Annual Expense Poll

[old woman]

I voted 24-36 because my mortgage is 1,531 but over 600 is principal no not really an expense. After retirement I will have medical expense but not while working but think I could live on 24K plus medical expense easily after the house is paid off or I move to a cheaper one.

 

[Bestwifeever]

$20K a year to mortgage, $7500 to property taxes--more than 1/3 of our total expenses.

 

[mews]

Still w*rking, so no medical insurance cost to me.

Should come right in at 24,000 including maintenance fee on the paid-off apartment, a vacation in West VIrginia this summer, some books, some sushi ...

ta,
mews

who wishes the sushi budget was larger.

 

[Urchina]

I just figured this yesterday. Our biggest expense by far is:
Housing (Mortgage, HELOC, HOA Fees, Insurance) - $27,000/year.

It's likely our expenses will go UP next year due to additional preschool tuition, raised HOA fees (unpleasant but necessary) and increased charitable donations. But we're socking away as much as we can for an uncertain future.

Married, mid-thirties, two kids, 2-bedroom condo, one of us working, one of us stay-at-home.

 

[Sue J]

Just over $36,000 for a family of 4. One of the kids is in college (commuting from home) and that excludes his college tuition but includes books, transportation and meals while on campus. No mortgage, no car payments. This is plenty for us, I'm careful and frugal but not trying to drastically cut back.

I have been monitoring expenses all year, trying to learn what we will need as DH is looking at retiring in 5 years. By that time there will be no more college costs and both kids will be out. We should be able to get by with $28,000-$30,000 then.

 

[cons]

We're in the fifth bracket mainly due to the mortgage, it currently takes up 50% of the household expenses (not counting RE taxes and insurance). If it wasn't for the mortgage, we'd be comfortable in the second bracket. 27 yrs left on the mortgage

Married, mid-20s, 2 kids, single family home on LI, one of us working, one of us stay-at-home.

 

[JustCurious]

Obviously a couple requires at least double the dollars a single needs!

Not true. A couple requires less than double the dollars of one person because of economies of scale.

 

[Rambler]

Took a wild stab at it and said next to the highest. Mine includes prop tax & insurance on two homes that I have stateside but not the rent on company paid apartment in asia. Also includes non-interest costs of two cars in the US and one in asia (cars are saved for, then bought with cash), includes the shopping costs we incur while on vacation since most of that is to acquire things we need that are cheaper in the vacation venue than in our asian city. Looking for about 96k for retirement expense (more travel, health ins will go up, house is paid for).

R

 

[Nords]

Without the self-imposed mortgage (and, as Rich requested, without the taxes & other one-time expenses) we're right around $4K/month.

 

[chinaco]

We were border line... put us into a higher category.

 

[OAG]

Want to Amend my Estimate: With RE Taxes, Income Taxes, One Time Purchases: $40K.
Without RE Taxes, HELOC Interest, Income Taxes, One Time Expenses: $16K.

I can see, like always, IT DEPENDS!

 

[aaronc879]

I budget myself $1200/mo but always seem to stay under that and that includes a mortgage. If mortgage was gone, i'd be under $10,000/yr although if I didn't have health insurance thru work then it would equal the cost of the mortgage and i'd be back up to almost $15,000/yr.

 

[Moemg]

I am at $3,000 a month without taxes . The extras such as travel and my new AC unit come out of my extra stash . I usually end the year somewhere aroung $50,000.

 

[DayDreaming]

Single, house paid off.
Excluding taxes I'm at the lower end of 24k - 36k
If I add in property taxes (~8k) I'm at the upper end of that range.

Since I started tracking my expenses in detail, I surprised at how much I spend on beer each year!

 

[mickeyd]

I surprised at how much I spend on beer each year!

Yes, but that's a necessity, a staple, is it not?

 

[SecondCor521]

I was going to post a number, but then there were so many caveats. The way RIT asked for the number, I calculated $40,600 per year. It should be way less than half that amount after the kids are grown and gone and the mortgage is paid off. Probably closer to one third.

2Cor521

Demographics: single, three kids with me a third of the time. Newer modest house, older modest car, reasonable mortgage.

2Cor521

 

[plex]

Single, grad student, living with a roommate.

Expenses including rent (not including income tax or tuition, which are both much larger ): $9k/year
Expenses not including rent: $3k/year

I can use up to $48k/year, inflation adjusted, once I graduate, to meet my savings goal of retiring at 40. I will probably use most of this the first year, due to buying a house, but plan to otherwise use significantly less than this and ramp up into it. I will probably have a roommate for company and to reduce the big expenses (the downsides of this are very minimal for me), at least until I find the person to spend my life with.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

We spent 52000 last year. This year we are on track to spend 60000. We had to put 6000 into the house. Of course if I count the new car we are looking to spend 31000 more this year But normal expenses were inline. Entertainment was more this year we did more traveling.

 

[happy2bretired]

Right now it looks like I will be around $44,000 this year. That does include $4500 for my Berlin trip last spring and a new washer and dryer that I used my rebate check on. I also had a new tile bathroom floor installed in the basement for about a thousand. I really hope I can stop doing "extra" things like the tile floor during this next year. Seems like there is always something that needs to be repaired.

 

[tightasadrum]

Without taxes, or DW generosity around Christmas, we're just south of $3000/month. After DD graduates into her own post-graduation job next year (I hope), it should be closer to $2400-$2600 I think. Of course the real trick is to equalize the income and expenses and minimize those "one time expenses" taken from the nest egg without living the life of a hermit. It's still 4%, right?

 

[JohnP]

3200 sqft Condo in SW Ohio - No mortgage or car payments - two people retired for past 6 years-

Our basic living budget is just over $60k not including prop taxes, fed and state taxes, and savings. The Basic Expenses have been going up about $4k/yr since retiring in early 2003.

JohnP

 

[haha]

Net of US Inc Tax $43,000
US Inc Tax $17,250

 

[Purron]

I indicated $48-$60. We could make due with less but are comfortable where we are.

 

[Goonie]

Since I started tracking my expenses in detail, I surprised at how much I spend on beer each year!

Yes, but that's a necessity, a staple, is it not?

Wouldn't that fall under "medical expenses"? It's a medication used to help reduce the stress and the queasiness caused by rollercoaster stock market rides.

 

[kumquat]

We've never calculated it. When I was W*orking, my best year including bonus was about 135K. Being Canadian, I willingly coughed up about 45K in tax. At that time we also saved a bit & spent 20K on kids doing higher ed.

Now, we don't track expenses. I guessed that we need 60-72K$. Less than we were spending (at the peak) on tuition, savings, taxes, KD etc.

Bear in mind that to generate 60-72K we need to tap the investments to the tune of about 3%. FireCalc says "ALL RIGHT".