What time of year do you budget/plan?

[Rustic23]

We don’t budget . Major expenses have been planned for, and there is a sinking fund for them. Monies will be spent when necessary. We have always been savers and still are. We pay all the bills, save, and spend the rest. If there is not enough left to spend on what we want, we normally don’t spend. However, as we have reached the point in this journey where we can see the shape of the end, we have dipped into savings more often. We call it spending the kids inheritance.

 

[sengsational]

I have a long-term cash flow spreadsheet I update monthly based on monthly statements from spending accounts. This is just to make sure don't have to scramble to liquidate something in an investment account and transfer to a spending account. The sheet has a monthly spend amount that's the same across 12 months, but that rate doesn't include big expenses or things that are lumpy (car purchase, annual tax expense, etc). The sheet predicts when the spending balance will get too low, and I add an entry to get something transferred from an investment account. The only "budgeting" I do is in March or so, when I add-up the previous year's spending to calculate the actual spend rate (used as a basis for the upcoming year's rate).

 

[Montecfo]

Two times:

Before year-end, primarily for year-end tax moves, and after taxes filed to see what impact on tax payments should be.

We do detailed recordkeeping but the "budget" is just $x per month. We do not agonize over individual expenses.

 

[Cobra9777]

We track spending using Fidelity Full View. Most of our accounts are at Fidelity, so I log in at least once or twice every week for various reasons. I always check CC activity in Full View before logging out, as well as any activity in the cash management account, which functions as our checking account. Mainly this is just to validate transactions and to check balances, not for spending control.

Our retirement planning spreadsheet has a tab called "budget." But we don't really constrain spending according to this. It's just an annual summary of the Full View spending data by category with projections into the future to make sure the retirement plan is more-or-less on track.

The one area we discuss every year in January is how to utilize the rather large discretionary bucket that's built into those "budget" figures in the spreadsheet. Based on various priorities, we often make trade-offs among things like international travel, home improvements, large repairs, and other large purchases like a new car. Obviously we want to be aligned on those big-ticket items and we don't want them all piling up in the same year.

We don't discuss the non-discretionary categories at all. I track these categories in Full View and summarize once a year in Excel. I'll glance at the long-term trends, which are mostly uninteresting. My main focus is how these categories will change in the future as we age and how that guides the overall financial plan and future decisions.

 

[brett]

I take a tape on our after tax spending every month. Takes five minutes at most. Information purposes. Never curtailed spending in ten years but have increased spending estimates.

We do tax planning in November. Look at where we are, what needs to be done from a tax planning perspective. An hour or two at best.

 

[Mark1]

While working we always lived well below our means so no real need to budget. Fired in our mid-50s, once I captured Megacorp's full pension and retirement medical. At that point we had more money to spend per year than we really needed to get by to pay our bills. We also have no kids to leave the money to as an inheritance. Therefore, I have a spreadsheet that calculates a yearly withdraw based on a type of VPW method. At the beginning of each calendar year, I move enough money into Marcus Online banking account (or earmark enough money to move at some point later in the year) and set up monthly withdraws from Marcus to our checking account based on 1/12th of the calculated withdraw obtained from the spreadsheet. Any unspent money that enters our checking account is periodically moved to an Ally online saving account for big tickets items, etc. The Ally account balance is not considered part of our portfolio spreadsheet such that it doesn't enter into the next year spend calculation. So far we haven't had an issues keeping the Ally big ticket money spent, but we did buy a new house 3 years ago with a 1.5 acre lot with a completely empty back yard. Spent a bunch of money to finish off back patio, built a shop, etc. With the back yard completed, we are now in process of rebuilding up our Ally balance.

I suspect that in the future our "budget" will be more about spending enough, instead of spending too much. It is very hard to break old habits.

 

[1-31-18]

I update Quicken daily, and I update my Excel financial spreadsheet every few days to a week. So I'm always doing a little bit of monitoring. But it certainly isn't necessary and adds really no value other than I find it personally of interest.

On an annual basis, I do income tax planning work in December so I can execute anything that needs to be done on a calendar year basis, like Roth conversions. I then also have a period of time in the spring where I actually do the tax returns for me and for some family members.

I guess I also have a "college cycle" where I pay tuition bills, reimburse myself from the college accounts, etc. That happens in August-ish, January, and possibly in May depending on whether the offspring are taking summer classes or not.

Me, too, except that my children now have advanced degrees and teach in universities. They’re off my payroll.

 

[kgtest]

Mine is kinda fluid as we still accumulate. But the hardcore top down budgeting is done 2x a year... Q1, and end of Q3. Gives me a good look at my tax landscape this way.

As I notice "bills" or expenses change I will update my spreadsheet's $OUT to reflect the change. $IN is fairly constant with our raises coming 2x a year, and then that stimulus check I wasn't expecting...along with an additional work bonus I wasn't expecting...so really whenever a change warrants the frequency.

 

[kgtest]

They’re off my payroll.

No legacy inheritance $$ ??

 

[jkern]

I use three spreadsheets, Calendar Year budget, Actual Monthly Expenses, and Monthly Balances. I update them monthly and adjust accordingly.

In December I prepare next years Calendar Year Budget.

 

[Bir48die]

Fund April/May. Working on the same budget for four years. Did update it a couple of months ago. Will probably adjust when I hit Medicare in August.

 

[Midpack]

For budget spending we review and revise in early January, and check variances monthly. We've been using a highly automated spreadsheet to track spending for so long, we have our budget pretty well nailed down - including anticipating large infrequent expenses like cars, home repairs/remodeling, etc.

I do withdrawals in conjunction with paying estimated taxes about 10 days before they're due, so four times a year. When I am making those withdrawals, I also look at our current bank account balance, think about any large unusual expenses we're planning, and an amount needed replenish the balance to the withdrawal at the same time. All our dividends go directly to our bank account now, so there's money going in four times a year too.

I check AA at the end of each quarter, and rebalance only if absolutely necessary. I doubt I rebalance even as often as annually.

 

[jebmke]

I stopped budgeting a long time ago but I do track total spending (not details) each month. I usually do tax planning in the summer of the prior year. So in the next few weeks I will do a pro-forma tax return for 2021 (at the same time, I'll update my pro-forma for 2020 so I can make my July payments and probably do my 2019 return - at least in draft form); I also will do a pro-forma return for 2025 because that is the year we start RMDs.

 

[1-31-18]

No legacy inheritance $$ ??

My children have done better for themselves than I have done for myself and for them, so they don’t need to inherit anything. They’ll get something, but charities (including our favorite universities) will get the lion’s share. Regardless, there is no need to budget for annual spending on them. That stopped when they earned their terminal degrees.

My accounting is done daily, in December and after tax returns are filed, as the other fellow said. I’m still working for pay because my work (which I control) fulfills my purpose in life and because, frankly, it generates a lot of money, which enables me to achieve still more. Accounting on this timeframe aligns with my asset use goals. Will probably never stop working for pay completely, though I’ve been thinking about changing it up in a couple ways. Highly-paid people who enjoy their work (and also enjoy good health) see no need to retire early (or at all).

 

[gayl]

I'm bored right now so I'm thinking of doing one but not sure how to start. Everything is auto deposited twice a month. The 31st autopays all bills, the 15th goes into savings (which used to be travel $$s). So I find it nteresting in how people divvy up the discretionary dollars.

 

[2177V]

I have two budgets:

(1) My wife's business budget which I monitor monthly when I get the monthly business statement from our bank. Any unexplained debit on this statement I get clarification from that individual for the business tax return. Otherwise the business expenses of rent, maintenance and utilities are fairly repetitive. Reviewing the monthly business expenses against the monthly business income ensure a positive cash flow.

(2) Our family budget is in good shape since my daughter recently got married (yeah!) and my wife is a very low maintenance wife because she went through hard times before we got married(double yeah). I have to insist on getting my wife to buy clothes. I really do not have a family budget because our expenses do not get out of hand and I only review our credit card statements to determine where most of the money is going. When I was younger with less income, I had a family budget to control our expenses. I recall reviewing that family budget every year in January when I start to work on my taxes.

 

[PointBreeze]

I do my planning in the Oct/Nov timeframe and test/revise the new plan in Dec. It’s then put into action Jan 1.

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