2016 Spending

[mamadogmamacat]

Not a budget, but a spending goal range. Was just above the midpoint of the range. Not bad IMHO for the first year of ER. Also, well satisfied with the quality of life during this first year. Personal health improved without the hassle of work, despite the stressors of declining health in some much loved family/friends, death of beloved dog, storm damage to house, etc. These changes are inevitable, but without work or financial concerns (LBYM for years helped there of course), i was very much able to be helpful and present to/for my loved ones.

 

[NW-Bound]

One of the few financial related things I hate doing is tracking a budget. I spent a lot of time coming up with a retirement budget to make sure I knew what I'd need/want and could safely retire, but I don't like specific tracking. I might buy something other than groceries at a grocery store, and I might buy groceries at a non-grocery store, for example. So I just total up what comes out of my checking account and credit cards and compare the total to my goal budget. If I'm under, no worries. So far I've only been a little over a couple years where I had large irregular expenses. I haven't entered December's numbers yet, but I think I'll be about 5% under this year.

I don't track to a budget, but only see what we spent after the fact. The purpose is to spot any trend to overspending, no matter what the category. I would not sweat if a few hundred dollars worth were not filed by Quicken into the correct category. I never bother to break out the booze or household items that I bought at a grocery store. It all went into "grocery". I am concerned with thousands or tens of thousand, not a few hundreds.

I have done this since mid 2010. Prior to that, I used MS Money, but only to track investments and not spending. With only 6 years of expenses, it is interesting to see how my expenses varied greatly from one year to the next. One year I might spend a lot in gifts and donations, the next a lot in healthcare, then home repairs... If they all hit at the same time, it would be very scary.

So far, even the highest year was way below what FIRECalc says is safe, so it is all good. I wish I had done this a long time ago, so I would have a better history to look at. Prior to this, all I knew was that I had plenty of money left over at the end of the month, but never knew exactly where it went. Now, I know what my 2nd home costs me, what my discretionary spending is, such as travel, gifts, and donations, etc...

 

[Live And Learn]

This year my WR is 3.23% which is much higher than last years 2.36% WR. I went on a real vacation this year (to the Holy Land) and we traded in our 2005 16 ft boat for an 18 ft 2017 model boat. If things tank next year I'll use the new boat to catch more fish for dinner !

 

[Ronstar]

2016 spending was 30% more than 2015, mostly attributed to European vacation and hardwood flooring. WR at 3.9%.

 

[Moemg]

My spending was $11,000 less than last year . I am not sure how that happened because I did a few large home repairs , bought a whole new wardrobe due to weight loss, bought new furniture and went on several trips . So $11,000 gets added to the big fun pot .

 

[DEC-1982]

1.9% under budget.

 

[Lsbcal]

I'm using VPW with an end date of age 110. That sets the allowed spending. We're both taking SS.

For 2016:
VPW allows 4.5% for a 60/40 AA

We spent 3.1% of the portfolio. That 1.4% not spent goes into the fun/discretionary budget for 2017.

We spent only 1.5% of the portfolio on the basics. Basics being without discretionary items and without major travel. Eating out and having a good time is in the basics.

Then we spent 1.6% on vacations and discretionary items. Took 4 trips on that and did some house repairs such as attic ducting and house pathway repairs (got complements from the neighbors on that one ).

For 2017:
VPW allows up to 4.6% spending. Adding that to the 2015 and 2016 unspent money lets us spend up to 6.6% of the portfolio. This takes care of potential future emergency spending or the need for a new car, etc.

 

[rodi]

FWIW - our WR was only 2.8% using the value of investments on 12/31/2015. Fortunately, we have income outside of our withdrawals (DH SS, rental income, my micro pension that started in October.)

I plan to draw the same amount out for 2016... in dollars... but the percent will be smaller since the investment account is bigger. We'll be able to spend a bit more, also, since the pension is now coming in and DH's medicare (starting tomorrow) reduces our expenses a bit.

 

[W2R]

I read all of the posts in this thread so far, and I am in awe of how successful forum members in general were with their 2016 spending! This is really super.

 

[prose3589]

Ok. I guess I get the boobie prize. I spent double in 2016 over 2015. In my defense, I bought a new house and have spent a fortune. I also have two kids in college and zero help from my ex. Thank heavens I am still working as I expect this level of spending for at least one more year. I have just spent hours pouring through expenses. My goal next year is to "cut the fat". To date I have lost 57 pounds of weight. Now I need to shed a few more pounds and work on shedding the fat in the budget! Come on 2017!

Happy New Year everyone.

 

[Moemg]

My goal next year is to "cut the fat". To date I have lost 57 pounds of weight. Now I need to shed a few more pounds and work on shedding the fat in the budget! Come on 2017!

Happy New Year everyone.

When I cut the fat meaning pounds I had to buy new clothes twice .

 

[Teacher Terry]

Fuego: Thanks for all the details! I am going to try using air bnb next time we go to Europe instead of hotels. WE did get a really cheap cruise on RC for 274/each for 7 nights because we could go at the last minute. WE did have to fly to Florida for it. WE never eat in the specialty restaurants either. The food is so good in the main dining room that I don't know why people bother. We do take all the tours through the cruise line so in case we are late to the ship there will be no expenses for us. We usually take a tour in each port.

 

[Refresher]

When stating WR is that number a percent of the portfolio value on Jan 1 2016? Is the total dollar amount of spending minus social security or any other income. I'm thinking 60k total spending minus 20k social security is 40k which is 4% of a Jan 1 million dollar portfolio

 

[Alan]

When stating WR is that number a percent of the portfolio value on Jan 1 2016? Is the total dollar amount of spending minus social security or any other income. I'm thinking 60k total spending minus 20k social security is 40k which is 4% of a Jan 1 million dollar portfolio

That is exactly how I calculate it. (I have pensions)

 

[Alan]

I keep track of spending and also set a spending target each year but don't have a detailed budget.

Spending was 11% higher than last year and 7% above my target but we did furnish a house in England and a buy a car there.

 

[Lsbcal]

Ok. I guess I get the boobie prize. I spent double in 2016 over 2015. In my defense, I bought a new house and have spent a fortune. I also have two kids in college and zero help from my ex. Thank heavens I am still working as I expect this level of spending for at least one more year. I have just spent hours pouring through expenses. My goal next year is to "cut the fat". To date I have lost 57 pounds of weight. Now I need to shed a few more pounds and work on shedding the fat in the budget! Come on 2017!

Happy New Year everyone.

Sounds like you are spending sensibly ... so no boobie prize for you.
Good luck on your new economics too. If you can keep up a proper weight program you can probably do anything you put your mind to.

 

[Meadbh]

My gross spending for 2016 was almost identical to that of 2015, and amounted to 2.24% of my NW at the beginning of 2016, or 2.53% of my NW when I retired 4 years ago. My NW has increased by 3.4% in 2016 and by 20% since ER, which I find very reassuring, since the first 5 years is considered the highest risk period for adverse sequence of returns.

I kept detailed monthly expense records and did a monthly expense analysis until last spring. I'm confident now that I don't need to do that on a regular basis. If things change I have the tools to reinstitute the data analysis.

 

[kcowan]

Portfolio gains 9.2%
Less living 1.7%
Gifting 0.5%
Cash and FI 0.2%

(still waiting for some valuations but close enough)
We book our air fare to Europe one year ahead so it averages out.

 

[Badger]

We don't keep a budget but our spending has not exceeded what we get in SS and a couple of small pensions. So far have not touched any savings or IRAs. We have yet to increase our spending for the past few years. We enjoy our lifestyle and don't have any major needs or wants yet continue to be frugal out of habit. This year my wife will have RMD so there will be quite a bit more money to play with as well as increase in taxes. I still have to wait a year or two for RMD. In the meantime I'm thinking on how I might want to spend it all before I "buy the farm". I have this thing about frivolous spending/wasting.

Cheers!

 

[2017ish]

No prospective budgeting (yet?), but "Retirement adjusted" spending compared to prior two years was up 30% (still not retired, so this factors out FICA, most income taxes, and other work-tied expenses). Still well under planned/hoped retirement spend rate.

That increase was due to anomalous spending, in part. 15% of prior baseline to the dental school prof. for rebuilding my teeth for however many years I live. Another 15% was early payments for 2017 and 2018 trips that are hard to get into. (Arguably should be allocated to those years, but like with wine, far easier to assign to year of the spending rather than consumption.)

 

[easysurfer]

Spent about 15% less than my budget.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Managed to spend 4.5% less than I budgeted for. Came in just under $30,000 total.

The largest percentage of that broken into discretionary categories came from food. The body is in poor health (need a knee replacement at 30, for example), so I can't get out and do much. I take enjoyment from quality food at home. Board games became the next biggest discretionary expense. Video games after that. It's been a fun year!

 

[CaliKid]

Spent a ton of money this year. I'll total it up later, on Quicken, and then be sad for a minute. Oh well.... On the bright side I was about to buy a new car yesterday, which was totally unnecessary, and I held off. So there is at least a small victory for the year.

 

[Sue J]

What we spent in 2016 -

$4036 Utilities (elec, water/sewer, internet, TV, natural gas)
$3718 Insurances (Car, Life, Home, Medical)
$2400 Property tax
$8702 Groceries (food, paper products, cleaning supplies)
$ 461 Gasoline
$4759 Other/Miscellaneous (car maintenance, gifts/donations. bird seed, clothing, home maintenance and small repairs, etc)
$1500 Pocket Cash
$1325 Eating Out
$ 730 Home repairs
$1727 Travel
$2437 Medical/Dental/Vision expenses (deductible or not covered)

$31,795 Total Spent

We have no “withdrawal rate” as this is less than our income from DH’s pension. I made a whopping $5052 and put it all in a traditional IRA.

Overall, we had a good year money wise. We both got new glasses but no other large medical events or other costly surprises.

 

[mickeyd]

As usual, my income was a good bit more than my expenses. I have no numbers to present as I do not track such items.