Hard for a single to live on 40K + SS?

[badatmath]

Is that unrealistic if you assume paid for house, health insurance covered and separate emer fund for things like new roof? Still tracking my spending while w*rking to determine a good number for me personally as I can't leave until I meet the "magic" age for benefits anyway. But I look at figures and go oh that won't work and then like but wait you won't have this or that expense. .

 

[mckittri2000]

Depends on where you live and what kind of lifestyle you expect to live. We live on less than that comfortably. We vacation twice a year but own our house and both our cars.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

It would be very easy in the Midwest.

 

[badatmath]

I guess I was assuming run of the mill hobbies/vacations and no special effort to save money by like never using the A/C all summer. . . .I suppose we all have different idea of that though too.

 

[scrabbler1]

I live quite comfortably on less than $30k, without SS, and having to pay for my own HI (I am getting an ACA subsidy again after failing to get one for the last 3 years). I live in a HCOL, too. I am 56 and own my own place, an apartment in a large co-op complex. I have been retired for the last 11 years.

 

[Out_the_Door]

Seeing that I only retired last month and haven't road tested my retirement plan. . . but I pulled the trigger once I got all my expenses down in the 38k range and I have 7 more years before I take SS at FRA and I live in a HCOL

 

[Katsmeow]

Is that unrealistic if you assume paid for house, health insurance covered and separate emer fund for things like new roof? Still tracking my spending while w*rking to determine a good number for me personally as I can't leave until I meet the "magic" age for benefits anyway. But I look at figures and go oh that won't work and then like but wait you won't have this or that expense. .

Plenty of people live on $40k including SS let alone without it. Just depends on lifestyle....

 

[Sunset]

I guess I was assuming run of the mill hobbies/vacations and no special effort to save money by like never using the A/C all summer. . . .I suppose we all have different idea of that though too.

You need A/C in Alaska ??

 

[Jerry1]

but wait you won't have this or that expense. .

This is indeed I difficult part of estimating retirement expenses - you have to figure out what expenses you will no longer have. Of course, you also have to figure out what new expenses you will have. That’s why it’s important to get a good handle on your current expenses before you retire. Given that you have to wait for the magic age, I’m assuming you’ll have a few years to get a firm handle on your expenses.

The seat of the pants method is to assume that you’ll spend as much in retirement as you do working.

As to your question, there’s no way for us to answer. I’ve been amazed at how inexpensively some of the members on this board live. And, I don’t get the impression any of them are eating cat food to do it. They’re focused and they’re comfortable with their lifestyle.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

You can check out the Consumer Expenditure Survey to see what expenses are for consumers in general in the U.S., broken down by all sorts of categories: https://www.bls.gov/cex/tables.htm

 

[SecondCor521]

From all the numbers I've seen over the years, it really seems that a single can do a basic life at about $24K and a couple can do a basic life at about $36K. Makes the math convenient at $2K or $3K a month. Seems reasonable to me if health insurance is reasonable, you have a paid off living situation and you're not trying to live in Manhattan. And that's reasonable care on spending, not any Dacyczyn-like stuff.

So $40K plus SS for a single would seem to me to be at 2-3X the needed number.

My basic COL is about the same as when I was working. Maybe a bit less actually as I have time to be more efficient on some things, and my stress spending is gone.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

It can be done. I live on under 30K a year but I also happen to live in a rather low cost of living area. It just really depends on where you live and what your budget is and the kind of expectations you have for the lifestyle you want to lead. I have everything I need, but of course I do not have expensive tastes and boy does that help when you want to retire.

I think the key for me is that my lifestyle was one of modest expectations without lacking anything I needed. That carried over into retirement and so it was easy to make the adjustment of working to not working as far as my budget went.

In Alaska it might be tougher to retire depending on where you live in Alaska. Alaska can be expensive just like so many places in the USA. I suggest setting a budget and see if you can live on it before retiring. Of course we don't know what expenses will go away and increase in retirement for you, but if you do that, if will give you a rough idea of whether retirement is doable for you or whether you need a larger budget to work with.

 

[Dtail]

You need to track every expense to see what truly is your budget and can estimate non working adjustments from there.
It would appear that 40k can work for a single, although not our lifestyle.

 

[Hermit]

I retired about 7 years ago whith living expenses of about $40k to $45k. I also had enough money put aside to build my house. Since then the costs of building my house, mostly material, has doubled and I am still building it. My son stayed in college for 10 years instead of the planned 4. I am now paying for teeth implants. My Jeep has sucked an amazing amount of cash out of my accounts for maintenance. Bottom line is my spending has been over what I spent prior to retirement by about double not including the cash set aside for construction. Sometimes things don't work out as you plan. Of course, if l did not have the additional money to spend I would have found a cheaper way to get by.


I think I am in the minority on this Forum. Most folks seem to stay pretty close to their spending plan, but I would sure want a large enough buffer just in case.

 

[DayDreaming]

I am single and my expenses are $35-45k each year. If I exclude some home repairs, it's probably under $40k each year.


House is paid for,
I pay for my own HI through the ACA,
I don't have an extravagant lifestyle but I certainly don't scrimp on anything.
I live in NJ which is not exactly a low cost of living area.

 

[retire202052]

Move to Texas.

 

[ivinsfan]

I retired about 7 years ago whith living expenses of about $40k to $45k. I also had enough money put aside to build my house. Since then the costs of building my house, mostly material, has doubled and I am still building it. My son stayed in college for 10 years instead of the planned 4. I am now paying for teeth implants. My Jeep has sucked an amazing amount of cash out of my accounts for maintenance. Bottom line is my spending has been over what I spent prior to retirement by about double not including the cash set aside for construction. Sometimes things don't work out as you plan. Of course, if l did not have the additional money to spend I would have found a cheaper way to get by.


I think I am in the minority on this Forum. Most folks seem to stay pretty close to their spending plan, but I would sure want a large enough buffer just in case.

But even then you made some choices, a lot of people wouldn't pay for 10 years of college for a single kid. That's a choice not a requirement for a retirement budget.

You also pointed a general hazard for a large long term DIY project escalating costs. In hindsight you wouldn't have been much worse off if you had just had your house built by others. I know you will have exactly the home you want and from your posts it seems like building your own was a form of a personal journey for you.

So a far as retirement budgets if you want a finished basement or a garage the only way to know the true costs in the future is to take care of it before you retire. Of course with the markets of the last 7 years very likely the increased costs of your materials is covered by market gains.

 

[badatmath]

I was wondering why you all thought I lived in Alaska and looked up my profile. Apparently I should have been more careful with the dropdown choice. But yeah I actually think I might spend MORE retired which worries me a bit. Not on something really exotic but just you know more free time go more places do more things . . . IDK. And no disrespect meant to anyone that lives on that I just honestly don't know yet what I might spend. Last year is really not good for tracking as I saved more than I normally would for REASONS and not something I would realistically want to do. I am shooting for some "reasonable" plus "buffer" but I could drive myself nuts saying I needed 90k (which I don't even make w*rking). . . .

Interesting to hear your stories.

 

[GenXguy]

Very easy! Over the last few years, I'm actually spending about $16,000/yr out of my take home pay while working. I'm single, my projected retirement required spending including future healthcare, a car sinking fund, and long term home maintenance sinking fund runs about $22,000/yr plus a little more to cover income taxes. So that's my barebones budget to cover the things that I must pay for. $40,0000 would give me plenty of discretionary spending to really enjoy retirement, even without SS, so SS would be icing on the cake. Of course, despite that, my stash will allow me to spend closer to $70,000/yr after taxes with all income sources included, so I'm sure I'll really be cranking up the discretionary spending when I retire, but it's hard to imagine I'll actually spend as much as my stash will allow. For me, a likely relocation is a wild card as my expenses will most likely increase if I move.

 

[Perryinva]

You don’t mention your age or age you plan to leave, or estimated SS. Those all make a big difference, IMHO.

 

[finnski1]

we live in a MCOL area and only spend $40k per year for the two of us.
The usual: paid off house, no debt etc.
We don't feel like we're lacking for anything and take a few 1week trips a year. Just bought a travel trailer last fall and use that around the Northeast.
Also just bought our 9th(Subaru Outback) new car( I know! what are we doing? but we actually kept the last Outback for 14 years and my Tacoma is now 11 years old just had a few along the way we didn't keep long enough) in 35 years of marriage, eat well and are very active hikers and walkers.
Designed and built our own timber frame house for about $55/ sq ft (20 years ago) and love where we live in the woods of Southwestern NH.
The only thing we really don't do is international travel. We can afford it but just don't have the burning desire to do it? Maybe someday soon. I am about to turn 61 and my wife is 64.
We have not yet begun any SS and my wife has a small pension starting in 9 months. When we both hit FRA (if we take ss then) and combine her small pension, we would be at 170 % of our present spending without even touching the IRAs etc

 

[GravitySucks]

Rattlesnake Anti-venom and scorpion repellent will eat up all the savings!

Move to Texas.

Median US household income is about $63K (that includes health care cost) so you're asking is it possible for a single to live on more than what half the US households live on. (Assuming your SS is better than $23K)

 

[REWahoo]

Rattlesnake Anti-venom and scorpion repellent will eat up all the savings!

You forgot to mention we are all full except for this part of the state:

 

[Hermit]

But even then you made some choices, a lot of people wouldn't pay for 10 years of college for a single kid. That's a choice not a requirement for a retirement budget.

You also pointed a general hazard for a large long term DIY project escalating costs. In hindsight you wouldn't have been much worse off if you had just had your house built by others. I know you will have exactly the home you want and from your posts it seems like building your own was a form of a personal journey for you.

So a far as retirement budgets if you want a finished basement or a garage the only way to know the true costs in the future is to take care of it before you retire. Of course with the markets of the last 7 years very likely the increased costs of your materials is covered by market gains.

I absolutely agree with all the above. You could call my spending a slow roll "Blow That Dough" process. And like you pointed out my investments are still increasing and my income gets a big bump next month as I begin SS on my account. It sure is nice to have the resources to make those decisions.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Depends on one's budget and size of SS. One of ours is estimated at about $36k some folks have a lot more. $40k + $36k =$76k. That is a good salary let alone as a retiree with most expenses covered.