Travel Budget

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman I gotta slow down sometime.

I'll (hopefully) be 73 a week from tomorrow, and DW will be 63 three weeks and a day after that........so we're ramping it up a bit now, since enforced immobility is only a heartbeat away.

[Independent]

For comparison, average annual travel expenses for a US, home-owning couples, both age 60+, in 2013 was $2,744.

That compares to total spending of $58,124, so about 5%.

Note that the average age for those couples is about 70.

[Gill]

In our first 10 years of retirement we were spending about $30,000 a year on travel, primarily rather lengthy cruises. Now in our 70s we are spending about $10,000 a year on travel but there is no surplus
because we are now spending about $20,000 a year on a country club.
Bruce


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[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Independent For comparison, average annual travel expenses for a US, home-owning couples, both age 60+, in 2013 was $2,744. That compares to total spending of $58,124, so about 5%. Note that the average age for those couples is about 70.

Can you share where you got this information from? I am not surprised with their travel expenses, but I am about their total yearly spending.


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[Ally]

We budgeted $8000 or about 10% of our income (pension and our SS) for US trips. Then if we decide to go on some bigger trips, we will fund that out of savings, which so far, we haven't touched. However, since we both retired from our stressful jobs, we are feeling much less the need to get away or escape. So far, we have only used about $3000 of or budget for this year.


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[Independent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 Can you share where you got this information from? I am not surprised with their travel expenses, but I am about their total yearly spending.

The data is from the Consumer Expenditure Survey.

Consumer Expenditure Survey

Scroll down to "Cross Tabulated Tables" and look for "Size of consumer unit by age of reference person".
Unfortunately, the online reports don't break out travel spending (food, for example, is included in "food away from home")

I downloaded the data and built my own report.

More detail here: http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...vey-74306.html

[Christine]

YTD since September 2014 it's been 20% of my total budget. Travelling 24/7 in a RV. Not counting ordinary expenses like food and clothes.

[flyingaway]

Not retired yet. Currently budget 20-25% of after tax money for travel. So far this year, we have spent about $9,000 on travels to four overseas countries, including Canada, Mexico, Dominica Republic, and China. Already booked tickets for Spain and Italia in May 2016, and looking for tickets to Costs Rico in March 2016.

[DEC-1982]

Our travel budget (done mostly on a 2-year basis) is 14% of after-tax spending. It may be 22% one year and 6% the next year.

[NW-Bound]

We have no preset percentage or budget for any discretionary item. I only look at the total spending YTD or the past 12 months, and see if we still have extra.

For example, just from looking at Quicken, in the past 12 months we spent only $6.5K on travel, but $35K on other non-recurrent expenses. Conceivably, next year we have that much more to spend on travel if nothing else comes up. It works out OK too, because I have been still recovering from a health problem, and would not enjoy travel as much.

But I doubt that we will ever spend that much on travel. It's partly because we are frugal travelers, partly because too much travel will take the fun out of it.

[RobLJ]

15-20k per year (or about 15% of budget). What we don't spend one year, we probably will spend the next. That's about 50% more than we spend now, but some of it will be driving rather than air when neither of us is working.

[Cobra9777]

Our annual budget includes $10K for travel, which is enough for one 2-3 week international trip, and two smaller domestic trips, typically to visit family and friends. We've been spending well below this since I ER'd, in part because DW decided to continue working, and in part because we've been spending heavier than planned on other large one-shot expenses like home improvements. Those two discretionary categories are really managed as a single bucket. The $10K is ~11% of our $85-90K total spend, excluding income taxes.

[kaudrey]

We are still working; but since you didn't specify....travel is generally 8-10% of our total budget. In retirement, I am projecting it to be more like 25%, at least for the first 10 years. Traveling is a big priority for us in our planning.

[Danmar]

I am struck by the consistency of travel expense (as a percentage of total spend) despite wide variations in total spend. Seems like 10-15% is quite normal whatever the total spend is?

[athena53]

Our travel budget is insane but can be pulled back in lean years if necessary. This year was a bit crazy- we took a spectacular vacation to Iceland, drove to family weddings in Atlanta and Austin (which included hotel overnights on the road trips and bringing DS, DDIL and DGD as our guests on one, necessitating rental of an SUV to tote all the baby paraphernalia) and will also do a road trip to Myrtle Beach around Christmas to see my parents and go for a long weekend at a favorite B&B a few hours away next month. Oh, yeah- we just sprang for one of the tickets to get DS, DDIL and the baby to Myrtle Beach at Christmas, too.


YTD travel expenses exceed $16K- about equal to the combination of our mortgage and dental health insurance premiums YTD. Fortunately, our spending in other categories is minimal- cars are paid for, we spend almost nothing on clothing, etc. Travel is and always has been a big priority for us.

[Danmar]

Athena: would your % of after tax spend be higher than 15% for travel?

[ronocnikral]

not retired, but we spend about $15-$20k, or about 5-10% of my compensation.

Next year, I'm going heli skiing and we would like to get to Africa to see some friends. Hopefully a few nights with Singita is in order....

But, the real treat has been the last couple years we've spent our vacations with Aman. A splurge, but worth it!

[Bir48die]

Have approx $10,000 budgeted for traveling starting Jan 2016 (approx 10% of budget). This will be our first full year with a strict budget so will be a test year. We can adjust after that. I see that lots of people travel heavy first several years. With the current market and me a little skittish I'm going to be conservative. Plus need a full year of how taxes shake out between what I save from taxable account withdrawls and what I get hit from stock sales & dividends. That being said 2015 should be a year with little investment income taxes.

[2017ish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danmar I am struck by the consistency of travel expense (as a percentage of total spend) despite wide variations in total spend. Seems like 10-15% is quite normal whatever the total spend is?

Not retired yet, but that is our present range with respect to after-tax spending. OTOH, our plans are for it to be 50% or more of total spending in early years of retirement; house will be paid off and there are many long international dive and adventure trips that our jobs have prevented us from taking.

(Like Athena53, that spending is not set in stone and is what will enable us to have a highly variable withdrawal rate. Some years may involve trips to the local riverfront with a canoe, rather than Raja Ampat or a Fiji liveaboard...)

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danmar Athena: would your % of after tax spend be higher than 15% for travel?

Maybe not this year because we spent a ton fixing up one house to sell and we're also spending money to get the new one the way we want it. In a typical year, yes, it would be >15%.