Poll: Standard of living before & after retirement.

[dunkelblau]

If expenses include income taxes, mine should drop by more than 20%. Expenses net of taxes I expect to go up, to maybe double or more. This is thanks to healthcare insurance premiums and time to travel. Not that I'm going first class; in my family visitors cover the host's costs.

[packrat44]

Excluding federal income taxes, our expenditures have remained similar to prior-ER. However, income is less than expenditures so the shortfall is supplemented by retirement funds. In about 2 years we will both begin drawing SS benefits at which time our income should exceed our present expenditures. At this time we will ratchet up our play money to meet the increased income level (our way of helping the economy ). The retirement fund will be left untouched except for emergencies and major expenditures.

[SJ1_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Stemming from another thread. Often discussed, but I don't remember a poll to attempt to quantify. Do you plan to spend more, less or about the same in retirement as the years preceding retirement.

More.

Our retirement travel budget is a lot more than it was before retirement
but the living is pretty much the same.

we over saved. we lived well below our means but were clueless about what we needed.