Poll

How much do you think you (as an individual) would spend on average to live a comfortable lifestyle?

less than $1,000/month
10 (2.3%)
$1,000-$2,000/month
110 (25.1%)
$2,000-$3,000/month
121 (27.6%)
$3,000-$4,000/month
99 (22.6%)
$4,000/month+
99 (22.6%)

Total Members Voted: 439

Author Topic: What is your comfortable lifestyle?  (Read 22779 times)

Davnasty

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What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« on: April 26, 2018, 07:12:13 AM »
This question isn't meant to define comfortable because there are too many variables. Age, health, location, what a person thinks certain things cost, and of course, one's definition of comfortable. I realize comfortable is going to mean something different to different people and that's part of why I'm curious. Also, I'm looking for a cost for a single person. This will make answering a little tougher for those of you with a family, but really this is theoretical anyway. You don't need to take your actual current expenses into account at all because you may not be living your comfortable life right now.

So I'm really looking for gut reactions, when you think of comfortable what kind of expenses does that include and what do you think those expenses would amount to on an average monthly basis?

Dragonswan

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2018, 07:22:08 AM »
I voted 4K plus because that includes a mortgage.  Without the mortgage I could manage on 2.5-3K a month.  That includes utilities, phone, cable (you read that right), a nice newer model car, theater, alternating domestic and international travel, massages and dining out a couple times a week.  It does not include saving for retirement or emergencies. 

Davnasty

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2018, 07:34:31 AM »
I voted 4K plus because that includes a mortgage.  Without the mortgage I could manage on 2.5-3K a month.  That includes utilities, phone, cable (you read that right), a nice newer model car, theater, alternating domestic and international travel, massages and dining out a couple times a week.  It does not include saving for retirement or emergencies.

I wouldn't include retirement savings because that's not part of your lifestyle budget, it's paying for your lifestyle after retirement. Whether or not you should include emergency fund is debatable, I counted a little buffer for what I might consider "regular emergencies" but this could also be covered by a car maintenance, home maintenance, and depending on your level of health insurance, maybe a little extra for medical.

Davnasty

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2018, 08:45:20 AM »
I voted 4K plus because that includes a mortgage.  Without the mortgage I could manage on 2.5-3K a month.  That includes utilities, phone, cable (you read that right), a nice newer model car, theater, alternating domestic and international travel, massages and dining out a couple times a week.  It does not include saving for retirement or emergencies.

I wouldn't include retirement savings because that's not part of your lifestyle budget, it's paying for your lifestyle after retirement. Whether or not you should include emergency fund is debatable, I counted a little buffer for what I might consider "regular emergencies" but this could also be covered by a car maintenance, home maintenance, and depending on your level of health insurance, maybe a little extra for medical.

That’s the thing.
What people consider “spending” is almost totally arbitrary.

One persons minimal spending may include house/car maintenance at an average amortizated rate, some might not. Some people like me may not include expenses related to work, which are in the several thousands in my case and would be a huge problem if I couldn’t afford, and many aren’t even necessary for my job or for making more money, so where should I draw the line??

I did a 10K course in Miami, which after tax deductions cost about $5500 out of my income and actually made me less profitable at my job. I didn’t count that towards spending. However, I bought a designer suit for a few hundred, which was necessary for my new side hustle, and I would have never bought except for this job, but I’m including that in my spending.

One could argue that the suit is a business expense, but that side hustle is one that I plan on continuing well past reaching FI, so would that make it a hobby? If designers suits will be an expense that extends into retirement, should they be accounted for, or are they zero’d out by the fact that they help facilitate a net profit???

Seems pretty arbitrary, no?

It shouldn't be about what you consider spending, it should be all spending. But again, it's theoretical so those work related expenses shouldn't be counted if they aren't part of what makes you comfortable. If you require work to be comfortable, and the work requires expenses, only then should you count them. Maybe it would be better to look at it from a post FIRE or retirement view.

And yes, it's still quite arbitrary. I don't necessarily expect meaningful data from the poll so much as I wanted this to be a thought experiment for myself and anyone else who is interested.

JLee

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2018, 08:58:34 AM »
$2-3k in a reasonably HCOL area.

Milizard

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2018, 09:10:26 AM »
It's hard to judge, as I'm in a family of 4, and not sure exactly what we spend.  I'm guessing, it's a little shy of $4k.  Our life feels pretty damn comfortable because we have a stash to fall back on, but not completely comfortable because we're not  currently adding to the stash in any meaningful way.  Plus, our travel budget has been pretty much nil, for a few different reasons. I think that if our income were higher, both our spending and savings would be higher, for more comfort from both avenues.

As an individual, remembering the single life and adjusting for inflation, $2-3k would get me there.

2Birds1Stone

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2018, 09:24:16 AM »
Over the past 5 years, I've lived a very comfortable life on $24k/yr average spending.

As a couple we could live a pretty sweet nomadic lifestyle on $48k/yr and stay in much LCOL countries for extended periods.

GuitarStv

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2018, 09:27:50 AM »
$2-3k in a reasonably HCOL area.

+1

Yeah, 2-3k in a reasonably HCOL area for me as well.

MarciaB

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2018, 09:36:20 AM »
$2-3k in a reasonably HCOL area.

Same here. Single (technically) but coupled up ("shacked up" and "living in sin" and enjoying the hell out of it) and each of us spends in the 2K to 3K range in a fairly HCOL area (Portland, OR). We do a lot of travel too, that's factored in.

Zikoris

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2018, 09:47:02 AM »
We spend about $2,000/month now as a couple, living extremely comfortably in Vancouver and frequently travelling all over the world. It would be a snap to live comfortably on $1,000/month as a single person, especially if the travel was trimmed a bit.

Davnasty

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2018, 09:47:51 AM »

It shouldn't be about what you consider spending, it should be all spending. But again, it's theoretical so those work related expenses shouldn't be counted if they aren't part of what makes you comfortable. If you require work to be comfortable, and the work requires expenses, only then should you count them. Maybe it would be better to look at it from a post FIRE or retirement view.

And yes, it's still quite arbitrary. I don't necessarily expect meaningful data from the poll so much as I wanted this to be a thought experiment for myself and anyone else who is interested.

You can say “shouldn’t” but I’m truly saying that I’m trying to be black and white about what I consider spending vs business, except it’s not that black and white in my case, nor in the case of a lot of early retirement people who carry on side hustles past FI. There’s a lot of debate about what Pete considers spending vs business expenses.

You say to consider it from a post-FIRE or retirement perspective and I specifically stated that I plan on having side hustles well into retirement (probably until I die), so my spending will always be debatable, especially once I’m able to incorporate travel as a business expense, like Pete does.

It’s already difficult for me to objectively delineate necessary business spending from elective lifestyle spending, and it will only get worse trying to define it once I don’t need to work anymore, but feel like spending 20K on an advanced piece of equipment because it would make my project more fun, but not more profitable, and I don’t even need the project for income.

“Spending” is more black and white for more traditional retired people, but this population is filled with non-trad, early retirees with side hustles and profitable retirement projects.

My whole point is that it’s not black and white and it’s not hard to massage the numbers.
I get the point of your poll, and I answered in earnest, but then I also posted about why I don’t think the numbers will be objective, and you’ve now acknowledged that it’s more of a thought experiment than a legit data collecting thread, so cool, we’re on the same page.

My view is that business spending should be counted, but only if your definition of comfortable necessitates that business. If the income from the business outweighs the expenses, oh well. I would still count it as spending, but only for this question, not in my actual budget.

The biggest question is about your definition of comfortable.To me, comfortable is having the basic necessities + a house that isn't falling apart or infested with bugs, a car that doesn't break down on the regular (if driving is a necessity where I'm living), and enough to cover doctor's visits and a medical emergency fund. This is the way my parents would have used the term. On the other hand they sometimes described people as "very comfortable" aka, those people are rich. I'm finding that my definition of comfortable is pretty different than the common definition. Which again has nothing to do with what I actually spend, I think I am more than comfortable in the real world.

Aha, I've found a definitive answer here /s

https://www.superannuation.asn.au/resources/retirement-standard

Maybe I should be using the word modest for my above definition.

GuitarStv

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2018, 10:27:10 AM »
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)

If you've got the above, everything else is a minor inconvenience that can be worked around.

Cowardly Toaster

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2018, 10:53:31 AM »
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)

If you've got the above, everything else is a minor inconvenience that can be worked around.

what about carnal needs?

BookLoverL

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2018, 11:07:18 AM »
I had to check what the equivalent of $1000 dollars was in pounds first, but I put less than $1000 dollars. Even if I was renting a place to myself with nobody to share the rent with, which is unlikely, I calculated my projected expenses for that last year sometime and it'd still be within the low end of the $1000 to $2000 per month category. And this is with various hobby expenses I could probably be comfortable without.

what about carnal needs?

You can get those for free if you are in shape and have a few social skills.

dude

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #14 on: April 26, 2018, 11:10:29 AM »
I probably have a tendency, being from a high-earning household, to conflate "comfortable" with "luxurious," so this one's hard to answer. We live on significantly more than $4k/month. Now, I damn sure know we could live on a lot less than that, because we did before my salary started progressing upward, and I feel like we were as "comfortable" then as we are now. But given that we shouldn't have any problem continuing this spending level in retirement, there's just no need to dial it back, as "un-Mustachian" as that might be. I'm not working any more years because of it (since my FIRE date/plans hinge on an immediate pension when I retire), though my wife could certainly retire earlier if she did. But she "likes" working in the sense that it gives her purpose and makes her feel useful. Me, not so much.

MonkeyJenga

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #15 on: April 26, 2018, 11:17:34 AM »
This is tough as a hypothetical. It's very dependent on whether I get a job, where it is, and what kind of job it is. I've been spending well under $1,000 a month while couchsurfing/house-sitting, but it's not going to last forever. It could last for years if I didn't want to go back to work. That's going to force a more stable residence, which I will need to pay for. Unless I get a campaign job with supporter housing, which would make <$1,000 inevitable. My last year in a HCOL area, I hovered right around $1,000 in months with no travel or medical expenses. Sometimes below, sometimes over.

I ended up choosing $1,000-$2,000/month, even though I'm currently living on less and could easily continue at under $1k by moving to a cheaper area. Medical costs are the big unknown, and I assume I won't want to keep couchsurfing when I'm in my 50's.

Bateaux

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #16 on: April 26, 2018, 12:58:05 PM »
My comfort level wasn't in the list went with 4000+ but, I'd have a higher number. 

GuitarStv

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #17 on: April 26, 2018, 01:00:38 PM »
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)

If you've got the above, everything else is a minor inconvenience that can be worked around.

what about carnal needs?

Wristina and Palmela are always raring to go.

PoutineLover

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #18 on: April 26, 2018, 01:05:53 PM »
I am living comfortably on less than 2K per month. I don't need to spend any more to live more comfortably and I don't think that increasing my spending would make me any happier. The biggest change I would make after retirement would be to go on longer trips, limited vacation time means that I can't travel as economically as I would like. Otherwise, I don't feel that I'm lacking anything.

Rosy

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #19 on: April 26, 2018, 01:16:20 PM »
On the surface $4K sounds high until you insert real numbers - then it looks like this:
Single in our region, without saving/investing/EF would be $4K - that would allow $1200 for a nice apartment, not luxurious and not along the beaches.
It would include about $850 for medical insurance.
So you are left with slightly under $2K for transportation/car, utilities, food, electronics/cell phone/internet, dining out, entertainment, clothing, personal expenses - and not to forget - travel.

Considering that the good shows/concerts/events/sports in our area are usually around $70 for one ticket (and we have it all within 30 minutes incl airport and beaches) and a nice dinner for two is $70 to $90 - your entertainment budget suddenly doesn't look so generous.

You'll still be flirting with a mustachian type lifestyle...
Only the occasional craft beer pub visit:) we have plenty to choose from, only limited cafe visits in the fashionable beach drive district ...
If you have a friend with a boat - add in $40 for gas (your half for the day) for a day on the water - glorious.
You can afford to buy the occasional book if you want, instead of being #115 on the library list for the current best seller.

A single active or artsy lifestyle in our area is easy to pursue - there are events and festivals every weekend, from free to $50, food, art, sports. Now add in costs for just one annual vacation and a couple of weekend trips ...

If you have high student debt payments - that just killed the comfort in this budget for our region.

This is almost the lifestyle we now live and we do consider it a comfortable lifestyle, not extravagant. We hope to continue this lifestyle, once Mr. R. retires.

Modified to add I could live a more mustachian lifestyle - single at $3K, so maybe we are more HCOL than I thought, I assumed we were LCOL.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2018, 01:21:44 PM by Rosy »

Milizard

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #20 on: April 26, 2018, 02:01:20 PM »
I would think that comfortable doesn't require constant, expensive entertainment.

MonkeyJenga

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #21 on: April 26, 2018, 02:21:42 PM »
Living by yourself in a nice apartment, with conventional vacations, and fancy meals out, and boat days, and expensive entertainment tickets, and new clothes, and buying consumables that could easily be found for free... That is an extravagant lifestyle. The majority of Americans, let alone the vast majority of people worldwide, cannot afford all of those luxuries.

Awesomeness

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #22 on: April 26, 2018, 04:22:51 PM »
2-3k a month for me. Depends on the mortgage debt which I will most likely always have. For the next 20 something years at least.

DreamFIRE

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #23 on: April 26, 2018, 04:43:04 PM »
This is an easy one because I'm a single person living a comfortable lifestyle now.

My $1300/mo barebones includes healthcare and amortized long term expenses like expensive housing repairs.

But I like to have a little extra for discretionary spending for vacation, entertainment, buying some extra odds and ends, and eating out once in a while. So I'll add $300/mo extra for that (I've actually been spending less than that in recent months.)  My house is paid for, and I pay $60/mo net out of pocket for health insurance through my employer.

$1600/mo total is definitely comfortable and allows some extra spending.

I don't have a business, but I would not mix my business and personal expenses.

The only things I exclude from from spending are taxes and investment expenses.

If I had them, I would include mortgage, daycare, interest on loans, new car, etc.

Some fool posted a BS article the other day where he stated that a single person in a LCOL area would have to spend $6500/mo to be comfortable and have healthcare coverage.  lol  If you haven't seen it, there's a thread about it here:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/silly-article-on-how-much-you-need-to-be-fi/

« Last Edit: April 26, 2018, 04:50:44 PM by DreamFIRE »

Optimiser

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #24 on: April 26, 2018, 04:48:44 PM »
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.

Zikoris

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #25 on: April 26, 2018, 04:55:17 PM »
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.

Optimiser

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #26 on: April 26, 2018, 05:04:36 PM »
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.

Seriously. We didn't even spend that much when we were vacationing in Europe.

What is the going rate for an ass-wiper these days?

Cranky

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #27 on: April 26, 2018, 05:07:16 PM »
Health insurance/ health care seems like the big variable, to me. If we're paying for those, then... a lot. We've got insurance through dh's work, and they pay about $20k/year.

Outside of that, we've got no mortgage (and it was ~$650/month when we did), and we could scrape by on $1k/month for the three of us, but there would certainly be some hard choices to be made at some points.

We live comfortably on about $3k/month, and that includes loads of fun stuff.

DreamFIRE

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #28 on: April 26, 2018, 05:16:13 PM »
The OP is looking for the cost of a single person, even if you're a family.

Zikoris

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #29 on: April 26, 2018, 05:30:24 PM »
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.

Seriously. We didn't even spend that much when we were vacationing in Europe.

What is the going rate for an ass-wiper these days?

Yeah, you'd need to specifically avoid the Mediterranean, everywhere in Eastern Europe, and everywhere not a major city. Part-time living in Switzerland or the Nordic countries I guess?

Awesomeness

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #30 on: April 26, 2018, 05:36:30 PM »
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. 

DreamFIRE

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #31 on: April 26, 2018, 07:14:22 PM »
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.

Here's a partial for me:

$300 Property tax
$200 Food expenses
$110 Electric bill
$85 Natural gas
$71 Homeowner's insurance
$60 Health insurance premium (net out of pocket)
$40 Internet
$36 Water/Garbage Bill
$2 Online streaming or subscription services
$1 Cell phone
$0 Cable TV bill
$0 Newspaper / Magazines
>$5500 Left over for misc. discretionary / mostly saving

Zikoris

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #32 on: April 26, 2018, 07:23:10 PM »
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.

Our average for 2017 was about $2,200 for two people, or $1,100 each. Rough breakdown

$800 - Housing
$800 - Travel
$300 - Food
$75 - Bills
$225 - Everything else

Going solo, I would probably actually spend less than my half of that, because I have way lower standards for comfort than him. Especially when it comes to travel - I'm fine with sleeping in a tent or shitting in a squat toilet or whatever, but he needs modern plumbing and amenities, and he hates doing weird flights. Our electronics spending would also all but vanish.

MonkeyJenga

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #33 on: April 26, 2018, 07:38:13 PM »
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.

This was my 2015 breakdown, from when I lived in a fancy, too-big apartment in NYC. 2016 was very similar. 2017 was much less expensive, since my annual rent & utilities dropped by $11,000 (still in NYC). I had higher medical spending (approx. $1,500) and a lot more donations, but of course I don't need donations to live comfortably in the sense that OP intended.

Currently all my expenses are travel, food, and twenty bucks for my cell phone. Maybe $300-600 a month. I'm not tracking closely anymore.

2015 Financial Summary, Part I

Spending

Rent: $15,600
Food: $1,895 ($158 monthly average)
Health insurance (pretax): $785 ($450 if you consider taxes avoided)
Utilities: $547
Internet: $549
Transit (Metrocard, almost all pretax): $1,413 ($918 if you consider taxes avoided)
Transit (Other): $466
Travel: $668
Health/home supplies: $249
Entertainment: $234
Manufactured Spend: $22
Gifts: $18

Total Spending in 2015: $22,446

Total Spending with Tax Savings Factored In: $21,616


BookLoverL

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #34 on: April 27, 2018, 12:58:31 AM »
So, I can't remember what exactly I put in them, but I calculated some hypothetical budgets for me at different levels of luxury last year. I've only included the rent-as-a-single option and house with paid-off mortgage option here, as the "live with my parents to save on bills" option, which I actually use at the moment and is cheaper than either of these, is not really relevant here. I've included (edited to make it less easy to identify me) the blurb I wrote to remind myself what the different levels meant. I converted the money figures according to what Google told me. The rent used an average figure for a decent place in a small city in my area.

Extreme Barebones includes only needs (ie bills and healthcare) and professional costs.
Modest Barebones also includes replacement of clothes, some car and train travel, a couple of books a year, a bit of money for Christmas/birthday gifts.
Sweet Barebones also includes a couple of books a month and one hobby spending roughly £5 a week.
Frugal Comfort also includes basic gardening, monthly small snacks, modest monthly charity donation, more car and train travel, 2 to 6 films a year, 1 hobby holiday per year (roughly £150), an additional £5 a week hobby, generous Christmas and birthday allowances.
Mild Extravagance also includes more gardening, even more car and train travel, regular outings (day trips), and a cheap yearly holiday.
Super Luxury also includes weekly snacks, more expensive clothes/hair/beauty options, 4 to 8 films a year, several extra £150 hobby holidays, archery and singing participation, and a more expensive yearly holiday.
Practically Royalty includes basically everything I could ever want in all of the categories I've previously listed, with spending in each category at levels I consider extravagant.

Extreme Barebones rental living £7742.43 = $10 784.43
Modest Barebones rental living £9172.43 = $12 776.28
Sweet Barebones rental living £9632.43 = $13 417.01
Frugal Comfort rental living £10666.43 = $14 857.27
Mild Extravagance rental living £11316.43 = $15 762.66
Super Luxury rental living £12593.14 =$17 540.98
Practically Royalty rental living £18601.86 = $25 910.53

Extreme Barebones home ownership £4660.63 = $6 491.79
Modest Barebones home ownership £6090.63 = $8 483.64
Sweet Barebones home ownership £6550.63 = $9 124.37
Frugal Comfort home ownership £7584.63 = $10 564.63
Mild Extravagance home ownership £8234.63 = $11 470.02
Super Luxury home ownership £9511.34 = $13 248.35
Practically Royalty home ownership £15420.06 = $21 478.60

In practice, were I to be either renting or owning, the costs would likely be cheaper than this as I would avoid looking as a single and so could split bills, since I have one (currently long distance) good friend who would very much like to move in with me at some point already.

limeandpepper

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #35 on: April 27, 2018, 04:56:49 AM »
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.

This is an example of my annual projected spending for a very comfortable life (as in, more comfortable than what I consider to be sufficient) with a paid-off apartment in a HCOL city in Australia. I live with my partner but to be fair, for the purpose of this exercise - since it's for individuals - I'm doing the numbers as if I live alone and don't get the advantage of splitting rates, utilities, repairs, etc.

Rates and fees: 2000
Gas, water, electricity: 2000
Internet: 800
Mobile: 200
Home repairs/upgrades/levies: 1000
Health insurance: 1000
Groceries: 3000
Hobbies and miscellaneous (e.g. clothing, gadgets, medical and more): 2000
Gifts/Charity: 500
Restaurants/Entertainment: 3500
Transport: 1500
Travel: 2500

The above adds up to AUD $20k/year or $1667/month, less if you convert to USD. In reality I am aiming to spend less than that and still live what I consider to be a comfortable life. The least I have spent in Australia so far is while I was renting in a sharehouse a year or two ago and I got by spending about AUD $850/month, that era was a bit on the barebones side of things but the addition of just a few hundred a month would easily provide more luxury and still come under $2k/month.

PoutineLover

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #36 on: April 27, 2018, 05:10:31 AM »
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.
My average monthly expenses, total budget under 2k
Rent 725 (1 bedroom apartment)
Heating 50
Phone 69
Internet 65
Transit 66 (winter only)
Gym 12
Netflix 10
Rental insurance 25
Groceries 200
Travel 200
Other 400
Health and dental is deducted from my paycheck but I think it's 100/month or so
« Last Edit: April 27, 2018, 07:09:33 AM by PoutineLover »

Cranky

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #37 on: April 27, 2018, 05:28:48 AM »
I'm sure that I would spend less for *one* person than for three - no more cable! Much less hot water! etc. - but I can't just divide it in three. There are many economies of scale.

jeroly

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #38 on: April 27, 2018, 07:01:26 AM »
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 live in a HCOL city (DC) and the number I'd need to be 'comfortable' is around $5k.

Apartment (living alone - obviously you can save a lot with roommates but not my definition of comfortable) $2k for largish studio / moderate 1br

Health insurance / other healthcare costs $1k

Electricity/internet/phone/TV (and streaming services) $200

Transportation (car depreciation, insurance, gas, metro fares, occasional Ubers) $300

Food $300

Travel $250

Housecleaning $200

Electronics $100

Clothes $50

Entertainment (including occasional lunches out, coffees, etc.) $600

Miscellany (toilet paper, etc.) not included

HBFIRE

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #39 on: April 27, 2018, 01:35:05 PM »
agree with above.  People shouldn't forget how costly health insurance is, particularly since ACA cannot be depended on.  This is something that people who still work don't really fully consider.

GuitarStv

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #40 on: April 27, 2018, 01:38:43 PM »
agree with above.  People shouldn't forget how costly health insurance is, particularly since ACA cannot be depended on.  This is something that people who still work don't really fully consider.

You could always move to a first world country that provides health care.

HBFIRE

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #41 on: April 27, 2018, 01:42:01 PM »
agree with above.  People shouldn't forget how costly health insurance is, particularly since ACA cannot be depended on.  This is something that people who still work don't really fully consider.

You could always move to a first world country that provides health care.

That is always an option yes.  It could also reduce other costs as well.  Not sure everyone wants to do that and prefer staying in the US.  My wife and I will spend a few months at a time in other countries once my son is graduated.

Edit: this is not as easy as it seems.  Being an expat limits you quite a bit on receiving health care in another country.  Becoming a resident is not always an easy process.  More on this here:  https://www.expatinfodesk.com/expat-guide/deciding-on-the-right-country/main-decision-criteria/health-care/
« Last Edit: April 27, 2018, 01:47:28 PM by dustinst22 »

Fomerly known as something

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #42 on: April 27, 2018, 01:43:05 PM »
I voted $2000-3000.  Comfortable to me is not having to analyze every penny to make a budget work, getting more than just basic food, but still having to make decisions about spending priorities.   

I assumed a paid for house (so housing is estimated property taxes and general maintenance), and I assume having to pay full price for a bronze level health care plan.

Housing, $500.  (property tax $4000 a year, $2000 in maintenance)
Health care $400 (using Kaiser Health calculator showing MI plan of $225/month bronze plan and giving generous out of pocket cost with no subsidy)
Food:  $300
Restaurants:  $200.  (once a week fancy or less fancy ice cream/starbucks/pizza stops)
Water/gas/electric: $250
Internet/basic cable:  $50
Cell Phone:  $70
Clothing:  $100
General Merchandise:  $200
Insurance:  $200 (all car/home/umbrella).
Entertainment:  $230

All in $2,500 a month.  Things like vacations are built into choices made throughout the year on Entertainment restaurants and general merchandise.


 
« Last Edit: April 27, 2018, 01:44:39 PM by Fomerly known as something »

Davnasty

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #43 on: April 27, 2018, 02:18:00 PM »
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)

If you've got the above, everything else is a minor inconvenience that can be worked around.

This is the direction my understanding of the word in financial terms came from but it seems much more common that people are using it to describe all of their "wants" as well. Or at least the reasonable ones. Now let's try to define reasonable! Just kidding, let's not.

GuitarStv

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #44 on: April 27, 2018, 02:52:18 PM »
Reasonable is easy.  It's everyone who agrees with me.  :P

HBFIRE

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #45 on: April 27, 2018, 02:54:58 PM »
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.

JLee

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #46 on: April 27, 2018, 02:59:41 PM »
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.

How much do you spend per month to not be in prison?

(or -- how on earth is that remotely relevant?)

MonkeyJenga

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #47 on: April 27, 2018, 03:01:48 PM »
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.

If you're in prison in Sweden, maybe.

HBFIRE

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #48 on: April 27, 2018, 03:02:29 PM »




(or -- how on earth is that remotely relevant?)

It's relevant because I don't think those constraints are good enough for a comfortable life.  There are other things I would include too.

Optimiser

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Re: What is your comfortable lifestyle?
« Reply #49 on: April 27, 2018, 03:04:15 PM »




(or -- how on earth is that remotely relevant?)

It's relevant because I don't think those constraints are good enough for a comfortable life.  There are other things I would include too.

What are they?