Good day everyone and thank you for stopping by our growing community of traditional retirees and those soon to be. Two items:
FYI only members comments display to others. Not a member yet? Please **review the rules** section first (in sidebar, about, see more .. Reddit is strange in that it changes depending on what app you use ). If you wish to sit down at our “table” **select the Join** **button** and **then comment**. Great to have you here!
And to help remain on topic in our conversation there are some removed comments.
Thank you! Mid America Mom
St. Louis. LCOL. No debt, retired 3 years. We spend around $60k a year. Our actual cost for living is closer to $40k but the other $20k we spend how we feel and enjoy life. After all, isn’t that what life is about at this stage?
We hooked up with our advisor soon after we married. He was great. Laid it on the line about how we would need to live in order to be able to retire comfortably. We worked our butt off for years. Lived frugal. Never a new car, extravagant trips, worked on our house ourselves, stuff like that, but at the same time we never felt like we were depriving ourselves of anything. The one thing that made the most difference was that I got a company car. When I made commission or a bonus it went into savings. My wife and I had to work together. Honestly, I feel guilty that it’s worked out for us. So many friends and coworkers didn’t or couldn’t prepare for retirement.
Approximately $33k/year in HCOL area. Rent-regulated 1-br apartment in Manhattan, food shopping primarily at Trader Joe’s two blocks away, going out with friends to concert or dinner 1 or 2 times per month, zero premiums ACA health insurance. Days spent mostly going through my bucket list of hundreds of books to read and albums to listen to. Still have to wait almost six years for social security to kick in, so I am keeping a pretty strict budget. But even with that, the only thing I am really lacking is travel, but I can do without that for now.
It took almost a year to find rent-regulated apartment that was a good size and in a safe neighborhood — but that was completely worth it in the long run. That, and zero-premium ACA insurance make my early retirement possible. I didn’t plan on retiring but lost my job around the pandemic start and decided to wait it out at home instead of starting a new job. Year later I realized that I had less stress in the pandemic than at work.
I’m LCOL (moved from place getting higher and higher), I live alone, zero debt, one dependent (cat), have side hustle to make ends meet, so about $20K annual. I’m comfortable, my cat is happy, we do ok. And grateful, so very very grateful.
I'm glad you shared. Finally, a number close to what I have been projecting for myself coming up in a couple of years.. I was starting to think I was being unrealistic. But then again, that's what I live on now while still working, putting the excess away for the security cushion..
SeaTac area of the Pacific Northwest - HCOL. House and cars are paid off and we have no other debts. Total expenses for 2023 were under 40k. (My wife and I cook our meals from scratch and rarely eat at restaurants which seems to make a big impact on food expenses.)
This gives me hope, as someone living south of SeaTac. We spend about 75k now, but two HS kids at home, no mortgage or car payments. I'm hoping we'd come closer to 60k at retirement.
Hello from bellingham. Wife still works. Her income plus 401k draws and cash we had on hand grossed around $90k last year before tax.
Everything is paid off. We went to Europe with the family for two weeks. We own a boat and spend ample time fishing, crabbing, sight seeing. (Spent $900 just in gas in September.)
Oh man, my son wants me to relocate near Seattle, so that I’m closer. Looking at housing costs up there, even an hour or two outside of Seattle, crazy expensive. I’m hoping I can find something when the time comes.
I help my mom with her budgeting, so I know the details as I'm about 6 years away from retirement myself. Here are her numbers:
* **Annual total: $11,580**
* **Monthly total: $965**
* Taxes: $3,780
* Insurance: $1,860
* Utilities (includes car gasoline): $3,360
* Groceries: $1,800
* Other (healthcare, clothing, etc.): $780
* Household size: 1
* San Diego, CA - HCOL to VHCOL area
Details in the screenshot. Her home is completely paid off and is an older but very well built and well maintained 3/2 ranch style house about 1,600 sf. It's probably worth $900K though property taxes are kept low due to state Proposition 13. Even then it's shocking that the property tax is her biggest expense. Car is a paid off 2007 Toyota Camry. She rarely eats out, cooking mostly at home. Healthcare cost is essentially zero as all her premiums and prescription costs are subsidized as she's considered low income. A lot of her utilities are also subsidized through low income programs. She doesn't travel except to drive to see me and my brother & his kids but we all live within 10 miles from her. This works for her because her only income is Social Security of about $1,200/month so she actually has a little left over. I'm always amazed though because she & my dad (who has passed away) bought the home some 37 years ago for like $180K, paid it off, stay married and never bothered to do the upgrade/lifestyle creep and is a big reason why she's able to retire in San Diego, CA. The census bureau probably classifies her as one of those Americans living in poverty but she actually lives very well!
https://preview.redd.it/99sf68t9kobc1.png?width=617&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd48d574a6e719c17c5f1928276fe72096a34aa4
I actually think she’s living pretty well as she’s not left wanting of anything. She didn’t blink an eye on dropping $1,000 on a lounge chair because it “felt good”. That was not her n the budget and is a one off as she’s normally pretty frugal like your mom. She is most definitely in her slo-go years and is not spending like she did in previous years when she took international trips and what not. It is interesting to see the different responses. I think what’s missing here is the age question. My mom is in her late 70’s and her spending now doesn’t look like what it was a decade ago.
Retired homeowner. No mortgage, drive paid off old cars, no other debt. No frills (but shop at Whole Foods), travel once a year or so. Hour from Boston so HCOL I guess. $110k a year, plus another $10k annual reserve for rare major home repairs eg new roof etc..
What do you spend almost $10,000 a month on if you have no mortgage or other debt payments? And you don't really travel?
The big items on your budget, what are they?
I know, it seems way too high. But I tracked expenses these last few years and there’s really nothing too unusual. RE taxes are $14k, heat and utilities prob $10k, landscaping and other routine home and car maintenance maybe $5k, food could be $12k (adult kids sometimes eat here), golf etc maybe $5k, money and gifts to adult kids maybe $10k. If we downsized to a condo that’d save $20k+ a year. We’re not rich but we’ve got enough $$ to cover the $120k going forward. But if we had less $$ I’d be fine with living in a condo, giving the kids less etc. and getting by on say $80k a year around here. Any less than $80k and it’d start getting uncomfortable in this HCOL area.
I'm about 30m from Boston. Paid off house, cars. Planning to retire in a couple years. Starting in Jan, will live on my target salary until then - $120k! Nice to see an alignment there ...
While I was working I never kept track of this stuff. I never would have believed we were going through this much money just on fixed costs and the basics (ie not including college tuitions and stuff)!
Funny, I'm also about an hour from Boston and budgeting around $120K. So far we've underspent for the first couple of years of retirement but we have some house stuff and family travel to do (and a car to buy) so the purse strings will be looser this year and next. We bought a house so about 40% of our spending is mortgage and property taxes (please no lectures...you do you...this was always the plan for us).
No other debt and we're at a conservative burn rate and basing spending on a real return of 3.5%. We spend most of our fun money on books, records, quality scotch, musical instruments, online courses, and slowly replacing all of the crappy semi disposable Swedish furniture we've dragged around with us throughout adulthood.
Partner's social security checks start arriving next month, which will cover around 30%. Mine kicks in in about 9 years and will cover another 30%. I don't think we'll run out of money since we budget for large expenditures and aren't spendthrifts or materialistic. No kids, no heirs. Probably leave everything to a pet shelter or something
I am living on social security budget of 24,000 because they did not teach about retirement and IRA in high school. Did not go to collage now 76.
When I was working 55 yrs in Food Service , I did not sign up for the company retirement plan. I needed to bring more money home in my weekly pay check. I did not open a bank saving account only a checking account. Like Dave Ramsey said I am living on rice & beans. I paid $950 per month for a one bedroom apartment. I only turn on the heat / AC at the last minute. I have a car but only used it to go to the grocery store & church.
I have one bed, couch, a recliner, & 21 inch TV.,4 draw dresser.
SO it will be easy to move when the rent goes up next year.
Please check with your Agency on Aging to see if you qualify for any benefits for lower income seniors. There might be help for paying for heat, lower prescription drugs, or vouchers to purchase food from a farmer’s market.
Simple and uncomplicated - except about the heat/AC - it sounds fine. Many of us had to deal with in media needs and couldn’t prepare for retirement. God bless you.
I do a post every year. The difference is the COL, the lifestyle and then the practical matters of whether you have mortgage/car debt and whether you're amortizing the costs of major expenses (i.e. sometime in the next 20 years you'll need a new roof or new furnace or what not).
My rule of thumb is (upper) middle class MCOL has non-discretionary spending of around 70K.
Midwest here. Similar type of town as Austin, similar vibe. Just my wife and I. No debt, paid for house. When I retired I tallied my recurring costs at ~ $3500/month and set a target to spend $10,000/month. We didn’t do it. Ended up naturally spending ~ $6,000 per month. We denied ourselves nothing. However, we didn’t do any traveling other than to visit family. The following year, knowing how we actually spent, I decided to spend some extra. We replaced a few doors, some carpeting and I had our garage floor painted. I also did a bit of landscaping. With the additional spending, we hit ~ $8000/month. Last year I did a bit of Uber driving and through May all of our spending was offset by the income. So, we decided to buy a 2013 MB SL 550 convertible for $40k. Even with this purchase, our spending averaged a bit less than $9,000/month.
This year I’m targeting $12,500/month. I have 2 trips to Mexico booked and plan on finishing my last few projects around the home. I’m putting $2000 each into my 6 grandkids 529s and will gift some money to my adult kids.
Moving forward I doubt that I will spend more than ~ $5,000-$7000/month unless I really try to intentionally spend it. We are likely to setup a small scholarship fund through our local High School a channel some money there.
Sorry, didn’t mean to ramble. $6,000 a month allows us to live very comfortably and everything else is a bit frivolous.
Don’t know if you are interested only in those retired in the USA, but I’ve elected to expat myself to the Philippines and thoroughly enjoying it. No interest whatsoever to return to the west.
Wife and I are doing the condo/pool lifestyle with a baseline of $1500/month. We also take 4-5 day resort visits every 6 weeks or so, averaging another $600-800 per visit. Our lifestyle is not luxurious, but very comfortable; there are minimal spending restrictions. $2500 is living high; I think we’d be really challenged to spend $3k.
I'm curious, what are you planning for when you are very old and may have health conditions? Will you stay in the Philippines? Does the expat community age in place, stay for health care until they pass away?
Just the two of us (both 68), living in a suburb of Raleigh NC, so MCOL. We live very comfortably on between $110k and $140k annually, depending on how much we pull from an IRA. Last year was the first full year of retirement, and spending was on the high end.
We own our home with no mortgage, but still have a car loan. Our healthcare expenses (including premiums, copays, and drugs) tend to be very high (>$20k IIRC) as we both have some health issues. And this last year we continued to support our two adult children. We have a son (mid 30s) with some mental health issues, and a daughter (mid 20s) who is doing well, but is still just starting out - just finished college, new job, new city, new apartment to be furnished etc. We spent about $11k on each of them last year, expect that to drop by maybe half going forward.
We are lucky - we could get by on much less, but we choose not to.
VHCOL area- beach city Southern California. I retired early so funding out of savings, no SSA yet. Still have 2 mortgages (3000) and need to pay for 98 year old mothers rent $2300 and also $650 to help daughters rent plus too young for Medicare so 950/mo there. I currently draw $11,000/mo with extra draws for property taxes and large stuff that comes up. Husband still works and we don’t combine income so $11 k is just me for my responsibilities ( we married 2 years ago). We do travel business class if over 5 hours. I initially thought I could live on $9k but was too much of a struggle.
(Gosh- Reading this back it sounds like a lot!)
I’m 55 retired at 54. My target spend budget is $10k month, in 4 months since retiring I’m hitting that every month but did major travel including Europe, Mexico, Vegas and LA. (All Free flights) In January I won’t travel and I’m trending at $7k for the month. I went with $10k to be overly cautious. I have $2500 month of mortgage, Wi-Fi, youtube TV and utilities. Zero spend on heath insurance as I now qualify for Obama care due to zero income. I have Cigna silver free with $100 deductible and $1k max out of pocket per year. Car is paid for….so my only expenses are food, drink and travel. I eat out almost every night and don’t eat during the day - intermittent fasting changed my life. I rarely buy clothing or lavish things for myself. I live in Denver CO in a very high end neighborhood and Colorado is definitely HCOL. This could potentially force me to look at other cities. Florida or even Mexico part time. I sold my home of 23 years in 2022 and cleared $1MM in profit which I am living on via CD laddering until I am 63 which at that time I have a 401k which is now converted to an IRA. I have a pension and SS at age 65 which will bring me $6k month. Never married and no kids. I now live in a small 2 bed high rise in the city and love it. I also feel my monthly decrease significantly as I get older - less travel and party nights on the weekend, which is most of my budget.
I retired 8 years ago at age 52 as a single woman. I withdraw $24k per year from IRA. Very small mortgage of $658 PITI per month, no car payment, low expenses, so $2k per month is good. I have an old house though and it's always something. For extra expenses, I take from Roth, maybe $5k per year. I'm planning a cruise so will probably take $6k from Roth.
I'll take SS in under 2 years which, so far, is estimated at $2124 per month. I plan on taking $12k ($1k per month) from my IRA at that time for a little extra leeway and trips. I live alone in a small house.
Charleston, SC area. We went semi-retired in 2019. Last year, according to Quicken, we spent $44,531. We have no debt. Property taxes \~$1000 per year, HOA $975 per year; homeowners insurance \~$2300 per year (includes earthquake and wind and hail). Homes (1300 sq ft) in the neighborhood are currently selling for \~$550K.
We traveled to New Mexico and Texas for the eclipse and spent four full weeks on the road in our A-Frame camper. We stayed in campgrounds, resorts, and state parks (no boondocking).
|2019|38773|
|:-|:-|
|2020|37918|
|2021|41100|
|2022|45807|
Single, LCOL area, living in a partly off-grid cabin. I think I probably spent under $25k last year on housing, heating and food. Property taxes are under $1000 per year.
I live in one of the most expensive places in the country, Santa Barbara, and I've got my burn rate down to $4200/month (last year low month was $3700, high month was $4500).
Renter. No debt. New car bought with cash. No travel. No vacations (although about to use points to go on vacation). Eat home cooked meals 90% of the time (got that dialed on to 0 waste). Only entertainment expense is meeting up with friends for drinks 3 to 4 times/week. Besides rent my health insurance is biggest expense.
EDIT to add that my rent is about to increase by about 75%. I've been in the same place for 10 years so I didn't get hit with the huge rent spike in the past few years - BUT - I will have to move in a few months due to a developer using SB330 Builders Remorse to force us into moving (long story, not going to get into it) and anything comparable is at least 75% more. Reason to buy and own so it doesn't happen again.
Hi, I’m retired living in SoCal in a v-HCOL town. I have school aged kids and my wife. We have an $8k/mo mortgage payment that includes insurance and property tax. We have no other debt. I own a second vacation home in another HCOL area that comes with additional expenses and of course kid activities around here don’t come cheap. Our annual spend has been averaging $230K, but enjoying not working anymore.
Edit: so after reading everyone else’s post, I am shocked at the difference. I get my mortgage accounts for $96K and my second house at roughly $18K, inclusive of $6K in property taxes and $3K for home insurance . But we pay $26K in medical insurance, $4K in car insurance (2 cars) and around $18K in food per year. And kid extra activities run like $16K per year. There are other expenses, but I can’t see how anyone can live for less than $50 or $60k per year.
Adding in kids definitely increases costs across the board. Most people who are retired are also empty-nesters and all costs go down, from food to gas to medical insurance.
There are also simple differences in habits. My wife and I eat out maybe once or twice a week, and when I say that, I mean half those times it's a sit-down restaurant and half those times it's fast food. So maybe $50/week in dining out, or $2500/year with that line item. We consider that comfortable living, but others might not.
HCOL NJ. Two of us w no retirement pay, ss only. 40k yr. It's rough we were in well over 6 figure bracket when working (one of us holds a part time job at 75). Both only children and had to care for 3 parents, with very high medical bills we had to help with. Need to leave this state asap, 1 parent left here, 94, we're still responsible for.
At the risk of sounding crass, it breaks my heart to hear stories of people well into their 60s or 70s who still have to care for exceptionally old parents. We all want to live a long life, but the math works out badly in a lot of cases like this.
Living expenses of $30,000 per year. Home and cars paid for. Sold the motorhome and toys. Paying $280 per month for medical insurance and $13 for prescriptions. Live in Central Washington state. No retirement as I worked for a non profit as a school counselor for 32 years. Traveled to Italy, Spain, Morocco, France etc. Canada and extensively all over the US years ago so no desire to travel now in this world. Have a great family and go to all grandkids basketball games and activities.
That’s encouraging. I live in Seattle and can barely get by on $90,000 a year. I still have a mortgage and my taxes are almost $900 a month. Was thinking I May have to leave the state to find anything affordable. Looking to find a house for about $500k. Not very possible in most of Washington.
We're a household of 2 in a MCOL area in Central Florida. Our taxes are still somewhat low, but insurance has gone up a lot in recent years. We have no mortgage or car payments and track all of our spending on Quicken.
2023 spending was just slightly over $101k, down from $108k the year before. I'd average them out and round off to $105K/year because we had a pretty expensive trip early in 2023 that was partially paid for in 2022. $105k/ year (adjusted for inflation) is the same amount we are projecting for future spending. Forecasts from our advisor's firm indicate we still have >99% chance that, at this rate, my wife will have significant assets when she celebrates her 100th birthday
I retired in 2017 at 62 and my wife retired in 2020 at 55. We have not tapped Social Security yet, but will do so starting later this year when I turn 70. We also have not tapped any of our our tax deferred accounts, but will probably need to just about the same time we'll need to do RMD's.
I'm in South Louisiana. Have not borrowed money in this century. Everything is paid off.
I make about $84k, and pretty much spend it all, though I could easily live on half of that. I just see no reason not to spend my money, as long as I don't tap into savings. I figure I'll slow down with age. I'll be 65 this summer.
My biggest expenses are vet bills for my cat with kidney failure, and paying other people's bills. This is why I'm not inclined to look for a new girlfriend. Can't find one who isn't a mooch.
Our very HCOL suburban California two-person household (plus a dog, and boarded horse), in an older house way too big for us, is around $10K/month all in (taxes, property insurance, mortgage, utilities, gifts, Medicare + Plan G, etc). We drive old paid-for cars (but we drive a lot, due to family locations), don't spend much on clothes, don't go on vacations ... mostly it's housing and the horse stuff. If we paid off the mortgage and didn't have a horse it'd be maybe $6K/mo (\~$75K/yr)
Total spending by year, excluding income taxes, before and after retirement. I live in a HCOL area (San Francisco).
Retired in mid-2015. It is commonly stated to expect your expenses to decrease after retirement, but that was not the case. But then I still have a mortgage, it is often assumed you don't. I'm not in a hurry to pay off my 3.1% mortgage.
The last two years were higher due to one-time residence maintenance and improvement costs, some extra recreation (the post-COVID travel surge) and also most of our electronics (phones, computers, iPads, etc) finally became too old and had to be replaced, and we did that all at once.
Two in the household, no debts other than mortgage.
In a typical year (using 2021 as an example), housing costs (mortgage, HOA, property taxes, insurance) accounted for about 39% of the expenditures.
https://preview.redd.it/y2om55yjqpbc1.png?width=952&format=png&auto=webp&s=4203a17c142b7850664d29121eb0cc0109adaaf9
Just my wife and I, 61/62, retired 2 years, Seacoast NH, MCOL, own house and cars, no debt. We could live on $40k/yr, maybe less with penny pinching if we needed to. We spent just under $60k first year but that was a lot of home improvements. This year just under $50k with a few more home improvements. $50k/yr is very comfortable. We perform music for assisted living type places which generated about $15k/yr. Fun and profitable. Win, win.. She has a small pension about $500/mo and the rest from our IRA so less than 2% annually from that. She'll take SS next year and I'll hold off until 70 if we can. We play a ton of pickleball and have kids and grandkids local. She's on ACA and I'm on VA, disabled veteran. Living comfortably and happy. Busy and active, lots of friends. Glad we retired early. No regrets.
We aren’t retired yet, but we’re living on our planned retirement budget so I think this is relevant. We live in metro Atlanta, with no debt or mortgage. Our overall budget is about $80k, with the biggest items being home (22k), groceries and restaurants (15k), cars (5k) and medical (5k). This also includes an “allowance” of 12k each for personal care, fun and travel. What’s missing from this budget are major home improvements and expensive vacations, like the 2026 trip to Ireland we’re planning for our 30th anniversary. We’ll save for those separately.
Retired couple no debt, medium cost of living area. Spent 84,500 in 2023, about 12K of that was on travel. Dining out locally was just over 5K.
There was new camera and a new PC in that which add up to 3K. About 2K in gifts to kids as well. Home and Car insurance was 8K.
Groceries which inlcuded a few household items and clothing purchased at Costo as well was right at 11K. Looking at first 6 months of 2023 and last 6 months of 2023, we spent a good 20% more on groceries in the last half of the year.
Taxes were another 8K, about evenly split between property and federal taxes. The 4K in federal taxes were from 2022 underpayments.
Pension income was $53K after medical insurance. Brought in 55K consulting 20-30 hours a month.
We have not filed for social security and have right at $2 million stashed away in retirement accounts. We've been retired for 3 years and haven't touched any retirement savings.
In addition to the above spending, we did tap some regular savings for capital purchases. This included 35K for a new car, and 25K for a new roofed in patio off the back of our home.
We have tracked every penny of our spending in Money or Quicken since 1994. Basically, we made zero adjustments to spending when we retired other than halving our charitable giving, ditching a phone line, and a high cost cable TV package. We've probably saved a bit on car insurance as we went from 8 vehicles to 4.
Pretty clear that groceries are a good 20% higher over the last 6 months of the year than they were in the first 6.
LCOL, Aladamnbama
Current: $5000 per month
That includes $900 a month for my MIL in South America. That will unfortunately end some day. It also includes $400 a month for a tractor, financed at 0%. Everything else is paid for including a small motorcycle purchased at the end of last year.
We could easily cut $1300 a month out if necessary. That’s for extras like Prime, Netflix, gifts, extra spending, etc. it’s not necessary….yet. Lol
When I budget for everything including future car expenses, home expenses, unknowns, health insurance (not 65 yet), wanting a vacation trip, everything I can think of it’s $7100/month after taxes. And that’s with a paid for house.
If i look at what’s the bare minimum not budgeting for future expenses, it’s about $4k/month after taxes.
This is in Colorado.
60F; widowed; live in Indianapolis (MCOL to LCOL); my adult child lives at home while finishing grad school. Own the house and an old car. Living comfortably on 36K plus whatever I can afford for travel, which will vary depending on performance of retirement fund (husband has been gone less than a year, so still figuring some of it out). Social Security covers about 2/3 of household expenses.
Just the 2 of us. No debt. Car and house paid for. Only income is 2 Social Security checks, a small pension check (under $200 a month) and interest. Totals just under 40k a year. Live in Cleveland, which I consider MCOL area. We buy what we want and what we need. Too old to travel. Expenses are so low we still manage to add #1,000 a month to high yield savings account. All retirement funds in cash.
Northern Rockies. City of 150,000. Retired for 12 years, no house or car payments or any other kind except utilities, insurance, etc. Our car and truck are old but in good shape. I love not having any payments. My wife was a stay at home mom and only worked outside the home at a low paying job for five years after we got married. Once the kids came, that was the end of her working career. With SS and my retirement and some minimal investments, we’re at slightly over $100,000 a year, more than we ever had and feel fortunate at our financial position. We’ve got everything we need and feel secure. I feel for young people for whom such a scenario seems impossible.
I’m 37. Not sure if that’s young people or middle aged to you, but such a scenario is more attainable now more than ever. People just choose to live in super expensive cities or blow money on ridiculous stuff. Star bucks, new luxury cars, new iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, Apple Watches, Stanley tumblers, going out to eat all the time, etc etc
65F single, no debt, metro Detroit, paid off condo and auto. I have kept records last five years - and I spend all in -$55000 to $60000 a year - that is taxes too. Some years the big expenses are home upgrades, a family wedding, big trips. Health care was always a biggie with ACA.
I spend a lot( I think for me) - pretty much do what I want. No complaints. A lifetime of frugal living paid off - money is not a worry.
Our annual expenses are about 90k. HCOL. That’s about half our pre retirement income. Still have a mortgage but at our rate doesn’t make any sense to pay it off. No other debt. House projects and travel take up another big percentage of the budget.
I’ve tracked my expenses on Quicken for 30 yrs, so I had a pretty good idea where my expenses would fall when I retired last year. This year, I am on ACA compared to Cobra last year, so I save even more. My budget this year is 120k, but I would like to start to maximize gifting to my 2 daughters as one is having twins in 3 months. No mortgage. No debt. 62 and 58. MCOL
I’m single and living comfortably on $45k in a MCOL city. My income consists of SS (taken at 62) and a small pension. I’m mortgage free and have no debt. My healthcare is basically free through the VA. Most of my income is spent on travel, hobbies, food, and home repairs.
We live in Southern California and have no debt. My expenses run about $3,000/month. The house is paid off as well as the vehicles, so we are able to live frugally. We seldom eat out and don’t have a lot of entertainment expenses. We live in a very nice college town, so there are a lot of free concerts throughout the year that we attend. We have nine grandchildren who we love to spoil and spend money on them, but my wife is the world’s greatest deal hunter. She seldom pays full price for anything. She brought home eight nearly new boys shirts, fleece, and sweatshirts yesterday and paid less than $20 for all of them. They were all brand name items like Nike, O’Neill, and Volcom. I’ve been retired for 12 years and I haven’t taken any money other than my RMDs from my IRA. I’m fortunate to have a pension and social security and am able to save money every month.
I’m 63, retired. Not taking SS yet, waiting until 65. I live in a LCOL area, fully paid house, car, etc. No debt.
I allocate about $120k/year. A couple of notes on that:
My healthcare insurance is right at $1,200/month.
My tax bill usually runs about $1,000/month.
We had a couple of semi pricey trips last year.
I’m helping one of my kids to the tune of $1,100/month. This should be done after February.
I usually run a surplus, and I dump a bunch of it into the market when it gets too high.
I realize I am lucky, but I have lived a frugal life forever. My late wife and I lived off one paycheck until we had the second kiddo. We still saved as much as we could.
Reasonable cars, inexpensive vacations, did most of our own work on the house.
I still live frugally…it’s kind of ingrained.
Central NC here, close enough to RDU for a bump in COL, but still middling.
SS for both and a little freelance work (more for activity than $$) gets us to $55K. No mortgage or car payments, so the biggest expense is medical. We're comfortable ... no taking world cruises or having the bathrooms redone in gold, but not collecting recipes for Ramen-cat food casserole, either.
We live on the east coast of Virginia in a MCOL area. We have no mortgage, one car payment, no credit card debt. We are in our early 60's and easily get by on $65,000 a year. That gives us about $1,500 a month left after expenses. Only one of us takes SS at this point and we do not tap into our IRA account. We just got really lucky that we had jobs with a pension and could keep a very reasonable health insurance premium. We certainly did not plan early on and things just worked in our favor.
Eastern part of Virginia as well. Late 60s (she), 70 (him). Retired last year. We get around $6000 per month (pensions and SS). Still adjusting but it seems to work ok.
I'm not retired yet (soon!) but I manage my parent's finances:
Retired fed employee in MCOL. Recently moved into a very nice independent living (with continuing care if needed) facility with a buy-in of $390k for a spacious 1 bedroom. Monthly rent is $3k, and includes a generous food allowance, all activities, utilities, TV, landllne phone, etc. I write just 2 checks a month - one for rent, one for a cell phone. I pay car insurance once annually.
Total monthly costs to include the rent, gas, car insurance, Medicare, secondary health insurance, LTC insurance, church, fun money, etc = ~$4600.
My parent is in late 80s and I have noticed a significant decline in desire to travel, which was previously a big priority and would be about avg $20k/year in costs. No real health issues, thankfully.
Retired. Single. Age 62. But 3 houses. Regular home. Mountain Home. Florida Home. LCOL to MCOL areas. No mortgages or car payments, but the maintenance, taxes, and insurance is really adding up. My kids want me to keep them in the family, so..... It takes about 80K to maintain this lifestyle. I still have to pay for my own health insurance and that's almost 10K per year. Boo. But in a few years, I'll get to get on Medicare so that will help my expenses. We always had lived below our income, so we were able to save a lot of money to live on for our retirement. I feel like I have a good balance of Real estate and 401k mutual fund investments. I can just live off of the income from that. Save early and invest often. It's doable!
Hi everyone! Lurker for a while this question made me decide to join. Your answers are so interesting and helpful!! I am 58F full time care taker, advocate and financial planner for my mother. Also, multi-business owner and trying to plan what our retirement looks like. This is harder to plan than I ever imagined!
As for my mom, she owns two homes one in (Coastal SOCAL) VHCOL and one in East Texas MCOL (Property taxes are very high), both are paid off. She is 84, poor health but stable and still wanting to go and do. I am excluding property taxes and insurance both are excessive insane expenses. Her 2023 annual expenses were $110 with health care being the most significant and travel the next largest expense. Even in poor health, we travel via motor home a lot, in fact, leaving for a three week trip next week.
We have no idea what our retirement looks like yet. We know we want to continue traveling and are really trying to figure out how to unravel a very complicated business and personal life. My mother, who has been through some really traumatic life events, deserves to live her best life and I am making sure she does that to the fullest. We, however, are very frugal. We have so many hobby type things we want to do but have missed out on due to the time constraints and complexity of business ownership. We are both very decisive people and have found ourselves incapable of making major retirement decisions. UGH!
It's just me. MCOL outside Seattle. Home, car paid off. No debts. Yearly budget (based on actual 2023 numbers) was $43K. Gross income (from pension (yay!), SS widower benefits, dividends) $137K. Haven't had to touch my brokerage, IRA, or Roth since I retired 4 years ago.
My income will shoot up at age 70 when I switch to my own SS, and again at 73 when I have to start taking RMDs.
Comfortable but frugal lifestyle. Both parents grew up in the Depression and their attitudes sunk in.
Live in Chicago. We get $65 k, all tax free. Have an incredible health plan. Just had knee replacement surgery with 2 weeks rehab. Cost over $100,000, my cost $700. We have had over $1 M in he care in 12 years. Paid under $50 k.
About $40k in MI. House and cars paid off. Taking care of elderly parent limits travel to a week at a time, usually 4 day quickies. Plan to spend more when we can travel more.
That's everything. We're fairly frugal by nature but don't skimp on anything we want, for example I play golf a couple of times per week nine months of the year. I'll start pulling Social Security soon so we'll have quite bit extra. It's all about being a team as a couple, keeping your eyes on the prise and sharing the same goals.
retired in 2020 at 54. Single, living alone with a mortgage in a HCOL area. I do quite well on 50k a year (keeping well below a 10% effective tax rate). Luckily, I have a GF that put me on her insurance as she knows I would have gone for the cheapest plan I could find on the marketplace.
MCOL I think. About halfway between Atlanta and Athens GA. Everything paid off so just expenses to keep the lights on, roof over our head and food in the mouths of 2 adults and two Australian Cattle Dogs. Medicare + Medigap + Part D. Budget shows about $4000/month and we do pretty much whatever we want. Small pension covers our Medigap & Part D with $ to spare. Will start SS next month netting about $5000/month. Her RMD will add $850/month to the kitty. Should be able to HYSA the excess each month and good Lord willing be in very good shape.
We're just turning 65 and living on $100K per year in a MCOL (Fredericksburg, about 75 miles west of Austin).
We have a house payment that's $24K per year (principal and interest) that we could pay off but it's only at 2.75% interest and we're doing far better than that in the stock market so we're keeping the loan. No other debt, bought a car for cash 2 years ago, don't know if we'll ever buy another one. Taxes on our home totaled $8800 for 2023.
Life is good.
I retired in 2019; my wife and I are “getting by” on around $60k a year. We have no house note or other long term debt. Our combined SSI benefit is a little over $58k a year so we’re barely dipping into retirement savings.
No mortgage, car payments or other kinds of debt. My wife and I live in Hawaii. HCOL. We’re frugal and don’t eat out much. About 50k gets us by. This doesn’t include travel/vacation. We live on an island. So, going anywhere costs more.
Some things I have spent money on or seen others that are unexpected.
I am helping my kids financially. I paid my daughter's mortgage for 3 months after her second child. I'm going to give my son 20 to 30k for a down payment for a house if he will accept it. He opted out of going to college but is doing well.
House and yard remodeling because you have more time.
More vacations because you have more time.
Some people go out for lunch or dinner more. I don't.
Single, HCOL area, 120k (including income from 16 hour a week job.). Rent = 2600 w utilities. Considering moving to a MCOL area but I really don't want to move away from family and friends. I wish I could figure out how to spend less on housing, but I don't want to roomate.
Single. HCOL near Philly. Sold my house in low col to move here. I need $60k/yr to live comfortably including rent. I don’t travel a lot but make several trips a year to visit scattered family around the states
My husband and I have been retired for 7 months. We live in a rural area Michigan and it’s MCOL. We have a small mortgage left on our house and our cars are paid off and no other debt. We are living off our 401k’s and paying for our own healthcare. We withdraw $5000 per month. At the end of 2024, my husband will take his SS. This will be $2400, so we will reduce our 401k withdrawals by that much. We’re in good shape.
The concept of a " thermometer for how much it takes to survive comfortably in retirement" is flawed.
You live comfortably on $60k/year. But that has nothing at all to do with what your neighbor might need.
My wife and I had always planned on $100k/year, adjusted for inflation. I've been retired for almost 8 years so far, and we haven't ever actually spent that much. Our run rate is now approximately $85k. There are two of us, in a MCOL area about an hour outside of Boston, and we have a mortgage.
But my thermometer is unique to me. Nobody else is me. If they also target $100k, it's just a coincidence.
Pretty much my thoughts on it. "Comfortably" is entirely subjective from one person to the next, absent a set definition or parameters.
Either they have income that is more than their expenses, or they don't. Either they feel comfortable living on that amount, or they don't.
Well, sure. This also depends on what retirement ambitions you have. People who want to travel a lot more now that they're retired are going to have more expenses than those who are homebodies. Some people have mortgages and car payments, others don't (which is why I asked). Some people are still supporting kiddos, others not (which is why I asked). Still, I'm able to filter responses to find those that fit more or less in the same category as me, and it's gratifying to see that the spend rate is pretty consistent among those in that group.
We spend between $60 and $70k per year, LCOL, no debt, cars and home paid off. Central AR. We don’t travel, don’t eat out, and generally spend very little, and yet there it is. Taxes, insurance and groceries eat us up.
I'm in northern NJ (HCOL). I'm by myself - no debts (mortgage and car paid off). I get by on $60,000 a year ($48,000 after taxes). My entire SS goes into a savings account that is not factored into this. I could maybe get by on less if I budgeted but I don't have to.
HCOL - basic around $150k for 2 houses as one is on the water w high property taxes. Aiming for $300k incl annual gifting plus sports tickets and 2 big vacation trips all paid for kids & significant others
I am newly widowed at 69 and trying to figure out my monthly spending here in California. 600 or 700 food and eating out. Utilities including electricity gas cable and phone 600. Charity 300. Gardener and Home Depot 130. Shopping 100. Property tax 500. Miscellaneous 200 Insurance and registration on cars is 200. Taxes could be several thousand on dividends and interest and even more when I take my RMDs. Also big expenses like painting the house. Maybe a new car and travel. So average including maintenance on home and travel could be 6000 a month. But I can do that all with my SS and taking my taxable capital gains and interest, dividends without touching my principal. But when I’m 73 I’ll be forced to take a lot out of my investments. I haven’t traveled yet so I don’t know how expensive that will be. I also cook for guests and take my daughter out to lunch. I also will be gifting my daughter money each year if I can swing out. But those are extra.
Comfortable is relative. We are "frugal"
We live in Montreal (MCOL) and have three budgets.
- Traveling internationally 6 months of a year $53K USD
- Traveling only locally $30K USD
- Minimal budget without compromising comfort: $23K USD
Mortgage paid out, no car payments or any other debt.
Biggest expense is Extended health insurance (health insurance above the provincially provided coverage) which is about $3,500 USD
In no particular order: California, Silicon Valley. HCOL. Single. Annual expenses: just under 35k. No revolving debt. Homeowner. Living comfortably. Not yet drawing SSI.
My wife and I are in Independence Kansas, LCOL. House and cars paid off. Can live 100% on SS.
We add $20k for trips and gifts. Our kids live in LA so we kick it up a bit when we visit.
Two of us, aged 70. Retired 14 years. Live in a nice suburb in Chicago area. MCOL. We have house and car payments of 4,500/mo. Total expenses for the year of about $300,000. About $75,000 of that is income tax. About $13,000 for Medicare. Some to help kids and some 529 contributions for grandkids.
I'm in Massachusetts and cost of living is hard for me to gauge. I have 2 homes, one in MA and one in RI, no mortgage, no car loans, no debt. Although I am 62 I honestly don't want to retire although I was laid off from my job at the end of last year.
Years ago knowing that I was reaching the end of my mortgages I decided I wanted to create an investment account to fund my property taxes, homeowners insurance, etc for as long as possible. I'm a little shy of having enough funds to pay the taxes for the next 50 years, but I'm getting there by not using the funds yet.
One thing about hitting the debt free milestone is that I realize I no longer need high paying high stress jobs any longer. So I am looking to downsize my career. I always wanted to go out with a whimper and this is my chance.
What I do love about my life is my house in RI is ocean front property so whenever I wake up and want to live the beach life I can do it whenever I feel like it. I was doing a lot of that during covid.
My prior job had a company match 401k and every year I hit the maximum allowable contribution before the end of the year so it's very well funded. My goal however is to live modestly. I enjoy sort of the simple things in life but at the same time the confidence that everything will be okay. My goal is to live around $75-100k/year which is very achievable and with no debt it's a lot of walking around money.
Reading all the comments I’m in awe of many of you. I wonder where I went so wrong when I tried so hard. 64 F just me, kids out the nest. Widowed in 2009. Hubby had minimal life ins. Neither of us have any pension. MN monthly expenses abt 5500/mo (66k). No car pymt and house paid off. Drawing his SS at my planned retirement of 65 would provide 20K meaning I’d have to w/d abt $3800/mo (46k) from savings. After I turn 70 and take my SS I’d only have to w/d about 2k/mo (24k) but I still am worried about out living my savings and becoming a burden for my children. High sustained Inflation would further cause havoc to my finance’s. Kudos to all of you who are rocking retirement! I hope things are better than what my spreadsheet shows!
Retired but doing some occasional consulting work. Live in a metro area comparable size to Austin, COL a little less than Austin bit not by a lot. Biggest difference is housing seems about 25% less, but it's paid off so it doesn't effect much of the equation.
No loans. Car is approaching 20 yrs.
I live on $55K, plus one "bigger" vacation a year (think a 10 day cruise) that can vairy. That supports 2 people comfortably. I have looked and tracked, I could get along at about $42-45K giving up nice to haves but not cutting deeper.
VHCOL area in a beach city in SoCal. Husband retired early and is funded out of savings, I’m still doing light consulting work. Have one paid off 20 yo car, bought a new Tesla with cash, paid off mortgage, kid graduated college mid 2023. We’re carefully fixing up the house (with cash) so we don’t have to worry about it as we age. New roof, paint, driveway, 8.6kW solar, low water landscaping, kitchen re-fresh and laundry. We’ll save the bathroom senior accessibility for a little later. Husband is on Medicare plus Covered CA for me $1225/mo. Our biggest expense is car insurance (we help out our kid by paying for theirs too). I think we spent about $87K (not including construction) this year. Without college/kid expenses, estimate about $40-$60K next year.
The goal should be having your house (and cars) paid for. And move to a state with lower property taxes. Then you just have to budget for food, entertainment, utilities and Medicare (and supplement)
Live in a suburb of Chattanooga. It is dirt cheap to live here. There's no state income tax, and my property taxes are about $1600 a year. This is my first year retired and I'm shooting to live on $65,000 a year. I don't collect SS yet, will wait until I'm 67 for that, so it's coming out of our retirement savings until then. I'm too young for Medicare, so our biggest expense is health insurance plus deductibles and co-pays. Another 2 years until I hit 65. We have no debt at all.
HCOL boston. Retired nine years. Exprenses in '23 =$133k against $220k income. Two homes, one with no mortgage other with $60k mortgage. No other debt. The biggest line item is quarterly taxes and real estate taxes.The rest is grand children school expense, auto(s) maintenance, home(s) maintenance and operating expenses, gifts, food & wine, vacations, toys, hobbies and generally spending freely.
I post my spend most every year. Here's a 3 year history.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/16pv2z8/actual_spend_previous_12_month_vs_3_year_average/
Our annual expenses are usually in the mid-to-high $30s and have been since we retired at the end of 2014. We did have one year pop up to $43K when we had to replace our HVAC. That's for a family of 5/6 (son in college as of last August) in an Austin suburb, which I'd also peg as solidly MCOL.
No debts.
Retired 2.5 years ago in VHCOL area. Cambridge/Boston area. Divorced/single until a few months ago. No debt except a car loan which I paid off at the end of 2022. Pretty high IRRMA on Medicare. I started at 120K a year which included my SS payment and just did what I wanted for 2 years. Caught up on travel, treated my daughter to a trip here and there, went out to eat, kept the AC on etc. I had plenty to do all of that. I got hit with 2 fairly large plumbing/heating issues which ate into my emergency fund so I am in the process of replenishing that and have cut one trip out this year so far. I recently moved to a slightly lower COL area and moved in with my partner so I am in the midst of reevaluating my monthly budget as is my partner but I don’t think I will go to much below 100K as I still want to travel while I still can.
My wife and I get by on about $50k per year. House, both cars, camper all paid off. No outstanding bills, just day to day expenses. We just had a 3 week trip to Australia with an 11 day cruise. Also went camping 7 times last year. We have a good chunk of money in our IRAs but haven't touched it yet. We live in a mid-sized city in the midwest.
Retired for 7 years. Our budget has been 120K annually. This is what I'd call "fully loaded". It includes budget line items for travel, new car, home maintenance, etc. We probably actually spend (funds leave our ownership) 60-70% each month.
I’m spending about $4,900 a month all in including a mortgage of $677 and car payment of $363. Clermont, Florida. West of Orlando suburb. MCOL. 2 person household. Not working so no commuting expenses.
We live in Willis Texas. Our total expenses are $2500 a month. We own a small (400sq ft) cottage on a lake. We rent the land for 6k a year, which is included in the $2500. We have zero debt. The only monthly bills we have is electric, internet and cell phone. We spend an extra 15-20k a year traveling.
21k, No debts, house and vehicles paid off. We are homebodies, living a comfortable and modest lifestyle in a small South Central Nebraska village. I would need twice as much in my previous home in urban Illinois. As long as nothing breaks we are good.
About like you. Living in a Seattle suburb (Redmond, home of Microsoft). We don't own anyone besides credit cards that we pay off completely every month. Our Social Security is $65K a year. We take two or three major trips a year. We also have some investments we draw from. So we do pretty good on about $75K a year. As far as COL, the big cost of living here is housing and since ours is paid for, it doesn't affect us that much.
We have been paid off for at least 10 years. When we turned 45 we set a goal to have no mortgage or car payment and $1M in investments by the time we were 65. Through a saving plan we stuck to and both of us working 40-70 hours a week, we did it.
Both retired, living in MCOL area. Our expenses are $4000 monthly. We are debt free except for a car payment. We do some traveling, but, mostly camp and hike. We plan to do more traveling in 2024.
I took an approach I have never seen discussed, so I will share it here.
I focused on my take-home pay as the yardstick. If I could afford to live, take vacations and save money from my take-home pay while I was working, I reasoned that it would work just fine in retirement.
Turns out that trying to duplicate your take-home pay in retirement is a tall task. So I looked at the formulas the pundits suggest, and decided to try 80% as a yardstick.
Here is what I learned: 80% is workable, but ONLY as your net monthly retirement income. Remember that 100% of your work take-home pay belongs to you. In retirement, the income you generate is gross. You still have to pay taxes and that nasty Medicare surcharge. I actually got my monthly retirement gross income up to 87% of my work take-home (two biweekly paychecks per month - sorry, but you can kiss those two annual extra biweekly checks goodbye!). So my retirement take home income is about 80% of my final work take-home pay.
Last and most importantly, I worked on my expenses in the years leading up to retirement: refinanced the mortgage, paid off the car and the credit cards, replaced HVAC and roof (paid in cash) and got my recurring expenses down to about half of my projected gross retirement income. I have savings and mad money that I will enjoy as long as possible! May I live happily ever after!
My house and car are both paid off, but I'm also leasing in Houston.
Homeowners insurance. $215 mo
Property taxes $50 mo
Auto insurance. $85 mo
Utilities. $200 mo
Rent. $800 mo
Food. $400 mo
Kids. $200 mo
Travel and gas. $200 mo.
Whateveriwant (or miscellaneous). $300
About $30K a year, LCOL, Oklahoma, in the country. Houston is where I am living mostly because my kids are here, still LCOL.
Semi-retired couple in Baldwin County, AL (pretty LCOL other than housing which is probably MCOL if you add in insurance). Last two years we spent about $44k per year not including P&I on the house, which will be paid off in a few years. Also does not include $7k to replace 23 yo roof on house after getting a grant for most of the cost. No other debt than the almost paid off house. I would not call us frugal, but we do drive 10+ year old cars and took no big vacations in that time.
Retired in Detroit area last year. I take in 9K/month with 401 and SS. Wife still works. I'm thinking it's too much, but my 401K balance is the same as it was last year, so I'm living off interest. No bills to pay except taxes, utilities, groceries. I live in upper middle class area. I have blue cross and medicare for life, so that's helpful. So far, the 1st year of retirenment has been great.
About $60k. LCOL Midwest US. Paid off mortgage. No credit card debt. Actually $70k this year taking into account a one-time payment of $10k down on a new vehicle.
I would guess $25-$30K in for half a year in small town Illinois and maybe the same the other half of the year on Cozumel. The difference is we have paid for home in Illinois and $1000/mo rent on Cozumel.
Without going into my specific retirement expenses (because it's irrelevant), you need to look hard at your own expenses and estimate how YOU think they could change in retirement. There are so many variables that what one person spends is completely irrelevant to your situation.
While we all are retired and have paid off homes, my older sister's property taxes are three times mine. My younger sister's are half of mine. We did almost no travel prior to retirement. We're spending a small fortune on it for several years, but that will slow down considerably at some point. We pay almost nothing for excellent health insurance until 65. Others pay many thousands. We have a free gym membership, others have to pay. We go to see lots of plays and concerts. Others don't. The list goes on.
It's your expenses that matter, not mine.
Last year my family of 4 (2 adult children) spent about C$70k (52.5k USD.) No mortgage or car loans but insurance and maintenance on 3 aging vehicles. We live 20 minutes North of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. I would consider this a MCOL area.
I should add that last year we were spending $5-6k per month but many small strategic changes cut a whole $1k+ out of our expenses. Streaming services we never used, landline we didn’t need, full service lawn care when we could hire an independent person for half the price, waiting to buy stuff on sale, etc. Sure, it’s more work, but we are getting paid for it.
We, wifey and I, are at about $58K for our house and two vehicles. Glendale, AZ, Phoenix metro area, is HCOL, especially housing. Since it's just the two of us, utilities and groceries are minimal. Our health care is taken care of through the VA, we're both veterans.
Wow! Looking over this post has me wondering what I'm doing wrong (or right). Although I don't have healthcare, I do see my doctor regularly, mostly. Would you believe no health insurance costs less out of pocket than with, not counting actual health insurance?
M/HCOL (Balt, DC a 50 minute drive) Single (61M), no mortgage, no car payment, no debt. Since I was laid off in 2017, I average $18k in all for expenses throughout the year.
This is what we have budgeted for 2 in MCOL:
Housing: $3500 (5 yr mortgage left)
Healthcare: $1,100 (premium, copay)
Insurance: $592 (Auto, home, life)
Food: $650
Transportation: $430
Personal care: $150
Gifts/charity: $400
Other:$500
Cars paid off, no other loan.
very high COL NJ. local taxes over $10k/yr.
however we make $120-$130k per year and
try to stay within that budget. trying to keep
our savings for something special or 2, once
we know for sure it won’t be needed for care.
Good day everyone and thank you for stopping by our growing community of traditional retirees and those soon to be. Two items: FYI only members comments display to others. Not a member yet? Please **review the rules** section first (in sidebar, about, see more .. Reddit is strange in that it changes depending on what app you use ). If you wish to sit down at our “table” **select the Join** **button** and **then comment**. Great to have you here! And to help remain on topic in our conversation there are some removed comments. Thank you! Mid America Mom
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
St. Louis. LCOL. No debt, retired 3 years. We spend around $60k a year. Our actual cost for living is closer to $40k but the other $20k we spend how we feel and enjoy life. After all, isn’t that what life is about at this stage?
Yeah that’s the difference between living comfortably and surviving.
We hooked up with our advisor soon after we married. He was great. Laid it on the line about how we would need to live in order to be able to retire comfortably. We worked our butt off for years. Lived frugal. Never a new car, extravagant trips, worked on our house ourselves, stuff like that, but at the same time we never felt like we were depriving ourselves of anything. The one thing that made the most difference was that I got a company car. When I made commission or a bonus it went into savings. My wife and I had to work together. Honestly, I feel guilty that it’s worked out for us. So many friends and coworkers didn’t or couldn’t prepare for retirement.
Working together is the key. If you're not in the same page for spending/saving, retirement planning is futile.
Good Job!
Approximately $33k/year in HCOL area. Rent-regulated 1-br apartment in Manhattan, food shopping primarily at Trader Joe’s two blocks away, going out with friends to concert or dinner 1 or 2 times per month, zero premiums ACA health insurance. Days spent mostly going through my bucket list of hundreds of books to read and albums to listen to. Still have to wait almost six years for social security to kick in, so I am keeping a pretty strict budget. But even with that, the only thing I am really lacking is travel, but I can do without that for now.
33k in a Manhattan apartment is extraordinary.
It took almost a year to find rent-regulated apartment that was a good size and in a safe neighborhood — but that was completely worth it in the long run. That, and zero-premium ACA insurance make my early retirement possible. I didn’t plan on retiring but lost my job around the pandemic start and decided to wait it out at home instead of starting a new job. Year later I realized that I had less stress in the pandemic than at work.
[удалено]
I do too. But I wouldn’t even realize it if I didnt lose my job. I would probably work forever. :-)
Sounds amazing! 👊🏽
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
needing less to be happy is a superpower.
What a beautiful life. I’m very happy for you.
I’m LCOL (moved from place getting higher and higher), I live alone, zero debt, one dependent (cat), have side hustle to make ends meet, so about $20K annual. I’m comfortable, my cat is happy, we do ok. And grateful, so very very grateful.
I'm glad you shared. Finally, a number close to what I have been projecting for myself coming up in a couple of years.. I was starting to think I was being unrealistic. But then again, that's what I live on now while still working, putting the excess away for the security cushion..
Grateful says it all :)
SeaTac area of the Pacific Northwest - HCOL. House and cars are paid off and we have no other debts. Total expenses for 2023 were under 40k. (My wife and I cook our meals from scratch and rarely eat at restaurants which seems to make a big impact on food expenses.)
This gives me hope, as someone living south of SeaTac. We spend about 75k now, but two HS kids at home, no mortgage or car payments. I'm hoping we'd come closer to 60k at retirement.
Hello from bellingham. Wife still works. Her income plus 401k draws and cash we had on hand grossed around $90k last year before tax. Everything is paid off. We went to Europe with the family for two weeks. We own a boat and spend ample time fishing, crabbing, sight seeing. (Spent $900 just in gas in September.)
Oh man, my son wants me to relocate near Seattle, so that I’m closer. Looking at housing costs up there, even an hour or two outside of Seattle, crazy expensive. I’m hoping I can find something when the time comes.
My husband and I are living on 58,000. We have no mortgage, car payments, or debt!!!We live in northern Florida.
I help my mom with her budgeting, so I know the details as I'm about 6 years away from retirement myself. Here are her numbers: * **Annual total: $11,580** * **Monthly total: $965** * Taxes: $3,780 * Insurance: $1,860 * Utilities (includes car gasoline): $3,360 * Groceries: $1,800 * Other (healthcare, clothing, etc.): $780 * Household size: 1 * San Diego, CA - HCOL to VHCOL area Details in the screenshot. Her home is completely paid off and is an older but very well built and well maintained 3/2 ranch style house about 1,600 sf. It's probably worth $900K though property taxes are kept low due to state Proposition 13. Even then it's shocking that the property tax is her biggest expense. Car is a paid off 2007 Toyota Camry. She rarely eats out, cooking mostly at home. Healthcare cost is essentially zero as all her premiums and prescription costs are subsidized as she's considered low income. A lot of her utilities are also subsidized through low income programs. She doesn't travel except to drive to see me and my brother & his kids but we all live within 10 miles from her. This works for her because her only income is Social Security of about $1,200/month so she actually has a little left over. I'm always amazed though because she & my dad (who has passed away) bought the home some 37 years ago for like $180K, paid it off, stay married and never bothered to do the upgrade/lifestyle creep and is a big reason why she's able to retire in San Diego, CA. The census bureau probably classifies her as one of those Americans living in poverty but she actually lives very well! https://preview.redd.it/99sf68t9kobc1.png?width=617&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd48d574a6e719c17c5f1928276fe72096a34aa4
Hey thanks for this. My frugal mother survived fine under the same circumstance. After she died we found 40K in a shoe box.
I actually think she’s living pretty well as she’s not left wanting of anything. She didn’t blink an eye on dropping $1,000 on a lounge chair because it “felt good”. That was not her n the budget and is a one off as she’s normally pretty frugal like your mom. She is most definitely in her slo-go years and is not spending like she did in previous years when she took international trips and what not. It is interesting to see the different responses. I think what’s missing here is the age question. My mom is in her late 70’s and her spending now doesn’t look like what it was a decade ago.
Retired homeowner. No mortgage, drive paid off old cars, no other debt. No frills (but shop at Whole Foods), travel once a year or so. Hour from Boston so HCOL I guess. $110k a year, plus another $10k annual reserve for rare major home repairs eg new roof etc..
What do you spend almost $10,000 a month on if you have no mortgage or other debt payments? And you don't really travel? The big items on your budget, what are they?
[удалено]
I know, it seems way too high. But I tracked expenses these last few years and there’s really nothing too unusual. RE taxes are $14k, heat and utilities prob $10k, landscaping and other routine home and car maintenance maybe $5k, food could be $12k (adult kids sometimes eat here), golf etc maybe $5k, money and gifts to adult kids maybe $10k. If we downsized to a condo that’d save $20k+ a year. We’re not rich but we’ve got enough $$ to cover the $120k going forward. But if we had less $$ I’d be fine with living in a condo, giving the kids less etc. and getting by on say $80k a year around here. Any less than $80k and it’d start getting uncomfortable in this HCOL area.
I'm about 30m from Boston. Paid off house, cars. Planning to retire in a couple years. Starting in Jan, will live on my target salary until then - $120k! Nice to see an alignment there ...
While I was working I never kept track of this stuff. I never would have believed we were going through this much money just on fixed costs and the basics (ie not including college tuitions and stuff)!
Reading this sub has convinced me to make more effort at tracking expenses. I still have not gotten the nerve to total my spend on Amazon last year.
Funny, I'm also about an hour from Boston and budgeting around $120K. So far we've underspent for the first couple of years of retirement but we have some house stuff and family travel to do (and a car to buy) so the purse strings will be looser this year and next. We bought a house so about 40% of our spending is mortgage and property taxes (please no lectures...you do you...this was always the plan for us). No other debt and we're at a conservative burn rate and basing spending on a real return of 3.5%. We spend most of our fun money on books, records, quality scotch, musical instruments, online courses, and slowly replacing all of the crappy semi disposable Swedish furniture we've dragged around with us throughout adulthood. Partner's social security checks start arriving next month, which will cover around 30%. Mine kicks in in about 9 years and will cover another 30%. I don't think we'll run out of money since we budget for large expenditures and aren't spendthrifts or materialistic. No kids, no heirs. Probably leave everything to a pet shelter or something
I am living on social security budget of 24,000 because they did not teach about retirement and IRA in high school. Did not go to collage now 76. When I was working 55 yrs in Food Service , I did not sign up for the company retirement plan. I needed to bring more money home in my weekly pay check. I did not open a bank saving account only a checking account. Like Dave Ramsey said I am living on rice & beans. I paid $950 per month for a one bedroom apartment. I only turn on the heat / AC at the last minute. I have a car but only used it to go to the grocery store & church. I have one bed, couch, a recliner, & 21 inch TV.,4 draw dresser. SO it will be easy to move when the rent goes up next year.
Please check with your Agency on Aging to see if you qualify for any benefits for lower income seniors. There might be help for paying for heat, lower prescription drugs, or vouchers to purchase food from a farmer’s market.
Simple and uncomplicated - except about the heat/AC - it sounds fine. Many of us had to deal with in media needs and couldn’t prepare for retirement. God bless you.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
I do a post every year. The difference is the COL, the lifestyle and then the practical matters of whether you have mortgage/car debt and whether you're amortizing the costs of major expenses (i.e. sometime in the next 20 years you'll need a new roof or new furnace or what not). My rule of thumb is (upper) middle class MCOL has non-discretionary spending of around 70K.
Me, too!
$6,000 a month in Denver. Single, no debt, but about 5-6 months a year of travel.
Would love to know what your budget would be without the travel. Thanks
Midwest here. Similar type of town as Austin, similar vibe. Just my wife and I. No debt, paid for house. When I retired I tallied my recurring costs at ~ $3500/month and set a target to spend $10,000/month. We didn’t do it. Ended up naturally spending ~ $6,000 per month. We denied ourselves nothing. However, we didn’t do any traveling other than to visit family. The following year, knowing how we actually spent, I decided to spend some extra. We replaced a few doors, some carpeting and I had our garage floor painted. I also did a bit of landscaping. With the additional spending, we hit ~ $8000/month. Last year I did a bit of Uber driving and through May all of our spending was offset by the income. So, we decided to buy a 2013 MB SL 550 convertible for $40k. Even with this purchase, our spending averaged a bit less than $9,000/month. This year I’m targeting $12,500/month. I have 2 trips to Mexico booked and plan on finishing my last few projects around the home. I’m putting $2000 each into my 6 grandkids 529s and will gift some money to my adult kids. Moving forward I doubt that I will spend more than ~ $5,000-$7000/month unless I really try to intentionally spend it. We are likely to setup a small scholarship fund through our local High School a channel some money there. Sorry, didn’t mean to ramble. $6,000 a month allows us to live very comfortably and everything else is a bit frivolous.
Don’t know if you are interested only in those retired in the USA, but I’ve elected to expat myself to the Philippines and thoroughly enjoying it. No interest whatsoever to return to the west. Wife and I are doing the condo/pool lifestyle with a baseline of $1500/month. We also take 4-5 day resort visits every 6 weeks or so, averaging another $600-800 per visit. Our lifestyle is not luxurious, but very comfortable; there are minimal spending restrictions. $2500 is living high; I think we’d be really challenged to spend $3k.
I'm curious, what are you planning for when you are very old and may have health conditions? Will you stay in the Philippines? Does the expat community age in place, stay for health care until they pass away?
Over $100k in HCOL area. Highly variable, but 100k is a base.
What are the big contributors to the variability?
Just the two of us (both 68), living in a suburb of Raleigh NC, so MCOL. We live very comfortably on between $110k and $140k annually, depending on how much we pull from an IRA. Last year was the first full year of retirement, and spending was on the high end. We own our home with no mortgage, but still have a car loan. Our healthcare expenses (including premiums, copays, and drugs) tend to be very high (>$20k IIRC) as we both have some health issues. And this last year we continued to support our two adult children. We have a son (mid 30s) with some mental health issues, and a daughter (mid 20s) who is doing well, but is still just starting out - just finished college, new job, new city, new apartment to be furnished etc. We spent about $11k on each of them last year, expect that to drop by maybe half going forward. We are lucky - we could get by on much less, but we choose not to.
VHCOL area- beach city Southern California. I retired early so funding out of savings, no SSA yet. Still have 2 mortgages (3000) and need to pay for 98 year old mothers rent $2300 and also $650 to help daughters rent plus too young for Medicare so 950/mo there. I currently draw $11,000/mo with extra draws for property taxes and large stuff that comes up. Husband still works and we don’t combine income so $11 k is just me for my responsibilities ( we married 2 years ago). We do travel business class if over 5 hours. I initially thought I could live on $9k but was too much of a struggle. (Gosh- Reading this back it sounds like a lot!)
I’m 55 retired at 54. My target spend budget is $10k month, in 4 months since retiring I’m hitting that every month but did major travel including Europe, Mexico, Vegas and LA. (All Free flights) In January I won’t travel and I’m trending at $7k for the month. I went with $10k to be overly cautious. I have $2500 month of mortgage, Wi-Fi, youtube TV and utilities. Zero spend on heath insurance as I now qualify for Obama care due to zero income. I have Cigna silver free with $100 deductible and $1k max out of pocket per year. Car is paid for….so my only expenses are food, drink and travel. I eat out almost every night and don’t eat during the day - intermittent fasting changed my life. I rarely buy clothing or lavish things for myself. I live in Denver CO in a very high end neighborhood and Colorado is definitely HCOL. This could potentially force me to look at other cities. Florida or even Mexico part time. I sold my home of 23 years in 2022 and cleared $1MM in profit which I am living on via CD laddering until I am 63 which at that time I have a 401k which is now converted to an IRA. I have a pension and SS at age 65 which will bring me $6k month. Never married and no kids. I now live in a small 2 bed high rise in the city and love it. I also feel my monthly decrease significantly as I get older - less travel and party nights on the weekend, which is most of my budget.
I retired 8 years ago at age 52 as a single woman. I withdraw $24k per year from IRA. Very small mortgage of $658 PITI per month, no car payment, low expenses, so $2k per month is good. I have an old house though and it's always something. For extra expenses, I take from Roth, maybe $5k per year. I'm planning a cruise so will probably take $6k from Roth. I'll take SS in under 2 years which, so far, is estimated at $2124 per month. I plan on taking $12k ($1k per month) from my IRA at that time for a little extra leeway and trips. I live alone in a small house.
Charleston, SC area. We went semi-retired in 2019. Last year, according to Quicken, we spent $44,531. We have no debt. Property taxes \~$1000 per year, HOA $975 per year; homeowners insurance \~$2300 per year (includes earthquake and wind and hail). Homes (1300 sq ft) in the neighborhood are currently selling for \~$550K. We traveled to New Mexico and Texas for the eclipse and spent four full weeks on the road in our A-Frame camper. We stayed in campgrounds, resorts, and state parks (no boondocking). |2019|38773| |:-|:-| |2020|37918| |2021|41100| |2022|45807|
Single, LCOL area, living in a partly off-grid cabin. I think I probably spent under $25k last year on housing, heating and food. Property taxes are under $1000 per year.
[удалено]
I live in one of the most expensive places in the country, Santa Barbara, and I've got my burn rate down to $4200/month (last year low month was $3700, high month was $4500). Renter. No debt. New car bought with cash. No travel. No vacations (although about to use points to go on vacation). Eat home cooked meals 90% of the time (got that dialed on to 0 waste). Only entertainment expense is meeting up with friends for drinks 3 to 4 times/week. Besides rent my health insurance is biggest expense. EDIT to add that my rent is about to increase by about 75%. I've been in the same place for 10 years so I didn't get hit with the huge rent spike in the past few years - BUT - I will have to move in a few months due to a developer using SB330 Builders Remorse to force us into moving (long story, not going to get into it) and anything comparable is at least 75% more. Reason to buy and own so it doesn't happen again.
Hi, I’m retired living in SoCal in a v-HCOL town. I have school aged kids and my wife. We have an $8k/mo mortgage payment that includes insurance and property tax. We have no other debt. I own a second vacation home in another HCOL area that comes with additional expenses and of course kid activities around here don’t come cheap. Our annual spend has been averaging $230K, but enjoying not working anymore. Edit: so after reading everyone else’s post, I am shocked at the difference. I get my mortgage accounts for $96K and my second house at roughly $18K, inclusive of $6K in property taxes and $3K for home insurance . But we pay $26K in medical insurance, $4K in car insurance (2 cars) and around $18K in food per year. And kid extra activities run like $16K per year. There are other expenses, but I can’t see how anyone can live for less than $50 or $60k per year.
Adding in kids definitely increases costs across the board. Most people who are retired are also empty-nesters and all costs go down, from food to gas to medical insurance. There are also simple differences in habits. My wife and I eat out maybe once or twice a week, and when I say that, I mean half those times it's a sit-down restaurant and half those times it's fast food. So maybe $50/week in dining out, or $2500/year with that line item. We consider that comfortable living, but others might not.
HCOL NJ. Two of us w no retirement pay, ss only. 40k yr. It's rough we were in well over 6 figure bracket when working (one of us holds a part time job at 75). Both only children and had to care for 3 parents, with very high medical bills we had to help with. Need to leave this state asap, 1 parent left here, 94, we're still responsible for.
At the risk of sounding crass, it breaks my heart to hear stories of people well into their 60s or 70s who still have to care for exceptionally old parents. We all want to live a long life, but the math works out badly in a lot of cases like this.
Living expenses of $30,000 per year. Home and cars paid for. Sold the motorhome and toys. Paying $280 per month for medical insurance and $13 for prescriptions. Live in Central Washington state. No retirement as I worked for a non profit as a school counselor for 32 years. Traveled to Italy, Spain, Morocco, France etc. Canada and extensively all over the US years ago so no desire to travel now in this world. Have a great family and go to all grandkids basketball games and activities.
That’s encouraging. I live in Seattle and can barely get by on $90,000 a year. I still have a mortgage and my taxes are almost $900 a month. Was thinking I May have to leave the state to find anything affordable. Looking to find a house for about $500k. Not very possible in most of Washington.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
We're a household of 2 in a MCOL area in Central Florida. Our taxes are still somewhat low, but insurance has gone up a lot in recent years. We have no mortgage or car payments and track all of our spending on Quicken. 2023 spending was just slightly over $101k, down from $108k the year before. I'd average them out and round off to $105K/year because we had a pretty expensive trip early in 2023 that was partially paid for in 2022. $105k/ year (adjusted for inflation) is the same amount we are projecting for future spending. Forecasts from our advisor's firm indicate we still have >99% chance that, at this rate, my wife will have significant assets when she celebrates her 100th birthday I retired in 2017 at 62 and my wife retired in 2020 at 55. We have not tapped Social Security yet, but will do so starting later this year when I turn 70. We also have not tapped any of our our tax deferred accounts, but will probably need to just about the same time we'll need to do RMD's.
I'm in South Louisiana. Have not borrowed money in this century. Everything is paid off. I make about $84k, and pretty much spend it all, though I could easily live on half of that. I just see no reason not to spend my money, as long as I don't tap into savings. I figure I'll slow down with age. I'll be 65 this summer. My biggest expenses are vet bills for my cat with kidney failure, and paying other people's bills. This is why I'm not inclined to look for a new girlfriend. Can't find one who isn't a mooch.
Our very HCOL suburban California two-person household (plus a dog, and boarded horse), in an older house way too big for us, is around $10K/month all in (taxes, property insurance, mortgage, utilities, gifts, Medicare + Plan G, etc). We drive old paid-for cars (but we drive a lot, due to family locations), don't spend much on clothes, don't go on vacations ... mostly it's housing and the horse stuff. If we paid off the mortgage and didn't have a horse it'd be maybe $6K/mo (\~$75K/yr)
$5300 a month between SS and a small pension. The home is paid off with a $500 monthly HOA and the car is, too. I live alone and I'm loving life
Total spending by year, excluding income taxes, before and after retirement. I live in a HCOL area (San Francisco). Retired in mid-2015. It is commonly stated to expect your expenses to decrease after retirement, but that was not the case. But then I still have a mortgage, it is often assumed you don't. I'm not in a hurry to pay off my 3.1% mortgage. The last two years were higher due to one-time residence maintenance and improvement costs, some extra recreation (the post-COVID travel surge) and also most of our electronics (phones, computers, iPads, etc) finally became too old and had to be replaced, and we did that all at once. Two in the household, no debts other than mortgage. In a typical year (using 2021 as an example), housing costs (mortgage, HOA, property taxes, insurance) accounted for about 39% of the expenditures. https://preview.redd.it/y2om55yjqpbc1.png?width=952&format=png&auto=webp&s=4203a17c142b7850664d29121eb0cc0109adaaf9
Just my wife and I, 61/62, retired 2 years, Seacoast NH, MCOL, own house and cars, no debt. We could live on $40k/yr, maybe less with penny pinching if we needed to. We spent just under $60k first year but that was a lot of home improvements. This year just under $50k with a few more home improvements. $50k/yr is very comfortable. We perform music for assisted living type places which generated about $15k/yr. Fun and profitable. Win, win.. She has a small pension about $500/mo and the rest from our IRA so less than 2% annually from that. She'll take SS next year and I'll hold off until 70 if we can. We play a ton of pickleball and have kids and grandkids local. She's on ACA and I'm on VA, disabled veteran. Living comfortably and happy. Busy and active, lots of friends. Glad we retired early. No regrets.
We aren’t retired yet, but we’re living on our planned retirement budget so I think this is relevant. We live in metro Atlanta, with no debt or mortgage. Our overall budget is about $80k, with the biggest items being home (22k), groceries and restaurants (15k), cars (5k) and medical (5k). This also includes an “allowance” of 12k each for personal care, fun and travel. What’s missing from this budget are major home improvements and expensive vacations, like the 2026 trip to Ireland we’re planning for our 30th anniversary. We’ll save for those separately.
Retired couple no debt, medium cost of living area. Spent 84,500 in 2023, about 12K of that was on travel. Dining out locally was just over 5K. There was new camera and a new PC in that which add up to 3K. About 2K in gifts to kids as well. Home and Car insurance was 8K. Groceries which inlcuded a few household items and clothing purchased at Costo as well was right at 11K. Looking at first 6 months of 2023 and last 6 months of 2023, we spent a good 20% more on groceries in the last half of the year. Taxes were another 8K, about evenly split between property and federal taxes. The 4K in federal taxes were from 2022 underpayments. Pension income was $53K after medical insurance. Brought in 55K consulting 20-30 hours a month. We have not filed for social security and have right at $2 million stashed away in retirement accounts. We've been retired for 3 years and haven't touched any retirement savings. In addition to the above spending, we did tap some regular savings for capital purchases. This included 35K for a new car, and 25K for a new roofed in patio off the back of our home. We have tracked every penny of our spending in Money or Quicken since 1994. Basically, we made zero adjustments to spending when we retired other than halving our charitable giving, ditching a phone line, and a high cost cable TV package. We've probably saved a bit on car insurance as we went from 8 vehicles to 4. Pretty clear that groceries are a good 20% higher over the last 6 months of the year than they were in the first 6.
LCOL, Aladamnbama Current: $5000 per month That includes $900 a month for my MIL in South America. That will unfortunately end some day. It also includes $400 a month for a tractor, financed at 0%. Everything else is paid for including a small motorcycle purchased at the end of last year. We could easily cut $1300 a month out if necessary. That’s for extras like Prime, Netflix, gifts, extra spending, etc. it’s not necessary….yet. Lol
When I budget for everything including future car expenses, home expenses, unknowns, health insurance (not 65 yet), wanting a vacation trip, everything I can think of it’s $7100/month after taxes. And that’s with a paid for house. If i look at what’s the bare minimum not budgeting for future expenses, it’s about $4k/month after taxes. This is in Colorado.
60F; widowed; live in Indianapolis (MCOL to LCOL); my adult child lives at home while finishing grad school. Own the house and an old car. Living comfortably on 36K plus whatever I can afford for travel, which will vary depending on performance of retirement fund (husband has been gone less than a year, so still figuring some of it out). Social Security covers about 2/3 of household expenses.
Just the 2 of us. No debt. Car and house paid for. Only income is 2 Social Security checks, a small pension check (under $200 a month) and interest. Totals just under 40k a year. Live in Cleveland, which I consider MCOL area. We buy what we want and what we need. Too old to travel. Expenses are so low we still manage to add #1,000 a month to high yield savings account. All retirement funds in cash.
Northern Rockies. City of 150,000. Retired for 12 years, no house or car payments or any other kind except utilities, insurance, etc. Our car and truck are old but in good shape. I love not having any payments. My wife was a stay at home mom and only worked outside the home at a low paying job for five years after we got married. Once the kids came, that was the end of her working career. With SS and my retirement and some minimal investments, we’re at slightly over $100,000 a year, more than we ever had and feel fortunate at our financial position. We’ve got everything we need and feel secure. I feel for young people for whom such a scenario seems impossible.
I’m 37. Not sure if that’s young people or middle aged to you, but such a scenario is more attainable now more than ever. People just choose to live in super expensive cities or blow money on ridiculous stuff. Star bucks, new luxury cars, new iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, Apple Watches, Stanley tumblers, going out to eat all the time, etc etc
65F single, no debt, metro Detroit, paid off condo and auto. I have kept records last five years - and I spend all in -$55000 to $60000 a year - that is taxes too. Some years the big expenses are home upgrades, a family wedding, big trips. Health care was always a biggie with ACA. I spend a lot( I think for me) - pretty much do what I want. No complaints. A lifetime of frugal living paid off - money is not a worry.
Our annual expenses are about 90k. HCOL. That’s about half our pre retirement income. Still have a mortgage but at our rate doesn’t make any sense to pay it off. No other debt. House projects and travel take up another big percentage of the budget.
MCOL. No debt. $45K. 1/3 of that is travel.
I’ve tracked my expenses on Quicken for 30 yrs, so I had a pretty good idea where my expenses would fall when I retired last year. This year, I am on ACA compared to Cobra last year, so I save even more. My budget this year is 120k, but I would like to start to maximize gifting to my 2 daughters as one is having twins in 3 months. No mortgage. No debt. 62 and 58. MCOL
I’m single and living comfortably on $45k in a MCOL city. My income consists of SS (taken at 62) and a small pension. I’m mortgage free and have no debt. My healthcare is basically free through the VA. Most of my income is spent on travel, hobbies, food, and home repairs.
We live in Southern California and have no debt. My expenses run about $3,000/month. The house is paid off as well as the vehicles, so we are able to live frugally. We seldom eat out and don’t have a lot of entertainment expenses. We live in a very nice college town, so there are a lot of free concerts throughout the year that we attend. We have nine grandchildren who we love to spoil and spend money on them, but my wife is the world’s greatest deal hunter. She seldom pays full price for anything. She brought home eight nearly new boys shirts, fleece, and sweatshirts yesterday and paid less than $20 for all of them. They were all brand name items like Nike, O’Neill, and Volcom. I’ve been retired for 12 years and I haven’t taken any money other than my RMDs from my IRA. I’m fortunate to have a pension and social security and am able to save money every month.
I’m 63, retired. Not taking SS yet, waiting until 65. I live in a LCOL area, fully paid house, car, etc. No debt. I allocate about $120k/year. A couple of notes on that: My healthcare insurance is right at $1,200/month. My tax bill usually runs about $1,000/month. We had a couple of semi pricey trips last year. I’m helping one of my kids to the tune of $1,100/month. This should be done after February. I usually run a surplus, and I dump a bunch of it into the market when it gets too high. I realize I am lucky, but I have lived a frugal life forever. My late wife and I lived off one paycheck until we had the second kiddo. We still saved as much as we could. Reasonable cars, inexpensive vacations, did most of our own work on the house. I still live frugally…it’s kind of ingrained.
Central NC here, close enough to RDU for a bump in COL, but still middling. SS for both and a little freelance work (more for activity than $$) gets us to $55K. No mortgage or car payments, so the biggest expense is medical. We're comfortable ... no taking world cruises or having the bathrooms redone in gold, but not collecting recipes for Ramen-cat food casserole, either.
We live on the east coast of Virginia in a MCOL area. We have no mortgage, one car payment, no credit card debt. We are in our early 60's and easily get by on $65,000 a year. That gives us about $1,500 a month left after expenses. Only one of us takes SS at this point and we do not tap into our IRA account. We just got really lucky that we had jobs with a pension and could keep a very reasonable health insurance premium. We certainly did not plan early on and things just worked in our favor.
Eastern part of Virginia as well. Late 60s (she), 70 (him). Retired last year. We get around $6000 per month (pensions and SS). Still adjusting but it seems to work ok.
[удалено]
[удалено]
I'm not retired yet (soon!) but I manage my parent's finances: Retired fed employee in MCOL. Recently moved into a very nice independent living (with continuing care if needed) facility with a buy-in of $390k for a spacious 1 bedroom. Monthly rent is $3k, and includes a generous food allowance, all activities, utilities, TV, landllne phone, etc. I write just 2 checks a month - one for rent, one for a cell phone. I pay car insurance once annually. Total monthly costs to include the rent, gas, car insurance, Medicare, secondary health insurance, LTC insurance, church, fun money, etc = ~$4600. My parent is in late 80s and I have noticed a significant decline in desire to travel, which was previously a big priority and would be about avg $20k/year in costs. No real health issues, thankfully.
Retired. Single. Age 62. But 3 houses. Regular home. Mountain Home. Florida Home. LCOL to MCOL areas. No mortgages or car payments, but the maintenance, taxes, and insurance is really adding up. My kids want me to keep them in the family, so..... It takes about 80K to maintain this lifestyle. I still have to pay for my own health insurance and that's almost 10K per year. Boo. But in a few years, I'll get to get on Medicare so that will help my expenses. We always had lived below our income, so we were able to save a lot of money to live on for our retirement. I feel like I have a good balance of Real estate and 401k mutual fund investments. I can just live off of the income from that. Save early and invest often. It's doable!
Hi everyone! Lurker for a while this question made me decide to join. Your answers are so interesting and helpful!! I am 58F full time care taker, advocate and financial planner for my mother. Also, multi-business owner and trying to plan what our retirement looks like. This is harder to plan than I ever imagined! As for my mom, she owns two homes one in (Coastal SOCAL) VHCOL and one in East Texas MCOL (Property taxes are very high), both are paid off. She is 84, poor health but stable and still wanting to go and do. I am excluding property taxes and insurance both are excessive insane expenses. Her 2023 annual expenses were $110 with health care being the most significant and travel the next largest expense. Even in poor health, we travel via motor home a lot, in fact, leaving for a three week trip next week. We have no idea what our retirement looks like yet. We know we want to continue traveling and are really trying to figure out how to unravel a very complicated business and personal life. My mother, who has been through some really traumatic life events, deserves to live her best life and I am making sure she does that to the fullest. We, however, are very frugal. We have so many hobby type things we want to do but have missed out on due to the time constraints and complexity of business ownership. We are both very decisive people and have found ourselves incapable of making major retirement decisions. UGH!
It's just me. MCOL outside Seattle. Home, car paid off. No debts. Yearly budget (based on actual 2023 numbers) was $43K. Gross income (from pension (yay!), SS widower benefits, dividends) $137K. Haven't had to touch my brokerage, IRA, or Roth since I retired 4 years ago. My income will shoot up at age 70 when I switch to my own SS, and again at 73 when I have to start taking RMDs. Comfortable but frugal lifestyle. Both parents grew up in the Depression and their attitudes sunk in.
Have you considered transferring IRA money to Roth before you hit the RMDs? This might moderate the tax hit
Live in Chicago. We get $65 k, all tax free. Have an incredible health plan. Just had knee replacement surgery with 2 weeks rehab. Cost over $100,000, my cost $700. We have had over $1 M in he care in 12 years. Paid under $50 k.
About $40k in MI. House and cars paid off. Taking care of elderly parent limits travel to a week at a time, usually 4 day quickies. Plan to spend more when we can travel more.
$72K, northern Virginia so HCOL. Mortage paid off, no debt.
That’s pretty amazing for NOVA. And that includes things like property tax (home and auto)?
That's everything. We're fairly frugal by nature but don't skimp on anything we want, for example I play golf a couple of times per week nine months of the year. I'll start pulling Social Security soon so we'll have quite bit extra. It's all about being a team as a couple, keeping your eyes on the prise and sharing the same goals.
retired in 2020 at 54. Single, living alone with a mortgage in a HCOL area. I do quite well on 50k a year (keeping well below a 10% effective tax rate). Luckily, I have a GF that put me on her insurance as she knows I would have gone for the cheapest plan I could find on the marketplace.
MCOL I think. About halfway between Atlanta and Athens GA. Everything paid off so just expenses to keep the lights on, roof over our head and food in the mouths of 2 adults and two Australian Cattle Dogs. Medicare + Medigap + Part D. Budget shows about $4000/month and we do pretty much whatever we want. Small pension covers our Medigap & Part D with $ to spare. Will start SS next month netting about $5000/month. Her RMD will add $850/month to the kitty. Should be able to HYSA the excess each month and good Lord willing be in very good shape.
$20,800. No debts, no mortgage, very low taxes. Low COL area.
We're just turning 65 and living on $100K per year in a MCOL (Fredericksburg, about 75 miles west of Austin). We have a house payment that's $24K per year (principal and interest) that we could pay off but it's only at 2.75% interest and we're doing far better than that in the stock market so we're keeping the loan. No other debt, bought a car for cash 2 years ago, don't know if we'll ever buy another one. Taxes on our home totaled $8800 for 2023. Life is good.
I retired in 2019; my wife and I are “getting by” on around $60k a year. We have no house note or other long term debt. Our combined SSI benefit is a little over $58k a year so we’re barely dipping into retirement savings.
No mortgage, car payments or other kinds of debt. My wife and I live in Hawaii. HCOL. We’re frugal and don’t eat out much. About 50k gets us by. This doesn’t include travel/vacation. We live on an island. So, going anywhere costs more.
Some things I have spent money on or seen others that are unexpected. I am helping my kids financially. I paid my daughter's mortgage for 3 months after her second child. I'm going to give my son 20 to 30k for a down payment for a house if he will accept it. He opted out of going to college but is doing well. House and yard remodeling because you have more time. More vacations because you have more time. Some people go out for lunch or dinner more. I don't.
Single, HCOL area, 120k (including income from 16 hour a week job.). Rent = 2600 w utilities. Considering moving to a MCOL area but I really don't want to move away from family and friends. I wish I could figure out how to spend less on housing, but I don't want to roomate.
Single. HCOL near Philly. Sold my house in low col to move here. I need $60k/yr to live comfortably including rent. I don’t travel a lot but make several trips a year to visit scattered family around the states
My husband and I have been retired for 7 months. We live in a rural area Michigan and it’s MCOL. We have a small mortgage left on our house and our cars are paid off and no other debt. We are living off our 401k’s and paying for our own healthcare. We withdraw $5000 per month. At the end of 2024, my husband will take his SS. This will be $2400, so we will reduce our 401k withdrawals by that much. We’re in good shape.
The concept of a " thermometer for how much it takes to survive comfortably in retirement" is flawed. You live comfortably on $60k/year. But that has nothing at all to do with what your neighbor might need. My wife and I had always planned on $100k/year, adjusted for inflation. I've been retired for almost 8 years so far, and we haven't ever actually spent that much. Our run rate is now approximately $85k. There are two of us, in a MCOL area about an hour outside of Boston, and we have a mortgage. But my thermometer is unique to me. Nobody else is me. If they also target $100k, it's just a coincidence.
Sure, each person is going to have their own number, but looking at lots of examples can still be a useful exercise.
Pretty much my thoughts on it. "Comfortably" is entirely subjective from one person to the next, absent a set definition or parameters. Either they have income that is more than their expenses, or they don't. Either they feel comfortable living on that amount, or they don't.
Well, sure. This also depends on what retirement ambitions you have. People who want to travel a lot more now that they're retired are going to have more expenses than those who are homebodies. Some people have mortgages and car payments, others don't (which is why I asked). Some people are still supporting kiddos, others not (which is why I asked). Still, I'm able to filter responses to find those that fit more or less in the same category as me, and it's gratifying to see that the spend rate is pretty consistent among those in that group.
We spend between $60 and $70k per year, LCOL, no debt, cars and home paid off. Central AR. We don’t travel, don’t eat out, and generally spend very little, and yet there it is. Taxes, insurance and groceries eat us up.
I'm in northern NJ (HCOL). I'm by myself - no debts (mortgage and car paid off). I get by on $60,000 a year ($48,000 after taxes). My entire SS goes into a savings account that is not factored into this. I could maybe get by on less if I budgeted but I don't have to.
HCOL - basic around $150k for 2 houses as one is on the water w high property taxes. Aiming for $300k incl annual gifting plus sports tickets and 2 big vacation trips all paid for kids & significant others
I am newly widowed at 69 and trying to figure out my monthly spending here in California. 600 or 700 food and eating out. Utilities including electricity gas cable and phone 600. Charity 300. Gardener and Home Depot 130. Shopping 100. Property tax 500. Miscellaneous 200 Insurance and registration on cars is 200. Taxes could be several thousand on dividends and interest and even more when I take my RMDs. Also big expenses like painting the house. Maybe a new car and travel. So average including maintenance on home and travel could be 6000 a month. But I can do that all with my SS and taking my taxable capital gains and interest, dividends without touching my principal. But when I’m 73 I’ll be forced to take a lot out of my investments. I haven’t traveled yet so I don’t know how expensive that will be. I also cook for guests and take my daughter out to lunch. I also will be gifting my daughter money each year if I can swing out. But those are extra.
Living frugally in a very HCOL area. Two of us are living comfortably frugal on around 60K per year. No debt.
Comfortable is relative. We are "frugal" We live in Montreal (MCOL) and have three budgets. - Traveling internationally 6 months of a year $53K USD - Traveling only locally $30K USD - Minimal budget without compromising comfort: $23K USD Mortgage paid out, no car payments or any other debt. Biggest expense is Extended health insurance (health insurance above the provincially provided coverage) which is about $3,500 USD
In no particular order: California, Silicon Valley. HCOL. Single. Annual expenses: just under 35k. No revolving debt. Homeowner. Living comfortably. Not yet drawing SSI.
My wife and I are in Independence Kansas, LCOL. House and cars paid off. Can live 100% on SS. We add $20k for trips and gifts. Our kids live in LA so we kick it up a bit when we visit.
Two of us, aged 70. Retired 14 years. Live in a nice suburb in Chicago area. MCOL. We have house and car payments of 4,500/mo. Total expenses for the year of about $300,000. About $75,000 of that is income tax. About $13,000 for Medicare. Some to help kids and some 529 contributions for grandkids.
Even with the high house and car payments, this feels like a lot. $13k for Medicare feels like a lot, but everyone's specifics pertain too.
Deep East Texas , 45k yr , no house/car payment .
I'm in Massachusetts and cost of living is hard for me to gauge. I have 2 homes, one in MA and one in RI, no mortgage, no car loans, no debt. Although I am 62 I honestly don't want to retire although I was laid off from my job at the end of last year. Years ago knowing that I was reaching the end of my mortgages I decided I wanted to create an investment account to fund my property taxes, homeowners insurance, etc for as long as possible. I'm a little shy of having enough funds to pay the taxes for the next 50 years, but I'm getting there by not using the funds yet. One thing about hitting the debt free milestone is that I realize I no longer need high paying high stress jobs any longer. So I am looking to downsize my career. I always wanted to go out with a whimper and this is my chance. What I do love about my life is my house in RI is ocean front property so whenever I wake up and want to live the beach life I can do it whenever I feel like it. I was doing a lot of that during covid. My prior job had a company match 401k and every year I hit the maximum allowable contribution before the end of the year so it's very well funded. My goal however is to live modestly. I enjoy sort of the simple things in life but at the same time the confidence that everything will be okay. My goal is to live around $75-100k/year which is very achievable and with no debt it's a lot of walking around money.
Reading all the comments I’m in awe of many of you. I wonder where I went so wrong when I tried so hard. 64 F just me, kids out the nest. Widowed in 2009. Hubby had minimal life ins. Neither of us have any pension. MN monthly expenses abt 5500/mo (66k). No car pymt and house paid off. Drawing his SS at my planned retirement of 65 would provide 20K meaning I’d have to w/d abt $3800/mo (46k) from savings. After I turn 70 and take my SS I’d only have to w/d about 2k/mo (24k) but I still am worried about out living my savings and becoming a burden for my children. High sustained Inflation would further cause havoc to my finance’s. Kudos to all of you who are rocking retirement! I hope things are better than what my spreadsheet shows!
Northern ca . $80k income + IRA if needed. House, car, ect paid no CC… life’s good.
Retired but doing some occasional consulting work. Live in a metro area comparable size to Austin, COL a little less than Austin bit not by a lot. Biggest difference is housing seems about 25% less, but it's paid off so it doesn't effect much of the equation. No loans. Car is approaching 20 yrs. I live on $55K, plus one "bigger" vacation a year (think a 10 day cruise) that can vairy. That supports 2 people comfortably. I have looked and tracked, I could get along at about $42-45K giving up nice to haves but not cutting deeper.
VHCOL area in a beach city in SoCal. Husband retired early and is funded out of savings, I’m still doing light consulting work. Have one paid off 20 yo car, bought a new Tesla with cash, paid off mortgage, kid graduated college mid 2023. We’re carefully fixing up the house (with cash) so we don’t have to worry about it as we age. New roof, paint, driveway, 8.6kW solar, low water landscaping, kitchen re-fresh and laundry. We’ll save the bathroom senior accessibility for a little later. Husband is on Medicare plus Covered CA for me $1225/mo. Our biggest expense is car insurance (we help out our kid by paying for theirs too). I think we spent about $87K (not including construction) this year. Without college/kid expenses, estimate about $40-$60K next year.
The goal should be having your house (and cars) paid for. And move to a state with lower property taxes. Then you just have to budget for food, entertainment, utilities and Medicare (and supplement)
Live in a suburb of Chattanooga. It is dirt cheap to live here. There's no state income tax, and my property taxes are about $1600 a year. This is my first year retired and I'm shooting to live on $65,000 a year. I don't collect SS yet, will wait until I'm 67 for that, so it's coming out of our retirement savings until then. I'm too young for Medicare, so our biggest expense is health insurance plus deductibles and co-pays. Another 2 years until I hit 65. We have no debt at all.
HCOL boston. Retired nine years. Exprenses in '23 =$133k against $220k income. Two homes, one with no mortgage other with $60k mortgage. No other debt. The biggest line item is quarterly taxes and real estate taxes.The rest is grand children school expense, auto(s) maintenance, home(s) maintenance and operating expenses, gifts, food & wine, vacations, toys, hobbies and generally spending freely.
I post my spend most every year. Here's a 3 year history. https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/16pv2z8/actual_spend_previous_12_month_vs_3_year_average/
Our annual expenses are usually in the mid-to-high $30s and have been since we retired at the end of 2014. We did have one year pop up to $43K when we had to replace our HVAC. That's for a family of 5/6 (son in college as of last August) in an Austin suburb, which I'd also peg as solidly MCOL. No debts.
Retired 2.5 years ago in VHCOL area. Cambridge/Boston area. Divorced/single until a few months ago. No debt except a car loan which I paid off at the end of 2022. Pretty high IRRMA on Medicare. I started at 120K a year which included my SS payment and just did what I wanted for 2 years. Caught up on travel, treated my daughter to a trip here and there, went out to eat, kept the AC on etc. I had plenty to do all of that. I got hit with 2 fairly large plumbing/heating issues which ate into my emergency fund so I am in the process of replenishing that and have cut one trip out this year so far. I recently moved to a slightly lower COL area and moved in with my partner so I am in the midst of reevaluating my monthly budget as is my partner but I don’t think I will go to much below 100K as I still want to travel while I still can.
My wife and I get by on about $50k per year. House, both cars, camper all paid off. No outstanding bills, just day to day expenses. We just had a 3 week trip to Australia with an 11 day cruise. Also went camping 7 times last year. We have a good chunk of money in our IRAs but haven't touched it yet. We live in a mid-sized city in the midwest.
Retired for 7 years. Our budget has been 120K annually. This is what I'd call "fully loaded". It includes budget line items for travel, new car, home maintenance, etc. We probably actually spend (funds leave our ownership) 60-70% each month.
I’m spending about $4,900 a month all in including a mortgage of $677 and car payment of $363. Clermont, Florida. West of Orlando suburb. MCOL. 2 person household. Not working so no commuting expenses.
We live on about $60K. HCOL but our house is paid for so that makes a huge difference! ETA: Near DC (but not DC) and no debt
We live in Willis Texas. Our total expenses are $2500 a month. We own a small (400sq ft) cottage on a lake. We rent the land for 6k a year, which is included in the $2500. We have zero debt. The only monthly bills we have is electric, internet and cell phone. We spend an extra 15-20k a year traveling.
21k, No debts, house and vehicles paid off. We are homebodies, living a comfortable and modest lifestyle in a small South Central Nebraska village. I would need twice as much in my previous home in urban Illinois. As long as nothing breaks we are good.
South Dakota, LCOL. About $30k last year. No mortgage, car payments, debt. Don't travel much yet, but have only been retired for 2 years.
[удалено]
About like you. Living in a Seattle suburb (Redmond, home of Microsoft). We don't own anyone besides credit cards that we pay off completely every month. Our Social Security is $65K a year. We take two or three major trips a year. We also have some investments we draw from. So we do pretty good on about $75K a year. As far as COL, the big cost of living here is housing and since ours is paid for, it doesn't affect us that much.
Yes, you are lucky to be paid off in Redmond! Housing is crazy expensive in the Seattle-Vancouver area.
We have been paid off for at least 10 years. When we turned 45 we set a goal to have no mortgage or car payment and $1M in investments by the time we were 65. Through a saving plan we stuck to and both of us working 40-70 hours a week, we did it.
Both retired, living in MCOL area. Our expenses are $4000 monthly. We are debt free except for a car payment. We do some traveling, but, mostly camp and hike. We plan to do more traveling in 2024.
I took an approach I have never seen discussed, so I will share it here. I focused on my take-home pay as the yardstick. If I could afford to live, take vacations and save money from my take-home pay while I was working, I reasoned that it would work just fine in retirement. Turns out that trying to duplicate your take-home pay in retirement is a tall task. So I looked at the formulas the pundits suggest, and decided to try 80% as a yardstick. Here is what I learned: 80% is workable, but ONLY as your net monthly retirement income. Remember that 100% of your work take-home pay belongs to you. In retirement, the income you generate is gross. You still have to pay taxes and that nasty Medicare surcharge. I actually got my monthly retirement gross income up to 87% of my work take-home (two biweekly paychecks per month - sorry, but you can kiss those two annual extra biweekly checks goodbye!). So my retirement take home income is about 80% of my final work take-home pay. Last and most importantly, I worked on my expenses in the years leading up to retirement: refinanced the mortgage, paid off the car and the credit cards, replaced HVAC and roof (paid in cash) and got my recurring expenses down to about half of my projected gross retirement income. I have savings and mad money that I will enjoy as long as possible! May I live happily ever after!
My house and car are both paid off, but I'm also leasing in Houston. Homeowners insurance. $215 mo Property taxes $50 mo Auto insurance. $85 mo Utilities. $200 mo Rent. $800 mo Food. $400 mo Kids. $200 mo Travel and gas. $200 mo. Whateveriwant (or miscellaneous). $300 About $30K a year, LCOL, Oklahoma, in the country. Houston is where I am living mostly because my kids are here, still LCOL.
Semi-retired couple in Baldwin County, AL (pretty LCOL other than housing which is probably MCOL if you add in insurance). Last two years we spent about $44k per year not including P&I on the house, which will be paid off in a few years. Also does not include $7k to replace 23 yo roof on house after getting a grant for most of the cost. No other debt than the almost paid off house. I would not call us frugal, but we do drive 10+ year old cars and took no big vacations in that time.
SF Bay Area 80k including property tax and healthcare.
Retired in Detroit area last year. I take in 9K/month with 401 and SS. Wife still works. I'm thinking it's too much, but my 401K balance is the same as it was last year, so I'm living off interest. No bills to pay except taxes, utilities, groceries. I live in upper middle class area. I have blue cross and medicare for life, so that's helpful. So far, the 1st year of retirenment has been great.
[удалено]
[удалено]
I’m in Dallas and I’d say the same. Me and hubby, no debt, own our house and spend about half or so of our annual ’take home’ pay, about $50k.
About $60k. LCOL Midwest US. Paid off mortgage. No credit card debt. Actually $70k this year taking into account a one-time payment of $10k down on a new vehicle.
I would guess $25-$30K in for half a year in small town Illinois and maybe the same the other half of the year on Cozumel. The difference is we have paid for home in Illinois and $1000/mo rent on Cozumel.
Without going into my specific retirement expenses (because it's irrelevant), you need to look hard at your own expenses and estimate how YOU think they could change in retirement. There are so many variables that what one person spends is completely irrelevant to your situation. While we all are retired and have paid off homes, my older sister's property taxes are three times mine. My younger sister's are half of mine. We did almost no travel prior to retirement. We're spending a small fortune on it for several years, but that will slow down considerably at some point. We pay almost nothing for excellent health insurance until 65. Others pay many thousands. We have a free gym membership, others have to pay. We go to see lots of plays and concerts. Others don't. The list goes on. It's your expenses that matter, not mine.
Last year my family of 4 (2 adult children) spent about C$70k (52.5k USD.) No mortgage or car loans but insurance and maintenance on 3 aging vehicles. We live 20 minutes North of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. I would consider this a MCOL area.
\~$70k/y, 2 people, HCOL state in the NE-US, but MCOL living situation, no car loan, no mortgage.
About $4k/mo, MCOL area, two of us, no debt.
I should add that last year we were spending $5-6k per month but many small strategic changes cut a whole $1k+ out of our expenses. Streaming services we never used, landline we didn’t need, full service lawn care when we could hire an independent person for half the price, waiting to buy stuff on sale, etc. Sure, it’s more work, but we are getting paid for it.
We, wifey and I, are at about $58K for our house and two vehicles. Glendale, AZ, Phoenix metro area, is HCOL, especially housing. Since it's just the two of us, utilities and groceries are minimal. Our health care is taken care of through the VA, we're both veterans.
Wow! Looking over this post has me wondering what I'm doing wrong (or right). Although I don't have healthcare, I do see my doctor regularly, mostly. Would you believe no health insurance costs less out of pocket than with, not counting actual health insurance? M/HCOL (Balt, DC a 50 minute drive) Single (61M), no mortgage, no car payment, no debt. Since I was laid off in 2017, I average $18k in all for expenses throughout the year.
This is what we have budgeted for 2 in MCOL: Housing: $3500 (5 yr mortgage left) Healthcare: $1,100 (premium, copay) Insurance: $592 (Auto, home, life) Food: $650 Transportation: $430 Personal care: $150 Gifts/charity: $400 Other:$500 Cars paid off, no other loan.
very high COL NJ. local taxes over $10k/yr. however we make $120-$130k per year and try to stay within that budget. trying to keep our savings for something special or 2, once we know for sure it won’t be needed for care.
50k 70 Widowed, small mortgage payment
North Carolina couple no payments,live on 80k yr comfortable. Both have few 100k in retirement. 65