2019 Spending Summary and Analysis

[NW-Bound]

Fuschia is a nice color, but I could not picture in my mind a kitchen with so many cabinets in that color. The Web came to the rescue.

 

[CaliKid]

We spent, I think the technical term is, a crap ton! I track it pretty closely throughout the year but it still baffles me how we spend so much. Just looked over our numbers for the year and it shocks me. Family of 4 including two teenagers. For example we spent $22k at the grocery store. Even if I give the benefit of the doubt that it includes some prescriptions and stuff that's still a crap ton of money. Travel was way too much again also. Oh well....

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I don't track in detail what we spent on things like dental visits, car insurance, vet visits, car repairs, etc. Those kind of are what they are. We price shop the big expenses like car insurance every now and then but on a monthly basis there's not much to be done. I try to hack all our expenses and keep close track of controllable spending. I try to optimize everything, like I buy toilet paper online and in bulk by the pound with a store rewards program so the out of pocket cost is zero but I still try to maximize my rewards points. TP by me costs like 3 to 5 times as much in the store as it does buying online by the pound.

We like to go wine tasting but I analyze all the annual passes on a price per visit, which wineries are included, are there some new places, etc. So we're not into sitting home to save money or riding our bike to the grocery store in a snow storm frugal, but I like spreadsheets, finding bargains and getting good value for our money. It is not a chore for me but a fun hobby. And the money I save on things like TP and wine tasting can go into savings or be used for fun stuff like more concert tickets.

 

[NW-Bound]

When I first thought of ER, I started expense tracking to see what I could trim if the market took another tumble as it did twice in the last 20 years.

Now, with the bull market growing the stash and my wife drawing SS, the info tells me how the WR has shrunken as % of portfolio. Nice knowledge to have.

But one thing that has caused some head scratching is how much the food category has shrunken in dollar amounts over the years. Is it food price deflation, my wife getting better in shopping, or we eating and drinking less and less each year? I think it is the last 2 items.

 

[aja8888]

But one thing that has caused some head scratching is how much the food category has shrunken in dollar amounts over the years. Is it food price deflation, my wife getting better in shopping, or we eating and drinking less and less each year? I think it is the last 2 items.

With DW and I the only two (humans) in the house, and in our 70's, we eat less that we did ten years ago.

Usually, just a good breakfast (late) is enough to hold us until dinner. For dinner, we don't cook a big meal; generally frozen veggies and a chicken breast is more than enough. Or we go out for an inexpensive meal and split it.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes. I think old people are like an engine that's been broken in, and has higher fuel efficiency. Well, maybe not the highest efficiency, if it cannot be rev'ed up to the same high RPM. Idle speed only, or maybe no higher than 1,500 rpm.

It's too bad that when the engine can idle on the least amount of fuel is when it is also worn out and may throw a rod anytime.

 

[aja8888]

Yes. I think old people are like an engine that's been broken in, and has higher fuel efficiency. Well, maybe not the highest efficiency, if it cannot be rev'ed up to the same high RPM. Idle speed only, or maybe no higher than 1,500 rpm.

It's too bad that when the engine can idle on the least amount of fuel is when it is also worn out and may throw a rod anytime.

I think what you are saying is that old people need less calories to burn due to the burn rate is less.

We also have less "party animal" left inside.

 

[NW-Bound]

Old people do not eat much, nor drink much. They no longer want to travel. They don't care for new and fast cars. They don't want new and bigger homes. They don't care for any toy. Should they worry about WR or SORR?

Looking at a WR of 1.3% if we spend the same for travel in 2020 as we did in 2019, but that is iffy. Wife has to take care of MIL whose health is steadily declining. We may not be able to go to our 2nd home even. Sub-1% WR? Without expense tracking, I will not know how low it goes.

 

[youbet]

Next year I hit Medicare and the 15 grand a year for insurance gets cut in half - woohoo!

Well, maybe...... DW and I are on Medicare. With IRMAA, we spend upper teens annually on HI premiums. Compared to our working years, with employer subsidized HI, it costs us significantly more now as retirees. And so be it.........

 

[Dtail]

Well, maybe...... DW and I are on Medicare. With IRMAA, we spend upper teens annually on HI premiums. Compared to our working years, with employer subsidized HI, it costs us significantly more now as retirees. And so be it.........

I for one will most likely be paying a decent amount more for Medicare vs. the current ACA subsidized plan.

 

[socca]

Comparison of my 2019 actual spending with selected items from Corn18’s planned retirement budget (not apples-to-apples because I assume that Corn18 has a spouse whereas I am not equally blessed ).

Corn18 vs. Socca:

• Travel / BTD: $25k vs. $500 (only visited family once; no travel-related vacation. Being self-employed and semi-retired, I view every day as a kind of ‘vacation’ )

• Food / Dining: $18k vs. $4.4k

• Misc: $10.8k vs. $0 (don’t have this expense category; not informative)

• Medical: $10k vs. $1.9k (purchased a non-[A]CA-compliant insurance policy; no [A]CA ‘shared responsibility’ tax penalty in 2019 . My annual budget for medical premiums is roughly Medicare + IRMAA although I’m quite a few years from Medicare)

• Clothes: $6k vs. $66 (shorts & a T-shirt: what more do you need? )

• House stuff: $8.4k vs. $6k

• Auto: $7.6k vs. $1.2k (reliable old Toyota Camry doesn’t cost much to operate or insure)

• Utilities: $4k vs. $2.6k

• Health / Beauty: $5.4k vs. $200 (gym membership. What more do you need? )

• Lawn: $0k vs. $1.4k (woo hoo! I exceeded Corn18 in a category!! )

• Cell phone: $2k vs. $360 ($30 / month. What more do you need? )

Summary: My actual spending is not as far away from Corn18’s retirement budget as might be expected given his $1.5M actual 2019 spending (way out of my league ).

 

[jkern]

Just curious, but if these are YOUR expenses, what things does your wife spend money on that are not counted?

She has her own Transportation, Medical, Dental and 1/2 food expenses. This being my second marriage, she moved into my house and I pay for all housing costs. She also has all of her own discretionary spending. Her total cost of living is about $50K per year.

 

[Rianne]

Fuschia is a nice color, but I could not picture in my mind a kitchen with so many cabinets in that color. The Web came to the rescue.

No need for coffee in the morning!

 

[Nemo2]

No need for coffee in the morning!

Sunglasses, perhaps?

 

[wmc1000]

Family of 2 - 10.76% higher expense level in 2019 - All in total of $60,896.14 - increase entirely due to dental costs, (5 crowns), and added costs of medicare plus supplement and prescription plan costs over heavily subsidized ACA silver plan as we both were on medicare in 2019.

Still carrying mortgage balance of $15K and pay $1500 per mo. on that so it will be paid off by end of year which will lower expenses to the tune of $12K per year starting in 2021.

 

[albundyz]

A lot depends on where you live, we live in So Cal. Maybe we're different, but we used to fight over money. To remedy this, we decided to give my wife an allowance and she can spend that on any stupid stuff she wants. no more fights.

mortgage...…………...11k
prop tax...………………..9.5K
Utilities...………………….8.8K (incl HOA)
Health Insurance...….6.5K
Wife allowance...……..7.9K
husb allowance...…….7.2K (includes dinners, entertainment, and my stupid purch)
stuff 4 house...………..7.2K
food...……………………...7.2K
gasoline...………………...3K
Income tax...…………….3K
house and EQ insur….2.4K
car insur - 2 cars......1.8K
xtra drugs...…………….2K
Christmas...…………….1k
travel.........…………….4K
new carpet...…………..2K
car maint…...………….1K
shutters 4 house.....3K
OSICR...…………………1.5K (other stuff I can't remember)

tot for 2019.………..90K (I think it adds up to 90) note: 2 old cars paid off

 

[Happyras]

I am a little embarrassed to state our annual spending, as it would seem our monthly is more like everyone's average yearly. So, without numbers, no surprise;
1/3 of our spending is taxes as the more you make the more they want to take ,
about 1/4 is spent on what I call hobbies (mostly show jumper horses care, training, paying for the trainers condo/swimming pool in Palm Springs while we sleep in our camper , etc., horse shoes (not the game) haircuts for the horses, new accessories constantly...
Travel is 1/10 of our spending and does not include hobby travel but this is more than some spend in a year on everything, we travel 1st class and do many international trips
The rest are small amounts for mortgages, gifts, new cars, etc. OK for example we spent 31K on restaurants, a proportionally small amount compared to taxes and hobbies...
I guess I retired too late but we are trying our best to spend what we earn but are still saving 10% of our income for later to pay more in taxes.....
Oddly, this spending is about the same as when I was "employed" and we owned our business. Since then, our income has gone up substantially. thanks to the many opinions on this forum I have learned alot about letting go and spending

 

[braumeister]

I am a little embarrassed to state our annual spending, as it would seem our monthly is more like everyone's average yearly.

No need to be embarrassed; we have, and have had, quite a few high rollers as members here. We all have quite a bit in common as we work our way through this phase of our lives. And the actual numbers aren't really important anyway.

 

[Nature Lover]

2019 was a pretty average year for me spending-wise:

Recurring Living Exps ~$41k

Non-recurring Type Exps ~$10k

Total after tax spending = ~51k.

 

[HI Bill]

Spending for 2019 all inclusive including taxes was $218,959.

Now, that's what I call blowing dough!

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, Baby! I don't just talk the talk eh?

 

[NW-Bound]

On the other hand, I suddenly recall a poster who prided himself on spending very little money, despite having a prestigious research job with good income. Have not seen him here for a few years.

PS. I recall reading that he spent so little money on food, so asked him if he worked at Google. Google provides very good gourmet food completely free to employees at company's cafeterias, the reason being so that they can spend long hours at work in return for free. He said no.

 

[Dtail]

No need to be embarrassed; we have, and have had, quite a few high rollers as members here. We all have quite a bit in common as we work our way through this phase of our lives. And the actual numbers aren't really important anyway.

+1
IIRC, perhaps somewhere around 20% of folks participating in a spending poll chose >120k yearly.

 

[IMATERP]

Wife and I have a paid off home. We both “contribute” $1,250.00 per month to a joint account and this covers ALL household and joint expenses + one or two modest vacations. Thus, together- we mange to live well on 30k per year. Our greatest expense is property tax which is $3,500.

We do maintain our own discretionary “personal accounts.” I may have spent an additional $1,000 and wifey spent an additional $5,000. She likes to shop!

 

[MarieIG]

I am a little embarrassed to state our annual spending, as it would seem our monthly is more like everyone's average yearly. So, without numbers, no surprise;
1/3 of our spending is taxes as the more you make the more they want to take ,
about 1/4 is spent on what I call hobbies (mostly show jumper horses care, training, paying for the trainers condo/swimming pool in Palm Springs while we sleep in our camper , etc., horse shoes (not the game) haircuts for the horses, new accessories constantly...
Travel is 1/10 of our spending and does not include hobby travel but this is more than some spend in a year on everything, we travel 1st class and do many international trips
The rest are small amounts for mortgages, gifts, new cars, etc. OK for example we spent 31K on restaurants, a proportionally small amount compared to taxes and hobbies...
I guess I retired too late but we are trying our best to spend what we earn but are still saving 10% of our income for later to pay more in taxes.....
Oddly, this spending is about the same as when I was "employed" and we owned our business. Since then, our income has gone up substantially. thanks to the many opinions on this forum I have learned alot about letting go and spending

Good for you, enjoy!