Spending after Retirement

[street]

If someone would have told me I would spend 6 figure number in retirement I would have called them a fool! I was just looking back this evening at some numbers so far this year.

Each of the last two years with charity, gifting, buying land, and buying cars etc. etc. and not including our living expenses 6 figures for each of the years.

I'm a very frugal, thrifty and saver by nature. My confidence in spending has loosened up and not sure why. I'm not always happy about spending money that I worked so hard to get. Lol

I have a couple more larger checks I will write yet in 2021. I hope 2022 is just back to our normal expenses. I will not be spending anything out of just living life and essentials. I Hope!

Anyone else seem to be spending more than you ever have in retirement and yet feel secure finically and at easy doing so?

[aja8888]

During the last 6 years, I have had difficulty staying within a generous budget we prepare every year. Most of this over spending is for things we didn't anticipate, but needed.

These would include removing some big trees, additional hard landscaping, appliances biting the dust, expensive medical devices for my wife's COPD, helping children and grandchildren with expenses they couldn't handle at the time, and a few other things.

We could afford to spend, but the cheap ass that I am made it painful since I didn't see it coming (for some of it).

Next year, I don't see any "big thing" sticking out so let's see how it goes! And yes, I'm OK with the extra spending.

[RobbieB]

When I (we) were working we never even made 6 figures. And we saved (of course)

I've been spending about 150 grand a year now for 7 years straight.

Got more dough than I started with. Not worried -

[Ronstar]

Spending went down when we sold our snowbird condo a couple of years ago, and travel spending has been down through the pandemic. But I’ve been buying a lot of toys and tools lately, so I’m spending about the same now overall as I was a few years ago.

[tmm99]

I'm spending more now compared to 6 years ago when I retired. Spending more than when I was w*rking as well. I'm older now while my stash has increased, plus SS will be starting in a few years (taking at FRA) so it looks OK to be spending more now.

[street]

I do remember my first few years of retirement and I didn't spend anything that was not needed. Lol

I guess I have more confidence and feel more at ease, as time has gone by in the last 5 years. Spending is a very hard thing for me to do.

I see a kitchen remodel and a different truck coming up at some time. Yikes!! More money I have to spend.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by street I do remember my first few years of retirement and I didn't spend anything that was not needed. Lol I guess I have more confidence and feel more at ease, as time has gone by in the last 5 years. Spending is a very hard thing for me to do. I see a kitchen remodel and a different truck coming up at some time. Yikes!! More money I have to spend.

On a kitchen remodel, we discussed going for one, but at our ages (78, 76), and less intensive cooking going on (less family get-together's), we decided to leave the remodel for the next set of old folks who live here someday.

As you age, things like remodels have less of a priority.

[Teacher Terry]

Sold my house and bought a condo this year. I bought new appliances and some new furniture. My son saved me a ton of money by remodeling it for me. The kitchen was fairly new and I always wanted white cabinets which is what it is. It has black granite countertops which I love. Not having to remodel the kitchen was a big savings.

[jollystomper]

In about 3.5 years of retirement we are spending less, but that is primarily due to our big ticket item (international travel) not happening in 2020 and 2021. Otherwise we would be spending slightly more. This is without counting taxes (which are naturally way down) and charity/gifts (down proportionally but be choose at what level we desire to spend). Also, in the 5 years before I retired, we spent money on a lot of our big ticket home repair/improvement/renovation items (with a large salary and high savings rate it made sense) and wound down our kids college expenses, so that inflated our pre-retirement spending.

[LakeRat1]

LOL ..... This same thing has been happening to us as well ...... We retired going on 8 years now. Purchased/sold 6 "2nd" homes and remodeled along the way...... 3 New cars..... Several Vacations.......At the end of the day, it is all good...... We only live once..... I do keep a close eye on our portfolio...... We got another 30 years before it runs out..... If we had too, we can live off SS in sunny SWF ...... We have no debt.....

[ShokWaveRider]

We live in a MCOL area and spend about half of what we did when we were W#rking. We do more, live in a larger home, in a better location, eat better and do not want for anything.

We do drive 1 less car by choice, that is about the only difference.

[street]

I hope to get caught up and then one more thing seems to pop up. I also forgot a roof will need to be replaced in the next 2 years sometime.

I'm also very thankful we can do these things, so I shouldn't complain too much about spending money. I also look back to all those years of not spending anything over the expenses of living.

[Dash man]

We’re definitely spending more than we anticipated, but the market has cooperated since our investments are much higher than when we retired. This year I bought a new car and DW will get one next year. Last year we bought a townhouse for our son and his family to live in. We also increased our giving because of Covid-19. We’re looking into a kitchen/master bath remodel that has been put off because of Covid-19. So spending won’t slow down in 2022 short of a market meltdown. Hopefully in 2023 things may get back to normal.

[Music Lover]

I retired just before turning 54. I did a major renovation of my house 3 years ago after I met my girlfriend who has since moved in. Then we bought a cabin less than a year ago and have done some work on it too.

So, there was a lot of money spent in the first few years of retirement but it's mostly done now and we'll get to enjoy the benefits for (hopefully) many years to come. There was no point waiting until we were too old to do the work or enjoy the upgrades.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB When I (we) were working we never even made 6 figures. And we saved (of course) I've been spending about 150 grand a year now for 7 years straight. Got more dough than I started with. Not worried -

Same here although I'm closer to $115K. A whole lot is discretionary- charity and travel. I also put money into my grandchildren's 529 accounts and will be gifting $15K to DS and DDIL. DS is talking about using it to reduce the mortgage principal. I have concerns about how estate taxes are going to change so I'm giving away $$ now as long as it's sustainable.

Early next year my SS will increase but about $1,500/month (although I'll have to hold aside about $500 for state and local taxes) as I move from Survivor benefit to S on my own record. More to give away.

[RetiredHappy]

Well.... before retirement we were probably spending about $250K a year. We have been retired for 5 years and we finally have reduced our spending closer to $200K including taxes. It does bug me that we are spending so much now that we no longer have earned income. But there are a couple of high expenditure items that are unavoidable based on the lifestyle that we are accustomed to - lots of travel, country club membership and golfing at nice courses while travelling on land. The 3rd high cost item is simply where we have chosen to live. When my husband no longer golfs and has the desire to travel as much, those 2 items will drop our spending by at least $40K a year.

[Souschef]

Between DW and I, we have 2 SS and 2 small pensions, which cover our living costs and have some left over.
My biggest spending is from my RMD, which is 6 figures. We gift $15K to each of our 4 sons, pay estimated taxes, and the balance goes to QCDs to various charities we support.

[TheWizard]

In year nine of retirement, my AGI has been well over $100k the past few years, but around 20% of that is Roth conversions which isn't "spending".

And lately, another similar amount of excess retirement income has been going into my taxable account investments which is also not current spending. But some of those funds will go to buy a new car before too long to replace my 2008 Mustang, so that'll be a big spending year...

[FIREd]

My spending has loosened up this year (over 60% of my spending is discretionary for 2021). I was targeting a very low WR initially, but I now realize that, with no heir, there is really no need to be so conservative.

[EastWest Gal]

Spent our travel budget on redoing the driveway and sidewalk which was crumbling and replacing most of the carpets and flooring in the hall, bathroom, and 4 bedrooms these past two years. However, we are spending much less on health insurance in 2021 and 2022 than budgeted.


My planned annual spending of $90K/yr is now about a 2.1% WR, so it doesn’t really matter if we go over a bit for a couple of years. We anticipate replacing two vehicles in the next 5 years, as my Prius is near 200K miles and DH’s van is 140K miles.