Poll: Standard of living before & after retirement.

[jimnjana]

We're living it up... We are still not tapping any retirement savings, and are actually adding a little now. It was not part of the plan, but plans change. I guess we are still living beneath our means, just not as frugal as we were when we were working.

[Rambler]

I voted more frugal. For starters, I won't need to spend some $4000 a year on suits, $1500 a year or so on dry cleaning, $200 a pop for nice business shoes, don't have utility bills in two countries, so far the cost of food is about 1/3 what we were spending in Tokyo, won't be renting a car every two months for $300 a pop to stop by and visit my family during round-the-world business trips.

On the other side of the coin, we are so far spending around $350 a month more in gasoline...had a company car and company gas in Tokyo, and our home here is in the country...nearest little town is 8 miles away. I have been working on a variety of projects to clean up our place in N Cal, which is costing a bit but still not offsetting the savings. That said, I will be slowing down a bit on the projects lest I get carried away!

R

[CyclingInvestor]

More, mainly on vacations, eating out, electronic toys.

[daylatedollarshort]

We will be spending less money but actually have a higher standard of living. We have more time now to price shop, look for free things to do, cut expenses, DIY fun stuff, probably downsize + lower COL area eventually.

Doing things like taking the dog hiking at the local state park, free day at the local museums, grilling out, riding our bikes and going out to ethnic restaurants for lunch are things we enjoy and have more time for but don't really cost much money - The Thomas Stanley cheap date model - A Cheap Date.

[MichaelB]

We are definitely spending on ourselves much more now than during most of my working years. We are also enjoying it much more.

[donheff]

I voted "smooth" but on reflection I am probably spending a bit higher since I travel more now. I didn't include savings, college tuition, and taxes as "spending" from my work years. Those were temporary and when included in the calculation my pre-ER cash flow was much higher than today's.

[happy2bretired]

I voted smooth even though I'm more fugal on a monthly basis than I was when working. I also spent more last year for maintenance on the house (furness, a/c, windows, patio door) and also buying a new car this year. I'm hoping to replace these big ticket items now, just in case we are hit with higher inflation rate at some point.

[Dawg52]

About the same although I will start to pump up my travel budget a bit going forward.

[grasshopper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickeyd Don't really have a spending plan or watch over standard of living. We just live the same as before and always seem to have plenty of cash to do anything that we want to do and not fret over financial matters at all.

That is us to a T.

[HighRoller]

I voted "Smoothed" - I plan to spend about the same. My first full year in retirement was pretty much on target.

[Bestwifeever]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB We are definitely spending on ourselves much more now than during most of my working years. We are also enjoying it much more.

We are not denying ourselves in the BWE house, let's just say.

[Walt34]

Smoothed, or perhaps a bit more but not by much.

[jim747]

Smoothed but costs will go up in a couple areas when I quit my "retirement" job. I'll have to start paying cell phone and will lose some company vehicle benefits.

[karluk]

I voted "smoothed". We will need to replace the windows in our house soon, which would put us in the +20% category. But that's a one-time expense that would have occurred whether or not I continued working.

I expect our biggest reductions in spending to come from reduced payroll taxes - income taxes should remain about the same - and going from being a three car family down to only two cars. As far as increases in spending, it's likely we'll do more traveling. Other than that, we're comfortable with our current lifestyle, so I don't expect a lot of changes day-to-day either for increases or decreases in spending.

[Brett_Cameron]

I voted smoothed. Expenses have not changed much.

[retire2020]

planning to spend same as I do now. Voted for smoothed.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB We are definitely spending on ourselves much more now than during most of my working years. We are also enjoying it much more. Quote: Originally Posted by Bestwifeever We are not denying ourselves in the BWE house, let's just say.

Same here. I have never spent this much before, I can afford it, and I am unashamedly enjoying it, too.

[audreyh1]

I planned on more, because I knew when we retired we'd have TIME to spend more. And we wanted to do a good bit of traveling - something we had no time to do while working. Before we were way too busy working and saving to spend any money.

I think retired folks tend to get a big jump in standard of living anyway: you don't have to commute, spend money on work-related clothing, spend money for tasks you don't have time to do. Once retired you have time to research and take advantage of major deals. You can enjoy leisurely vacations. When working, vacations tend to be more expensive because you are rushed.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

We better be able to live on 20% less, maybe a lot less.

One planning problem is that due to working outside the country, it is impossible to track expenses that can be projected to when we are home and retired.

Sometimes I despair. DW wants to keep the 2 cars and the house. I have a Plan B in case reality becomes impossible to ignore.

[misty57]

I voted "live it up", but only because I know that we will be spending more on travel and other leisure activities that we do not have time for now. I also suspect that leisure activities will cost more in the earlier years of retirement and wane as the years pass.

DH should be RE in the next quarter (age 56) and we are looking forward to "hitting the road".