What are your numbers?

[street]

Just wondering what every ones average expense for a month is? We live very modest and simple but we also have what we need and what we want. My expenses since retiring which was April of 2016 my wife went a few years before me is about $3300 a month. I'm 59 and my wife is 60.

Thanks

 

[stlguy57]

We are planning to take 5K a month after the other half resigns 12/31. Any that we don't spend, will be put into a travel/emergency fund. We average about 4K for spending per month.

 

[aaronc879]

My expenses have always been under $20K/yr. This year I sold a cheap condo and bought a single family home. My expenses per year starting next year will be somewhere between $20K-25K/yr. That includes everything including state, federal, and FICA taxes that I pay being self employed. It's easy keeping my expenses low because I have a low income so I need to keep expenses low.

 

[MichaelB]

Here's a thread on 2015 expenses http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/2015-expenses-80153.html

 

[Car-Guy]

I don't really have a monthly or annual "number" but instead I track my network worth year to year. My general goal, is to never drop below 25% of my initial retirement net worth. So far, after 5 years, I've stayed within 10% (+ or -) of that inflation adjusted goal/target, as my investments have helped me stay close to even.

I could probably get by comfortably on 70 to 75k a year (if I were to cut out my expensive hobbies) but that's not going to happen as long as I'm able to get around reasonably well.

 

[Ready]

We need $7K per month for the two of us. I guess it's a Southern California thing.

 

[DrRoy]

I RE in 4 months and am targeting $7K/mo including travel. We could certainly survive on less.

 

[W2R]

There's just one of me, living in a 1500 sf house in New Orleans.​

Here's my average monthly spending by category for the past five years. I prefer not to reveal my spending on income tax or on medical, so those are not included.

Miscellaneous	$318
Video games	$55
Groceries	$248
Restaurants	$266
Gasoline	$67
Car	$161
House	$554
Utilities	$335
Fitness	$98
Clothes	$29
Income Tax	not telling
Medical	not telling
TOTAL	$2131 plus income tax and medical

.​

Notice there is no "entertainment" category but if you prefer, you could call the restaurant category "entertainment". It's kind of like that. We eat lunch together every day at a cheap mom-n-pop type neighborhood restaurant with reasonably healthy food, and have delightful conversations and fun.​

 

[l8_apex]

Monthly baseline = $5200 which includes 2100 in mortgage, 1400 in income tax prepayments, 500 utilities, and 450 health insurance.

 

[exnavynuke]

Expenses are $2,789/month right now, will drop ~ $800 once I pay off the mortgage though. That doesn't include entertainment/hobbies however.

 

[CardsFan]

7k per month, all in, is about right for us.

This is our first year in retirement, and I am realizing that taxes (fed, state, personal property, etc) and HI consume about 1/3 of our expenses!

Looking back, it is not different, just now I am looking at it more closely.

 

[CardsFan]

There's just one of me, living in a 1500 sf house in New Orleans.​

Here's my average monthly spending by category for the past five years. I prefer not to reveal my spending on income tax or on medical, so those are not included.

Miscellaneous	$318
Video games	$55
Groceries	$248
Restaurants	$266
Gasoline	$67
Car	$161
House	$554
Utilities	$335
Fitness	$98
Clothes	$29
Income Tax	not telling
Medical	not telling
TOTAL	$2131 plus income tax and medical

.​

Notice there is no "entertainment" category but if you prefer, you could call the restaurant category "entertainment". It's kind of like that. We eat lunch together every day at a cheap mom-n-pop type neighborhood restaurant with reasonably healthy food, and have delightful conversations and fun.​

Looks like you are having fun, and still living within your means. In my case, your " not telling" costs are over $1,500 per month. So it can be significant.

 

[W2R]

Looks like you are having fun, and still living within your means. In my case, your " not telling" costs are over $1,500 per month. So it can be significant.

Exactly! Those can differ so much depending on circumstances beyond our control. Some have Medicare, some don't and have insanely high medical insurance costs. Some have awful dental expenses due to bad teeth and no dental insurance, and then there are those with "Tom Cruise teeth" that probably never had a cavity in their lives. Some have decided to accept artificially high income taxes in order to spend from tax sheltered accounts now before RMD's kick in. Others may prefer to be taxed more later.

 

[razztazz]

Total annual Expenses (Not including stuff like buying a car or house upgrades but including normal but not necessarily frequently purchased things like paint for the deck, tires for the car, and such, a trip if I feel like taking one etc)

1999 (Oldest numbers I have): $14,856.61

2015: $15,398.07

 

[rbmrtn]

Less than $1500/month. About 40% of that is property tax and insurances.

 

[Gumby]

About $7k per month, including vacation travel. About $6k per month without. Property tax is our biggest single line item, at $1.1k per month. We have no mortgage.

 

[Just_Steve]

Total annual Expenses (Not including stuff like buying a car or house upgrades but including normal but not necessarily frequently purchased things like paint for the deck, tires for the car, and such, a trip if I feel like taking one etc)

1999 (Oldest numbers I have): $14,856.61

2015: $15,398.07

Thats what I call keeping spending under control. Good job.

 

[COcheesehead]

$6000 a month all in except for travel. No skimping. Good restaurants, good wine. Nice cars (paid for), travel adds about $12,000 a year.

 

[NW-Bound]

My Quicken screen says $68,606 YTD, and we still have one month to go. At least, it looks like it will not be 6 figures this year, like the last 3 years. Having 2 homes costs money to maintain, plus travel. We have no other costly indulgences.

 

[razztazz]

Thats what I call keeping spending under control. Good job.

Thanks but I forgot to add I haven't had to buy medical insurance because I am retired military

 

[W2R]

My Quicken screen says $68,606 YTD, and we still have one month to go. At least, it looks like it will not be 6 figures this year, like the last 3 years. Having 2 homes costs money to maintain, plus travel.

Wow, you really cut back this year! Congratulations on that.

 

[NW-Bound]

Well, my daughter is already married. The expenses on the homes tapered off, and should be minimal next year (fingers crossed).

Next year, I can travel more, if I can manage MAGI to avoid sticking my head up and getting it lopped off by ACA insurance premium of $24K/year.

PS. FIRECalc says I can sustain spending deep into the 6 figures with SS, but what do I spend money on?

 

[wyecrabber1]

I'm amazed at how low some folk's monthly expenses are? DW retired last year and collects $4K+ per month in SS and Pension. I'm still working with a decent salary, but pretty sure I will pull the plug in less than 6 months. If I decide to draw SS and several pensions our monthly guaranteed income will be $8K, plus I can take my health insurance at cost from the VA -- and I'm scared to pull the trigger. No mortgage, our biggest expense is food/dining /wine [25%], housing/utilities [16%], Taxes [16%], Autos [12%], healthcare [8%] -- I know there is a lot of discretionary spending. I think the ERCI data list the average expenses for a retired couple to be $46K/yr or $3.8K/month. Plus, I could take 3% from our investments and add another $2K+ per month. We've planned, have a good margin of safety -- need to take a leap of faith. Great job everyone.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I think the ERCI data list the average expenses for a retired couple to be $46K/yr or $3.8K/month...

ERCI: Emergency Response Centre International ??

Just eyeballing my Quicken screen, I can see that we can easily live on the above amount if we cut back on the non-essentials like the 2nd home, and if the health care cost does not balloon out of hand. Travel will be cut back, but that's not the end of the world. I would not be so generous with gifts and donations. It would still be a comfortable life, and I would not complain.

 

[rodi]

We're between $6500-7000/month, all in. That's with two teenagers under roof and hitting max OOP for the second year.