Expense Poll

[Live And Learn]

Am just coming up on first full year. The good news is total spending and total budget were about the same. The bad news is the bucket by bucket analysis was way off.

Wow - thats interesting ! I'm glad the expenses worked out as a wash for you. My posted budget is based upon 18 months of spending plus extra for the unexpected (which I estimate at 413/month <300 in its own bucket plus half of the home maintenance>). I sure hope I'm right ! can you tell me which buckets you over/underestimated on ? Might help me identify gaps in my own plan.

One pleasant surprise was the ability (because of available time) to identify and implement cost savings. Changing phone services, managing cable bill, walking the golf course vs riding, refinance mortgage, where we shop, DIY, and a few others. Was able to manage down expenses about 1K per month with no quality of life impact. Have done the same thing with the revenue side of things by consolidating investment accounts, moving to lower cost funds, manage and rebalanced more closely, better tax management, and a few other things to improve cash flow.

That is truly inspiring !

 

[Live And Learn]

I'm inspired by Live and Learn so here goes:

10k - Healthcare (based on Obamacare and indexed at 6%)

Is that for two people ? I get much higher estimates. Based upon your estimated taxes of 10k I'd say that you're planning on using mostly tax deferred income to fund your 96k of expenses. Which would put you way over the 60k limit on income for 2 to get any Obamacare subsidy. Without subsidy I see 19k in HI cost, before any OOP expenses. I'm planning on an average of 7k OOP per year so my total Healthcare estimate is 26k, plus 2k for Medications.

How did you come to 10k ? If I could come in at 10k then I'm ready to jump into the ER waters today !

 

[devans0]

Are you in one of those high income tax states?
I assume that is state plus federal tax; any other taxes added?

I live in a "worst list" tax state. Estate, state, FICA, property, local, sales tax estimate, however no gas tax estimates just from laziness... If it was a tax that I had a receipt for, I threw it in. Next year will be a much lower.

I plan on establishing residency in a tax friendlier state at retirement. Probably South Dakota.

 

[bondi688]

You guys are all spendthrifts and should learn from the Wagasky family.

How a Family of Four Manages to Live Well on Just $14,000 Per Year - Yahoo! Finance

 

[comicbookgujy]

You guys are all spendthrifts and should learn from the Wagasky family.

How a Family of Four Manages to Live Well on Just $14,000 Per Year - Yahoo! Finance

That's easily doable if rent here in Los Angeles, CA didn't cost as almost as much as what he's paying to buy a house, $30k.

Most of us won't be able to follow that plan:

1.) Buy a house for $30k.

I live in a 600 sq ft apartment and I spent over $20k in rent and it's the cheapest apartment in the neighorhood.

2.) Military health benefit. I spend over $600 a month to insure myself and my wife through my company healt plan. The past 2 years, I had to spend $10k on health insurance due to some medical problems since its' a $7,500k deductible...yea, I know...it's a horrible plan.

When you don't have a big payment toward housing or health insurance, it's easy to live on $14k a year.

 

[brett]

$ 72k after tax. We own our home or at least did until six months ago when we started to downsize.

We were spot on over the past two years...with a fair amount of out of country travel. This may change a little since we have sold our home and have not yet bought or rented a new place to live.

Also, we have no requirement to budget for medical insurance, other than out of country medical when we travel.
No debts.

 

[gerrym51]

65,000

 

[Lakedog]

In five years of retirement, I have averaged around $30k -- guess I need to step it up since that spending level is about a third of 3% WR + pension.

I tried to do better last year when I bought an RV ($75k) but sold it a few months (and 10k miles) later for more than the purchase price. I enjoyed the RV on a long western adventure but couldn't resist selling when offered such a good price.

 

[Dawg52]

In five years of retirement, I have averaged around $30k

I'm closer to your number. Perhaps living in the south has something to do with it. Plus due to elder care responsibilities, my travel expense is almost nonexistent.

 

[rbmrtn]

I'm closer to your number. Perhaps living in the south has something to do with it. Plus due to elder care responsibilities, my travel expense is almost nonexistent.

Same here, less than 20k in expenses last year.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I'm inspired by Live and Learn so here goes:

30k/5 - Car replacement every 5 years
10k/4 - International vacation every 4 years
6k - Unexpected big expenses
10k - Healthcare (based on Obamacare and indexed at 6%)
8k - At home food
5k - smaller vacations
4k - Property taxes
10k - Fed taxes
4k - Eating out
4k - Auto Repair in Insurance
2k - Clothing
2k - Charity donations
2k - Timeshare dues
7k - Utilities (Internet, TV, Water, Garbage, Electric, Gas)
2k - Gasoline
2k - Unclassified misc spending
2k - Housing repairs (smaller)
2k - Homeowners and Umbrella Insurance
2k - Entertainment
2k - Misc Electronics
1k - Massage Club
1k - Gifts
1k - Pet Care
6k - 19 other categories I won't bore you with

Even leaving out stuff I don't use, the net is a whole bunch more than I will have. Maybe I will need that piano crate under the bridge.

 

[REWahoo]

Even leaving out stuff I don't use, the net is a whole bunch more than I will have. Maybe I will need that piano crate under the bridge.

It doesn't sound to me like you'll be able to afford the piano - not to mention the lessons...

 

[FIREd]

This is what our expenses look like right now (couple, no kids, 2 cats living in San Francisco):

$61K - rent and renter's insurance
$9K - cars (replacement, repair & maintenance, gas, insurance, registration)
$10K - groceries
$7K - utilities (TV, internet, electric, water, phone)
$4K - health (insurance, co-pays)
$1K - pets
$1K - personal care
$15K - fun money (clothing, dining, entertainment, furnishings, vacations)

 

[bondi688]

FIREd
61k for rents? Do you have a bedroom for each of the cats?

 

[FIREd]

FIREd
61k for rents? Do you have a bedroom for each of the cats?

2-bedroom, 1,100 sqft apartment.

 

[bondi688]

2-bedroom, 1,100 sqft apartment.

Talk about SF being expensive ! And the apartment is located in the Tenderloin district.

 

[FIREd]

Talk about SF being expensive ! And the apartment is located in the Tenderloin district.

Not quite the Tenderloin, but nowhere near Pacific Heights either...

 

[W2R]

Talk about SF being expensive !

+1 So true, and in just about every category!

Well, except health/medical, but then you two are younger which could account for the low spending on health/medical. Well, and personal care is reasonable considering that she is working and so it would probably cost more for her.

But wow, your utilities are sky high for such a small apartment!

 

[REWahoo]

This is what our expenses look like right now (couple, no kids, 2 cats living in San Francisco):

$61K - rent and renter's insurance
$9K - cars (replacement, repair & maintenance, gas, insurance, registration)
$10K - groceries
$7K - utilities (TV, internet, electric, water, phone)
$4K - health (insurance, co-pays)
$1K - pets
$1K - personal care
$15K - fun money (clothing, dining, entertainment, furnishings, vacations)

Just 'one more year', eh?

 

[FIREd]

+1 So true, and in just about every category!

Well, except health/medical, but then you two are younger which could account for the low spending on health/medical. Well, and personal care is reasonable considering that she is working and so it would probably cost more for her.

But wow, your utilities are sky high for such a small apartment!

Yes, water/sewer is insanely high, about $100 a month (not based on our own consumption but on the entire building's consumption so we have no control over this bill). Electric is pretty high, about $100 a month for about 500 KW/h. Cable is also higher than what we are used to.

 

[dunkelblau]

This is what our expenses look like right now (couple, no kids, 2 cats living in San Francisco):

$61K - rent and renter's insurance
$9K - cars (replacement, repair & maintenance, gas, insurance, registration)
$10K - groceries
$7K - utilities (TV, internet, electric, water, phone)
$4K - health (insurance, co-pays)
$1K - pets
$1K - personal care
$15K - fun money (clothing, dining, entertainment, furnishings, vacations)

Here's my annual spend for comparison (single 50YO near Good Sam hospital, San Jose):

rent-- 11000
car-- 2000
food-- 700
util-- 600
HI-- 6000
pets-- n/a
care-- 700
fun-- 1000

I'm about 50 miles south of SF. My apartment is much smaller than 1000sf, American car, avoid Whole Foods, and my idea of fun is reading at the library. So depending on your tastes, it doesn't have to cost a lot to live in northern CA. Wages here are high enough that FI is quick & easy if you live small.

 

[obgyn65]

About $40,000 in my case. Trying to get spending to $50,000 per year.

 

[FIREd]

Here's my annual spend for comparison (single 50YO near Good Sam hospital, San Jose):

rent-- 11000
car-- 2000
food-- 700
util-- 600
HI-- 6000
pets-- n/a
care-- 700
fun-- 1000

I'm about 50 miles south of SF. My apartment is much smaller than 1000sf, American car, avoid Whole Foods, and my idea of fun is reading at the library. So depending on your tastes, it doesn't have to cost a lot to live in northern CA. Wages here are high enough that FI is quick & easy if you live small.

Our living expenses are easily covered by our income and we are already FI. Affordability is not an issue for us. But thanks for sharing.

 

[Mulligan]

This is what our expenses look like right now (couple, no kids, 2 cats living in San Francisco):

$61K - rent and renter's insurance
$9K - cars (replacement, repair & maintenance, gas, insurance, registration)
$10K - groceries
$7K - utilities (TV, internet, electric, water, phone)
$4K - health (insurance, co-pays)
$1K - pets
$1K - personal care
$15K - fun money (clothing, dining, entertainment, furnishings, vacations)

I will steal your set up FIREd if you don't mind. (single)
$8400 -mortgage and everything else with it
$4k -car and everything- no car payments, a lot of gas though
$5k - food
$950- health insurance
$4500- utilities
$1k- personal supplies
$10k - child support (this is dropping very soon as college is winding down)
$10k- fun money

 

[Meadbh]

This is what our expenses look like right now (couple, no kids, 2 cats living in San Francisco):

$61K - rent and renter's insurance
$9K - cars (replacement, repair & maintenance, gas, insurance, registration)
$10K - groceries
$7K - utilities (TV, internet, electric, water, phone)
$4K - health (insurance, co-pays)
$1K - pets
$1K - personal care
$15K - fun money (clothing, dining, entertainment, furnishings, vacations)

OMG. My entire basic budget would fit in the first item.
Tell me again how wonderful SF is!