Retirement Expenses - Steady or Declining?

[ncbill]

I know, right? That $900 a month translates to $270k of extra savings required to retire.

The issue we are having now is downsizing our house. We are moving to be near our kids. Probably won't live there forever but might be a while. The two of us are currently living in a 4600 sq ft McMansion. We don't even go upstairs where the media room, game room and 3 bedrooms are. I budgeted $500k for our next house. Well, seems momma can't find anything she would be willing to live in that costs less than $700k. And she wants to have a budget for renovation and more furniture. Oh my. I found a few that were $450k that I thought were ridiculously huge for 2 people (4k sq ft). We'll see how this goes. We are house hunting while we are with the kids for Thanksgiving this week.

Come move here...Zillow has the 3BR/3BA two-story town houses in our development as ~2800 sqft & you can buy 'em for ~$200k all the day long...

 

[braumeister]

The 1,200 sf house I grew up in sold ten years ago for $525K.
My parents bought it for $10K right after WW II.
I think location is relevant.

 

[jcretire77]

Don't be surprised that when retired you will find other interests that may need money to support. I'm not a bird fan, but drop well over $200 each month to feed the birds at the feeders in our front lawn bed and the silly domesticated duck that someone dropped off at the pond where I golf. Not that any of them need me, but I enjoy it and it was not part of my initial budget.

Three old cars here, just waiting for one to die. We need two as we have different interests and schedules.

We retired at a good time due to the market, but was roughly only at 90% of where I wanted to be. It would have sucked big time to take the small severance package and retire in to a downturn.

Having enough cash and assets in taxable accounts help with the ACA. Still years from Medicare.

Good luck and enjoy retirement!

 

[Teacher Terry]

When I saw the dog expenses I assumed multiple dogs on medications. We had medication bills around 400/month for 4 old dogs. The bigger the dogs the more expensive the meds.

 

[corn18]

When I saw the dog expenses I assumed multiple dogs on medications. We had medication bills around 400/month for 4 old dogs. The bigger the dogs the more expensive the meds.

Affirmative. Diabetic cat. Old dog with Cushing's.

I will be presenting this cart to CINCHOME (my wife) today: