Average Spending in Retirement

[exnavynuke]

WOW...$50/month medical/dental/umbrella insurance/spending

We spend $1,600/ month on health insurance. How is it possible that you guys spend so little on it?

Some people have insurance that is heavily subsidized. ACA can make premiums ~$0/year for people who have certain income levels. Some have medical covered through their employer and/or former employer. I have both options (work pays most of my premium currently, but I also have free healthcare through the VA that I can use in lieu of buying another insurance plan when I stop working) myself.

 

[DrRoy]

Our first year RE spending is running around $8K/mo. However, travel (#1 category), home improvements, other discretionary, and taxes on the income to cover it all are more than half. We could subsist on $3.5K/mo.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Honestly, even though I do track most things, I do not live by it. We spend what we need to, in order to live the way we want to. At the end of the year I look back. Last year 2016 $51,407. This year 2017 to date $26,330.80 BUT if we wanted to we could live on $2500pm easily.

 

[splitwdw]

Rianne, Was looking at your post where you introduce yourself http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/60-retired-with-lots-of-plans-87912.html are you traveling this much every year? What is your travel and pet boarding expense each year? Can't even imagine the cost to board 2 large dogs for a month. Haven't had dogs for a few years but it was several hundred just for a week.

 

[Rianne]

Here is a picture of part of my spreadsheet:

I love the cars and travel. Nice healthcare costs too. Ours are $562/month, not including deductibles or copay. I'm looking into a catastrophic situation as we've been to the doctor 3 times this year, so far. Just follow up visits too. Our YMCA is our real healthcare plan.

 

[Corporateburnout]

There is no way we can live on $2500/month. We spend way more than that and if we really tighten our belt we could probably live on 5k. Not only it would not be fun we really don't see a need for it. So we carry on enjoying our retirement without pinching pennies.

Our medical cost, real estate taxes and condo fees on our main house are about 24K.

 

[Surewhitey]

$300 Utilities / cell
$200 Shopping / home
$120 Fuel
$22 Gym
$460 Groceries
$220 Eat out
$150 Contribution
$50 Auto maint.
$455 Heath ins.
$502 Home tax
$90 Home ins.
$110 Life ins.
$125 Auto ins.
$400 Vaca

$3204 / mo all in...will reduce most (especially home and 1 car) by 15% when we cut the cord, then likely $2,700

Last year, we were at $56,653. Remove the remodel, we were $37,153 ($3,096) which included 2 vaca's to Mexico and 1 to Cali

 

[LRDave]

I've found this to be an interesting thread. Maybe a bit more of "what a baseline looks like" than the yearly spend or budget threads. $25K was not far off the mark for several responders.....

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

In my old life 2500/mo-30k a year was more than we spent. Now I need 2k a month just to cover the house, and its all paid for.

 

[FIREd]

Baseline expenses (per month):
Food: $800
Health insurance: $830
Dental insurance: $80
Electric/water/sewer/trash/phone/internet: $460
Gas: $80
Auto/home/umbrella insurance: $250
Gym:$55
Property tax: $120
Car registration: $40
Haircuts: $35
Total: $2,750 per month

In addition, we save $1,200 a month towards future car replacement, car repairs, home repairs, out-of-pocket medical expenses (including dental and vision), and vet expenses.

Travel, clothes, home improvements, gifts, hobbies, etc... is all on top.

 

[Fermion]

I did our baseline expenses and came up with $7511 a year for uncontrollable expenses (auto/property/umbrella/health/dental/vehicle registrations/property tax)

I then figure the barebones on the rest is about $10,320 a year (food, toiletries, paper goods, water, gasoline, cell phone internet, small amount for entertainment)

So around $18,000 a year is what we could cut back to if we were faced with a huge market downturn, while still keeping health insurance (ACA subsidy of course), dental, all insurances, internet, and not eating cat food.

Probably add $8,000 or more to that figure if we had to pay full boat on health insurance but I think I would just get a catastrophic policy and go with hope.

$18,000 or $26,000 depending on how you see things. Bare bones.

It does leave about $20,000 to $30,000 a year on the table to make life a little more interesting. That is a lot of beer.

 

[pb4uski]

I know of retirees who'd shower in our condo's shower facilities to save on their own water bills. It takes all kinds.

We have that.... we have both condos and villas in our association... condos get water as part of their quarterly HOA fee but villas are on water meters. We have a clubhouse by the pool that has lots of showers from back when saunas were popular (4 in the men's locker room and 3 in the women's locker room). There are a couple cheapos who regularly shower at the clubhouse so they don't have to pay for water and heating it. The only other users are people showering before or after going in the pool.

I normally would not care but we are planning to renovate the clubhouse and proposed eliminating the showers to gain space (just have an outside shower for people to rinse off before and after going in the pool)... some people on the committee want to keep the inside showers because those guys will be unhappy. I say... so what?... let them be unhappy.

 

[pb4uski]

Our first year RE spending is running around $8K/mo. However, travel (#1 category), home improvements, other discretionary, and taxes on the income to cover it all are more than half. We could subsist on $3.5K/mo.

+1 we spend ~$8k/month on average but could get to less than half that if we really had to but life would not be near as fun.

 

[Danmar]

I'm beginning to wonder.

A new person shows up and in their very first post makes a ridiculous claim and demands to see spending spreadsheets. And so many here just take it in stride and provide detailed responses. Why?

I'm with you. I ignored it. We have been through this many times and it's in the $40-60k / year range. That being said people outside the norm generally don't disclose. Obviously.

 

[LastOfTheBoomers]

7500 a month for us - I recently ran a quicken report for spending for the last 30 months - I was amazed that on average actual spending was about 7350 per month. The budget buckets have changed - but the overall looks good.

 

[Koogie]

I read some MR money Mustache posts, I stopped when I read some of them dont shower regularly to save on hot water. Thats not my style.

Me either.

I do it to save on soap.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Me either.

I do it to save on soap.

 

[foxfirev5]

Looks like about 5k per month for us. Two houses, boat, and couple of vacations are in the mix. The 5k does include yearly HSA max and the rest to Series I bond purchases. As you can tell I'm not a spreadsheet guy.
My money management is very short term. I'm the guy at the casino who shaves off any winnings in his left pocket while playing with the houses money. Not that I'm a gambler but the theory is the same.
On the other hand my investment strategy is long term. Two different worlds.

 

[Rianne]

Rianne, Was looking at your post where you introduce yourself http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f26/60-retired-with-lots-of-plans-87912.html are you traveling this much every year? What is your travel and pet boarding expense each year? Can't even imagine the cost to board 2 large dogs for a month. Haven't had dogs for a few years but it was several hundred just for a week.

From my intro post, I put it in the wrong place.

I've soaked up so much information in such a short time.
First, we can travel because we have friends and family that provide homes, apartments to stay. When we went out West, 16 of the nights were at friends and family. We rented a Tahoe SUV and drove 4000 miles. $62/day for Tahoe. Gas pretty cheap.

To Czech Republic, staying at relative who is teaching/research at university. And it is super cheap in that beautiful country, might move there!

Overseas plane tickets can be a steal. We refuse to stay in $200/night hotels. I took an 8 week class for $15 on how to travel cheap.

Our biggest expenses are health care and property taxes. Average monthly total expenses, $5000. Can't seem to get below that. I count pennies going out weekly and charge almost everything on one credit card which organized our expenses nicely for us. I just feel like I'm missing out on something big about spending less.

2 dogs at a private country farm is $30/night for both dogs. We spent $690 to board them when we went out west.

Every child and teenager should be logged in on this forum to learn how to save and live.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Every child and teenager should be logged in on this forum to learn how to save and live.

Most of their parents need to learn first

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I tracked sort of closely what we were spending the first few years of retirement. Now I just sometime in January look to see what we spent. I'd say we will spend in the 50K-55K range. Firecalc says I can spend 206,000 for 30 years, $194,000 for 40 years. (before taxes). This is why I dont track this stuff much.

 

[Nemo2]

I tracked sort of closely what we were spending the first few years of retirement. Now I just sometime in January look to see what we spent. I'd say we will spend in the 50K-55K range. Firecalc says I can spend 206,000 for 30 years, $194,000 for 40 years. (before taxes). This is why I dont track this stuff much.

Hey, we have something in common....we can spend $20.60 for 30 minutes before we run out.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Hey, we have something in common....we can spend $20.60 for 30 minutes before we run out.

. My dear sister, who has sadly passed away, gave me a Birthday Card once that said "in this card is enough money to last you the rest or your life.....". When I opened it up there was 5 bucks in it and it went on to say "....if you die immediately." lol.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I tracked sort of closely what we were spending the first few years of retirement. Now I just sometime in January look to see what we spent. I'd say we will spend in the 50K-55K range. Firecalc says I can spend 206,000 for 30 years, $194,000 for 40 years. (before taxes). This is why I dont track this stuff much.

Your heirs will appreciate it.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Your heirs will appreciate it.

They probably wont even visit me at the cemetery.. I looked into mausoleums just to blow some of it. Wow, terrible expensive. Tons of required maintenance too.