2020 Spending Summary and Analysis

[FANOFJESUS]

Never lived in the bay area. I live in Wisconsin in a growing but still relatively small and low cost area.

Sorry I must be thinking of another aaron. Yeah big saving in those small towns.

 

[audreyh1]

Haven’t looked in a looong while, but considering no restaurant dining, and travel restricted to car trips and US “Hampton Inn” type hotels I expect it to be quite low relative to last year. Not counting the huge gifting we did in Jan which had already been carved out and set aside from other short-term funds.

I usually look in Jan after my credit card statements all come in.

 

[DINKFIRE]

We spent about $34K in 2019 and about $28K in 2020, difference between the two is mostly travel. This year is the lowest expense year since we started tracking our spending 6 years ago. On average we'd expect annual expense of $30K. The spending doesn't include costs associated with rental properties since they are cash-flow positive. We include our contribution to HSA and medical spending about $8K-10K per year, which we expect to be the premium plus deductibles once we switch to ACA next year.

 

[FIREd]

in 2020 I spent a total of $41,292*. Single, highish COL area in Europe, own my home outright.

Groceries: $4,932
Gas: $1,875
Insurance: $1,428 (home, auto, umbrella)
Health: $1,888 (HI premiums & out of pocket costs, including vision and dental)
HOA fees: $2,361 (including heating)
Electricity: $158
Water: $182
Property Taxes: $856 (includes sewer and trash collection)
Home maintenance: $1,301
Bank fees: $205
Auto Maintenance: $718
Parking, tolls: $147
Internet: $864
Gifts and financial support: $3,990
Discretionary spending: $21,087 (includes home improvement, furnishings, clothing, restaurants, vacations, hobbies, sport, books, movies, subscriptions, electronics, etc...).


* all amounts converted to USD at the current exchange rate.

 

[Alan]

I track everything we spend, but not categorized, but I do keep a summary year on year.

In 2020 we spent 49.9% of last year's spend. We usually travel extensively and in 2020 we had to cancel 4 booked vacations, including a cruise to New York from Southampton followed by 3 weeks in the USA.

2010 $79,486 First full year of retirement
2011 $78,752
2012 $73,886
2013 $85,222
2014 $109,368
2015 $108,680
2016 $121,802
2017 $123,309
2018 $92,419
2019 $94,387
2020 $47,262 Covid year

 

[pjigar]

Our spending is down 8% this year if we don't count one-time home repairs we made in preparation of selling our primary house. Almost all the travel budget went to tools category!

 

[PatrickA5]

All in we're around $134K for the year. If I subtract college (last year!) and one-time gifts to kids, we end up at a more reasonable $68K.

"Normal" spending is 33% less than last year as almost every other category is much lower due to Covid.

 

[tb001]

Total $501,264.25
Minus taxes/investing -$223,505.45
Minus boat -$50,000.00
Minus truck -$75,500.00
Minus mortgage payments -$45,355.00

Net spending $106,903.80

Less than 50% of net spending in 2019 - no travel, kids rep sports, lower income/income taxes

Just curious, are property taxes included in your taxes bucket? And why do you take mortgage out? I’d love to see more breakdown of the net spend bucket, mainly because I think our spend pattern is somewhat similar and curious what those kids are going to cost us in a few years!

I tend to ex out big one time expenditures, since they’re usually discretionary, but I think of the property tax and mortgage as key baseline spend items.

 

[Golden sunsets]

We spent 88% of our 2019 expenses, including taxes and other extraordinary items, but the make up of the spending was vastly different. We did not take RMD's in 2020, as the Cares Act let us skip a year, so our income taxes were only 32% of our 2019 Fed & State Taxes. And our travel and dining out spending were effectively truncated on March 9th, when we returned early from our winter sojourn and began our hibernation. But we did buy an expensive car for cash and spent another 10K on home improvements and still managed to underspend last year's expenses. This is the first year since 2015, that we spent less than our pensions, and social security.

Hopefully 2021, or the second half of it, will be a more normal spending year, with the associated fun attached.

 

[bbbamI]

Both retired in 2009. At the time dh was 54 and yours truly 51. DH receives a small non cola'd pension. We own our home and have no mortgage. The WR is based on the portfolio balance at the beginning of each year.

All expenses are included...from marshmallows to federal taxes. We almost tripled our home improvement budget and doubled our booze budget (quality booze over quantity...yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Spent half of our travel budget. But we still managed to have a negative WR for this year.

2009 Projected WR.....0 (dh worked part of that year, we had to take no reserves)
2010 Projected WR....3%......Actual 2.71%
2011 Projected WR....3%......Actual 3.27% (health issues)
2012 Projected WR....3%......Actual 2.87%
2013 Projected WR....3.5%...Actual 4.94% (new car)
2014 Projected WR....3.5%...Actual 2.68%
2015 Projected WR....3.5%...Actual 3.57%
2016 Projected WR....3%......Actual 2.01% (dh started SS in June)
2017 Projected WR....3%......Actual 1.5%
2018 Projected WR....3%......Actual 4.1% (blow that dough)
2019 Projected WR....3%......Actual l.17%
2020 Projected WR....3%......Actual -.75% (I started SS in January)
2021 Projected WR....3%......Actual TBD


I like to stay under 3% each year, but will not panic if we spend more. Each year brings new 'surprises'....gotta roll with it.

 

[REWahoo]

We spent 75% of what we spent in 2019, including taxes.

 

[REWahoo]

I track everything we spend, but not categorized, but I do keep a summary year on year.

In 2020 we spent 49.9% of last year's spend. We usually travel extensively and in 2020 we had to cancel 4 booked vacations, including a cruise to New York from Southampton followed by 3 weeks in the USA.

2010 $79,486 First full year of retirement
2011 $78,752
2012 $73,886
2013 $85,222
2014 $109,368
2015 $108,680
2016 $121,802
2017 $123,309
2018 $92,419
2019 $94,387
2020 $47,262 Covid year

Wow, you really rolled up the sidewalk in 2020!

 

[RetireAge50]

Since Retirement:

Total Spending
2018 $79k
2019 $72k
2020 $65k

Travel
2018 $25k
2019 $22k
2020 $17k

Percent of Portfolio
2018 2.5%
2019 2.2%
2020 1.5%

 

[bigcmagor]

Taxes $206,263

House 1 Maintenance $29,773 new roof, generator

House 2 Maintenance $10,976 new furnace

Gifts/donations $71,396

Food/dining $18,021

Vices $9,980

Pets $4,686

Utilities $11,268

Auto $6,879

Boat $520

RV purchase $78,909

Entertainment $1,197

Health/fitness/medical $10,283 Bought 2 Peloton bikes @$5,300

Personal care $1,790

Clothes/electronics $4,660 new Apple products Mac, watch, Ipad

Travel $4,747

Insurance $5,747

Total $477,095

Remove one time gifts, RV purchase and taxes = $126,923

 

[Alan]

Wow, you really rolled up the sidewalk in 2020!

Yes indeed. In 2016 and 2017 we also bought 2 cars and a house and then lots of house upgrades. Plus still got nice long trips to Belgium and France those years.

 

[Nemo2]

All these numbers prompted me to look at our (past) yearly travel expenditures - 2017 was the 'biggie'....74 nights away total, 2 separate trips to Europe, (one of which included 3 back-to-back cruises from Costa Rica to Norway, thence Poland).......overall cost $15,787 Canadian, (somewhere in the region of $12,350 US).

I guess the 'Once Frugal, Always Frugal' thread was correct.

 

[pacergal]

I have not checked exact numbers/dollars, but I know we have spent less than last year. I will do my end of year expenses on Dec. 31

 

[TheWizard]

Interesting thread.
I started my eighth year of retirement this year and continue to have no specific numbers on how much I spend, especially by category.
I live north of Boston, have been single for a while now, but pay a modest amount toward my girlfriend's expenses (separate house).

I can get away with this because my basic expenses are a modest percentage of total income. So the issue comes down to planning/managing discretionary expenses, mainly travel related.

And with very little travel since March this year, a lot more excess income has been going into investments.
Cheerio...

 

[brett]

Down 8K from last year..even after 15K for gifts/charities. Main reason is no travel, and no spends for winter 2021 travel. Based on after tax spend.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

This has been the most expensive year we have had yet since retiring in 2014 (not withstanding my few months this year of being stupid and going back to w*rk)

Biggest increases have been unexpected *but not unforeseeable* expenses.

Our "all in" regular expenses for 2020: $32,045
This includes every dollar that went out the door (not including the below "extras")

"Extra" expenses for 2020: $20,174. <-- These expenses were $7,458 for veterinarian care for two dogs that had serious issues this year and $12,716 for landscape debris/destruction from an ice storm in October.

So, total spending for 2020: $52,219

Despite this year's expenses, this was still less than 35% of our income (my mil pension, DW's W2 income, and my short w*rk stint). Investment returns have been pretty good this year, but that is for another thread.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

I didn't keep track in 2020, but '19 was 50,400.

That's 6 insurance policies, all taxes, my residence + 2 rental houses, everything.

I lump it all together as money spent is money spent.

 

[madsquopper]

We spent about 15% less this year, primarily due to no travel expenses. No live dance events probably saved another 2.5K.

 

[JustCurious]

2020 is not over, but so far my 2020 spending is 70% of my 2019 spending. The biggest reduction was travel.

 

[Lagniappe]

In 2019, I spent 1.45% of assets - that included selling and buying houses, moving, buying new (consignment) furniture, 3 months of budget travel etc.

I decided that 2% was a good goal for 2020. Then Covid hit, and it looked like I would spend less than 1%. No travel, very limited eating out, minimal entertainment expenses.

I decided to renovate my recently purchased condo, in the spirit of blowing that dough. New A/C, kitchen, office, gutters, bath, and floors. I had to move out and rent a place for a few months because my allergies couldn't handle all the construction. I also had some extraordinary expenses (helping family, legal fees) that now seemed a good time to deal with. Assuming no major spending in the next few days, I will spend 2.85% of my portfolio this year. It felt like a lot more as I was spending it, but was well under what is safe for my portfolio.

Next year I've given myself a floor and a ceiling - spend at least 1.7% and no more than 3.3%, which is my 100% success rate in Firecalc with no pensions. I don't want to be the richest person in the cemetery!

 

[JustCurious]

In 2019, I spent 1.45% of assets

I assume you mean your retirement savings, not assets? If you own real estate that is an asset, do you include that in your calculation?