2021 spending thread

[CincyDave]

Here comes the lead balloon @ $648,000. Includes taxes of $210k, boat $205k, car $53k and windows $40k. Probably our last boat purchase and we get 7-20 years out of our cars. Don't plan on buying any more windows either. Aside from Covid intrusion into our lives, year one of retirement has exceeded our expectations.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! Nice job enjoying your first year of retirement

 

[pb4uski]

We'll have spent ~$103k in 2021. Among the more significant items: $21k for a new-to-us travel trailer, $12k for property taxes for our two homes, $10k in federal income tax (principally on $80k of Roth conversions), $7k for golf, $5k for travel (including ~6,500 miles in the travel trailer), $4k for eating out and $3k for a fancy new-to-her sewing machine for DW.

 

[jollystomper]

Our total expenses for 2021 were about $107,000. This is a 9.1% increase over 2020, but still below our targeted "extravagant" spending level. Lack of international travel again was the biggest factor in our expenses being low.

Our top categories that accounted for about 95% of our spending:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Taxes (Fed/State/Local/Property): $27,277 (about 25% due to Roth conversions)

Charity/Gifts: $20,143

Medical (premiums/out of pocket): $17,936

Food (Groceries/Take Out/Restaurant Dining): $8,196

Auto (Fees/Gas/service/supplies/insurance): $5,889

Household (supplies/repairs/maintenance): $5,688

Recreation/Entertainment: $4,451

Utilities (Electric/Internet/Cable TV): $4,215

Vacation/Travel: $3,063

Insurance (Life/Home/Umbrella): $1,993

Fees (primarily attorney) $1,849

Cell Phone (plan and equipment): $1,273

Telephone (Landline): $1,072

 

[street]

My spending won't change much till 2022, so I did the WR for the year. We both are on SS as of this year and with such great returns on investments the numbers (WR) are surprising.

We have a WR of .503% from the only account that all of our expenses come out of. If we use that same expense amount for the year 2021 from our total investment portfolio (not NW total) the WR is .0539%.

The WR percentage will be not totally accurate till markets close today and final numbers are in by tomorrow.

Close only counts with hand grenades and horseshoe, though.

 

[pacergal]

Haven't checked exact numbers, but close guesstimate at low 6 figures, with larger gifting to kids this year.

 

[PatrickA5]

Oh man, did we blow it this year $247,866. The good news is the top 3 items won't repeat (often), so we should be able to get this down to around $100K or less going forward. At least that's the plan.

Gifts to Kids $69,000

New Cars (2) $73,660

College (Done!) $16,200

Food (Groceries, Eating out) $17,000

House (Furniture, Computers, Landscaping, Repairs,) $23,200

Utilities (phone, electric, gas, TV, Internet) $8,700

Insurance (car, HO, Umbrella) $3,720

Medical (premiums, co-pays, otc) $10,500

Taxes (Income, Property) $14,000

Travel $5,200

Other $6,600

 

[Tom52]

Our entire spending for 2021 was $61,244.46. There were no large unexpected expenses but we did spend about $6,000 to insulate garage and add a mini-split. We live in The Villages, FL in a 2000 sq. ft. single family home. We didn't travel much this year, about 30 days total.

We don't really try to keep within a budget but we do track all spending. We could be spending significantly more, and we will in the next few years when replacing vehicle, roof, and HVAC system.

Category	Spent in 2021	Comment
Entertainment	3516.88	mostly restaurant meals
Groceries	5792.80	2 people
Gasoline	1209.03	2 cars,1 golf cart
Cable/Internet	1650.62	1 car
Electric	1471.04	2000 sq.ft. home
Water/sewer/trash/HOA	3295.13
Yard Maintenance	2518.71	mowing hired out
Medicare B	3564.00	2 people
Medicare D	321.60	2 people
Medigap	3452.30	2 people
Medical/Dental	1278.57
Clothes	2031.47	mostly DW
Travel	3671.87
House Maint. & Updates	6251.00
Insurances	2707.00	house, cars, golf cart
Property Tax	4325.46
Gifts	3905.14
Personal Care	614.00
Car repairs	520.44
Cell phones	136.16	2 Trac phones
Termite bond/bug spray	395.00
Misc Spending	6218.24
Income Taxes	2398.00
Total Spent 2021	61244.46

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Here is my preliminary but pretty close 2021 spending. Taxes is tax software. Property taxes and sales taxes are in the numbers but income/payroll taxes are not.


Auto includes a sinking fund/depreciation contribution for replacement. Food is groceries to include normal cleaning and hygiene stuff. Health includes everything medical/dental and also wellness activities (full cost of employer provided and full cost of ACA without subsidy -no subsidy last year but ohh, I liked my first payment this year!) Entertainment includes social meals out, alcohol, toys, travel. Household is HOA, Property Taxes and Insurance and maintenance (exterior is covered by HOA). Personal is clothing and haircuts, etc (I'm quite stylish ).

 

[RonBoyd]

I had to wait for the year to end. As I have mentioned before, we still track every Penney spent and break the categories down quite a bit. This was our expenditures for 2021. Interestingly, it was all covered by our Social Security income.

Expenses
Automobile
Emission Inspection $25.00
Gasoline $101.46
Misc. $756.95
Plates $171.09
Supplies $46.87
Automobile - TOTAL $1,056.38
Bank Charge
Service Charges $3.10
Bank Charge-Other $6.95
Bank Charge - TOTAL $10.05
Charitable Donations
Deductible $80.00
Charitable Donations - TOTAL $80.00
Clothing
Brenda $33.42
Ron $58.95
Clothing - TOTAL $92.37
Computer
Hardware $1,290.01
ISP & DSL $1,001.20
Software - Invst Mgmnt $279.48
Software - Non-deductible $1,165.23
Software - Tax Prep $19.94
Supplies $1,133.49
Wireless Broadband $302.44
Computer - TOTAL $5,191.79
Dining Out $58.22
Gifts
Personal $318.27
Gifts - TOTAL $318.27
Groceries $7,092.56
Healthcare
Co-Pay $606.96
Deductible $703.96
Hearing $459.17
Non-Prescription $86.00
Other $330.51
Healthcare - TOTAL $2,186.60
Home
Furnishings $540.15
Garden $19.80
Kitchen $335.92
Maintenance $156.77
Misc $193.14
Postage $64.75
Security $587.73
Supplies $805.93
Home - TOTAL $2,704.19
House $1,441.00
Insurance
Automobile $1,573.18
Brenda - Health $1,782.00
Homeowner's-Renter's $1,367.00
Roadside Assistance $169.00
Ron - Health $1,782.00
Insurance - TOTAL $6,673.18
Investing
Deductible Expenses $1,162.91
Investing - TOTAL $1,162.91
Investment
Deductible Expenses $790.00
Investment-Other $1,000.00
Investment - TOTAL $1,790.00
Leisure
Audio/Video $167.89
Birds $154.26
Books & Magazines $139.94
Entertaining $17.95
Genealogy $15.00
Newspapers $577.90
Photography $536.71
Television $3,379.29
Leisure - TOTAL $4,988.94
Liquor
Brenda $461.44
Ron $2,036.31
Liquor-Other $412.55
Liquor - TOTAL $2,910.30
Membership
Buying Club $322.00
Organizations $32.00
Membership - TOTAL $354.00
Personal
Gifts $1,004.96
Personal Care $214.35
Personal - TOTAL $1,219.31
Personal Care $54.91
Taxes
Colorado Sales Tax $1,281.88
Federal Income Tax ($2,659.02)
Ownership Tax $6.00
Real Estate Taxes $987.56
Taxes-Other $11.34
Taxes - TOTAL ($372.24)
Travel
Membership $33.00
Travel - TOTAL $33.00
Utilities
Gas & Electric $3,450.05
Telephone $3,604.65
Water-Sewer-Garbage $502.24
Utilities - TOTAL $7,556.94
Expenses - TOTAL $46,647.67

 

[Palmtree]

After decades of frugal living, we don't do a budget or track catagories of spending anymore. Since all money flows through our checking account, I just use our checkbook register to figure our total yearly spending. After getting double vac'ed against covid in late April 2021 we sort of went wild.
10 days in Belize at two different resorts and then we booked some additional adventure excursions. Two different weeks at the beach. Whitewater rafting weekend in August. A music festival weekend out of state. A two week fly-drive trip to hike and explore Zion/Bryce/Grand Canyon. A weekend in Atlanta. Several weeks on the road visiting friends and family. Not to mention new EBikes and other toys. I thought for sure we'd went way overboard but no. Only spent 15% more than 2020. The new figure was still way under our 3.5% limit.

 

[Surewhitey]

Very consistent 2 straight years, but varies by what is important ea year.

 

[dheb]

I think about my spending completely differently, and try to keep it monthly. The mortgage is a pretty fixed expense - let's round up to $1100. That's 13,200/yr. Then I like to keep all my other spending (groceries, gas, utilities, misc. ... everything) to $1600/month (or $19,200/yr). That's $32,400 annually, so round up to $36k (or, 3k per month inc. mortgage) It doesn't matter what I spend my monthly budget on. I also have wiggle room of $1000 more a month I could spend, so if I get near the end of the year and haven't had any major unexpected expenses, I've got $12k built into the budget each year for a trip, or a new toy, or to roll over into savings, etc.

 

[Retired Expat]

Am always torn in how to view my spending. Do I just list every outflow or if expense items have corresponding income just look at the net? For example we own a vacation property that costs about $22k per year in taxes, insurance, utilities etc not counting capital expenditures which increase it’s value. We use it 2-4 months out of the year but the rest of the time it makes money on AirBnB. So much so it is a net income source and we get great use and enjoyment from it

So do I count that as an expense when really there is net income and adds to Net Worth?

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Am always torn in how to view my spending. Do I just list every outflow or if expense items have corresponding income just look at the net? For example we own a vacation property that costs about $22k per year in taxes, insurance, utilities etc not counting capital expenditures which increase it’s value. We use it 2-4 months out of the year but the rest of the time it makes money on AirBnB. So much so it is a net income source and we get great use and enjoyment from it

So do I count that as an expense when really there is net income and adds to Net Worth?

However you want!



I count "expenses" but keep an eye on cash flow. For instance, the full cost of my ACA (and before that employer paid) health insurance I counted as an expense even though not part of my cash flow. My logic is that the reason I track expenses is to project future expenses to remain solvent and I cannot count on others paying those expenses for me indefinitely.



Several years ago, I started tracking sinking fund "contribution" (there is no separate account) for house repairs and auto replacement/repair to smooth out the lumps. Before that, I amortized my vehicles to $0 in 3 years in my expenses but that was silly as I kept them much longer.


Capital expenditures that add value to my home, I don't track as expenses (unless part of needed repairs/maintenance) as they are 100% discretionary and add some value (I also don't count primary home equity as an asset in my NW).


Last year my expenses were about $39K but cash flow was about -$32K.

 

[f35phixer]

We don't track expenses, see no need.
American Express this year 72,273, last 82565
Visa this year 6779
so total 79052.
who knows what checking looks like ;-)

 

[aja8888]

We don't track expenses, see no need.
American Express this year 72,273, last 82565
Visa this year 6779
so total 79052.
who knows what checking looks like ;-)

I do about the same, but I do look at what we used the checking account for (property taxes, housekeeper, lawn care, other incidentals)

I have no interest in knowing in great detail what we spend for day to day living as it is pretty constant and predictable.

Lumpy expenses, well, they are lust Lumpy!

 

[athena53]

I think about my spending completely differently, and try to keep it monthly. The mortgage is a pretty fixed expense - let's round up to $1100. That's 13,200/yr. Then I like to keep all my other spending (groceries, gas, utilities, misc. ... everything) to $1600/month (or $19,200/yr). That's $32,400 annually, so round up to $36k (or, 3k per month inc. mortgage) It doesn't matter what I spend my monthly budget on. I also have wiggle room of $1000 more a month I could spend, so if I get near the end of the year and haven't had any major unexpected expenses, I've got $12k built into the budget each year for a trip, or a new toy, or to roll over into savings, etc.

Like you, I also have a top-down approach. I try to keep my more predictable monthly expenses (housing, groceries, insurance, sinking funds for taxes, medical and home repairs) to a certain level but withdraw more than that (averaging 3.4% over the last 7 years) and put the rest in a "slush fund". The slush fund pays for the major trips, the unexpected large repairs or large purchases, the home improvements when the budget allows and i feel like it. Towards the end of the year I get more generous with charities and family if there's money left.

I also track in detail by category because I find it interesting but I don't freak out if my normal monthly spending varies by category from month to month.

 

[sengsational]

As others have mentioned, I'm on the side of capital improvements not be counted as expense, and I wouldn't have it affect WR calculations. Certainly would have an effect on cash flow, and maybe 25% of that kitchen remodel or whatever could be expenses, but you're probably going to see the other 75% of it increase assets in the form of home value. Decrease asset cash, increase asset house... it's a wash. But then again, I don't treat my house with any special rules... it's not a sacred asset class.

The depreciating assets, like a car, are a bit harder. I'm an engineer by degree, but the megacorp made me a financial analyst for a time, and some big expenses were done as accruals, where a fraction of the big cash flows were expensed over a period of time. I think for WR calcs, taking 1/7th (+/-) the price of the new car makes more sense in the WR calculation than having the whole amount in one year. But doing accruals is more complicated, of course.

I haven't done my numbers yet, in detail, but this year I did a monster Roth conversion. The taxes due on tIRA style assets are inevitable, so pay now or pay later. Pay evenly or pay in a lumpy manner. It would make sense to smooth this when doing the WR calculation, but again, a pain, so I probably won't bother.

 

[Sue J]

I had my numbers all totaled and forgot to post this.

Total spent on normal monthly living expenses for 2021 - $32,055. My gauge as to whether we are doing ok or not is that is less than DH's pension, so YES, we are doing well!

Above our normal monthly living expenses we had -

- home repairs $1,329
- unreimbursed medical/dental/vision expenses $1,814
- vet expenses (including euthanasia) $810
- travel (includes prepay flights for March 2022) $1,361
- grandsons 529 contributions $2,000
- 2017 Nissan for DH ($16090-$2600 sale of old car) $13,490

In most years our taxes are no big deal. Federal and state are withheld on the pension and that covers most of the tax liability. This year we had over $1750 in bank promo bonuses, and a couple other things that withheld nothing or not enough. And I also converted my Traditional IRA ($18,661) to Roth and that created a chunk of taxes (@12%). I took the RMD from my Inherited IRA and withheld 95% as Federal tax so that covered those taxes but we will owe the state quite a bit. This was a one time thing and I knew to plan for it.

Overall a VERY GOOD YEAR!