Final 2023 Expenses

[wmc1000]

Generally I don’t know all my annual spending until all the credit card statements that include Dec charges come in. This takes me until Jan 22 thereabouts.

I look at our CC account online to get the final pending charges included in our totals.

Also, I am anal about owing anything to anyone so I almost always make CC payments that keep us without a balance due BEFORE the monthly statement is even sent out. Also do that with our utility biils, just call me crazy.

 

[Surewhitey]

2018 $44k
2019 $63k
2020 $100k (car & remodel new (old) home)
2021 $52k
2022 $58k
2023 $68k (more travel)

 

[Plantman]

Just over 29k.

 

[old medic]

Well $75189 came out of our checking account, but to where is the question. I guess I need to do a better job of accounting I do know that our savings increased, overall debit is down, house is closer to done.

 

[walkinwood]

This is very interesting information. Thank you all for sharing.



I think it would be more useful if you also include your age and your expenses (after SS & Pensions) as a percentage of your portfolio. I think that gives some perspective on the spending.

 

[brett]

YoY expenses were essentially flat. We do not care about plus or minus five percent. Or any large variances as long as we understand the reason. Which we always do.

I may be an outlier.

My only concern is our after tax spend. Net cash flow...the number. I tape our monthly current account, enter the number on a sheet of paper. It takes about five minutes per month. Keep a running annual total. That is it. No excel ss, no pie charts. It is a manual process. I have been doing this for the last 12 years of retirement. Before that, the previous five years prior to retirement.

I do not track whether we spend more on cans of peas, less on clothing, or more on travel. It is all grist to the mill to us.

I spend far more cumulative time at the end of each November reviewing investment performance and on tax planning.

I do a pro forma tax return for each of us in late November/early December. I want to understand our respective cash flow requirements for the current years tax liability (we file separately in our jurisdiction) and for next years income tax installment payments.

I want to gain a general understanding of how much cash we need to bring in from our investment account from Y/E distributions, etc. to augment our estimated non investment income retirement income cash flows in the upcoming year.

 

[joesxm3]

For 2023 including tree cutting and new roof but not new Tesla was $76,498.

With new Tesla was $135,312.

My base spending has been pretty constant despite inflation. However, the amount spent on hobby stuff has dropped considerably.

 

[HarveyS]

2023 spend was 81% of the average spend for years 2016 - 2022. Not inflation adjusted. Just didn't spend the money we have in the past. No noticeable change to lifestyle. Obviously something changed, I just didn't notice it.

 

[Surewhitey]

This is very interesting information. Thank you all for sharing.



I think it would be more useful if you also include your age and your expenses (after SS & Pensions) as a percentage of your portfolio. I think that gives some perspective on the spending.

We are 53&59. Plan to get ~$70k when we both get SS and small pension.

Future spending based on 3% inflation is ~$107k, so a $37k shortfall on the future value of ~3mm, ~1.2%. Lots of fluff for lumpy stuff along the way.

Nothing to account for how many more years we w*rk, so this is based on if we quit today.

 

[Finance Dave]

In my eleventh year of retirement now, I've never seen a need to track my spending.
I'm fortunate to have excess income most months which I transfer to the settlement fund in my taxable account. So I'll print a copy of all those transactions for the year to get a feel for how I'm doing.

So, for example, if my AGI for the year is $150k and I put $40k into my taxable account, then I must have spent $110k, including income taxes...

That is awesome and must feel very "fuzzy" comfortable! We will likely be in that boat once we both get on SS, but for now we're spending a bit of our portfolio.

 

[Dash man]

My bank says we spent ~$377,000. That includes $100k in improvements for a beach house and $27,000 for solar for our primary home. It also includes gifts to our kids and grandkids, and about $80,000 in charitable donations. So general spending is about $100,000.

 

[W2R]

2018 $44k
2019 $63k
2020 $100k (car & remodel new (old) home)
2021 $52k
2022 $58k
2023 $68k (more travel)

I'm following Surewhitey's style, because I thought his year-by-year list was helpful and interesting.

I'm 75 years old, live alone in a paid off house, and retired in November of 2009. Today my portfolio plus bank accounts add up to 172% of their total value on the day I retired. Here's what I've spent each year:

2010: $37,947
2011: $32,493
2012: $32,875
2013: $38,500
2014: $39,582
2015: $45,740 (bought my Dream Home in cash)
2016: $45,384
2017: $43,917
2018: $35,505
2019: $48,157
2020: $43,065
2021: $39,825 (too sick with severe Covid to buy as much)
2022: $41,715
2023: $63,021 (new roof, new water heater, etc., also year not quite over):

 

[kgtest]

Hard to tell as DW and I have never actually combined our CC statements to categorize and add things up.

I do have a general idea of what last year looked like.

We spent more on most categories and in general, that was by design and then of course inflation was not as I expected....

Spent more on lodging, and airfare than last year. Spent more on groceries.

Trash and property tax up bigly. Haircut expenses up, gas for vehicles about even.

Medical costs up a little.

Income Taxes down because income was down.

Auto and Home insurance down, Energy, water and sewer, comcast all went down.

 

[aaronc879]

$10,391. No that is not monthly.

That's 3.4% of my investable net worth not counting my home equity. I am 44 and semi retired.

 

[W2R]

$10,391. No that is not monthly.

That's 3.4% of my investable net worth not counting my home equity. I am 44 and semi retired.

Excellent!

 

[5Miler]

DGF (64) and I (70) had total spending of $86,319 for 2023 which includes taxes. Spending over and above my SS, mini pension and DGF's part time Travel Agent income was 1.39% of our combined 2023 starting balance for all of our investment accounts.

House and vehicles paid off many years ago so our money tends to stretch a long way these days. We spent around $38K in travel this year which was obviously a large part of our total spending and we will come close to matching that number in 2024.

 

[BlueberryPie]

We are 53&59. Plan to get ~$70k when we both get SS and small pension.

Future spending based on 3% inflation is ~$107k, so a $37k shortfall on the future value of ~3mm, ~1.2%. Lots of fluff for lumpy stuff along the way.

Nothing to account for how many more years we w*rk, so this is based on if we quit today.

Not sure I understand your math. If you got the $70K from the social security site/paperwork, it's expressed in today's dollar, so it will also grow with inflation. If all you need today is $70K and you're not planning on lifestyle increases, SS will cover expenses

 

[Calico]

I spent $29,114 this year.

That's a "normal" year for me. 2022 was way above normal because I had a new concrete driveway and walkway put in.

This year I had no major home expenses, so I feel positively thrifty!

 

[SomedaySoon]

Just looked at my totals for 2023.


Our charity/gift expenses were upped significantly this year and DW had an extra $8K for implants. Most other expenses were in line with previous years plus some inflation.

You lucky guy ! My wife got reductions...
(Oh did you mean dental ?)
LOL

 

[freedomatlast]

$153,524.68 is the 2023 year end spending total from all credit card purchases and all bank account withdrawals for purchases and taxes. This is higher than normal for us but way below what FIRECALC says is safe. I don't categorize any expenses (too much like work) except the larger nonrecurring expenses like new vehicles.

 

[RetireAge50]

Blow the dough!

 

[38Chevy454]

I'm another just look at the yearly total amount and not breaking it down to real specifics. I do monitor and record some expenses that are deductible for my home based business taxes; primarily utility related. But sometime in Jan I will get the 2023 totals.

 

[Surewhitey]

Not sure I understand your math. If you got the $70K from the social security site/paperwork, it's expressed in today's dollar, so it will also grow with inflation. If all you need today is $70K and you're not planning on lifestyle increases, SS will cover expenses

SS is in future $'s too... Based on the website calcs minus the 25% haircut some expect...

I have my spreadsheet with the next 40 years planned.

 

[LateToFIRE]

~$205K (not including taxes) on a retirement-adjusted basis. Not quite yet retired so subtracted certain major expenses that would not have incurred in retirement.

Updated: Forgot to subtract out mortgage that will be repaid and couple of other minor items that would not apply in retirement. Medical insurance will increase for a few years but settle down under Medicare once I qualify, so left that alone. After pension & SS when those kick in at age 65/67, net would have been ~$110K, which would be 2% of portfolio. Age: Early 60's.

Hmmm, Looking at 2023 expenditures, probably I've been over over-estimating my retirement budget as lumpy, one-time pre-retirement expenses and big tax bills have been clouding the picture. Food for thought. Becoming clear though just how much would be able to cut back in a worst case situation.

 

[scrabbler1]

In a small version of "Blow That Dough," my expenses jumped from the $20k-$21k range the last 3 years to just over $24k in 2023. Some of that increase is due to hopefully one-time events such costly dental work. But some of that increase is due to new expenses which are likely to repeat or general increase in existing expenses.

Changing the stock fund portion of my portfolio at the end of 2019 had a huge impact on my expenses, decreasing the income tax and medical expense parts of them (mostly medical, because of the restored ACA subsidy).

But one item which may further decrease my medical expenses in 2024 is my becoming eligible for New York's Essential Plan. The state increased its income eligibility from 200% of FPL to 250% of FPL, and I am in that group of potential new enrollees, starting in April or May.