

I'm not particularly proud of it - just happy that I can lead a life I'm comfortable with on this kind of money. My lifestyle is very simple. I was lucky to find a nice studio apartment in a lovely 100 year-old house in a good part of town for only $640/month including utilities. In the metro area I live in, that is very reasonable. The older gentleman who owns the house rarely raises the rent, so it's a deal that has worked well for the very long-term residents. Hopefully the "outside world" won't come as too much of a shock to them if they have to move out (he is getting rather old, and I'm not sure that a new owner would want to continue to run it as a rental property.)

As well as low rent, I have a landline telephone only with DSL (total internet and phone bill is $30/month including long distance), no cable or satellite TV, and no car - just a bicycle I bought for $100 from Craigslist. The bike also gives me much-needed exercise.

Other than rent, my only other significant expense is food, for which I spend about $300 - $350/ month. I tried eating very cheaply before, and it was affecting my health so now I include lots of fruit and vegetables in my diet.

Maintaining this low-cost lifestyle is made easy by my rather reclusive personality. My favorite place to be is at home with my cats. I rarely go out to socialize and hardly ever eat out, yet this is my preferred way of life - for many it would feel like self-imposed hardship. I'm sure a few of the other introverts here can empathize!

Glad to hear you're a pet-owner too. They are my pride and joy - both of which were adopted this year. Common wisdom says that you shouldn't expect an older shy cat to get along with a kitten but after a few bathroom incidents on the sofa, my older cat has accepted the kitten and they get along just fine. In fact, I think that the outgoing little girl has helped the shy older lady come out of her shell.

I LOVE these 2 babies very much indeed!

 

[Rambler]

Including taxes, we spent over $280K this year - so far.

I would venture to guess that the biggest portion of your annual spend went to taxes, and perhaps a rented apt in SFO?

Here is just another perspective...hope it isn't taken the wrong way by anyone:

Some of us who still work, or have a partner who work, in a professional or senior management position, pay much more in taxes than we spend. That is certainly true in our case, and I would suspect it to be similar for FIREd. I have only a vague idea of how much we spent on living this year because the exchange rate and high cost of living in Tokyo makes it hard to keep track of. But I believe that we have most likely paid 4-5x in income taxes than we spent on living, plus we saved quite a bit.

Next year, my first year of retirement, will also be very skewed with high taxes due to some final compensation, as well as on the cost side due to some start-up and repair items at our home in CA.

I have set a budget that is much higher than most in this thread, but even then, I sometimes worry about it. That said, it is so high because we live overseas in a very high cost of living location, and have no clue how much it will cost to live at our home (we left almost 14 years ago), and do the things we want to do. It does hearten me some that so many are able to have a pretty fulfilling and enjoyable life for 100k or less...that would mean that maybe we won't need nearly as much as we have planned for...which would give us more play money. In any case, we will be tracking our spending much more carefully next year, when we are back home.

R

 

[FIREd]

I would venture to guess that the biggest portion of your annual spend went to taxes, and perhaps a rented apt in SFO?

Exactly right. Those 2 items alone account for 75% of our spending. The other 25% include a large, one-time contribution to our charitable gift fund.