Final 2023 Expenses

[W2R]

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[/-] $63,130.68 (new roof, new water heater, etc., also year not quite over):

Corrected my 2023 spending to the final numbers, after the year was over. WR 1.13%.

 

[deserat]

Very interesting numbers - just looked at mine; I'm on track to be fine with my upcoming final retirement, although this spring I will be spending more money than I have even in my life purchasing my home and a new car as I move back from Europe....but after that, accounting for the decrease in my spending due to rent and other things, I will be fine. I have been 'stress-testing' what VPW, FireCalc, i-ORP, etc, say I can spend, ie, trying to spend what they show as the breaking point from 100% good to go to 99% and below and I am having a heck of a time doing that. My travel has been insane these last two years (to me) - I haven't been going first class, but I have not been sweating the small stuff and I've added concert-going to the hobbies (that is *not* a cheap hobby) and still, I can't spend it up to the amounts they recommend....so, I've increased my travel budget projections and will be seeing how that works. It will probably go up due to airfare across oceans, although I could be super cheap and fly Space-A...we'll see. Lots of moving parts until then. In any case, the overall amount I require for basic living expenses will not be over what my Reserve pension will bring in....so, if I have to, I can tighten my belt...but I don't think that will be necessary. To me the main wildcard will be any LTC expenses, so I'm keeping some powder dry for that....

 

[bigcmagor]

$374,000 including $130k in gifts/donations, $128k in federal tax, $23k in discretionary household improvements leaving $93k in living expenses.

 

[Rustic23]

$51,336. Recurring exp the normal stuff
$23,900. Cap exp. Flooring, AC
$32,164. Discretionary kids and grandkids

 

[jim584672]

Under $16K here.

 

[Teacher Terry]

One of my biggest expenses are my 2 Maltese. Like usual as they age they get more expensive. Amy who is just turning 10 has expensive food because of allergies and a sensitive stomach, anal gland and liver supplements, heart medication and vet bills. Max is cheaper except for his dental that costs 1500. This year I spent 6k on them. Luckily for them they are worth it in the companionship and love they give me.

 

[Sue J]

We are both 68, DH has been retired for almost 14 years, I have a minimal part time job and my entire gross pay goes to my Roth IRA. No mortgage, no debt.

Normal monthly expenses $37,127.

In addition to normal monthly expenses we had some additional things like renovating the deck with new Trex decking and railings ($12,000), upgraded intraocular lenses (cataract surgery) for both DH and I ($8,700), 529 contributions for the grandkids and some other lumpy expenses for a total of $24,785.

Grand total spent $61,912.

Last years normal monthly expenses were $36,085 and additional lumpy things of $8,625 for a total of $44,710.

 

[fosterscik]

$135,750. Biggest categories: Travel at $56k, Mortgage PIT at $22k.
So without those a pretty modest $48K total spend.... (although to achieve a $50k spend we'd have to downsize to mortgage free in a low tax area and that isn't going to happen ).
This will get much harder next year with the demise of Mint. I'm still deciding what to do to monitor spending categories. I'm loath to pay a subscription to monitor it all.

 

[Koolau]

$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.

Ditto. I can’t fathom some of these numbers. My property taxes are more than what some people spend in a year.

Yeah, I was knocked out by aaronc879's spending. That wouldn't cover my HOA for a year.

I haven't calculated our spending but a quick back-of-the-envelope suggests about $200K+. Our major expense is charity which is more than half our spending at this point in our lives (giving with a warm hand, as we have been calling it.) Second largest expense is probably gifting to the kids.

This year, we plan extra for the kids, so the total could be well over $200K. I see that figure and just shake my head. I never made even $100K when w*rking. How did I ever get to this spending level?? I actually think I'm pretty frugal. For instance, my cars cost $13K in 2017 and $5K in 2012. Though we travel 4 months out of the year, our travel expenses (lodging and transportation add to about $8K.) We actually save money on food, utilities and gas when we're off Island. (Heh, heh, note to self: If the Paradise thing doesn't w*rk out, Midwest living is a LOT cheaper. YMMV)

 

[Koolau]

There has been a lot of jabber in the popular press about increased food expenses, so I took a look at my records:

• 2023: $5k
• 2022: $5k
• 2021: $4.5k
• 2020: $4.6k
• 2019: $4.4k
There does seem to have been a jump during the pandemic inflationary surge.

Our "food" is way down since we used to eat about 1 meal/day out. That alone was probably over $7K. I doubt we spend $1K eating out and probably $4K otherwise on food. BUT inflation (on food) is palpable! It's mainly that we eat a lot less now and a lot less expensively. Inflation on what we do eat is very significant - especially our few meals out (easily 40% over 3 years.) YMMV

 

[socca]

The numbers below exclude the 2023 disposition of one of the family businesses. These are just “normal operating income & expenses”.

Income:
• investments: 54%
• business (both labor & pass-thru): 46%

Expenses (as % of gross income):
• necessities (taxes, housing, food, medical, auto, reserves): 40%
• savings - nominal: 25%
• discretionary - spent: 1%
• discretionary - unspent: 34%

Effective savings rate: 59%

Notes:
• I haven’t learned how to have fun and spend money. At my advanced age, it might be too late.
• thanks to the business sale proceeds I’m expecting higher investment income in 2024.
• I’m trying to reduce my participation in other family business but it’s difficult when no one else is willing / able to do the work.

 

[Crabbyjerry]

Expense

I'm always amazed when I read these numbers. In my HCOL area, my rent alone is more than some of your total spending!

. That’s why we have to leave these expensive areas. My “cheap condo taxes and common charges and all the other bs assessments are approaching 16-17thousand”. That’s for someone to tell me what I can and can’t do. We’ve looked in other states and yearly taxes are 2-3 thousand for house and some property. If I can convince some family to make the move, it’s a financial no brainer.

 

[Winemaker]

Somewhere between $135-$145k. I don't budget, but gross income minus Roth conversions, gives me the above.

 

[TheWizard]

Not including the $8000 we spent on our South Dakota tour, and the taxes we paid on a Roth conversion about $5000, we spent about $35,000 for the year. I keep track on excel and compare to the budget I create on excel as well.

Why would you not include those items?
A true picture includes everything...

 

[TheWizard]

Somewhere between $135-$145k. I don't budget, but gross income minus Roth conversions, gives me the above.

That's almost the way I would compute it as well.
But my formula would be:
Spending = AGI+ 15%*SS - Roth conversion - net amt to Taxable settlement fund.

If I were to withdraw $$ from my Roth, I'd add that to AGI as well.

Income taxes for the year are tricky since I won't know till late February following whether I'm getting a refund or owe a bit more.
So I'd adjust my Spending figure by that amount, once known...

 

[Humbooster]

Looks Like 99.8K for 2023 vs 77K for 2022.
2023 includes a new(ish) vehicle ~ 30K, two Roth contributions of 7K as well as three short vacations, not too bad really

 

[Koolau]

We're all over the place, expenses-wise here. BUT, we all still sound like solidly middle class retirees. No true poverty situations and no 1-percenters, either. YMMV

 

[aja8888]

We're all over the place, expenses-wise here. BUT, we all still sound like solidly middle class retirees. No true poverty situations and no 1-percenters, either. YMMV

Well, that tells us a lot!

 

[53anddone]

$360,000

$35,000 in Taxes
$100,000 in College Payments, etc.
$45,000 for a new Car
$39,000 for Vacations
$32,000 for Medical
Those are the biggies.

3% NWR so no worries. Need to get these kids out of college!

 

[ivinsfan]

One of my biggest expenses are my 2 Maltese. Like usual as they age they get more expensive. Amy who is just turning 10 has expensive food because of allergies and a sensitive stomach, anal gland and liver supplements, heart medication and vet bills. Max is cheaper except for his dental that costs 1500. This year I spent 6k on them. Luckily for them they are worth it in the companionship and love they give me.

Pet can be expensive, but OTOH at least you don't have horses.

 

[SecondCor521]

We're all over the place, expenses-wise here. BUT, we all still sound like solidly middle class retirees. No true poverty situations and no 1-percenters, either. YMMV

How do you mean 1-percenter?

Top one percent in US net worth in 2022 was about $11M. I don't particularly keep track and I wouldn't "out" anyone anyway, but I think there are at least several posters here that are at that number or above.

If you mean sub 1% WR, well, there's me for one.

 

[teej1985]

I spent $40,949 in 2023 vs $41,022 in 2022.

 

[Dtail]

95k for us. If we could, we would spend more.

 

[sengsational]

Why would you not include those items?
A true picture includes everything...

Not the poster, but I do something similar.

The value to me in calculating a withdrawal rate that doesn't include the odd, big things is that you can compare year-to-year. So this is a secondary purpose, beyond the "will my stash last 'till I croak" purpose. But if you have a good handle on your regular "base" WR, then you can use that for all years until "plan sunset", plus drop in an occasional car or roof or tax on conversion or whatever. That would probably yield a more accurate assessment of if the stash will last than presuming the current year would repeat for the rest of the plan years.

 

[Ronstar]

$360,000

$35,000 in Taxes
$100,000 in College Payments, etc.
$45,000 for a new Car
$39,000 for Vacations
$32,000 for Medical
Those are the biggies.

3% NWR so no worries. Need to get these kids out of college!

Yep - Get those kids out of college and transfer that $100k to vacations.