Poll

What's your annual spend in FIRE?

25K
35K
45K
55K
65K
85K
100K+
150K+
Not FIRE'd so people can see results

Author Topic: Annual Spend?  (Read 10711 times)

2sk22

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #50 on: May 18, 2020, 03:39:54 PM »
I will be retiring this year but my wife has no plans of quitting her high-paying job so we won't be really drawing on savings in the immediate future. But I do find it useful to keep track of how much it costs to sustain our current lifestyle.

I updated my expense tracking spreadsheet and found that our basic on-going expenses are about $69k at the moment.

  • This figure includes (a bit pricey) gym memberships, house cleaning and gardening.
  • We live in an inner suburb of NY City in NJ so this is a HCOL area. We have no plans of moving from here in retirement.
  • We have no mortgage (fully paid off house).
  • We buy cars for cash and keep them for at least 15 years so no car payments. Neither of our cars is due for immediate replacement.
  • This number does not include travel but neither my wife nor I are much into travel.We will undoubtedly travel a little in retirement but I don't see more than one big trip a year, and that too for a relatively short duration.






2sk22

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #51 on: May 18, 2020, 03:46:58 PM »
We just finished a deep dive on our spending for 2019. We're in an MCOL city with a mortgage. There's a couple things I think are a little tricky with spending and budget reporting:

I found this very interesting - I was generally impressed by how low your expenses are except for the HOA amount. What do you get for that?

EscapeVelocity2020

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #52 on: May 18, 2020, 03:58:55 PM »
By following the 4% SWR advice, I could spend 150k plus per year, but we’ll probably stick to our $600/week lifestyle.  I imagine we will do one-off rentals that go over this (like a yacht, RV, and Air BnB’s if travel comes back eventually), but 40k/yr with a paid off home is the most accurate answer to the poll.  But I’m not ER so I didn’t vote.

I am wondering how do you plan for the $90k you do not want to spend each year. I hope your job is really fun so that you can make money and have fun at the same time.

Although my job is not too boring (teaching), I still prefer to spend my time on a beach, not in a classroom, if I am absolutely sure that I can afford that kind of lifestyle without serious problems in the future.

That's exactly it - I can spend more, and maybe I'll spend more than 40k here and there, but I'm just living life.  It is hard for us to spend more without feeling like weird, fake consumer people.  I guess I could drive a nicer car than a Honda Fit, but it's so easy to work on and we love joking about paying 17k for it.  I did buy the kids iPhone 11s because the camera helped them take better pictures, but that little frenzy of consumerism came and went. 

I like the fact that I can spend more (and I just bought some basic $120 airpods so I can listen to the new Stephen King book I got through Audible while I walk, and also the EconTalk podcasts I used to enjoy during my commute), and I don't intentionally spend less or focus on frugality.  I just don't spend that much - $600/week seems to be enough.  We take care of our stuff and are mindful on spending I guess.

Rdy2Fire

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #53 on: May 18, 2020, 04:19:57 PM »
I just re-reviewed the results.  I'm astounded that 13 people are over 100k a year in spend.  I never even made 100k in a year.  What would I conceivably spend that kind of money on?!?

I think this quote and Spartana's earlier post are great examples of why Malkynn didn't think that other peoples' numbers were likely to be relevant for the OP's question on whether he/she can fire.  That said, they are also what makes this post interesting (at least to me).  Nobody can tell OP "how much" he/she should/will spend in FIRE, but plenty of posters here regularly show us how little is necessary to FIRE.  Plenty of posters here are covering all the necessities of life and enough luxuries (like travel) to make themselves happy on very small budgets.  My own budget is larger (because it can be), but this thread has been a great reminder that it doesn't have to be.  My spend is larger than some people here, but I doubt it generates a commensurately higher level of happiness.

Actually, the OP AKA ME, posted it more as a curiosity to see where/what peoples numbers are and any information around that they wanted to provide, in the comments, around those numbers. Although there are many factors I've found some of the answers pretty interesting and in some cases impressive.

I did say my timing for not working was unplanned earlier/younger then I thought and not sure what I'll do, with my time but believe I have enough. I think later on I did clarify also saying I live in a HCOL area and I may or may not have said I spent months traveling (in expensive places) after I stopped working. I did spend a significant amount less the the 4% rule but all the money I have spent in the year was not taken from investments.

Cassie

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #54 on: May 18, 2020, 05:07:12 PM »
I semi retired 8 years ago at 58. Our core budget is 48k.  Our HI and medical expenses average about 10k year. This doesn’t include travel and we average anywhere between 5-14k/year. We had a month trip booked for August in Europe which was going to cost 10k but of course that’s not going to happen.

Chris@TTL

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #55 on: May 18, 2020, 08:33:07 PM »
We just finished a deep dive on our 2019 FIRE budget. We're in an MCOL city with a mortgage. There's a couple of things I think are a little tricky with spending and budget reporting:

I found this very interesting - I was generally impressed by how low your expenses are except for the HOA amount. What do you get for that?

We broke out the HOA (in the housing section) specifically because it *is* high [$350/month], but we get a lot for it. Here's the section:

Quote
Our monthly HOA fee may seem exceptionally high at a glance, but it covers a lot of expenses that are often separate. In addition, our HOA is managed internally by fellow owners and management does not take any sort of compensation. All fees just flow back to owners, usually in a more efficient way, through combined billing. For example, a single commercial water boiler provides hot water for everyone. The fee includes our heating, water usage, landscaping, common area maintenance, garage maintenance, gutter cleaning, and a few other small benefits. Our neighborhood was originally set up as a cooperative in the 1920s. Fortunately, we continue to have a good relationship with our neighbors.

Happy to answer any additional questions you may have or offer insights, too! One day I'll convince Jenni to sign up for these forums :)
« Last Edit: October 14, 2020, 01:49:45 PM by Chris@TTL »

BTDretire

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #56 on: May 19, 2020, 06:46:22 AM »
This will be our second full year of retirement and I'm still getting a handle on what our spending is.
 My working number is about $55k, However, so far our spending is going to be less than $21k for the first 6 months. If that holds for the last 6 months of the year, our spending will be under $45k. It could be that the Covid 19, "stay in place" may have reduced our spending a bit.
 Gee, $55,000 divided by 2 = $27,500 - $21,000 = $6,500. Does that mean I need to find someplace to spend $6,500?

jim555

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #57 on: May 19, 2020, 08:52:31 AM »
Gee, $55,000 divided by 2 = $27,500 - $21,000 = $6,500. Does that mean I need to find someplace to spend $6,500?
It is a must spend item:
Tesla Model S Performance
Payment Estimates
    Monthly Payment  $649
    Order Payment  $100
    Due at signing*  $5,844

Rdy2Fire

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #58 on: May 19, 2020, 02:07:05 PM »

It would also be helpful to break things down to.a basic level such as the mind of housing you would prefer - studio apt or mcmansions or something in between? Buy or rent? Areas you'd like to live? Ways you like to travel - grungy backpacker hostel dweller? dirt bag tent camper? Modest Airbnb rooms? Whole house vacation rentals? Fancy 5 star spa retreats?  Are your hobbies and interests inexpensive or costly? Fine dining or brown bag grub? Etc.

It is really hard to compare your own situation to that of others when defining what you will do and how much you'll spend once FIREd. Even between people who seem to be in your same situation - single, no kids, HCOLA. Too many personal.choices and other variables.

ETA: It would be fun to see a poll that put everyone on equal footing and equal basic expenses at the start. Say we all lived in.Mustasheville and our benevolent Dear Leader MMM bought each of us a house there and we had the same prop taxes and baseline utilities and medical was covered. Then see what each person's discretionary spending would be ideal for them. A single person with no kids who didn't own a car or TV or costly entertainment and liked to bike tour/tent camp for travel might only need a thousand or less each month to live their dream life. Someone with multiple kids and SAHP spouse who was into new tech, luxury cars and luxury vacations might need thousands.

I thought we kind of hit on this previously... Agreed lots of personal choices but still interesting to learn that even with those personal choices someone might have a family of 5 (2 adults 3 children) and be able to do so on 45K annual spend or to see that there are many people that chose to go with over 100K as their spend.

That isn't to say that the person who's spending 45K couldn't spend over 100K he/she is just choosing not to. I mentioned my spend was 55K I could have spent more and afforded to spend more I just didn't. Again personal choice so I DO think that it's interesting to know what peoples spend is and a few others did as well. 

As for your experimental poll idea, I like it but think it's basically a SIM game from years ago..

Rdy2Fire

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #59 on: May 20, 2020, 07:28:21 AM »

I like to hear about personal spending choices too. It is a little voyueristic but I know I've learned a lot from other people's stories. Especially those who are more frugal then I was/am.  For me,  I just do what I like to do and those things don't cost much. Spending more on myself wouldn't enhance my life at all. But it took me awhile to realize that and other people around these types of forums helped me come to that realization.


Yep same here, we are all learning and like yourself spending more wouldn't enhance my life. I spent plenty this year and traveled for a most of it yet still way under many peoples spend. Also like yourself I just do what I like and I wasn't overly worried about the costs which is sort of what led me to the original post as I was just curious what people were spending in general

ontheway2

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #60 on: May 20, 2020, 08:58:24 AM »
I just re-reviewed the results.  I'm astounded that 13 people are over 100k a year in spend.  I never even made 100k in a year.  What would I conceivably spend that kind of money on?!?

I think this quote and Spartana's earlier post are great examples of why Malkynn didn't think that other peoples' numbers were likely to be relevant for the OP's question on whether he/she can fire.  That said, they are also what makes this post interesting (at least to me).  Nobody can tell OP "how much" he/she should/will spend in FIRE, but plenty of posters here regularly show us how little is necessary to FIRE.  Plenty of posters here are covering all the necessities of life and enough luxuries (like travel) to make themselves happy on very small budgets.  My own budget is larger (because it can be), but this thread has been a great reminder that it doesn't have to be.  My spend is larger than some people here, but I doubt it generates a commensurately higher level of happiness.

Actually, the OP AKA ME, posted it more as a curiosity to see where/what peoples numbers are and any information around that they wanted to provide, in the comments, around those numbers. Although there are many factors I've found some of the answers pretty interesting and in some cases impressive.

I did say my timing for not working was unplanned earlier/younger then I thought and not sure what I'll do, with my time but believe I have enough. I think later on I did clarify also saying I live in a HCOL area and I may or may not have said I spent months traveling (in expensive places) after I stopped working. I did spend a significant amount less the the 4% rule but all the money I have spent in the year was not taken from investments.
It would also be helpful to break things down to.a basic level such as the mind of housing you would prefer - studio apt or mcmansions or something in between? Buy or rent? Areas you'd like to live? Ways you like to travel - grungy backpacker hostel dweller? dirt bag tent camper? Modest Airbnb rooms? Whole house vacation rentals? Fancy 5 star spa retreats?  Are your hobbies and interests inexpensive or costly? Fine dining or brown bag grub? Etc.

It is really hard to compare your own situation to that of others when defining what you will do and how much you'll spend once FIREd. Even between people who seem to be in your same situation - single, no kids, HCOLA. Too many personal.choices and other variables.

ETA: It would be fun to see a poll that put everyone on equal footing and equal basic expenses at the start. Say we all lived in.Mustasheville and our benevolent Dear Leader MMM bought each of us a house there and we had the same prop taxes and baseline utilities and medical was covered. Then see what each person's discretionary spending would be ideal for them. A single person with no kids who didn't own a car or TV or costly entertainment and liked to bike tour/tent camp for travel might only need a thousand or less each month to live their dream life. Someone with multiple kids and SAHP spouse who was into new tech, luxury cars and luxury vacations might need thousands.

I think the polls serve different purposes, but I have done a similar poll elsewhere. Because not everyone was retired, it asked monthly spend less housing and childcare since those seems to be the two largest expenses for most households that vary greatly depending on location.

Body Surfer

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #61 on: May 27, 2020, 01:54:28 PM »
Just retired. We are budgeting 60K/yr which includes HI, taxes, vacationing, general living expenses

Missy B

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #62 on: May 27, 2020, 11:40:40 PM »

It would also be helpful to break things down to.a basic level such as the mind of housing you would prefer - studio apt or mcmansions or something in between? Buy or rent? Areas you'd like to live? Ways you like to travel - grungy backpacker hostel dweller? dirt bag tent camper? Modest Airbnb rooms? Whole house vacation rentals? Fancy 5 star spa retreats?  Are your hobbies and interests inexpensive or costly? Fine dining or brown bag grub? Etc.

It is really hard to compare your own situation to that of others when defining what you will do and how much you'll spend once FIREd. Even between people who seem to be in your same situation - single, no kids, HCOLA. Too many personal.choices and other variables.

ETA: It would be fun to see a poll that put everyone on equal footing and equal basic expenses at the start. Say we all lived in.Mustasheville and our benevolent Dear Leader MMM bought each of us a house there and we had the same prop taxes and baseline utilities and medical was covered. Then see what each person's discretionary spending would be ideal for them. A single person with no kids who didn't own a car or TV or costly entertainment and liked to bike tour/tent camp for travel might only need a thousand or less each month to live their dream life. Someone with multiple kids and SAHP spouse who was into new tech, luxury cars and luxury vacations might need thousands.

I thought we kind of hit on this previously... Agreed lots of personal choices but still interesting to learn that even with those personal choices someone might have a family of 5 (2 adults 3 children) and be able to do so on 45K annual spend or to see that there are many people that chose to go with over 100K as their spend.

That isn't to say that the person who's spending 45K couldn't spend over 100K he/she is just choosing not to. I mentioned my spend was 55K I could have spent more and afforded to spend more I just didn't. Again personal choice so I DO think that it's interesting to know what peoples spend is and a few others did as well. 

As for your experimental poll idea, I like it but think it's basically a SIM game from years ago..
I like to hear about personal spending choices too. It is a little voyueristic but I know I've learned a lot from other people's stories. Especially those who are more frugal then I was/am.  For me,  I just do what I like to do and those things don't cost much. Spending more on myself wouldn't enhance my life at all. But it took me awhile to realize that and other people around these types of forums helped me come to that realization.
Color me voyueristic too. It's fun to see how people with the same spend might spend it quite differently, for example. And hearing from people who aren't spending much and really enjoying life never gets old.

Chris@TTL

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #63 on: May 27, 2020, 11:53:32 PM »
@Missy B --
Quote
And hearing from people who aren't spending much and really enjoying life never gets old.

Ha, I'm with you. We blew 41k last year, and around that the year before, and before..and so on. And we'll probably be around there this year.

Sometimes I wonder how we'd really spend much more.
  • 2x Modern iPhones with plenty of data, the world at our fingertips
  • Year-round travel to exotic places whenever our schedule allows
  • Toy car in the garage that is a thorough waste of money, and a mind-boggling electric future car for day-to-day (Prius)
  • A fancy brick historic house with landscaping and people that care for it in the city
  • Parks, shops, museums, and all the fun things we could imagine within a short few blocks of walking
  • This super-fast computer I'm clacking away on that also plays the latest games, not to mention two iPads and a laptop
  • Endless hobbies like board games, LEGO, and crafting for the two of us
  • Entirely unnecessary organic foods and a diet we get to be picky with

I sound like I'm bragging...almost feel bad! But, hey, life is pretty amazing!
« Last Edit: May 27, 2020, 11:55:14 PM by Chris@TTL »

Rdy2Fire

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #64 on: May 28, 2020, 08:09:17 AM »

Color me voyueristic too. It's fun to see how people with the same spend might spend it quite differently, for example. And hearing from people who aren't spending much and really enjoying life never gets old.

SAME!! I find it pretty interesting which is what made me start the poll/discussion..

eyesonthehorizon

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #65 on: May 31, 2020, 12:57:19 PM »
If I were going to try to get a bead on what these numbers mean across life circumstances, I'd eliminate rent/ mortgage/ property tax, childcare, charity (beyond supporting your dependents), and (obligate) healthcare - RCCH. Once you rule those out you have a reasonable sense of discretionary impact - although COL is still a big factor, it can be revealing & motivating to know how cheap a happy lifestyle can be. I'm always on the lookout for someone living on less than I do in a way I'd still find fulfilling, because it calls me out & holds me accountable for my areas of opportunity to get more from less.

I don't ever expect to go full-Jacob (of ERE), but if you took RCCH out of the picture I'd be looking at a scant ~$8350 a year of spending, even considering that I way overspend on my data bill (largely due to work, I need redundant high speed data connections), & have a taste for tech toys and fancy imported groceries. Changes in discretionaries I'd expect in RE would be increased spending on groceries due to sufficient time to graze on low-calorie nutrient-rich fresh foods instead of bolting down 2/3 of my meals as mere fuel, and possibly some limited increases to hobby & outing spending; decreased spending on data, car insurance, gas, and work-induced clothing needs. I suspect that will come out slightly under $8k.

Retire-Canada

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #66 on: June 01, 2020, 08:24:57 AM »
I have a planned FIRE spend of ~$34K USD. That's in a HCOL area in Canada with a mortgage and lots of spendy hobbies. That's my personal budget as my GF is working another ~6 years. Her FIRE budget is similar.

Chris@TTL

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #67 on: June 03, 2020, 10:38:54 AM »
@Missy B & @spartana & @Rdy2Fire and the other financial voyeurs -
I just posted our May monthly balance sheet as a fancy Sankey diagram over on the Share Your Badassity subforum thought you all might enjoy!

waltworks

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #68 on: June 03, 2020, 07:34:50 PM »
At this point I'd have a hard time separating out family/child expenses from my own, but I think if I was single/childless (excluding housing) I'd be under $10k/year.

-W

Acastus

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #69 on: June 06, 2020, 02:51:45 PM »
That is NOT a normal distribution, LOL. Bimodal...LO and HI centroids?

Almost all demographic data is not normally distributed. Chi squared is closer. Most metrics can only go to zero, but the sky is the limit. Net worth is an exception.

MasterStache

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Re: Annual Spend?
« Reply #70 on: June 07, 2020, 05:56:04 AM »
At this point I'd have a hard time separating out family/child expenses from my own, but I think if I was single/childless (excluding housing) I'd be under $10k/year.

-W

We actually separate out certain child expenses. With my daughter in competitive gymnastics and son in Boy Scouts it's a relatively large expense. We separate pet expenses as well. It gives us a better understanding for our expenses post pets and when the kids leave the nest. That's about when my spouse plans on calling it quits and joining me.