I have tracked our spending at a reasonably detailed level for 25 years. It was invaluable in planning our financial future and confirming we were financially ready to retire. Now that we’ve been retired for over 8 years, I decided I don’t really need to track it anymore. We have substantially more financial assets than we did 8 years ago, so I am thinking we no longer need to think too much about how we spend our money. The notable exceptions could be things we need for tax purposes such as medical expenses, charitable contributions, and any major capital expenditures on our home so we have a reliable record of our cost basis in the event of a future sale.
Are there any other categories or reasons to track detailed spending? I did a “macro” analysis for 2024 and looked at cash that came in, cash that went out for major non-recurring expenses such as major home renovations, and the change in total cash balance year on year, enabling me to see how much in total we spent on day to day living including travel. The “normal” cash outflow looked about the same as the last several years so I decided not to do all the detailed work to document every category of spend.
I have to admit it was rather freeing, but I’m so accustomed to tracking that I’m wondering if there is a good reason to do it.