What is your comfortable lifestyle?

[HBFIRE]

What are they?

Relationships, freedom, accomplishment, to name a few. 

More specifically, you might ask, what things do you need that money can buy to fulfill happiness? 

But I'm just trying to define what a comfortable lifestyle would be to me, and the above constraints wouldn't be it.

[JLee]

What are they?

Relationships, freedom, accomplishment, to name a few. 

More specifically, you might ask, what things do you need that money can buy to fulfill happiness? 

But I'm just trying to define what a comfortable lifestyle would be to me, and the above constraints wouldn't be it.

The premise of the question is what does a comfortable lifestyle cost (i.e. the poll) - I understand having other needs and desires in life, but the items you list are not something that you'd necessarily be budgeting for.

[Cranky]

Comfort is relative, for sure.

[McStache]

I’d love to see the budgets of anyone really, especially people spending under 2 grand and living comfortable and traveling etc.  Something simple not like a case study.

Typical monthly expenses for 2018 in MCOL city:
Rent: $375 (my portion of a 4 bedroom apartment)
Utilities: $90 (heat, electric, cell phone, internet)
Food: $300 (groceries, restaurants, alcohol)
Activities: $150
Healthcare: $70 ($30 pretax, $40 for the less than monthly usage of the Dr)
Transit: $75 (no car, so this is public transit, zipcar, rental car, bike parts)
Travel: $100 (Lots of travel, but also lots of travel hacking)

So that's $1,160 in total per month.  Last year in a HCOL city it was closer to $1,700 due to higher rent.

[Carrie]

Aw shoot - I voted before reading. $2000-$3000 is comfortable, not for 1, but for our family of 5. We're quite comfortable at that level, but we also have funds to fall back on and security is worth a lot!

[limeandpepper]

Aw shoot - I voted before reading.

You can remove your vote and then revote again.

[big_slacker]

I'm comfortable now, but my mortgage puts me at the top level on your poll. :(

[AZDude]

I am illiterate, as I did not see the "as an individual" in the poll question, so I voted $2K to $3k, thinking a mortgage/rent would be about half that amount, with the other half covering everything else. As an individual, it would be half that amount, so $1K to $2K.


EDIT: Learned to read and re-voted $1K to $2K.

[Cassie]

I too voted as a couple:((  WE spend 5k/month but spend 10-14k on HI and healthcare costs alone. WE are in our 60's.  We live in a MCOL area. Most of my life we were frugal ( not having cable TV, etc).  Now we are doing all the things we want such as travel, entertainment, etc. Many things that we have never done.  So we are spending the most we ever have.   Losing 3 friends between 59-67 really hit home for us.

[dude]

I'm genuinely surprised at all of the $4,000+ responses. That is more than my family of 4 spends in a MCOL area! To be honest I can't even fathom what spending $4k per person per month would look like.

Yes, for me to spend that much I would have to be pretty much spending a good chunk of every month (half?) vacationing in Europe, and the rest of the time eating 100% of my food in restaurants, and probably hiring out everything else as well - like, private driver, housekeeper, ass-wiper?

I would be genuinely disgusted with myself.

Not hard to do in a HCOL, trust me. And we don't have anybody doing any work for us (save a dog walker for a few weeks recently when I was injured). Everything is more expensive -- gas, tolls, taxes, food, insurance, you name it.

[Cassie]

Our budget does not include travel. This really varies depending if we take a driving trip versus a cruise or Europe. The last 3 years we have averaged between 10-12k/year on vacations but these have been really big travel years for us.  Before that we would camp or some years not even take a vacation.

[Carrie]

Aw shoot - I voted before reading.

You can remove your vote and then revote again.

I could but have no idea what comfortable for one person in our family would be - I'll just stick with being impressed that we can live comfortably 5 people on less than $3000/mo. And walk around smiling because that's less than we earn so we're heading in the right direction.  :) :)

[GuitarStv]

Comfortable:
- not being hungry, thirsty, or tired
- being warm enough in the winter and cool enough in the summer
- not being in pain (from sickness/injury)

Well, one could be comfortable in prison by this standard.

Valid point.

I don't think I'd be comfortable in prison (although I suspect that many of the prisons in North America would fail at least two of the list above), so would have to add:
- freedom to move around at will

to the list.

Relationships, freedom, accomplishment, to name a few. 

Relationships aren't entirely in your control.  Accomplishment can be achieved anywhere.

[Milizard]

Part of the requirements for a comfortable lifestyle for me has very much to do with security.  It's hard for me to separate that factor out for a number, since the safety net is so paltry in the US.  A large part of our current spending is for medical bills on top of insurance, now that we've gone to an HSA, but even before that.  On top of that, the need to save for retirement and the desire to help my kids with college tuition.  That's why I say my life is fairly comfortable, but I can't feel comfortable for the lack of those things.

[big_slacker]

I'm genuinely surprised at all of the $4,000+ responses. That is more than my family of 4 spends in a MCOL area! To be honest I can't even fathom what spending $4k per person per month would look like.

Yes, for me to spend that much I would have to be pretty much spending a good chunk of every month (half?) vacationing in Europe, and the rest of the time eating 100% of my food in restaurants, and probably hiring out everything else as well - like, private driver, housekeeper, ass-wiper?

I would be genuinely disgusted with myself.

Not hard to do in a HCOL, trust me. And we don't have anybody doing any work for us (save a dog walker for a few weeks recently when I was injured). Everything is more expensive -- gas, tolls, taxes, food, insurance, you name it.

Seriously, love the judgy tone of that guy's post. The average home price in Seattle is over $700k. LA over $600k. San Fran and NYC $1.3M. Do the math on a $600-$700k mortgage and get back to me about the housekeeper and ass-wiper. :D

[DreamFIRE]

Aw shoot - I voted before reading.

You can remove your vote and then revote again.

I could but have no idea what comfortable for one person in our family would be - I'll just stick with being impressed that we can live comfortably 5 people on less than $3000/mo. And walk around smiling because that's less than we earn so we're heading in the right direction.  :) :)

You could make a guess.  It's less than a family than 5.

I think quite a few here are answering based on families, though, if they think it takes over $4000/mo to be comfortable.  For a single person, $2000 looks like a reasonable high end to me.  I'm comfortable in the $1400 to $1600/mo range.  But I'm not the spendypants type of person.

[bacchi]

It's hard to normalize the costs to one person but I selected $2000-3000/month, including housing in a MCOL city. This would mean only myself in a 2 bedroom house in a central, urban, neighborhood. Living in a 1 bedroom apartment would be less expensive.

From last year, this includes, monthly:

$150 for maintenance and fuel for a car that gets few miles
$35 for car insurance
$150 for travel (leveraged with churning)
$10 for Netflix
$125 for comfortable AC and heat (no one is sweating or shivering)
$300 health care, unsubsidized
$300 groceries and restaurants
$50 for entertainment (shows, festivals, bars, etc.)
$100 for pets
+ some other slop in there for another $200

= $1420/month

Add in $1100 PITI and that bumps it up to ~$2600 month.

[Carrie]

House: $200 property tax, $100 hoa & insurance = $300
Car: $60 insurance  $30 gas $30 maintenance = $100
Food: $200
Utilities: $300
Clothing/misc household $75
Hobby: $50
Health: $150
Miscellaneous comfort money to cover unexpected /unplanned: $500

If I were single this is what I came up with: $1650/mo

[jlcnuke]

My idea of a basic comfortable lifestyle is:
0. Having all "necessities" of life (food, shelter, clothing, etc) covered.
1. Having a home large enough to feel comfortable with a reasonable number of visitors and/or relatives visiting, but not so large that cleaning etc the place becomes overly burdensome (so a single family home with at least 2, but preferably 3 bedrooms and a decent amount of indoor/outdoor space for entertaining).
2. Having a car that is comfortable and which I can enjoy driving (due to commuting mostly).
3. Not denying myself "basic" entertainment (streaming shows, cable if desired, going to a movie if I'm really interested in it, catching a concert or show if I think I'd really enjoy it, etc).
4. Taking regular vacations to "get away" to somewhere I find more enjoyable (minimum of once per year to be considered "regular".
5. Having a savings rate that supports reaching my financial goals.
6. Eating food that I enjoy, instead of food that's "good enough" (not to be confused with eating food that I "really like, instead of food that I enjoy").

[MonkeyJenga]

I'm surprised by the responses that can be summed up as "typical upper middle class consumerist lifestyle." Extra bedrooms, regular vacations, cars, cable, etc. Although the more I think about it, "comfortable" isn't my goal in the first place. It's freedom, and flexibility, and happiness. Many people would not be "comfortable" having roommates, or taking public transit, or abstaining from alcohol. My life isn't always comfortable. It usually is, but that's not the goal.

I like this post's take: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/09/18/is-it-convenient-would-i-enjoy-it-wrong-question/

I'm genuinely surprised at all of the $4,000+ responses. That is more than my family of 4 spends in a MCOL area! To be honest I can't even fathom what spending $4k per person per month would look like.

Yes, for me to spend that much I would have to be pretty much spending a good chunk of every month (half?) vacationing in Europe, and the rest of the time eating 100% of my food in restaurants, and probably hiring out everything else as well - like, private driver, housekeeper, ass-wiper?

I would be genuinely disgusted with myself.

Not hard to do in a HCOL, trust me. And we don't have anybody doing any work for us (save a dog walker for a few weeks recently when I was injured). Everything is more expensive -- gas, tolls, taxes, food, insurance, you name it.

Seriously, love the judgy tone of that guy's post. The average home price in Seattle is over $700k. LA over $600k. San Fran and NYC $1.3M. Do the math on a $600-$700k mortgage and get back to me about the housekeeper and ass-wiper. :D

Zikoris lives in Vancouver, a very expensive real estate market. I have a friend with $800 rent in San Francisco. Many posters here have low expenses even in HCOL areas. We don't need to settle for "average."

Are you thinking about this in terms of families? Because a single person living in those markets would not need a $700k or million+ home.

Even in my most lavish year in NYC, when I spent over $10,000 on food and booze, bought an expensive laptop, and lived in a luxury high-rise, my monthly spending was under $4,000/mo.

[HBFIRE]

4 K a month sounds about right, I thought there'd be fewer votes for this one.

[DreamFIRE]

I'm surprised by the responses that can be summed up as "typical upper middle class consumerist lifestyle." Extra bedrooms, regular vacations, cars, cable, etc.

That's what I was thinking.  I had to double-check to make sure I was on the MMM forum after seeing the spendypants consumersucka comments and high dollar votes of what some consider to be required to live a comfortable life for a single person.

[Zikoris]

I'm genuinely surprised at all of the $4,000+ responses. That is more than my family of 4 spends in a MCOL area! To be honest I can't even fathom what spending $4k per person per month would look like.

Yes, for me to spend that much I would have to be pretty much spending a good chunk of every month (half?) vacationing in Europe, and the rest of the time eating 100% of my food in restaurants, and probably hiring out everything else as well - like, private driver, housekeeper, ass-wiper?

I would be genuinely disgusted with myself.

Not hard to do in a HCOL, trust me. And we don't have anybody doing any work for us (save a dog walker for a few weeks recently when I was injured). Everything is more expensive -- gas, tolls, taxes, food, insurance, you name it.

Seriously, love the judgy tone of that guy's post. The average home price in Seattle is over $700k. LA over $600k. San Fran and NYC $1.3M. Do the math on a $600-$700k mortgage and get back to me about the housekeeper and ass-wiper. :D

Well, it's a good thing buying a million dollar mansion is 100% optional then, isn't it?

I've lived in a HCOL city for almost my entire adult life. But I don't really like the HCOL term, because in my experience, people seem to end up spending what they're willing to spend regardless of where they are. And so-called HCOL cities tend to have way more infrastructure and options that allow for rock-bottom expenses if you're smart about it, like good bike lane networks, cheap ethnic grocery stores, public transit, free entertainment, and unorthodox housing options.

Welp, here I am, sitting in Vancouver in the 2.8% category of this poll.

[limeandpepper]

I assume quite a few people voted wrongly for a couple/family and didn't correct their vote.

Also it seems like some people have trouble estimating because it gets a bit more complicated when it's a family sharing costs.

here I am, sitting in Vancouver in the 2.8% category of this poll.

Just out of curiosity, since you're living with a partner in a small place right now, how are you calculating how much it would cost for you as an individual? Are you just dividing current costs by two or completely recalculating based on current sharehouse opportunities etc.?

[Zikoris]

I assume quite a few people voted wrongly for a couple/family and didn't correct their vote.

Also it seems like some people have trouble estimating because it gets a bit more complicated when it's a family sharing costs.

here I am, sitting in Vancouver in the 2.8% category of this poll.

Just out of curiosity, since you're living with a partner in a small place right now, how are you calculating how much it would cost for you as an individual? Are you just dividing current costs by two or completely recalculating based on current sharehouse opportunities etc.?

I'm trying to make an estimate of what I'd actually spend. On my own, I'd go for a roommate situation or a micro suite. My travel costs would be lower since I'm completely fine with lower standards than we currently use. My cell phone, public transit, and internet costs would be the same. I have a pretty good idea of how much I eat, since I do all the meal planning and food prep.

The only category that would be a bit higher would be housing, maybe by $100-$150/month more than I pay now, but I think the drop in other categories would offset it.

I would also be way more likely to take on unorthodox opportunities, and might even manage to score free or almost free housing (like, by doing some caretaker duties or something), but that's REALLY hard to quantify for a theoretical situation, so I'm not going to even try.

[Cassie]

We lived in 869 sg ft but didn’t work because my  husband is really messy.  Now we have 1400 q ft with 3 bedrooms which allows our main space to be neat but his office, shed and 2 car garage a mess.  Compromise because we are perfect in every way but this.

[dashuk]

Hard to say as I've never lived single as a proper grown-up - met OH as a student and moved together to current region.

As two adults plus two preschool kids we're spending around 1250GBP/1700USD per month, mortgage paid off. In the event the rest of the family were abducted by aliens tomorrow, as a single person in that house I might spend 700GBP/950USD per month.

I actually voted $1-2k, as it's more likely I'd still have some rent/mortgage outgoings if I'd always been living alone. Lower half of that bracket though, as I'd be somewhere  smaller.

[Hirondelle]

I’d love to see the budgets of anyone really, especially people spending under 2 grand and living comfortable and traveling etc.  Something simple not like a case study.

I've been single in all of the living arrangements I've been part of so far. Here's my budget for the last 3 places where I lived, ranging from HCOL to ELCOL:

My monthly budget in a HCOL city Eastcoast USA:
- Rent: $800 (1 flatmate, utilities included)
- Food: $100
- Gym: $60
- Public transport: $10
- Restaurants/Bars: $40
- Bike: $3
- Travel: $200 (this was high as I was an exchange student and tried so see as much as possible now I was "close")
- Clothes: $7.50
- Laundry: $5
- Phone: $7.50
- Banking: $7 (transferred money from home)
That makes a grand total of $1250/month including tons of travel and a fancy dancing gym.

Current budget MCOL in Netherlands:
- Rent: €385 (utilities included, 2 flatmates, city center)
- Food: €100
- Health insurance: €75
- Restaurants/Bars: €50
- Sports: €16
- Travel: €100-150
- Public transport: €40
- Medical costs: €20
- Phone: €2.50
- Presents: €15-20
- Charity: €20-50
- Clothes/Furniture/Other shopping: €30
- Misc: €100
Total just under €1050/month using the higher end of the estimated ranges.

Monthly budget in an extremely LCOL 3rd world country:
- Housing: $160 (Apartment in wealthy, central neighborhood with 2 flatmates)
- Restaurants/Bars: $150-180 (eating out every.single.meal + many coffees + many beers)
- Transport: $60 (motorbike, repairs, gas. I commuted 1-2h daily on the motorbike)
- Insurance: $20 (travel insurance covering medical expenses)
- Clothes: $5-10
- Health: $10
- Presents: $10
- Visa: $30 (visa run every 3 months)
- Misc: $20 (phone, fines, laundry)
Grand total of $500 a month living a super fancypants consumerist lifestyle. I didn't travel in this period as I'd been traveling full-time the 5 months prior to settling down.

Edit to answer the OP; I voted $1-2k which is mostly due to the relatively high position of the euro compared to the dollar atm. I could live comfortable on <€1000 or <$1000 in a LCOL or MCOL city.

[HBFIRE]

People are forgetting how expensive health insurance is

[Dragonswan]

That's what makes this hard.  Most folks here are dividing their expenses by the number of people in the household or on their budget.  Housing is difficult. The phrase two can live as cheaply as one comes to mind because any space one person can live in can generally house two and you save the cost of the other dwelling while potentially increasing the income (assuming both work). 

Just because you're single doesn't mean you should necessarily buy the smallest cheapest house in a safe neighborhood you can find or live in a postage stamp studio apartment. In my case, single, but opted for a house that's very unmustachian.  Way down on the list of reasons (like #5 or 6) was resale value.  In this HCOL area suburb you need a certain number of bedrooms with a certain square footage and spare spaces for "crafting, media room, and teen space" and be near certain schools to be marketable enough to sell your house quickly and profitably.  And yes, I'm very comfortable and upper middle class, and I like it.  When I sell I'm hoping to get enough money to fund my other unmustahchian goal of first class cruising around the world.

When I retire, I'll relocate to a MCOL area and downsize significantly because, way down on the list of reasons, it will be my forever home and I won't give a good rat's furry back side about resale value.  When it's time for the old folks home, sell it for what you can get for it, I have other sources of income to cover that nut.  And no heirs. 

[big_slacker]

Are you thinking about this in terms of families? Because a single person living in those markets would not need a $700k or million+ home.

Even in my most lavish year in NYC, when I spent over $10,000 on food and booze, bought an expensive laptop, and lived in a luxury high-rise, my monthly spending was under $4,000/mo.

Going back and reading the OP I see they did call out a single person. Single is laughably easy to live cheap, renting a studio or living with roomies in a city with public transpo. HCOL housing cost is the lion's share of your budget and buying vs renting hugely compounds the cost. Yeah, $800 rent vs $4000/month mortgage/taxes might have an impact on your bottom line. ;)

Carry on.

[Cassie]

Some of the expenses would go down if I were single but many would stay the same such as housing, utilities, vet bills, etc.   At my age the last thing I want is a roommate.   I did vote what we spend for 2 of us. We spend a lot on our pets as 2 of them are old with special diets, medication, etc.  2 passed last year and those 2 were on 4 medications 3x’s/day each.   Needless to say we are downsizing by natural attrition to one dog since they get so expensive when old.

[Hirondelle]

People are forgetting how expensive health insurance is

Not everyone on those boards is from the USA, not every country has insane prices for health insurance ;)

And yes, health insurance prices in the US suck. I feel sorry for you guys about that.

[Zikoris]

People are forgetting how expensive health insurance is

Okay, seriously, people say various versions of this sometimes, and it's idiotic. This board is comprised of what, the top 1% in financial savviness? I think it's safe to say we don't just FORGET major, life-changing expenses. If you see low/nonexistent health insurance numbers on the MMM forums, you might as well just assume the person either lives somewhere where it's not a problem, or has figured something out.

[HBFIRE]

People are forgetting how expensive health insurance is

Okay, seriously, people say various versions of this sometimes, and it's idiotic. This board is comprised of what, the top 1% in financial savviness? I think it's safe to say we don't just FORGET major, life-changing expenses. If you see low/nonexistent health insurance numbers on the MMM forums, you might as well just assume the person either lives somewhere where it's not a problem, or has figured something out.

I wasn't referring to you, I know you live in CA.

But I've seen it done very frequently (forgetting health care costs after retirement).  It's something commonly done, even on these forums.

And it's not just the cost of the insurance some forget.  It's the cost of the deductible etc.  Medical emergencies are quite pricey here in the US.   Just in the last 2 years, for example, we've had 3K/year in medical costs on top of our premium.  Something to be aware of for sure!

[Hirondelle]

That's what makes this hard.  Most folks here are dividing their expenses by the number of people in the household or on their budget.  Housing is difficult. The phrase two can live as cheaply as one comes to mind because any space one person can live in can generally house two and you save the cost of the other dwelling while potentially increasing the income (assuming both work). 

Just because you're single doesn't mean you should necessarily buy the smallest cheapest house in a safe neighborhood you can find or live in a postage stamp studio apartment. In my case, single, but opted for a house that's very unmustachian.  Way down on the list of reasons (like #5 or 6) was resale value.  In this HCOL area suburb you need a certain number of bedrooms with a certain square footage and spare spaces for "crafting, media room, and teen space" and be near certain schools to be marketable enough to sell your house quickly and profitably.  And yes, I'm very comfortable and upper middle class, and I like it.  When I sell I'm hoping to get enough money to fund my other unmustahchian goal of first class cruising around the world.

When I retire, I'll relocate to a MCOL area and downsize significantly because, way down on the list of reasons, it will be my forever home and I won't give a good rat's furry back side about resale value.  When it's time for the old folks home, sell it for what you can get for it, I have other sources of income to cover that nut.  And no heirs.

Quoting you as an example but more people have mentioned how arbitrary it all is. However, how I interpreted the question was to look at what your "comfortable lifestyle" would cost as a minimum.

So in the case of housing, I'd imagine what my cheapest comfortable living arrangement would be, not necessarily the place I currently live in. If you're currenty in a MacMansion but would be just as comfortable in a condo, I'd use the condo number for your vote. If I currently spend $50/month on eating out, this doesn't mean it's the minimum I need to be comfortable (which could mean there's room to cut it). It could also mean that it's lower than my ideal comfort level but I'm keeping it low to maximize savings. 

[Awesomeness]

I voted 2-3000.

Here’s my current budget with no debt other than a mortgage.

950 house
150 life policies
80 auto policy
200 utilities
40 internet
30 cell
25 Tricare
150 food
100 dogs
60 gas

1785 total

Currently my fixed income is 2100, I rent my basement for 800 a month and sell stuff on eBay for extra.  I have 35k in consumer debt including a car so that’s where my extra money goes. 

I’m perfectly comfortable and this is the exact lifestyle I’d like to maintain at a minimum. My house is an awesome 1947 2 bed one bath on a full basement, all new as of two years ago.  My car is a 2014 Scion xB.

I’m my 60’s, at the latest, I’d like to kick it up a few notches and relocate to my dream home which will be a similar size and price but in a warmer state in an awesome little community full of amenities.  My investments will be bigger so I’d like to add some neat trips with friends and family,  maybe a nice used Lexus for a smoother ride. Some nice meals at restaurants and plastic surgery if I’m getting a turkey neck or bat wing arms and lipo for anything that jiggles too much. 

[Cassie]

HI and related costs are our biggest line item. We spend between 10-14k/year for this.  Awesome, by your 60's you won't care about spending $ on plastic surgery. Once you have some of your friends die in their 50's & 60's you will just be glad to be alive and relatively healthy.  Don't ask me how I know:))

[honeybbq]

I'm genuinely surprised at all of the $4,000+ responses. That is more than my family of 4 spends in a MCOL area! To be honest I can't even fathom what spending $4k per person per month would look like.

Yes, for me to spend that much I would have to be pretty much spending a good chunk of every month (half?) vacationing in Europe, and the rest of the time eating 100% of my food in restaurants, and probably hiring out everything else as well - like, private driver, housekeeper, ass-wiper?

I would be genuinely disgusted with myself.

Not hard to do in a HCOL, trust me. And we don't have anybody doing any work for us (save a dog walker for a few weeks recently when I was injured). Everything is more expensive -- gas, tolls, taxes, food, insurance, you name it.

Oh please, there's plenty of great houses out there that you can buy for under 500k. I was shown them before in another thread.. This one is under a million. Why you so spendy pants? Here's a $775k GEM!??

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/house-with-black-mold-listed-for-sale-in-seattle-for-775k/742298088

"Build your dream home in vibrant Ballard. Tear down. Investor. Enter at your own risk. Wear mask as Black mold is present. Do not enter if you are pregnant or have health issues. Lots of debris and steep stairs. Property sold 'as is.'"

3bedroom, 1 bath.

Stop living it up!!!

[FIRE_Buckeye]

Some of the dollar amounts ITT are insane....HCOL or not.
After a quick glance at my 2017 spreadsheet I spent ~$1,500/month in 2017 in a MCOL city (Charlotte).

[AZDude]

I think this poll confirms the seismic shift of this forum. I cannot fathom thinking that you need to buy a $700K home to be comfortable as a single person, therefore you must spend $4,000+ a month.

[bacchi]

So in the case of housing, I'd imagine what my cheapest comfortable living arrangement would be, not necessarily the place I currently live in. If you're currenty in a MacMansion but would be just as comfortable in a condo, I'd use the condo number for your vote. If I currently spend $50/month on eating out, this doesn't mean it's the minimum I need to be comfortable (which could mean there's room to cut it). It could also mean that it's lower than my ideal comfort level but I'm keeping it low to maximize savings.

That's still a lot of arbitrariness in the numbers, though.

I picked $2600/month BUT I laid down $120,000 for a rental unit and my (our) PITI is covered by the tenants. Or, to put it another way, my actual spend is $1420/month. I'm definitely comfortable with that arrangement.

Is that easily achievable or helpful for someone just starting out?

"Hey, your expenses should be only $1400 or so. All you have to do is figure out how to not have any rent or mortgage."

[HBFIRE]

I think the differing numbers is simply due to how everyone is defining comfortable.  For me, there are 3 tiers:

1) Bare living costs FI lifestyle
2) Comfortable FI lifestyle
3) Ideal FI lifestyle

When I was on the journey to FI, I celebrated hitting each of these tiers.

Perhaps some are defining 2 as 3, and some are defining 1 as 2. 

I think I answered the poll as 3.

The largest factor in all of these, of course, is where you want to live.

[wageslave23]

I like how posters are criticizing other people's personal definition of comfortable.  That's the whole point of the original post to see everyone's unique "comfort" level and cost.  None are wrong.  Unless of course you forget to include a necessary expense. 

I.e What is your favorite color?  Answer: Purple

Snarky response 1: Wrong, because my favorite color is yellow.

Snarky response 2:  Wrong, because MMM's favorite color is orange.

[HBFIRE]

I like how posters are criticizing other people's personal definition of comfortable.  That's the whole point of the original post to see everyone's unique "comfort" level and cost.  None are wrong.  Unless of course you forget to include a necessary expense. 

I.e What is your favorite color?  Answer: Purple

Snarky response 1: Wrong, because my favorite color is yellow.

Snarky response 2:  Wrong, because MMM's favorite color is orange.

absolutely agree

[Hirondelle]

So in the case of housing, I'd imagine what my cheapest comfortable living arrangement would be, not necessarily the place I currently live in. If you're currenty in a MacMansion but would be just as comfortable in a condo, I'd use the condo number for your vote. If I currently spend $50/month on eating out, this doesn't mean it's the minimum I need to be comfortable (which could mean there's room to cut it). It could also mean that it's lower than my ideal comfort level but I'm keeping it low to maximize savings.

That's still a lot of arbitrariness in the numbers, though.

I picked $2600/month BUT I laid down $120,000 for a rental unit and my (our) PITI is covered by the tenants. Or, to put it another way, my actual spend is $1420/month. I'm definitely comfortable with that arrangement.

Is that easily achievable or helpful for someone just starting out?

"Hey, your expenses should be only $1400 or so. All you have to do is figure out how to not have any rent or mortgage."

I get your point but being helpful to someone starting out wasn't the purpose of this question. The question was "what spending would you minimally need to live comfortably as a single person". I see many people just posting their current expenses but I think the most interesting part of the question would be to think one step further than that; what would be my minimum (so considering your willingness to move to lower cost of living or just a smaller house, to cut expenses, etc)?

E.g. I wouldn't use your current situation as the point of comparison but just think
- What'd be the cheapest location I could live
- How much would the smallest for me comfortable living arrangement cost there
- How much would other basic things cost there
- What would transportation cost there (e.g. do you need a car, how much would you drive vs bike or public transit)
- How much do I want to travel/go out
And get to a number that way.

This might be my complete misinterpretation of the OPs intention, but to me this would give interesting answers for both ourselves and our fellow readers. I feel like most people now just think of their current spending, decide they're currently comfortable and basically pick that number for the poll. Then the question could've just been "what's your current spending level per person".

By the way, I don't mean to say there's anything WRONG with the people belonging to the higher-spending groups. I actually think some people might end up voting for a higher number than their current spending level as they feel slightly deprived (e.g. due to low income), while others would go a level down if they feel they have excessive luxury.

[honeybbq]

I think this poll confirms the seismic shift of this forum. I cannot fathom thinking that you need to buy a $700K home to be comfortable as a single person, therefore you must spend $4,000+ a month.

Did you happen to see the lovely home I posted for $775k on the last page?

Now, one could make an argument that as a single person, no one needs a FSH. A simple one bedroom condo would be great. In my area, A 1 bed condo would start around 500k or 2k+ a month. I don't think having a decent place to live is unreasonable. I would not be comfortable sharing a space (i.e. roommates). So I chose 4k+ a month, simply because 2k a month would go to rent in my area. 2k a month for everything else.

[Davnasty]

I like how posters are criticizing other people's personal definition of comfortable.  That's the whole point of the original post to see everyone's unique "comfort" level and cost.  None are wrong.  Unless of course you forget to include a necessary expense. 

I.e What is your favorite color?  Answer: Purple

Snarky response 1: Wrong, because my favorite color is yellow.

Snarky response 2:  Wrong, because MMM's favorite color is orange.

I guess a better approach may have been to ask what goods and services a person thinks they need to achieve a "comfortable" lifestyle. This would separate out the dollar aspect which is going to vary by location. But that's a big question. Plus it's hard to make that a poll...

I guess my real goal was to see how wrong my assumptions once were that people who used the term "comfortable lifestyle" were on the same page. My old assumption of what people meant was enough to get by without worrying too much and being able to afford creature comforts. As in, not a brand new luxury car and not a late 90's beater with broken AC, but a 5-10 year old reliable car with comfy seats. My new assumption is that most people are referring to the lifestyle that they actually aim for or have.

Personally, I view comfortable as a bit more expensive than what I spend now but comfort isn't necessarily my goal. I'm probably just going to stop using the word comfortable for a while.

[AZDude]

I think this poll confirms the seismic shift of this forum. I cannot fathom thinking that you need to buy a $700K home to be comfortable as a single person, therefore you must spend $4,000+ a month.

Did you happen to see the lovely home I posted for $775k on the last page?

Now, one could make an argument that as a single person, no one needs a FSH. A simple one bedroom condo would be great. In my area, A 1 bed condo would start around 500k or 2k+ a month. I don't think having a decent place to live is unreasonable. I would not be comfortable sharing a space (i.e. roommates). So I chose 4k+ a month, simply because 2k a month would go to rent in my area. 2k a month for everything else.

I was stating exactly that you do not *need* a SFH as a single person to be comfortable. Even in SoCal you can find decent apartments for under $1500/month. That would leave you with another $2K a month(which is luxurious for a single person) and still be well under the $4K/month threshold.

[MonkeyJenga]

People are forgetting how expensive health insurance is

I certainly am not. I have Medicaid, which is fairly robust in NY. Unless I move for a job with health insurance, which is likely, I will prioritize this cost when considering any other moves. Dental isn't covered, which would cause some big lumpy expenses.

I am also thinking about the poll.

I like how posters are criticizing other people's personal definition of comfortable.  That's the whole point of the original post to see everyone's unique "comfort" level and cost.  None are wrong.  Unless of course you forget to include a necessary expense. 

I.e What is your favorite color?  Answer: Purple

Snarky response 1: Wrong, because my favorite color is yellow.

Snarky response 2:  Wrong, because MMM's favorite color is orange.

absolutely agree

I'm curious what attracted y'all to this blog and forum. Was it just the travel hacking and retiring before your 60's? Because a major part of it is challenging people's conceptions of what is necessary to be happy and aiming to live more lightly on the earth.