RE Indulgences... what are they and what are they costing you each year?

[DawgMan]

So, I am still in the "chicken out"/OMY syndrome stage as I was set to RE at the end of last year at 55 (per the master plan and what the numbers told me) with plans for a somewhat FAT FIRE. I have run the analysis paralysis on our expenses which have allot of fat in them. No debt, everything is paid for, but keep wondering if I will want to adopt an expensive habit I don't currently have (i.e. join a golf club, buy that 2nd house/condo). For now, my biggest discretionary indulgence is planned $25K for travel, groceries/adult beverages (bad wine habit) $18K+, and dinners out $12K on a annual basis. Hell, I may be light on both. What indulgences do you plan for annually and what is it costing you? Did you pick up any new expensive habits once you RE? How many years have you kept/planned to keep these in your budget? Did you over/underestimate these expenses?

Don't we all want to have Robbie's attitude to "blow the dough" and not have to fret about it?!

 

[Sunset]

My indulgences seem pretty tame to some others, but I like them.

Spend without concern $10K on travel per year, plus be sure to take at least 2 cruises per year if anything seems interesting.
Buy new computer stuff as desired.
Eat at restaurant when we want, which ends up almost twice per week.

I'm working on spending more, but Covid-19 has really put a damper on it.

 

[OldShooter]

January '18 DW and I visited Ethiopia, including the tribes living in the south. There we saw villages of a few huts that were a two-day walk away from the nearest market town. In South Africa, which we have visited a couple of times, the shantytowns are basically cardboard boxes and scrap wood all connected together.

I suspect that those folks would have quite a different idea about what constitutes an "indulgence." Starting with a flush toilet, maybe.

 

[Gumby]

Expensive vacations, dining out, wine. Cost = a lot.

 

[candrew]

Travel. Until COVID hit, we traveled the world almost non-stop for 3-1/2 years beginning with our E.R. in December, 2016.

 

[Montecfo]

Travel is our biggest one $24k per year. Most of the other stuff we do is fun but not expensive.

We prefer to eat at home and mix our own drinks, etc

Even though won the game, still value oriented

 

[Big_Hitter]

I started posting mine, then read the posts above and decided to delete it. I guess we will do some traveling once we can do so safely.

Does a golf membership and using a personal trainer count as an indulgence? I don't spend much on equipment, but we eat a lot at the club.

 

[davebarnes]

“Indulgences... what are they and what are they costing you each year?”
As a militant atheist, nothing.
I think the Catholic Church is weird.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Seriously, my biggest indulgence by far is not having to go to an office working for someone else every day. I've told DW there's nothing in this world I'd rather spend our money on more than that.

 

[boilerman]

I always did all the lawn care work but never enjoyed it. After FIRE, we started spending summers in Colorado and had to pay someone to do the lawn care for at least the 3 months we’d be gone in summer. I decided to have them do it year round.

We pay about $110 a month for weekly mowing, trimming, edging along with fertilizing, weed and pest control. I have a huge smile on my face every week while they’re working. I call this my guilty pleasure. And worth every penny.

 

[Jerry1]

Seriously, my biggest indulgence by far is not having to go to an office working for someone else every day. I've told DW there's nothing in this world I'd rather spend our money on more than that.

That’s exactly what I was thinking - not going to work is my most significant indulgence. After that, I’m okay with a relatively thin FIRE. I’m also surprised how much less I’m spending than I thought I would. Especially this month being grounded.

 

[RobbieB]

Wagyu, $80/lb

King crab $40/lb

Sushi grade fish $40/lb

Truffles / $300/lb

Balsamic (genuine) $100/oz

Caviar - $100/oz

Tequila (Don J 1942) $150/fifth

 

[COcheesehead]

I follow a good financial podcast and he talks in terms of needs, wants and wishes.
Needs, the basics, wants the step up, wishes, rocking retirement.

All up to you to decide the $$$ at each level.

But for me there is about a $75k/year difference from get’n by to rock’n retirement.

 

[travelover]

Seriously, my biggest indulgence by far is not having to go to an office working for someone else every day. I've told DW there's nothing in this world I'd rather spend our money on more than that.

Yea, this. I could have worked longer, but why?

 

[Ally]

We spend less than I imagined in retirement. We found we don’t travel nearly as much as we imagined we would. Staying home, visiting with friends and grandkids makes a full life for us.

So our indulgence is spending money without worry on helping dog and cat rescues, trapping, neutering and releasing feral cats we feed, fostering animals, and adopting some. We currently have 6 cats and 2 dogs, all but one rescued. We both volunteer at adoptions, collect donated pet food from stores, deliver it to rescues, and donate money for local pet rescue needs. To be able to do this and not worry about it , that is our indulgence.

 

[Sunset]

January '18 DW and I visited Ethiopia, including the tribes living in the south. There we saw villages of a few huts that were a two-day walk away from the nearest market town. In South Africa, which we have visited a couple of times, the shantytowns are basically cardboard boxes and scrap wood all connected together.

I suspect that those folks would have quite a different idea about what constitutes an "indulgence." Starting with a flush toilet, maybe.

I understand the sentiment.

The local municipality where I have a 100 yr old family cabin, was pretty happy when I got the permit to install a gray water septic system and an indoor compost toilet.

After 100 yrs of using an outhouse we felt we should splurge

 

[51notout]

I like sushi etc, and buy aged soy sauce from Japanese artisans. There are few left making sauce in the traditional way.

Yamaroku 4 Years Aged Kiku Bisiho Soy Sauce from Amazon. Currently $33. I just ordered again yesterday.

The taste difference from the normal “soy sauce” is astounding. When I first purchased I considered it an indulgence, now I won’t have anything else [emoji23]

Used it to make chashu chicken and atijama eggs couple days ago. Amazing flavor.

 

[Winemaker]

My wine making hobby has pushed my annual output very close to the legal limit of 200 gallons/household. Consumption has not increased, which is good, but I seem to have a lot more friends since the PA state stores have closed.

 

[Bamaman]

We continue a lifestyle in ER that got us the ability to ER in the first place--somewhat frugal living.

My wife's artistry is constant improving our home and she enjoys cooking. We don't eat out very often, and don't at all enjoy expensive restaurants. And we no longer drink alcohol since I'm diabetic--maintaining a healthier lifestyle.

Our indulgences in life are our lake house, a 24' boat, a RV in the mountains and taking two European trips per year when cheap airfares are found. We're bargain hunters.

Living in an ultra low COL place where real estate and taxes are cheap has been very helpful. Not living the country club life has allowed us to live in very large homes and continue living in them throughout our retired years. And it's been nice to be debt free. I love to maintain our two homes, and never stop building--something.

Our life is now centered around raising our 8 year old granddaughter who we have total and permanent custody of. While this was not in the original retirement plan, we accept it. And I love waking up to her smiling face. We just pray for good health and that our granddaughter continues to be such a great person as she gets older.

We continue our revised life plan, and that includes conservative living outside of our indulgences. We have to take care of ourselves physically and fiscally. And thankfully another daughter is available as a backup for Brynley.

 

[Helen]

By far our biggest expense has been travel. But, I would have cut way back on that if I could have retired sooner. I love the lack of stress and freedom retirement provides me. Plus, most of the things I enjoy doing don't cost much money - hiking, backpacking, playing tennis, BBQs with friends, etc. Retirement is better than I ever could have imagined, and I imagined it a lot.

 

[Music Lover]

I don't know a single person that started a new hobby when they retired. If you didn't care enough to do it before retirement you probably won't start it at retirement. What retirement does give you is more time to do the things you enjoy, so depending on what those things are your expenses might go up.

- if you like travel you might do more and spend more money
- if you like golf you might golf more, but that may or may not cost more if you had a membership anyway

 

[Markola]

Still w*rking. Probably the biggest indulgence will be keeping and maintaining our single family home. We rented a nice apartment for about 6 months a few years ago while changing cities and between owning houses. Our rent payments were about the same as our current mortgage payment. During that time, our housing-related expenses fell through the floor. I was amazed how much we were saving on everything, utilities, yard, upkeep, furnishings. The place even had free WiFi. That experience showed how much this house is an expensive indulgence.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I don't know a single person that started a new hobby when they retired. If you didn't care enough to do it before retirement you probably won't start it at retirement. What retirement does give you is more time to do the things you enjoy, so depending on what those things are your expenses might go up.

- if you like travel you might do more and spend more money
- if you like golf you might golf more, but that may or may not cost more if you had a membership anyway

agree with this - my dad did some wordworking after he retired but he was already decently handy in that regard

we have been doing a lot of landscape projects since I retired and I've been golfing about every day - free since we belong to a club - it will be nice to visit relatives again, eventually, hopefully....

 

[braumeister]

I don't know a single person that started a new hobby when they retired.

That's a pretty small sample size. I have three active hobbies I started after retirement, and a fourth that I took back up after a 30 year hiatus.

 

[audreyh1]

You can easily spend twice that on travel for two.

We bought an new RV at 5 years, and full timed for 5 years. So I suppose that’s analogous to a second home. If you think there’s a chance for a second home you might want to budget for that.

But our travel budget will be underspent this year. That’s OK, we’ll just let the funds accumulate.