2016 Spending

[broadway]

I use credit cards for all my spending.

Do you include spending in Dec. 2016 in 2016 even if you are not actually paying off the credit card until January 2017?

 

[Ronstar]

I use credit cards for all my spending.



Do you include spending in Dec. 2016 in 2016 even if you are not actually paying off the credit card until January 2017?

I do. I download the credit card info in Quicken, and it assigns the date that the credit card co authorized payment of the purchase.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Ok. I guess I get the boobie prize. I spent double in 2016 over 2015. In my defense, I bought a new house and have spent a fortune. I also have two kids in college and zero help from my ex. Thank heavens I am still working as I expect this level of spending for at least one more year. I have just spent hours pouring through expenses. My goal next year is to "cut the fat". To date I have lost 57 pounds of weight. Now I need to shed a few more pounds and work on shedding the fat in the budget! Come on 2017!

Happy New Year everyone.

Good luck on your budget. We were pleasantly surprised at how much we could lower our expenses and yet live better just by paying more attention to our spending.

 

[grasshopper]

I never look at SWR because I am never close to what I could spend. Saying it the way that makes sense to me is I spent 70% of my income in 2016.

 

[aja8888]

Ours is complicated and not sure I want to try to figure it out in detail. Factors include:

1. SS income (both of us)

2. RMD distribution income (from IRA's) (both of us)

3. Consulting income (1099's) (me only)

4. Contribution to Solo 401K (me only)

5. Monetary gifts to our needy children (3 of them during the year) - Job losses, medical, etc

6. Help granddaughter with college expenses and auto/living support (DW does this).

Fortunately, net worth increased over 2015 so the spending did not create a negative loss event.

In 2017, numbers 3, 4, will go away (stick a fork in me). Number 5 will become less (it better), and number 6 will diminish as graduation is in May.

 

[FUEGO]

Fuego: Thanks for all the details! I am going to try using air bnb next time we go to Europe instead of hotels. WE did get a really cheap cruise on RC for 274/each for 7 nights because we could go at the last minute. WE did have to fly to Florida for it. WE never eat in the specialty restaurants either. The food is so good in the main dining room that I don't know why people bother. We do take all the tours through the cruise line so in case we are late to the ship there will be no expenses for us. We usually take a tour in each port.

Definitely check out Airbnb. For us it's a HUGE money saver with kids because so many hotels seem to offer rooms with 1 bed or 2-3 person max occupancy which pushes us into needing 2 hotel rooms (each of which would cost roughly the same as a 2-3 BR apartment rental and we wouldn't have a living room and kitchen).

 

[W2R]

I use credit cards for all my spending.

Do you include spending in Dec. 2016 in 2016 even if you are not actually paying off the credit card until January 2017?

If I buy it in 2016 using my credit card then it goes in my 2016 spending, even if I don't pay off the credit card until 2017.

 

[NW-Bound]

I use credit cards for all my spending.

Do you include spending in Dec. 2016 in 2016 even if you are not actually paying off the credit card until January 2017?

I do. I download the credit card info in Quicken, and it assigns the date that the credit card co authorized payment of the purchase.

+1

I hit "download all accounts" every day. It also allows me to spot any fraudulent activity in any of my accounts, brokerages as well as credit cards.

However, the illegal charges in recent years were all spotted by the credit card companies before they were posted in the accounts for download. The credit card companies called me up to ask if these charges were valid, and voided them when I said no.

 

[Alan]

I use credit cards for all my spending.

Do you include spending in Dec. 2016 in 2016 even if you are not actually paying off the credit card until January 2017?

I just add the credit card spending the month the bill is due. One exception is the card that ends on the 7th of the month. With that one I put the statement balance agains the previous month. Too much effort for me to track spending that closely but if I did use Quicken then absolutely I would download the transactions so it would accurately be allocated to the correct month.

 

[robnplunder]

My first year in ER:

Budgeted $100k to spend but only spent $80k.

Total asset increased by $110k thanks to the stock market being up by 10+ percent.

New/renewed hobbies in my 1st year of retirement - learning to pronounce French words, learning to read/speak Japanese, learning the game of Go, read(ing) books, restarting a tiny vegetable garden, more golf, more family/relative visits.

What did I miss in my 1st year of ER? Can't think of any other than 1 - 2 major yearly vacation trips I took during work years. I will restart that in 2017. This being my 1st ER year, I was cautious with spending on big items.

 

[audreyh1]

I use credit cards for all my spending.

Do you include spending in Dec. 2016 in 2016 even if you are not actually paying off the credit card until January 2017?

Yes, because I download all CC transactions into Quicken, and the are imported by posted date. Which, ok, can be a day or two after the transaction date, but close enough. I rarely have major charges on the last two days of the year so it's usually pretty clean.

 

[kcowan]

Update:
Portfolio gains 9.8%
Less living 1.7%
Gifting 0.5%
Pensions 1.4%
Net draw 0.8%
(Cash and FI 0.2%)

We book our air fare to Europe one year ahead so it averages out.

 

[grasshopper]

Ms G and I had the end of year talk, now all I hear is french doors, travel, and other ways to spend what was not spent.

 

[Lsbcal]

I use credit cards for all my spending.

Do you include spending in Dec. 2016 in 2016 even if you are not actually paying off the credit card until January 2017?

I only record credit card spending when I pay the CC company.

 

[kcowan]

Update again:
Portfolio gains 9.8%
Less living 2.3%
Gifting 0.5%
Pensions 1.0%
Net draw 1.8%
(Cash and FI 0.2%)

 

[CardsFan]

If I buy it in 2016 using my credit card then it goes in my 2016 spending, even if I don't pay off the credit card until 2017.

I guess I use the more simple approach. Everything is paid out of one checking account. I use the monthly totals from it to calculate spending. Since the statements are not exactly at the end of the month (or year), it is not perfect, but I am only trying to track overall outgo relative to the portfolio. Having a few thousand in the wrong month, or year, doesn't matter, as long as we stay on track overall.

 

[NW-Bound]

...Since the statements are not exactly at the end of the month (or year), it is not perfect, but I am only trying to track overall outgo relative to the portfolio. Having a few thousand in the wrong month, or year, doesn't matter, as long as we stay on track overall.

I do this by looking at the expenses of the last 12 months. Doing so makes sure that I include both of the semi-annual bills, such as property taxes, car and home insurances, etc...

Then, for past whole years, I would look at entire year spending. I can dwell in a year to remind myself why that year was high, such as home repairs, gifts to children, etc...

What I like about Quicken is that I can look at past data in different ways with just a mouse click.

 

[jollystomper]

As part of my retirement preparation we increased spending by 5% in 2016. However our income rose by 3%, and our savings rate remained at a good level, about 28%.

80% of our expenses were in the following categories: taxes, charity, kids college expenses, medical, home improvements/repairs, groceries, mortgage payments, gifts. Fortunately we can control the amount in most of these categories once I retire.

 

[scrabbler1]

I guess I use the more simple approach. Everything is paid out of one checking account. I use the monthly totals from it to calculate spending. Since the statements are not exactly at the end of the month (or year), it is not perfect, but I am only trying to track overall outgo relative to the portfolio. Having a few thousand in the wrong month, or year, doesn't matter, as long as we stay on track overall.

I use as my monthly markers the ending date of my local bank's checking account because it is the hub of my finances. I then record the balances of my mutual fund accounts to get a total each "month." I do a balance checkpoint every 12/31/xx, too, to get a year-end amount. But I do more calculations on the mid-month checkpoints such as percent returns so it is a little tougher to generate their actual calendar year calculations.

 

[Options]

Under budget fairly substantially every single month since ER in 2015, even with a skyrocketing travel budget. Except for once in college and once in the late 90's, I don't recall ever being over budget in my life.

 

[Danmar]

Spent way more in 2015 than 2016. Daughter's wedding and associated gift the reason. 2016 slightly under budget (first time ever I think) and average WR about 3.75%. The 2017 plan is an increase of about 11% over 2016. Mostly travel.

 

[Christine]

I did buy a new car (for me - used 1 year). So definately a chunk. But if I factor that out I still have a problem using enough... That is I according to YNAB I had net savings and from my SS and Health Insurance payouts to my portfolio. So a negative WR before buying the car.

For 2017 I plan to travel more and get a new kitchen - so my WR should hopefully turn. Heh.

 

[dvalley]

Don't have a budget but my avg annual spend target is $60k per year. My expenses for 2016 were about $62k. I spent $2k on a couple of hobby/fun things but otherwise just about on-target. Top spending categories according to Personal Capital:

Mortgages -$24,447
General Merchandise -$5,449 (95% Amazon)
Child/Dependent -$4,900
Groceries -$4,253
Automotive -$4,142
Restaurants -$3,868
Uncategorized -$2,476
Home Improvement -$1,700
Insurance -$1,585
Telephone -$1,519
Utilities -$1,469

 

[Travelwanted]

I'm amazed at how little some folks spend. Congrats.

Spent about 1.33% of investable assets.

Easily could be lower this year as we had several one-off big expenses.

Some of our biggest items:

1-property tax - $12,500
2-home, auto, umbrella, article insurance - $6000
3-accounting fees - $4000
4-mud jack back porch - $1000
5-retro french drain behind pool - $4500
6-emergency surgery for dog - $6000
7-business class airfare to europe - $7000
8-private school tuition - $8000
9-new pool electronics - $1300

Life ain't cheap...

 

[socca]

2016 Spending Budget:
• necessities (taxes, housing, food, medical, auto, reserves) : 52%
• savings : 25%
• discretionary : 23%

2016 Spending Actual:
• necessities: 37%
• savings : 52%
• discretionary : 11%

2016 was my first full year as a homeowner since 1999, so I was a bit on the cautious side. My plan for 2017 is to increase my discretionary spending by taking my first 'real' vacation since 2006 (I left corporate America for good in early 2007). Poor Steve Jobs only lasted to age 56, and at age 54 I really gotta start having more fun!