Top Ten Expenses?

[anothercog]

Looking at my 2023 spending my top 10 expenses from highest to lowest were:

1. Federal taxes
2. Travel
3. State taxes (CA)
4. Mortgage
5. Property taxes
6. Groceries
7. Medicare
8. Pet care (3 dogs, lots of boarding due to travel)
9. Social Security
10. Health care (insurance + deductibles/copay)

If I were to include my son's college expenses it would come in at number 7 last year (only paid for 2 quarters so far) but I didn't include it since it paid out of the 529.

I'm still working and get heavily subsidized health insurance so I expect in retirement health care will move up to the #3 spot until I qualify for Medicare. Curious what other retirees top ten expenses look like?

 

[GenXguy]

1. Federal taxes
2. State taxes
3. FICA taxes
4. Healthcare - Insurance/COBRA/Co-pays/Deductibles
5. Property taxes
6. Utilities
7. Groceries
8. Homeowner's insurance
9. Water/Sewage/Trash bill
10. Internet

2023 was the transitional year for me. I worked almost half the year before I was forced into retirement a little ahead of schedule.

 

[Dtail]

ACA managed income, so no Fed (or FLA state) taxes for me.
Food, House, Travel are the big 3.

 

[AudiDudi]

1. Travel/recreation
2. Medicare/Medical
3. Groceries
4. Taxes (fed/state/sales/property)
5. Homeowner expenses
6. The rest combined

 

[Teacher Terry]

My top expenses are similar to yours except I don’t pay state taxes.

 

[jollystomper]

For 2023:
1. Taxes (federal/state/property)
2. Charity/Gifts
3. Vacation/Travel
4. Medical
5. Auto (maintenance, insurance, supplies, repairs)
6. Food (Groceries, take out, restaurants)
7. Household (supplies, appliances, maintenance, repairs)
8. Utilities (electric, cable, landline, sanitation)
9. Insurance (Home, Liability, Life)
10. Entertainment & Recreation

 

[SecondCor521]

For 2023, in descending order:

Food
House
Recreation
Auto
Utilities
Christmas
Kids
Tax
College
Health
Charity
Clothing
Pets
Misc

Top three represent more than 50% of expenses. Top four represent almost 75% of expenses.

 

[grasshopper]

Quicken says

Travel
Medical
Groceries
Household
Taxes
Pets
Dining
Auto (maintenance)
Electric
Auto Insurance

Top 3 equals 68% of spending

 

[Andre1969]

For me I'd say:

1. Automotive (bought a new car in September and paid it off in a few months, so this isn't a regular occurrence)
2. 401k contributions (maybe not an expense in the traditional sense, but it's money going out right now, so I'll count it that way)
3. Mortgage
4. Federal taxes
5. Roth IRA (again, maybe not a traditional expense, but I think of it as a cash outlay)
6. Maryland state tax
7. Social Security
8. Property taxes
9. Electricity
10. Swimming pool maintenance (opening, closing, weekly service)
11. Health insurance premiums
12. Homeowner's insurance

A few notes: I took it out to top 12, just in case anyone wants to call me out for the 401k and Roth contributions. For "automotive" I lumped EVERYTHING together: new car purchase, insurance, fuel, repairs/maintenance to other cars, etc. If I didn't buy the new car, "automotive" would have probably placed in right after property taxes. Food didn't make the list, because I rarely eat out, and I have two house mates who buy most of the groceries.

 

[Surewhitey]

Ours are evolving but currently are:

Federal tax
Travel
Groceries
Insurance (many types)
Property tax
Contributions
Gifting (529&MIL expenses)
Utilities
Pet (very small %)

These are likely 90+%of everything

 

[DrRoy]

Our top 3 are

Travel
Medical (mostly insurance)
Taxes

I don't track our spending in enough detail any more to know the next category. In 2020 and 2021, home remodelling was our largest spend, but those projects are done now.

 

[Tadpole]

There are only 8 here because my spreadsheet groups them into just 8.
1. Taxes (Federal and property) 45%
2. Utilities (Gas, electric, garbage, water) 14%
3. Medical (insurance and drugs) 9.7%
4. Food (grocery and restaurant) 9%
5. Total Stuff purchased (check account and credit card digressionary, including online purchases) 8.1%
6. Subscriptions (comcast, phones, amazon prime, britbox, news) 6.9%
7. Insurance (Car house umbrella earthquake) 4.5%
8. House maintenance (yardwork, house repair and replace, car repair) 3.1%

 

[Flyfish1]

1.Taxes
2.Travel
3.Boat maintenance/storage/diesel

Just retired last May , so I expect taxes to decrease next year.

 

[braumeister]

My categories, in descending order:

Taxes
Hobby & Travel
Miscellaneous
Cash, Entertainment, Dining, Groceries
House, Utilities
Medical
Auto

 

[BeWealthy]

1. Medical 17%
2. Home Improvement 15%
3. Travel 12%
4. Grocery 10%
5. Self Improvement 6%
6. Dogs 5%
7. Housewares 4%
8. Misc 4%
9. Restaurants 4%
10. Misc. Auto (3%)


Income taxes are minuscule due to managing income for ACA subsidy.

 

[CaptTom]

Travel & Leisure 22%
Healthcare 15%
Food 11%
Gifts 11%
Utilities 9%
Taxes 9%
Housing 7%
Automobile 6%
Miscellaneous 5%
Insurance 2%

I also noticed I had a significant negative "expense" under Credit Card Expenses. Works out to 1% of my total expenses. Gotta love those cash-back cards. And that doesn't even account for the 5% discount at the register my Lowe's card brings.

The Gifts category was a bit above normal last year. We got a modest inheritance and shared the wealth. We'll be spending more of it this year so categories like housing and leisure will spike a bit.

 

[USGrant1962]

1. Income tax (Fed income and SE, and MD) 42%
2. Travel 16%
3. Healthcare (unsub ACA) 8.7%
4. Property tax (2 houses) 4.0%
5. Home maintenance (including HOA fees) 3.5%
6. Groceries 3.5%
7. Insurance 3.2%

Everything else totals less than 20%

 

[scrabbler1]

For 2023:

(1) Net medical (HI premiums less ACA subsidy, copays, dental);
(2) Co-op maintenance (less prop taxes);
(3) Food (estimated, I don't keep track of it exactly because it is a mix of credit cards and cash);

The next 4 items are very close together, within $200 of each other.

(4) Property taxes;
(5) Phones/cable TV/Internet;
(6) Income taxes (Fed+state);
(7) car+home insurance;

 

[Midpack]

Of course it depends a lot on how each of us choose spending categories. My top 8 in 2023 were (falls off dramatically at 9):

1. Roth conversions (for a couple more years)
2. Fed Inc Tax (largely due to 1)
3. Car Purchase (unusual)
4. Home Expenses
5. Medical Expenses
6. State Inc Tax
7. Dining Out
8. Groceries

 

[Fermion]

1) House build
2) House build
3) House build
4) Food
5) Non medical insurances
6) Utilities
7) Sailboat moorage
8) Auto gas/maint.
9) Property taxes
10) Vacation expenses

 

[Sunset]

Of course it depends a lot on how each of us choose spending categories. My top 8 in 2023 were (falls off dramatically at 9):

1. Roth conversions (for a couple more years)
2. Fed Inc Tax (largely due to 1)
3. Car Purchase (unusual)
4. Home Expenses
5. Medical Expenses
6. State Inc Tax
7. Dining Out
8. Groceries

I don't count Roth conversions as an expense, just the taxes on it. After all I'm moving money around, not spending it.

 

[GenXguy]

2. 401k contributions

1. Roth conversions (for a couple more years)

LOL

I guess I should have added these high expenses to my earlier post:

1. purchasing new certificates of deposit
2. contributing to my 457B/401(a) plans
3. investing in mutual funds / ETF
4. contributing to roth IRA

 

[athena53]

Home Improvement (mostly window replacements) 17%
Travel 14%
Church Pledge 13%
529 Contributions 11%
Other Charity 10%
Taxes 9%
Medicare premiums 5%
Mortgage 4%
Groceries 4%
Home, Auto and Umbrella insurance 3%

This exercise is one of my two financial health metrics; I'm reassured that in the event things go very far south, there's a lot I can trim and still have food in the pantry and a roof over my head.

The other is the annualized % change in my investments since retiring- it's at 2.7% after withdrawals right now.

 

[statsman]

1. Medical expenses/premiums (my Under-65 medical premium & deductible being the long pole)
2. Federal Taxes
3. Property Taxes/HOA fees (Texas - sometimes #2 in the list)
4. Food (groceries/dining out)
5. Utilities (electric/gas/water/sewer/garbage)
6. Insurance (auto/homeowners/umbrella)
7. Internet/TV streaming/Cell phone service
8. Lawn/Pest services

Once I am on Medicare later this year, total medical expenses will drop to at least #3, maybe #4.

 

[punkinhead]

We don't do a budget, but every time I've gone back through credit card and bank statements the top category has always been "uncategorized". Several decades ago we had a financial advisor suggest that we write down every penny we spent for a couple of weeks, including small impulse purchases like candy bars and soda out of a vending machine. I was shocked at how much those small things added up. Impulse buys at the local home center were especially conspicuous.