2017 Spending Summary and Analysis

[523HRR]

Do you have any spending summary or analysis of your own that you wish to post about on this thread, anything at all? Please feel free to post YOUR OWN income taxes since that apparently floats your boat.

W2R...was not intending to be antagonistic; just asking a question. For us, income taxes (F/S/L) last year were $109K (effective tax rate of ~28%), which represented ~46% of total annual spending. Other expenditures comprised by $45 college for son, $20 travel/entertainment, $16 healthcare (premiums/deductible), $10 utilities, $10 memberships, $6 other insurance, $21 other living expenses /charity.

 

[W2R]

No, it's mostly attributed to 1) I eat at low end places; 2) always choose no name brands; and 3) raid Mom's refrigerator and eat several meals at her place each week.

Well you are doing wonderfully!

 

[NW-Bound]

Although the year still has a few days in it, I don't think we have any more expenses besides the nice steaks I am going to buy for the New Year Day family dinner.

And so, the expenses this year add up to 0.0268x of the stash value as of today. And that's a low and very safe looking number. No stinkin' retirement calculator will tell me anything different.

PS. Would the cost of the steaks change the number to 0.0269? Out of curiosity, I checked, and there's no way that could happen, even with nice prime cuts for 6 people. And so, that's my final number to 3 significant figures.

 

[W2R]

W2R...was not intending to be antagonistic; just asking a question. For us, income taxes (F/S/L) last year were $109K (effective tax rate of ~28%), which represented ~46% of total annual spending. Other expenditures comprised by $45 college for son, $20 travel/entertainment, $16 healthcare (premiums/deductible), $10 utilities, $10 memberships, $6 other insurance, $21 other living expenses /charity.

$109,000 federal, state, and local income taxes
$45,000 college tuition for son
$20,000 travel
$16,000 healthcare
$10,000 utilities
$10,000 memberships (?)
$6,000 other insurance
$21,000 other expenses

Wow! You have GREAT homeowners' insurance rates, for a house that is big enough to cost $10,000 annually just for utilities. I guess the property taxes are in the "other expenses" category.

I think you are doing great, and I'd imagine that when your son is done with college the resulting slack in your budget will be nice to have.

 

[W2R]

Although the year still has a few days in it, I don't think we have any more expenses besides the nice steaks I am going to buy for the New Year Day family dinner.

And so, the expenses this year add up to 0.0268x of the stash value as of today. And that's a low and very safe looking number. No stinkin' retirement calculator will tell me anything different.

PS. Would the cost of the steaks change the number to 0.0269? Out of curiosity, I checked, and there's no way that could happen, even with nice prime cuts for 6 people. And so, that's my final number to 3 significant figures.

Hey, good job! Even if you invite enough guests over for those nice prime cuts to make it 2.69%, that is also a very low and safe looking number.

 

[NW-Bound]

Darn! I spoke too soon about that 0.0268 number to be final.

Just now realize that I have not included the I-bond interests in my and her accounts for December, which are not posted yet.

Assuming the interests to be like that of November, it will be 0.0266.

 

[Ready]

We spent $150K this year. That is more than we have ever spent in our entire lives in one year. That doesn't even include income taxes. But, this was my final year of w*rk and we used the extra income to do some home upgrades, which cost us about $50K.

I hope to never spend that much again in one year. We have the Tesla purchase coming up next year, but otherwise I hope to minimize any major capital expenses.

If the stock market weren't doing so well, I'd probably be really freaked out about how much we spent this year. I'm not good at blowing dough.

 

[littleb]

I just completed our expenses in Quickbooks for this year for 2 people.

Auto Expense - 3,627.77
Clothing - 149.98
Fees & Sub - 1,593.00
Groceries & Rest. - 13,386.90
Gifts - 652.14
House Expense - 3,440.26
Land Expense - 597.00
Hobbies - 2,194.81
Medical & Dental - 2,380.21
Personal Care - 1,071.41
Property Tax (6) - 2,090.00
Travel & Hotel - 4,265.45
Utilities - 5,530.12

TOTAL = 40,979.05

** Groceries & Restaurants are extremely high but other items like household items, supplements and cleaning supplies are included since they are purchased at grocery store.

 

[GrayHare]

I am impressed by the number of people who know the breakdown to the dollar of spending by category. I have no idea what those numbers are here, only that we kept under SWR while managing to blough more dough this year.

 

[NanoSour]

Family of 5. Here's how it's tracked in Quicken.

Life Insurance (Term) - 376
Home & Auto Insurance - 1,119
Mortgage Payment - 13,193
Property Tax - 4,766
Internet - 675
Electric/Gas - 1,851
Phone - 753
Water/Trash - 1,595
Household (Everything else: food, medical, restaurants, entertainment, travel, etc) - 44,086

2017 Total - 68,981

This method has worked for me since starting with Quicken back in 2005. I don't get too bogged down in the details as long as we stay within the monthly budget. I really don't care what the money is spent on as long as DW is happy. You know what they say, if momma ain't happy....

The final numbers for 2017 put us significantly under budget so this is good.

2016 Total - 65,030

 

[Throwdownmyaceinthehole]

All our expenses are thru our two bank accounts. I download the transactions each month and assign them a category. We also have a weekly allowance that we don't track specifics. I tend to hoard mine for gifts, massages and ukuleles....

 

[Cobra9777]

We don't think too much about spending. Nor do we manage to a specific number. I'll have the precise total and breakdown by category later in January after CC data is in. But I know the rough number and we're still 30-35% below what FIRECalc says we can spend at 95%. And the portfolio is 30% higher than when I retired 4 years ago. I continue to discount SS heavily, and we have some needy in-laws, which explains some of the conservatism. But with the exception of our current spend on travel, good wine, and living in a very large house, we have no needs or wants that come anywhere close to closing the gap to the FIRECalc number. So we'll just carry on as-is, and the kids will probably make out like bandits.

 

[aaronc879]

As usual I will spend under $20K in 2017. Good thing since my earned income will only be about $20K plus another $3K from dividends in taxable account. Earned income was so low due to workplace accident resulting in broken arm and hip. Difficult year, will be glad when it's over.

 

[Senator]

Yikes!

In round numbers.

New truck $75,000
fifth wheel $38,000
Windows for a rental $14,000
New roof for a rental $24,000

I traveled a bit, $15,000.

in 2018, I should not need another truck or a fifth wheel.

 

[kgtest]

Yikes!

In round numbers.

New truck $75,000
fifth wheel $38,000
Windows for a rental $14,000
New roof for a rental $24,000

I traveled a bit, $15,000.

in 2018, I should not need another truck or a fifth wheel.

Whoa...Denali ? I paid 42k for my 2017 GMC base...that's the 6.6l Turbo Diesel 4x4 with trailering/tow pkg sticker was 54k but I drove to Illinois from MN to buy it.

Looks like you have about 113,000 in tax deductions this year, nice work!

 

[Senator]

Whoa...Denali ? I paid 42k for my 2017 GMC base...that's the 6.6l Turbo Diesel 4x4 with trailering/tow pkg sticker was 54k but I drove to Illinois from MN to buy it.

Looks like you have about 103,000 in tax deductions this year, nice work!

2017 Ford F350 Platinum Ultimate, 6.7 PSD, Crew Cab, 4x4. Retrax Pro MX Tonneau cover, Rhino liner.

I do not have kids to write off, but I do have a truck. $113K (not $103K) worth of deductions, spread over several years, but I had to pay upfront.

 

[audreyh1]

Darn! I spoke too soon about that 0.0268 number to be final.

Just now realize that I have not included the I-bond interests in my and her accounts for December, which are not posted yet.

Assuming the interests to be like that of November, it will be 0.0266.

As you withdrew those funds to cover the current year’s expenses, they should be compared to the portfolio value at the beginning of the year. Not the end.

 

[bbbamI]

We spent a few thousand more this year than last year. However, the WR rate this year is lower at 1.5% compared to 2.01% for 2016.

 

[iloveyoga]

I know what we spend, but I don't track to this detail. Thanks for sharing, this is very interesting.

 

[Danmar]

I really blew the budget in 2017. About 20% overplan. Decided mid year to up the spending and sold some stock to fund it. Travel, property related expenses, clothing, eating out, were all well over plan. I set the 2018 budget at the higher level. Portfolio is up nicely despite the increased spending.

 

[Tom52]

I track our spending on an Excel spreadsheet. We like to think it is tracked to the exact $, it is extremely close if not exact. I have quite a few categories on my spread sheet but I have lumped some together to reduce the list. This is for 2 people living in small town Iowa. Note that we were traveling approx. 2.5 months out of the year. No pets.

Entertainment $1,267.38
Groceries $3,924.65
hairdresser $353.18
gasoline $1,214.12
cable TV/internet $1,702.81
Cell phone $217.90
gas/electric $2,000.15
water/sewer $551.40
vehicle insurance $1,067
vehicle repairs $2,214.60
property tax $3,024
house insurance $901.79
license pates $153
clothes $1,284.50
Christmas/birthday gifts $1,496.61
medical/dental/prescriptions $2,092.17
travel/vacations $15,911.47
lawn maintenance $1,683.44
house maintenance (includes $8,000 remodeling) $10,633.79
miscellaneous(includes fed/state taxes paid) $2,954.91

total spending for 2017 = $54,648.87 approx. 1,7% of invested assets
total spending for 2016 + $50,715.90 approx. 1.7% of invested assets

I expect that spending in 2018 will be much more as we anticipate purchase of a new vehicle in the $55,000 range. Est 3.3% of invested assets in 2018.

 

[easysurfer]

I spent about 10% less than I budgeted.

LBYM -- old habits die hard .

 

[Moemg]

In 2017 I blew the budget big time . I knew I was going to with several big trips planned and a few expensive home repairs but throw a new car into the mix and the budget goes out the window .Plan to rein it in for 2018.

 

[street]

My spending has stayed the same for each of the 1.5 years of retirement at .5%. I will be spending more in the years to come as I get more comfortable with retirement and spending.

 

[UtahSkier]

I do extensive planning and tracking with Quicken. Target budget is $130K. Last year we were $10K below budget and this year we were over budget by $4K... Medical expenses got us this year.

So, we are $6K under budget since retirement (2016 start).

My approach to budgeting includes a lot of long term expenses that happen only once over a 7-10 year timeframe. This year we purchased a new washer / dryer set. Also, we started a wine cellar, so this year's expenses include wine purchases for consumption over the next 7 years. The spending for the Groceries:Spirits is clearly over budget and will be for some time.

And yes, the motorhome thing is expensive. The vacation category is for the expenses where we are actually out using the RV.

This spending is for 2 adults and 2 dogs.

The listing below is a quicken report.

	Auto	2,921.77
	Auto:Fuel	1,539.84
	Auto:Insurance	813
	Auto:Registration	383.5
	Auto:Service	185.43
	Bank Charge	35
	Beauty	1,916.34
	Cash	1,758.00
	Clothing	2,580.94
	Dining	6,713.71
	Entertainment	1,317.05
	Entertainment:General	1,041.90
	Entertainment:Hobby	275.15
	Fitness	6,694.14
	Fitness:Biking	1,063.01
	Fitness:General	1,449.40
	Fitness:Gym	402.9
	Fitness:Skiing	3,778.83
	Gifts Given	1,306.99
	Groceries	20,106.26
	Groceries:General	13,373.75
	Groceries:Spirits	6,718.51
	Home Expenses	10,269.59
	Home Expenses:Association Fees	900
	Home Expenses:Home Improvement	5,720.77
	Home Expenses:Misc	3,015.28
	Home Expenses:Repair	633.54
	Insurance	4,722.11
	Insurance:Health Insurance	3,940.11
	Insurance:Home Insurance	338
	Insurance:Umbrella	444
	Medical	16,123.22
	Motorhome	27,990.82
	Motorhome:Improvement	6,469.31
	Motorhome:Insurance	616
	Motorhome:License	1,993.20
	Motorhome:Service	15,852.31
	Motorhome:Storage	3,060.00
	Pets	3,811.87
	Pets:Grooming	610.07
	Pets:Supplies	1,545.95
	Pets:Vet	1,655.85
	Professional Services	50
	Software and Computers	53.38
	Tax	5,330.91
	Utilities	6,529.99
	Utilities:Cable TV	701.83
	Utilities:Garbage & Recycling	180.48
	Utilities:Gas & Electric	2,288.09
	Utilities:Internet	392.65
	Utilities:Telephone	2,133.26
	Utilities:Water	540
	Vacation	13,686.18
	Vacation:Activity	1,399.18
	Vacation:Campground Fee	6,775.72
	Vacation:Fuel	4,051.20
	Vacation:Internet	110
	Vacation:Lodging	1,350.08
	OVERALL TOTAL	133,918.27