How much do you actually spend each month in retirement?

[YellowSubmarine]

the median monthly SS benefit for retired workers in april 2025 was 1,976

$1976...hard to believe. We claimed at age 70, DW at 62; collectively nearly triple that median. Planning is everything. I always thought SS will be the icing on the cake.

 

[TheWizard]

$1976...hard to believe. We claimed at age 70, DW at 62; collectively nearly triple that median. Planning is everything. I always thought SS will be the icing on the cake.

You are correct that people who plan ahead often come out ahead when it comes down to crunch time...

 

[RetiredHappy]

I had only put 18 years into the system and collect about $1900 per month at 62. But my spouse claimed at 70 and is receiving 2.3 times the "average". Together we are making out like gangbusters. However SS only covers about 30% of our expenses.

 

[aaronc879]

$1976...hard to believe. We claimed at age 70, DW at 62; collectively nearly triple that median. Planning is everything. I always thought SS will be the icing on the cake.

I agree that $1976/mo is hard to believe, I'll get around half that. Same as my Mom, a couple Aunts and some other people I know. For around half the US population, Social Security IS the cake.

 

[RunningBum]

Exactly the same.

I have never understood these types of financial comparisons.

As above, they are completely unrelated and would be quite meaningless to us as ours would be to others.

+1. If I were to try to compare someone else's number to mine, I would probably need to match the following for their number to be meaningful to me.

- What is their net worth that they can tap for retirement spending, along with pension and SS benefits? This is the biggie. As some pretty solidly in 7 figure territory, spending numbers from someone in 8 or higher figures, or 6 or lower (unless pension+SS is high) really doesn't apply to me.
- Same marital status?
- Similar age? This might influence activity and health care expenses
- Own or rent?
- Do they have a mortgage? How big? How many years left?
- How large of a house, which could influence utilities, upkeep and repair. Age of house matters too.
- Are they counting taxes from Roth conversion? How much?
- How does where they live compare to mine in cost of living?
- Similar vacation expenses to me?
- How much gifting do they do, compared to me?
- Any kids dependent on them?
- Do they replace cars more or less often than me? New or used?
- Do they have a boat and/or RV? Vacation house?
- Paid or subsidized medical plan?
- Do they eat out often, or mostly at home?

And so on. Most of these can result in enormously different spending amounts from mine. Some people are just giving a number, which was all that was asked in the OP. Meaningless to anyone else. Others break it down some, but probably not enough, and it wold be a lot of work to adjust their numbers to yours.

20 years down the line, is someone going to go broke from spending too much, and are they going to moan that John and Jane Doe from e-r.org spent that much, why did I go broke spending the same amount?

Some have said these numbers encourage them to spend more. I don't see how, without knowing the above, but if they are sure they have room to spend more, the "Blow that Dough" thread seems more relevant. They might find ideas on what might bring value to them.

 

[brett]

Why would anyone even attempt to base or gauge their pre or post retirement financials on other people's (strangers at that) numbers, personal situations, or lifestyle decisions?

 

[imjustawarrior]

For all those who are miffed by the OP's question, I'll just through a possible reason or two out there. Light me up if you like. I need a little entertainment.

1. Some people just need to keep up with the Joneses (sp?). How can you keep up if you don't know what they are doing or how much they are spending?

2. I think this is a better reason to ask. Some people make it through life by imitating what others are doing. They lack the ability, knowledge, drive, aptitude, time, resources, or whatever to be able to figure things out for themselves. Imitation is a way to overcome whatever is lacking. It can be a very efficient way to make it through life or in even making a single decision. I would not fault anyone for this if this is the best they can do. I bet all of us do this from time to time if we think about our lives. For example, I don't have time to figure out how to solve a problem so I ask someone what they did and I repeat what they did. Most of the time this works out good enough. Now extrapolate this out to most things in life.

Note: I am not trying to say either of the above applies to the OP. Just meant to be food for thought to all those saying that the OP's question is useless. I think #2 may show that it could be very valuable.

 

[RunningBum]

For all those who are miffed by the OP's question, I'll just through a possible reason or two out there. Light me up if you like. I need a little entertainment.

1. Some people just need to keep up with the Joneses (sp?). How can you keep up if you don't know what they are doing or how much they are spending?

2. I think this is a better reason to ask. Some people make it through life by imitating what others are doing. They lack the ability, knowledge, drive, aptitude, time, resources, or whatever to be able to figure things out for themselves. Imitation is a way to overcome whatever is lacking. It can be a very efficient way to make it through life or in even making a single decision. I would not fault anyone for this if this is the best they can do. I bet all of us do this from time to time if we think about our lives. For example, I don't have time to figure out how to solve a problem so I ask someone what they did and I repeat what they did. Most of the time this works out good enough. Now extrapolate this out to most things in life.

Note: I am not trying to say either of the above applies to the OP. Just meant to be food for thought to all those saying that the OP's question is useless. I think #2 may show that it could be very valuable.

I'm going to ignore #1 because few if any of us got to ER by keeping up with the Joneses.

#2. Many of us use Firecalc to help determine what we can safely spend with what we have. Using the 4% guideline another method, or 3.5% to give some buffer or if you have a longer than 30 year horizon. Aren't these things better to imitate than a raw number that is based on something entirely different from your situation?

If you have a car problem and ask a neighbor who also had a car problem what they did, they might tell you they replaced the fuel filter. Would you do the same, if your problem is that the car pulls to one side, and what you really need is a wheel alignment?

Or suppose you see a smart friend of yours who lives in a 2 BR condo on the beach. Is that what you'd buy, if you had 3 kids in school? Would their 2 person sports car make sense for you over a family van?

Seems ridiculous that you'd do these things, right? But that's how I view imitating how much to spend without considering the factors.

I totally agree that imitating others can be very effective, but think about whether what you are imitating actually makes sense.

Looking back at the OP, a couple of questions did make sense:

Has it been more or less than you expected? What surprised you the most about your retirement budget?

I don't think I've seen many answers address this, but learning that others found that taxes went way down, or health care was a lot more expensive than they thought, or they failed to consider home repairs and maintenance or similar irregular expenses would be valuable info.

 

[brett]

Back of an envelope and a pencil worked best from me.

Past and current. Then f'cast adjusted for inflation, O&E, and anticipated changes or health issues, etc.

Short exercise if you have reliable data and you are realistic/conservative in your approach.

I agree with the above....potential surprises or significant unanticipated variances, expense or income, that others experienced would be what would interest me.

 

[jim584672]

Totally out of curiosity, will you share your general budget with us? As mentioned up thread, I spend more than $1333 for HOA dues. Do you live in a LCOL area? Just being nosey, so no need to respond.

DW and I are aware we could move back to our "old life" and spend half as much, so it's very much a choice in how much one spends (at least to a point).

By the way, I am impressed.

About half is taxes and condo fees $800**. Own condo outright. Live in a NYC suburb. Food about $155 a month. Internet & phone $31*. electric $17*, gasoline $10, insurance $85, health cover $0*, misc and other taxes everything else.

*Low income breaks
**Special assessment

 

[MissAnna]

About half is taxes and condo fees $800**. Own condo outright. Live in a NYC suburb. Food about $155 a month. Internet & phone $31*. electric $17*, gasoline $10, insurance $85, health cover $0*, misc and other taxes everything else.

*Low income breaks
**Special assessment

Good job!

 

[INTJ10]

We always planned on a $120K per year (10K/mth) budget. Firecalc says we can spend quite a bit more but that includes SS. So we ended up a bit higher than than the $10k per month with gifts to the kids and travel. We decided we need to up the spending to make the most of the go-go years. We have managed our situation so our fixed expenses are low ($6K / month) so most of our spending is discretionary. I am overly nervous about SS and running out of money so I know we are overly conservative, which is frustrating but working on the issue.

 

[Dtail]

About half is taxes and condo fees $800**. Own condo outright. Live in a NYC suburb. Food about $155 a month. Internet & phone $31*. electric $17*, gasoline $10, insurance $85, health cover $0*, misc and other taxes everything else.

*Low income breaks
**Special assessment

$5 a day for food. Wow.

 

[jim584672]

$5 a day for food. Wow.

I weened myself off soda so that dropped it $30 a month recently. I could get a $23 SNAP benefit, but just haven't bother with it.

 

[TickTock]

We have managed our situation so our fixed expenses are low ($6K / month) so most of our spending is discretionary. I am overly nervous about SS and running out of money so I know we are overly conservative, which is frustrating but working on the issue.

The large % of discretionary spending can help with the nervousness. If things go badly then you can cut back and still be okay, which gives the flexibility to spend higher now and continue if things go average or better. Good luck!

 

[Global Wizzo]

Hey folks,
I’m in the early stages of retirement and trying to get a real-world sense of what monthly spending actually looks like. Most of the online calculators give me wild estimates, but I’d rather hear it straight from people who are living it.

If you're comfortable sharing — how much do you typically spend in a month during retirement? Has it been more or less than you expected? What surprised you the most about your retirement budget?

Thanks in advance!

Like others, we average about 10k/mo after taxes. That includes a good bit of international travel.

It doesn’t include those one time hits. 27K last year for a roof. 12K for one of the AC systems. You can’t predict that stuff.

No debt.

FYI. Our cost of living went up post retirement. My company covered a lot of stuff for me.

 

[drdsunny]

We are at annual budget of $160k. This includes $50k for travel and $24k early inheritance for DS and DD.

 

[RunningBum]

...

It doesn’t include those one time hits. 27K last year for a roof. 12K for one of the AC systems. You can’t predict that stuff.

...

They shouldn't be complete surprises. A budget has to plan for irregular house expenses like this, just like you need to budget for replacing your cars periodically. I think I did 1% of my house value since it was new. An older house probably needs a higher % since you'll need those repairs earlier.

 

[Echard]

I think about spending in retirement in three groups.

You have the very frugal/limited group that probably keeps expenses under $60k per year either because they lack the assets to spend more, or don't have big expense categories others have. Two of those big expense categories are medical and travel. If you have a lot of health issues, or have to pay full pre-medicare premiums, you can end up spending $30k per year just on medical. Similarly, travel can run anywhere from $0-50k per year depending upon a retiree's assets and travel desires.

The second level category are people probably spending between $60k-$200k per year, depending upon the expenses above, whether they live in a HCOL area, and their general propensity to spend on extras, like country club memberships, etc.

Then you've got the $200k+ crowd, who have so many assets and/or are comfortable spending 4%+ withdrawal rates that they have many more optional expenses: second homes, boats, etc.

 

[1RichCrook]

2023 and 2024 averaged approximately 58k per month. Two different land/ home builds. This year still developing the second home so probably around 30k per month. Next year and going forward. Back to approximately 17k per month.
Does that tell you anything pertinent to your situation OP?

 

[Dtail]

2023 and 2024 averaged approximately 58k per month. Two different land/ home builds. This year still developing the second home so probably around 30k per month. Next year and going forward. Back to approximately 17k per month.
Does that tell you anything pertinent to your situation OP?

What did you steal to become a rich crook?

 

[meleana]

$3k- $4k depending if we take an expensive vacation in addition to our more modest ones.

 

[Anchors Aweigh1]

Hey folks,
I’m in the early stages of retirement and trying to get a real-world sense of what monthly spending actually looks like. Most of the online calculators give me wild estimates, but I’d rather hear it straight from people who are living it.

If you're comfortable sharing — how much do you typically spend in a month during retirement? Has it been more or less than you expected? What surprised you the most about your retirement budget?

Thanks in advance!

Varies each year more than when I was working around 150-160k

 

[1RichCrook]

Just the name Dtail.

 

[ERD50]

$3k- $4k depending if we take an expensive vacation in addition to our more modest ones.

I see about half dozen responses to this thread today. Guess what folks, the OP has not responded since he first posted this on 5/7. Click on his name and you get "This user's profile is not available." Not sure what to make of that, is that like "Gone Fishin'"?

At any rate, like another poster, I'm shocked that anyone is responding to this with their spending. Early in the thread (but not early enough), this was posted:

Not sure how responses are going to help you. Your expenses are your expenses, and whatever somebody else spends isn't relevant. ...

So why respond to OP? Don't we all know this? Our expenses are our expenses, not someone else.

I see this in other threads "How much do you spend on xyz?" I don't get it - what I spend on travel, or cars, or electricity, etc, has no bearing on you should/would, and vice-versa.

And I'm not even feeling particularly grumpy today (actually doing pretty well)! This just gets me!