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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 07-15-2006, 09:38 PM   #41
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa
I'm wondering if I shouldn't plan more for play??
How do you plan to spend your time in retirement?* *Any expensive hobbies that will move to the front burner?

I know guys who bought race cars and airplanes after retirement.* *Their expenses obviously went WAY up vs their days as wage slaves.* *For me, home improvement projects have been a major new expense.* *But I consider them to be capital improvement projects, so they don't count.* *Right?
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 07-15-2006, 09:48 PM   #42
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

Good question.

I figure travel will be the bulk of the additional expense, both family visits and recreational. I have a big touring motorcycle which I love, but probably wil sell shortly due to an increasingly unfavorable riskleasure ratio in the Florida road environment. Golf, maybe once a week at $75 bucks a pop. DW not quite ready to sell our overpriced home, but I do like the place so am not pressuring her at this point. Rest of it is almost free: reading, gardening, exercising, beach, touring, hiking, hanging around the pool, volunteering. I'll do something medical, too, whether volunteer/charity or part-time practice but no weekends or call.

Pardon me while I wipe up the pool of drool I just generated.

All in all, I figure an extra $5-10k in wish list expenses, offset by whatever savings there are from no more (or part-time) work.
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 07-15-2006, 10:32 PM   #43
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

I spend $15-20K/year, which includes $5-10K spent on the house: $5K if nothing goes majorly wrong and all I have to worry about is taxes, insurance, basic maintenance, etc; up to $10K if repairs are needed.

If I were to retire in the next 1-3 years, I would have to sell my $350K+ house and move to a less expensive area, which would likely lower my expenses to around $13K/y plus health insurance.

If I were to retire in 3+ years, which appears likely, then I'll have more options and may be spending a few more K per year. Overall, not that much of a difference vis a vis my current spending levels. As the man said, it helps to be a really cheap bastard*

One important caveat is that I did so much travel (domestic and international) in my teens, 20s and 30s that I am sick and tired of it for now. If 10 years from now I discover that the wanderlust is back, then things may be dofferent.
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 07-16-2006, 11:19 AM   #44
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Originally Posted by Martha
CFB, weren't you spending about $750,000 a year at about the time you retired? I hope you're spending a lot less.
Actually a bit more than that. After taxes, paying off a few mortgages and cars there wasnt that much leftover. You eat out almost every lunch and dinner, pay the gardener, the two housekeepers that came on alternate weeks, buy a BMW convertible to play with while you're on sabbatical...its pretty much out the window.

Yeah, i'm spending a little less than that now
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 07-16-2006, 02:11 PM   #45
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa
On what, for example? Is travel the difference, or are your other recreational expenses risking, too?

I'm wondering if I shouldn't plan more for play??
Much more on travel. We hardly traveled at all before I went parttime. We bought the MH and a trailer to haul the motorcycles. Now we travel a lot. But who knows how long that will last.

Much more on family due to several emergencies in the last couple of years.

When I fully retire I will have to pick up the cost of health insurance, which for the two of us will be $1000 to $1100 a month.

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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 07-16-2006, 02:19 PM   #46
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

I was surprised to calculate that I'm living on about 55% of my gross income. I thought it was lower. When I finally stop trading my time for money, I'll have to add health insurance and additional traveling money to that. That could push me up another 20-30%!!!!
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 07-16-2006, 03:24 PM   #47
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Originally Posted by 2B
I was surprised to calculate that I'm living on about 55% of my gross income.* I thought it was lower.* *
Congratulations on doing the math before pulling the plug!* I used to know two people who "retired early" in their early 40s only to find out within 5-10 years that they had underestimated their expenses and had to go back to work. In one case the problem was (IMO) overspending, although the person in question didn't consider it overspending -- "I absolutely have to have this beautiful and highly collectible item!". In the other case the problem was the would-be retiree's failure to set aside enough money for his children's college bills.

It's hard to estimate what certain expenses will be like two or three decades from now, especially medical expenses, but basic living expenses is one area that we should all be able to extrapolate reasonably well. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't even know how much they are spending now, much less what they will be spending 10 years from now...*
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 04-20-2007, 04:02 PM   #48
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Originally Posted by wab
I know guys who bought race cars and airplanes after retirement.
Here's a link for you: http://philip.greenspun.com/material...ement/aviation
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 04-21-2007, 05:49 PM   #49
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa
Oh. Right.

So, how much did your expenses drop post-FIRE. Are you seeing what I see -- that they will drop little if at all?
I am planning on my expenses rising post-FIRE.

(1) Right now, I'm knocking myself out trying to LBYM to the extreme, so that I can retire in 2009-2010. My expenses right now are minimal. But, all the things that I'm not replacing now, probably will need replacing in 2011.

(2) After I retire, I'll have more free time on my hands. It would be fun to spend a little more $, engage in more activities (which cost $), and such. Just because I don't want to travel, doesn't mean that I won't find ways to spend money.

(3) I think it's somebody's law that when you don't have a job, problems with the roof or car or extra health expenses will come up that didn't come up earlier when plenty of income was available.
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 04-21-2007, 09:54 PM   #50
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Originally Posted by Want2retire
(3) I think it's somebody's law that when you don't have a job, problems with the roof or car or extra health expenses will come up that didn't come up earlier when plenty of income was available.
Looks true to me. After years of little dental expense, already in 2007 I've had 3 crowns, a filling and a routine cleaning.

How much? $3100!

And you guys who still have young kids - wait till you hear what the orthodontist will want.

Ha
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 04-21-2007, 10:37 PM   #51
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

10 months into RE, I happily report we're spending more than when we were working. We're still in the same house, driving the same cars, keeping up with the same hobbies and all that. But we've added extra vacations, extra entertainment (especially live music), hospitalization premiums are higher, some long procratinated remodeling projects are finally done, etc. Health, energy and the financial markets permitting, we hope to keep this up for the forseeable future!
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 04-22-2007, 10:47 AM   #52
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Originally Posted by youbet
10 months into RE, I happily report we're spending more than when we were working. We're still in the same house, driving the same cars, keeping up with the same hobbies and all that. But we've added extra vacations, extra entertainment (especially live music), hospitalization premiums are higher, some long procratinated remodeling projects are finally done, etc. Health, energy and the financial markets permitting, we hope to keep this up for the forseeable future!
Yabbut your commuting costs are gone and you will not be buying new wardrobe as often. Your expenses for lunches and coffee (or the after work brew) and dry cleaning are down. 10 months is not long enough. Your renovations are a capital expense. If you drove a car to work, your insurance costs are lower.

But the extra time for entertainment and travel usually generates some significant new expenses which as you say are fine as long as your portfolio can afford them.
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 04-22-2007, 11:11 AM   #53
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Yabbut your commuting costs are gone and you will not be buying new wardrobe as often. Your expenses for lunches and coffee (or the after work brew) and dry cleaning are down. 10 months is not long enough. Your renovations are a capital expense. If you drove a car to work, your insurance costs are lower.

But the extra time for entertainment and travel usually generates some significant new expenses which as you say are fine as long as your portfolio can afford them.
For me, talk about potential savings from not working was highly exaggerated and is amounting to only a few $K per year. Your situation will be unique to you........

Wardrobe? Dry cleaning? I worked in a factory until the last few years!

Call the remodeling costs a capital expenditure or whatever you want, but the money is spent, gone, and being happily enjoyed in another form! With time to plan and execute remodeling, we're excited to be looking at other additional changes to enjoy now that we spend more time at home.

Increases in travel and entertainment expenses are dwarfing any savings achieved by not working. It's amazing what you can find to do that cost a little money when you have time to do so. And that's one of the things we enjoy most about RE......having time to go and do!

We budgeted to spend more in RE. We are spending more in RE. And our budget projections for the next few years call for spending at a somewhat higher level than our last few years of working.

To OP......... You will have to come to grips with what you want or need to spend in RE. Essentials can be calculated. Do some serious research on housing, hospitalization and all of life's basics. Desires have to be planned for too, and are harder to nail down. But, don't cut it too close if you can help it.



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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 04-22-2007, 02:16 PM   #54
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

Our expenses went up after retiring. Why? Because a) we were no longer saving and b) we could afford it!

We had pretty low expenses pre-RE and stashed a whole lotta money away. We were too busy working to spend a whole lot.

For us it was really a matter of realizing that we were well off enough to retire without dropping our standard of living. That's what prompted us to retire. But not before we felt we had enough to finance a pretty decent retirement budget that included lots of travel, etc.

So in our case we didn't look at our pre-retirement spending. We looked at what we thought we might spend our time doing once we retired and what that might cost annually. That's how we knew we could pull the plug.

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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 04-22-2007, 03:10 PM   #55
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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And you guys who still have young kids - wait till you hear what the orthodontist will want.
At tae kwon do the parents talk a lot about $4500 mouthguards...
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??
Old 04-23-2007, 02:32 PM   #56
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Re: Expenses after FIRE - Huh??

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Originally Posted by Cute Fuzzy Bunny
Also was able to slash my tax bill from "oh my god, did I just pay for a B1 Bomber?" to "ha ha, you get nothing from me this year you $#^%'s!". Thats a bit of a savings right there...
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