2020 Spending Summary and Analysis

[corn18]

Base spend was around $110k. See below. This is our budget for retirement which should start 3/31/21.

Spent a lot on moving and new truck and camper. Total spend about $318k. Plus $497k for 2019 taxes. No travel.

Move 48,073
Camper 45,168
Truck 31,977
House 40,562
Ebikes 7,286
Ammo 1,486
Cats 2,392
Telescope 4,990

 

[finnski1]

Would have been about 25% less than average and 35% less than last year except it seems we had a "blow that dough" kind of year that sort of just happened.
$1500 new puppy
$583 new puppy training
$322 new puppy fencing
$428 new puppy veterinarian
$1647 new puppy food, crates etc.

$680 new laptop(not for the puppy)
$850 new mini split AC/heat pump
$4015 dentist (approx $3000 more than usual)
$15198 new to us (used ) Subaru Outback Limited with eyesight(couldn't resist only 48k miles on it)


subtotal $24,208 above and beyond "normal"
the car came with only 3 days left in the year. Maybe should have waited to after the new year.

 

[athena53]

Total spending is about 20% below 2019 unless you add in the car I bought for cash- then it's 4% below 2019. Biggest decrease were in travel (no surprise there) and taxes. In 2019 I owed extra taxes beyond the estimates I'd paid and then had to make higher estimated payments. In 2020 I got a large refund and was making smaller estimated payments.

Some offsets in increased charitable giving and higher contributions to the grandchildren's 529 plans.

 

[Tom52]

We spent $88,000 plus in 2020 being split about 50:50 between basic living expenses and discretionary spending. Still, we spent about $15,000 less in 2020 than 2019. In 2019 we had the moving expenses and related home improvement costs for our new home in Florida.

We are fortunate that we have been retired nearly 7 years, moved twice, and have not yet needed to tap into any IRA or 401K investments. Retired life has been good so far.

2021 should be a bit less expensive. Only planned major expense is to air condition the garage. We are hoping to spend under $85,000 in 2021.

Category|2020 Spend|Notes
Groceries|5,215.73|includes food, toiletries, cleaning products
Gasoline|606.35|lower than normal due to Covid
Utilities & HOA Fees|5,767.67|includes elec. cable & internet
Yard Maintenance|1,370.00|Includes mowing, bush trimming, fertilizing, etc
Medical/Dental|7,622.07|includes prescriptions, Medicare monthly fees, etc.
Clothes|1,769.23|
Miscellanous|4,975.19|mostly one time expenses that are un-catagorized
Insurance|2,458.00|house, cars, golf cart
Gifts|3,052.27|birthdays, Christmas, etc.
Property Tax|6,252.13|includes some bond interest fees
Car Repairs|1,129.69|
Home Repairs|3,064.90|
Total Basic Living Expenses|43,483.23|
Travel & Entertainment|8,597.80|Incledes eating out, and vacations
Home Improvements|19,752|New flooring, new crown moldings, etc.
Bond Payoff|16,564.77|Future property tax bill will be lowered as result
Total Discretionary Expenses|44,914.57
Total 2020 Spending|88,397.80

 

[NW-Bound]

Quicken says I spent $16.6K less in 2020 than in 2019. I guess that it is the effect of Covid.

There are a few days left in the year, but I dare say it is highly unlikely I will manage to make up the difference in the remaining time.

Oops, make it $15.1K. I spoke too soon.

I discovered that I underpaid income taxes, hence had to remedy it quickly by making another small IRA withdrawal with a $1.5K withholding for taxes.

The difference in spending between 2019 and 2020 is mainly due to lack of travel. That's right, because there's no discernible difference in how we eat/drink/spend, other than a small increase in charity donation and gift.

Yep. We have been in a rut. Can't think of anything worthwhile to spend money on. Soon running out of space to mount more solar panels, so can't even spend more money on the DIY solar storage project. Bummer.

PS. It's beautiful to have the checking account and investment accounts with the same institution. The moment I hit the CR key, the money instantly got subtracted from one account and added to the other, minus the "friction loss" of course. Totally painless.

 

[idledancer]

Income taxes are not included below, obviously they're an expense, but they're variable from year to year and so relatively simple to fudge that it doesn't make sense to include them. All other taxes (eg, property) are included.

$66,000 Actual spend

Including:
$12,000 Healthcare
$12,000 DW & I's personal allowances
$10,000 Entertainment (Restaurants, hobbies, etc)
$ 8,000 Groceries
$ 4,000 Utilities
$ 4,000 New car savings
$ 3,000 Home maintenance
$ 3,000 Other insurance
$ 3,000 Taxes
$ 3,000 Travel
$ 2,000 Home improvement
$ 1,000 Gasoline
$ 1,000 Pets

Subtracting off discretionary style spend, that would put our core spending around $40k.

As this is our first full year of retirement I went through the exercise of normalizing our spend to compare it to employment spend by removing things like estimated tax payments and health insurance. Given that, we spent ~15% more this year than we did while working. That's probably about right given that we no longer have employer funded travel, food and entertainment. We also just have a lot more time to spend money.

 

[sengsational]

I track everything we spend, ...

Kudos for managing to report everything in $USD, hehe!

 

[Sangiovese]

Spent around 67% of budget and around 85% of last years' spending all due to less entertainment and travel coz of Covid.

Exactly the same here.

 

[foxfirev5]

While the final numbers aren't in DW and I are far below prior years. We do not budget but use the simple formula of: Last years end checking balance compared to this years end balance with the overall portfolio end balance as a barometer. Simplicity.

 

[Winemaker]

Spent 102% of last year's spend, including trips to Ohio, Kentucky, Colorado and California. Covid be damned, we only have so many years left, and following protocol, we have enjoyed crowd free travel, restaurants, wineries and lodging. Folks were so happy, we were upgraded several times, never had so much fun. Portfolio gains more were than covered the withdrawal, and plan on replacing ceramic tile flooring on first floor, and extending the deck, putting a roof and fireplace on it.

 

[freedomatlast]

It all depends how we want to look at it.

Total 2020 Spending came in at $764,438.79.

If I subtract out the cost of the new house we bought in 2020, spending came in at $53,464.65.

If I keep the spending for the new house and subtract what we netted for the old house after closing costs, spending came in at $408,827.32.

Good thing investment returns were high for 2020.

 

[JDARNELL]

My numbers are +- 10% of where they were last year depending on what I include. What stuck out to me is how my travel expenses were down 75%. Moving cross country this past year and purchasing new furniture for a new house more than made up for the decrease. The good thing is that I have about a 47% surplus in both years.

 

[Sue J]

Type	Amount	Comment
Internet	600
Property taxes	3,064
Property Insurance	768
City Utilities	2,100	Water, sewer, trash, recycle and electricity
Natural Gas	720
DirecTv	1,305
Car Insurance	781
Medical Insurance ACA plan	461	I started Medicare in Feb, DH started in April
Medicare Parts B, D and Medigap	5,424
VIA Benefits HRA	-2,979	DH's pension provides an HRA to reimburse medical premiums and expenses
Groceries	9,164
Gas	246	We had 4 months with no gas expenses
Other	5,927	Broad category for anything that doesn't fit elsewhere
Eating Out	1,563	We ate in a restaurant once in Feb and the rest was take out
Pocket Cash	1,440
Donation	120	$10 monthly to a local NPR radio station
TOTAL	30,704

That's our normal monthly expenses of $2,559/mo. Of course there's more and I keep track of those too.

Type	Amount	Comment
Home Appliances	2,042	We bought a dryer and a new stove and needed to move a gas line
Medical/Dental/Vision/Rx	1,932	This was deductibles with our ACA plan before Medicare, our Medicare deductibles and some dental and vision expenses
Gifts and 529 for grandson	3,540	$1000 to the 529, $1500 to help son and DIL buy a new refrigerator and some other things when we just felt like helping

TOTAL $38,218 Spent on Everything

DHs pension covers more than what we need for our normal monthly expenses of $2,559/mo. Also, I save my Soc Sec benefit to cover lumpy expenses like home repair, gifts, etc. So far our withdrawl rate is 0.00% and most months we are able to save which feels really wonderful.

As for income taxes, we have it withheld from the pension and my pleasant little part time job. We usually come close to the total tax liability. This year I have unemployment income. The only withholding option is 10% which isn't quite enough. Also, we did many bank promo bonus deals and the bonus money is taxable interest. My guesstimate is that we will owe approximately $600 on top of the $3000 already withheld.

We spent a lot less than last year because neither of us had large medical expenses (I got a hip in 2019 while on an ACA HDHP. Ka-ching!) We didn't do any major home projects like last years kitchen, no travel and no major car repairs.

 

[f35phixer]

ya all made me look. Good lord, we're both retired now, thank god i got a sugar mama ;-)

My Marriott AMEX total for 2020 was 82K for 745 transactions = ~110 per
My Marriott AMEX total for 2019 was 77K for 776 transactions = ~99 per
only other is a Marriott Chase- ~ 600/month or less = 7.2K
Plus other that is paid by check....
lets just call it 100K So lots of Marriott points to cash in some day.

Who knows what else, we don't truly budget.

So I don't think i have seen a category for alcohol ??
;-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Didn't add mine up, DONT care !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[W2R]

Who knows what else, we don't truly budget.

I don't either! I spend as much as I want, on whatever I want. I just like to keep track of where my money goes.

So I don't think i have seen a category for alcohol ??
;-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

You're right! Here you go; for me:
alcohol..... $0.00 (same as for each of the past 20 years).

Probably some of the others also don't drink, or combine alcohol with grocery purchases or entertainment.

Didn't add mine up, DONT care !!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's fine! Like I said in the initial post, the whole point of the thread is fun. There is no requirement for anyone to participate.

 

[TNBigfoot]

Spending was about 3% lower. Travel down but offset by healthcare (knee replacement plus.....), and home projects

Looking to hold 2021 spend to ~ +3% increase and should come in under with good health.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

I very rarely step into sector-specific investing, but this thread makes me want to invest in travel stocks. The drops in travel spending likely signals loads of pent up demand and thereby a willingness to pay.

Seems like there might be significant inflation in travel pricing when the pandemic end. People will have the desire and the money.

As someone whose Marriot (MAR) represents my sixth largest (individual stock) holding, I hope you are correct.

OTOH, on a year year basis it is "only" off 12.9%. It was down around 60% during the March April panic, so it has really come back...so much that I'm fearing that much of the post COVID boom might be priced in. I'm also beginning to think that some of that might represent other weakened players and properties that might not reopen.

 

[Dog]

Our spending was down about 23% in 2020 due to less travel, gas and dining out. Our grocery expense was up as was golf.

Our biggest expenses were: income tax, groceries, property tax and medical insurance; in that order. Our taxes do not include sales tax (we don’t have a state tax yet....although Gov. Inslee keeps trying).

Our income was down about 10% due to less needed (and that is including $2400 stimulus check earlier this year).

Happy New Year!

 

[NW-Bound]

Who knows what else, we don't truly budget.

Didn't add mine up, DONT care !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't budget even when we were young and did not have that much money. It was for a simple reason that we LBYM'ed.

And how did we know that we LBYM? Because money kept building up in our checking account. And for a long time, that was all I cared to know.

I don't either! I spend as much as I want, on whatever I want. I just like to keep track of where my money goes.

Once I started to use Quicken, it kept track for me with just a bit of help.

And it is interesting to see where our money goes. Prior to using Quicken, I had no idea how much we spent for any category. How much for housing, for food, for travel? I used to have no idea. I still do not budget, but if I get curious, I can just look up the Quicken screen.

Knowing our actual expenses also lets us see that we could increase our spending to 3x if we wanted to.

 

[tmm99]

Spent much less (more than 20%) than last year. Under budget by almost 30%. Mainly due to less travel, less going out, less volleyball (no leagues/tourneys) and less gas.

 

[socca]

2020 spending breakdown (% of gross income):
• 37% : necessities (taxes, housing, food, medical, auto, reserves)
• 25% : savings - nominal
• 2% : discretionary - spent
• 36% : discretionary - unspent

Effective 2020 savings rate: 61%

I'm doing a horrible job of stimulating the economy.

 

[ABQ2015]

My 2020 spending was about 15% below 2019 because of less travel, entertainment, gas, haircuts, and home maintenance. There are home improvements and household items that I would like to complete/have but I do not want workmen in my home during the virus or to shop unless it is essential.

$6400 Groceries
$870 Restaurants (does not include travel spending)
$13,000 House (housekeeper, lawncare, maintenance, insurance, taxes)
$1600 Household Items
$7600 Utilities (internet, cable, gas, electricity, water, cell & landline)
$3000 Automobile (gas, insurance, maintenance, new tires)
$800 Personal Care
$1700 Clothing
$6900 Healthcare (doctors, dental, prescriptions, health insurance)
$1500 Medical Supplies (pulsimeter, elec. toothbrush, OTC, masks)
$11,800 Travel & Entertainment
$3700 Gifts & Donations (increased in 2020)

Total $58,500 (not including estimated $16K in income tax)

 

[teetee]

Tax witheld ~25k. Total expenses ~6k. I spent ~1k more than 2019 with additional covid related purchases (toiletries, masks, hand sanitizers, ramen noodles, additional groceries and frozen foods). Total outgo / gross income is above 74%.

I am looking forward to keep 2021 expenses below 5k.

I am not retired yet. Low expenses is from living with elderly parents and my company reimburses home office cost ( phone, internet, and ~1k for exercise equip ).

I treat the expense as something that can't no longer be included into net worth calculation (so living expenses and tax count). I was a bit surprised when I see people treat their retirement / health saving account contributions as expense.

 

[dm]

I quit tracking several years ago. I do keep a eye on our net worth. I do know we spent more in 2020 than 2019. This is due to a new house that cost around 160k more than our previous home. We sold our plane, but paid more for a boat.

I do know we pay close to $20,000 for health insurance. And around $100,000 on everything else, not counting big purchases like the boat or cars.

 

[Vincenzo Corleone]

Living in a HCOL area. Includes property taxes but not income taxes.

Year	Total Spend	Change	Fixed	% of Total	Discretionary	% of Total
2016	$75,173		$45,658	61%	$29,515	39%
2017	$72,298	-3.82%	$42,670	59%	$29,628	41%
2018	$76,975	6.47%	$48,887	64%	$28,088	36%
2019	$81,573	5.97%	$45,832	56%	$35,741	44%
2020	$60,259	-26.13%	$46,259	77%	$14,000	23%