What was your 2024 total spending amount?

[workmyfingerstothebone]

$9K for A/C? Is that just for a single central air unit with existing vents? That seems high. My central air is over 20 years old and worried I will have to pay around $5K to replace it soon. If it's $9K i'll probably just get a couple window units or live 95% of the Summer in my basement.

One of our HVAC unit replacements was just over 17K for 2.0 or 2.5 ton unit.
Negotiations started above 20k but used competition to get a better price.

Still have one Heat pump to replace

 

[Jeffman52]

I know some people live in a HCOL area. But to get a 3 ton unit replaced was going to be about 14K in the Cincinnati area if I used one of the major HVAC companies. However I was able to get a family friend to replace my AC unit (3.5 ton because the old one was undersized) for $6.5K. That included the AC unit, replacing 50 ft of copper lines because of a change in refrigerant, and fixing the sheetrock where holes had to be cut to run the new lines. I had this done just a few months ago.

In the "Your recent repair" thread there were a number of people talking about the cost of these. Frankly the most overpriced parts of your home is the HVAC unit(s). I get these companies need to make a profit but wow.

 

[finnski1]

Finally tallied mine up. $59,300 for two people MCOL area. No big trips just a few weeks in the travel trailer.

 

[Still Learning]

89K Total

49%-bills
23%-discretionary
28%-wedding gift

 

[Cobra9777]

...the most overpriced parts of your home is the HVAC unit(s). I get these companies need to make a profit but wow.

In 2021, we bought a Daikin 2-ton, 14 SEER heat pump for $5.6K. It went into a granny flat on our property.

In 2024, we needed a new system for part of the main house. We spent $9.6K for a 2-ton Trane, 15.2 SEER with gas furnace. It qualified for a $1.5K rebate from the City. Net cost $8.1K.

The Daikin unit we bought in 2021 was now $8.9K and did not qualify for the City rebate. Price was up 60% in 3 years. Some companies were up more than that. I asked all the companies why the big increase (much greater than general inflation). Most had no good answer other than THEIR costs had gone up that much.

But according to a quick Google search, it's a combination of factors, some of which are unique to HVAC: supply chain disruptions, demand surge due to remote work and climate change, raw material costs especially copper and other metals (AC coils use a LOT of copper), labor shortages, new energy efficiency standards, new required refrigerants, and increased fuel/transportation costs for heavy, bulky items.

 

[Humbooster]

Unfortunately, 148k for the year, the most ever. 2025 may be better

 

[sengsational]

I like to wait until after I reconcile December statements before proceeding...it seems I rarely get every transaction entered in advance.

 

[Crewer]

2024 was my first full year after DH died and I was shocked to see that I spent about $220K. That's a record by tens of thousands. A lot of it was gifts and travel - both up substantially from previous years. I booked more costly accommodations since so far it's been worth it. And I also used private drivers for intercity travel in Britain and Spain instead of public transport when we were dealing with luggage and wanted to save time. The two international trips and the AZ road trip with Las Vegas were worth every penny but the Alaska cruise - my 3rd and I only went because of family - was a huge disappointment. At least my IRAs - the bulk of my estate - are larger now than they were at the beginning of 2024. Don't know if I will cut back much in 2025 since the retirement calculator says I'm still below the spend that gives me success.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I just closed the books on 2024. I am single. My final spending results:

Total Expenses - $123,105

Some notables:

37% of my expenses were related to my vehicle. I paid cash for a new car in March.
18% of my expenses were for travel (just over $23,000)
I also put in a new AC unit and gas furnace in the house for around $8,000.
I included all tax payments (Fed/State income, property, and local) in the spending totals.
My total medical expenses (insurance premiums, co-pays, co-insurance, procedures, tests, etc.) was 5% of my expenses.

This is my highest spend in my 6 years of retirement. I should be back to a more normal spend in 2025. I don't think I'll be buying another expensive car this year. But you never know.

 

[socca]

2024 Spending Breakdown:
• necessities: taxes, housing, food, medical, auto, reserves: 24%
• discretionary - spent: 1%
• discretionary - unspent: 75%

2024 Income Breakdown:
• portfolio: 75%
• family biz: 25%

Notes:
• these numbers exclude the sale of part of the family biz this year
• 2024 discretionary spending was so low because I didn’t have the time or inclination to have fun. When I completely retire in 2025 hopefully this will change.
• when I retire my income source will convert entirely to portfolio. It will be a challenge to spend all of my annual portfolio income; “decumulation” isn’t on the table for now. This is a good problem for a retiree to have.

 

[kcowan]

Spent 4% of net worth but net worth grew by 26.2% is spite of that! Can still live forever!

 

[sengsational]

Finally got the books closed on 2024. DW and I each maintain our own set of "books", and to get year-end done, I have to run a report on her system and import the summary in mine. In my system, when I transfer to her spending account every month, I consider it spent, but don't know what spending category is because that's managed in her system. The report lets me split out the one category into specifics and so on 12/31 I relieve that summary category with the specific categories in one transaction. Anyway, here's the result:

Gifts	40.5%​
Income Tax	25.5%​
House	8.1%​
Medical	8.1%​
Travel	5.4%​
Groceries	4.4%​
DW	4.3%​
Cars and Gas	2.1%​
Me	1.6%​

The gifts were to the kids. The income tax was federal and state. I didn't get into the weeds on the house this time, it's kind of boring. The travel was a business class over and Azamara back trans-Atlantic, but doesn't seem to be much of a BTD in the big picture, but that's because I got a spectacular deal on the flight and cruise. I did notice that for auto transportation, the insurance is what makes up the lion's share. I dug into the medical this year, just to see how that broke down:

Premiums	56.3%​
Travel	16.8%​
Deductible, Copay, Rejected	12.0%​
Glasses	4.6%​
Otc	3.8%​
Rx	3.4%​
Dentist	3.2%​

I did travel twice, once for a month, and it still didn't add-up to anywhere near the premiums we paid to CMS and 2 months of BCBSNC (no subsidy). I'm fighting CMS on a couple hundred bucks of medical that they should have paid. My traditional Medicare deductible plus (plan N) $20 each doctor visit (and I had quite a few) added-up. Not that any of this would break the bank, it's just "gee wiz" curiosity. Now I'm trying to BTD on travel. I failed at that in 2024, so trying to get going on that this year.

 

[EarlyandLate]

Total expenditures = $26,894.90 for one person.
Condo fees and property tax were $10,131.58
If I compare to 2019, I would guess the effect of COVID inflation has been $250-300 per month.

 

[thatguy]

60k went into and out of the checking account in all of 2024, End of year balance is up only $200. Big purchases in 2024 was a $7000 used car, $900 to seal the driveway, and a $400 snow blower. Only travel was 2 days to see the solar eclipse.
Earlier years we were able to eek out more travel from the same SS & pension income. There has been some decrease in the mix as some early retirement incentives timed out in 2006 & 2020.
That's just the way we spend. There's a RMD not included, Potential withdrawals not taken, a delayed SS benefit starts in a couple months, and another RMD in 2028. It ain't real till it's in my hands but could approach 200k when it's all in.
The additional SS income this year is gonna figure in to our next trip.

 

[1242Vintage]

Total spend for 2024 is $180k.

Biggest percentage was for travel. The next categories were home/car insurance and taxes!

 

[Koolau]

I'm amazed at the spreads between us here. I don't track my spending but have a pretty good idea of about how much money goes out the door each year. This year our biggest "expense" was charity and gifts to kids - well over half.

 

[bonvoyage]

I track our spending very closely using Quicken: Our core expenses for the year (housing, cars, food, telecom and online services) was about $93k. In addition to that:

• College for my younger daughter (tuition plus living expenses) was $80k
• Home renovation: $85k (we don't have anything left to renovate in the house now thankfully )
• Travel: $72k (but this also includes tickets that we bought last year for trips this year).

 

[NoiseBoy]

I agree that taxes (Federal & State) should NOT be included as part of one's spend, but sales Tax and RE Tax should. JMHO

Agreed. Last year I spent $34,000 on my basic living expenses including property taxes. I spent an additional $24,000 on travel (4 international trips of about 2 weeks each). I treated myself to a couple of business class flights, including one on a trip to Thailand. The business class lounge in Istanbul's airport is amazing! A lot of my travel spending was covered by withdrawals from what I guess we can call a "travel bucket" in my portfolio. It's the only spending that I have done from my portfolio since retiring 3 years ago. Before retiring, I'd built a ladder of CDs to cover my travel expenses until I turn 62 and I started using that money last year.

 

[brett]

Spent 4% of net worth but net worth grew by 2

Spent 4% of net worth but net worth grew by 26.2% is spite of that! Can still live forever!

Have to agree. It is the ratio of spend to ROI on an annual basis and over time that counts.

Spend in and of itself is somewhat meaningless to me unless it is contrasted with income/ROI/assets etc.

 

[disneysteve]

I agree that taxes (Federal & State) should NOT be included as part of one's spend, but sales Tax and RE Tax should. JMHO

You paid the taxes, didn’t you? Why would you not include that in your spending total? It’s money you spent.

 

[brett]

All of our pre and post retirement planning has always been done on the basis of after tax income. Those are the monies that we have available to us.

I do not spend income taxes. It is not an optional spend in our notional budget.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

You paid the taxes, didn’t you? Why would you not include that in your spending total? It’s money you spent.

It's a fine line...
For some of us who are still receiving paychecks, State and Federal taxes are automatically withheld from our take-home pay, as is FICA. It's hard to count that as spending. Once someone is retired, and has to send in a check to the IRS, then it feels more like spending. But it's not something one can opt out of.

 

[brett]

We take our ROI incomes and estimate a net to us based on our respective previous years average tax rates, our marginal tax rates, and our tax installments from the previous tax year.

It may not be deducted at source but we are very much aware that we have little say in the matter. Not discretionary...at least for either of us!

 

[zaqxsw]

Excluding income taxes: $65,000. Income taxes would be another $17,700 for a total of $82,700.

Still saving $2,800/mo. that I don't spend. Thats with a 0% withdrawal rate.

Trying harder to spend...

 

[disneysteve]

All of our pre and post retirement planning has always been done on the basis of after tax income. Those are the monies that we have available to us.

I do not spend income taxes. It is not an optional spend in our notional budget.

You certainly spend tax money. It comes out of your income. Isn't that pretty much the definition of spending?

When we all do our retirement planning, we have to include taxes in our spending estimate to determine how much we need saved in order to retire safely. If you only look at your post-tax spending, you're going to come up short in retirement.

Why would anyone count property tax but not income tax? You have to spend money to pay them both.