I don’t remember where I read I don’t remember where I read the quote years ago, but it basically said to the effect – if it doesn’t hurt then you’re not saving enough. Most likely from one of the Ben Stein’s books. In recent years I started to put that in action $100 at a time. I got it down to where our household annual expenses is down to about $60K/year. I think I could get it down to < $50k/year. I think we live well. Don't have many expenses other than mortgage and eating out. Now that I think about it, we spend way too much on eating out.
all
September 14, 2016 @
8:46 AM
ltsdd wrote:I don’t remember [quote=ltsdd]I don’t remember where I read the quote years ago, but it basically said to the effect – if it doesn’t hurt then you’re not saving enough. Most likely from one of the Ben Stein’s books. In recent years I started to put that in action $100 at a time. I got it down to where our household annual expenses is down to about $60K/year. I think I could get it down to < $50k/year. I think we live well. Don't have many expenses other than mortgage and eating out. Now that I think about it, we spend way too much on eating out.[/quote]
Kids?
cvmom
September 14, 2016 @
12:21 PM
all wrote:
Kids?
Kids in [quote=all]
Kids?[/quote]
Kids in college?
ltsddd
September 14, 2016 @
7:03 PM
Yes
No
The purpose of what I Yes
No
The purpose of what I am doing is to see what is the absolute minimum that we could live on without changing our lifestyle and whether or not we could reproduce that level of income in retirement……the numbers looking better and better with each passing year.
bobby
September 14, 2016 @
7:28 PM
about $30K/year – don’t about $30K/year – don’t really keep track (hence “about). This is after mortgage and prop taxes. Don’t really have any expenses except eating out.
no travels for past 10 years – work work work (working all the time also cuts down on spending 🙂 )
SK in CV
September 14, 2016 @
7:54 PM
My wife and I have spent just My wife and I have spent just over $29,000 this year. There have been a few anomalies, and I suspect we’ll be at about $50K by the end of the year. I was actually pretty shocked. Neither of us are big spenders, we don’t buy stuff we don’t need. But we have had $3K in dental bills, and spent about $5K on the house we bought the end of last year, neither of which should be recurring. We’ve also taken a round trip to Florida, 2 round trips to Minnesota (1 of them by car, and spent a total of 2 weeks on the road), plus I went to Sacramento once, and she went to NY once. We’ve already paid for all the flights and about 1/2 the hotels for a 2 week trip to Europe next month. Since March, we’ve had to pay for medical insurance ($800/mo).
We talked about it last night, she was shocked too how little we spend. We could spend quite a bit more and not be stretched. But we feel like we’re living pretty well.
ltsddd
September 14, 2016 @
8:44 PM
You guys are putting me to You guys are putting me to shame with your #s. I have been putting off on squeezing that next $100 for too long. I am going to get the expenses down to $1000/week by year end.
no_such_reality
September 15, 2016 @
7:40 AM
Jimho, it’s a bit pointless Jimho, it’s a bit pointless comparing grand totals across spectrum.
On our block, there’s over an $8000 a year spread on property tax alone. One family has four kinds ranging from 13-20 in the house, we have an elementary age child, another new buyer has two preschool and preggo and another older retired couples kids are all moved out.
You can redo things like mortgage and peel Money off there, but comparing across is a bit pointless. If your family or financial situation necessitated buying in the last couple years your cost a very different based on when exactly bought. In fact when you’ve bought in the last fifteen years makes a pretty big difference.
You could look at categories like dining, groceries, utilities and entertainment to see if you’re way out compared to others in your situation.
SK in CV
September 15, 2016 @
7:48 AM
no_such_reality wrote:Jimho, [quote=no_such_reality]Jimho, it’s a bit pointless comparing grand totals across spectrum.
On our block, there’s over an $8000 a tear spread on property tax alone. One family has four kinds ranging from 13-20 in the house, we have an elementary age child, another new buyer has two preschool and preggo and another older retired couples kids are all moved out.
You can redo things like mortgage and peel Money off there, but comparing across is a bit pointless. If your family or financial situation necessitated buying in the last couple years your cost a very different based on when exactly bought. In fact when you’ve bought in the last fifteen years makes a pretty big difference.
You could look at categories like dining, groceries, utilities and entertainment to see if you’re way out compared to others in your situation.[/quote]
Very true. My highest expense years were when I had 2 in college. They added at least $35K each and housing was >$3K plus, v $1300 plus now. I easily spent 3 times what I spend now, probably for all 6 years I had at least 1 in college (undergrad, they paid for grad school). Utilities are going to be a function of the size of the house and number of occupants. Dining, groceries and entertainment are some of the few variables that can be controlled after a home is chosen.
no_such_reality
September 15, 2016 @
9:09 AM
Some utilities are reflective Some utilities are reflective of the house, some reflective of choices. Electricity consumption and AC usage is affected by the house. And affected by the choices of how cool, when cooled, how cooled (fans, whole house fan, AC efficiency etc) solar, water use, gas or no gas etc.
Other. Like cell phone bill, TV, Internet, are not
Then there are the services: gardener, maid, child care I consider those semi utilities. And ironically. If you use them while working you’re actually quite unlikely to cut them after retirement.
Coronita
September 15, 2016 @
10:15 AM
I stopped trying to count my I stopped trying to count my expenditures, since it was taking too long. What I do is set target goals on how much of money goes to savings/investments per year, and figure out each month if I’m above or below the target per month.
Currently, I’m allocated so that my yearly contributions are
(1)
$18k/yr into a 401k/Roth 401k split 50/50
$25k/yr into my employers employee stock purchase plan
$24k/yr into my after tax index fund basket
(2)
$5k /yr into my kid’s 529 college savings plan.
$14k/year into a a UGMA custodial account for my kid
(3)
$20k/yr into an emergency fund to deal with unexpected expenses funded from positive cash flow of rental properties,
*My target is a 4% return on (1) is 4% annually
*My asset allocation on (2) is the most aggressive possible, so see where it ends up 10-15 years later.
*My allocation on (3) is low interest CD, money market, and tiny percentage in munis, in case the economy blows up…
Anything left is for expenses, hobbies, vacations etc,
With a 4% return annually and a regular contribution of that amount for 10 years, I’m hoping that will set aside about $800k per decade, before tax consequences. Usually, that’s a conservative savings investment, since for example, I haven’t had a need to tap into the emergency fund, and net cash flow from rentals after taxes has been well above my targets, since well, rental income has been steadily rising lately. But I”m not counting on that to last indefinitely.
Meanwhile, drip drip drip into those accounts.
ltsddd
September 15, 2016 @
2:03 PM
flu wrote:I stopped trying to [quote=flu]I stopped trying to count my expenditures, since it was taking too long. What I do is set target goals on how much of money goes to savings/investments per year, and figure out each month if I’m above or below the target per month.
[/quote]
That’s exactly how I do it also. No line-by-line budget. Keep it simple, sock the $$ away into investment accounts and fixed expenditures first. Whatever left over is spent however we wish. Tracking each and every $$ on how it being spent is just crazy.
La Jolla Renter
September 18, 2016 @
9:36 PM
nanny for one $2k a nanny for one $2k a month
health ins. for 3 $1.5k a month
car payment one car 850 a month
piti $4,300 per mo.
etc etc.
no wonder I’m broke.
earlyretirement
September 21, 2016 @
3:29 PM
I religiously track I religiously track everything in Quicken and have for years.
It’s sad considering I have no mortgage as my house is paid off but I typically spend on average about $20,000 per month. A bit sickening. But our biggest line item expense by a mile is traveling.
But everything just adds up when you have young kids in the household.
September 13, 2016 @ 10:38 PM
I don’t remember where I read
I don’t remember where I read the quote years ago, but it basically said to the effect – if it doesn’t hurt then you’re not saving enough. Most likely from one of the Ben Stein’s books. In recent years I started to put that in action $100 at a time. I got it down to where our household annual expenses is down to about $60K/year. I think I could get it down to < $50k/year. I think we live well. Don't have many expenses other than mortgage and eating out. Now that I think about it, we spend way too much on eating out.
September 14, 2016 @ 8:46 AM
ltsdd wrote:I don’t remember
[quote=ltsdd]I don’t remember where I read the quote years ago, but it basically said to the effect – if it doesn’t hurt then you’re not saving enough. Most likely from one of the Ben Stein’s books. In recent years I started to put that in action $100 at a time. I got it down to where our household annual expenses is down to about $60K/year. I think I could get it down to < $50k/year. I think we live well. Don't have many expenses other than mortgage and eating out. Now that I think about it, we spend way too much on eating out.[/quote] Kids?
September 14, 2016 @ 12:21 PM
all wrote:
Kids?
Kids in
[quote=all]
Kids?[/quote]
Kids in college?
September 14, 2016 @ 7:03 PM
Yes
No
The purpose of what I
Yes
No
The purpose of what I am doing is to see what is the absolute minimum that we could live on without changing our lifestyle and whether or not we could reproduce that level of income in retirement……the numbers looking better and better with each passing year.
September 14, 2016 @ 7:28 PM
about $30K/year – don’t
about $30K/year – don’t really keep track (hence “about). This is after mortgage and prop taxes. Don’t really have any expenses except eating out.
no travels for past 10 years – work work work (working all the time also cuts down on spending 🙂 )
September 14, 2016 @ 7:54 PM
My wife and I have spent just
My wife and I have spent just over $29,000 this year. There have been a few anomalies, and I suspect we’ll be at about $50K by the end of the year. I was actually pretty shocked. Neither of us are big spenders, we don’t buy stuff we don’t need. But we have had $3K in dental bills, and spent about $5K on the house we bought the end of last year, neither of which should be recurring. We’ve also taken a round trip to Florida, 2 round trips to Minnesota (1 of them by car, and spent a total of 2 weeks on the road), plus I went to Sacramento once, and she went to NY once. We’ve already paid for all the flights and about 1/2 the hotels for a 2 week trip to Europe next month. Since March, we’ve had to pay for medical insurance ($800/mo).
We talked about it last night, she was shocked too how little we spend. We could spend quite a bit more and not be stretched. But we feel like we’re living pretty well.
September 14, 2016 @ 8:44 PM
You guys are putting me to
You guys are putting me to shame with your #s. I have been putting off on squeezing that next $100 for too long. I am going to get the expenses down to $1000/week by year end.
September 15, 2016 @ 7:40 AM
Jimho, it’s a bit pointless
Jimho, it’s a bit pointless comparing grand totals across spectrum.
On our block, there’s over an $8000 a year spread on property tax alone. One family has four kinds ranging from 13-20 in the house, we have an elementary age child, another new buyer has two preschool and preggo and another older retired couples kids are all moved out.
You can redo things like mortgage and peel Money off there, but comparing across is a bit pointless. If your family or financial situation necessitated buying in the last couple years your cost a very different based on when exactly bought. In fact when you’ve bought in the last fifteen years makes a pretty big difference.
You could look at categories like dining, groceries, utilities and entertainment to see if you’re way out compared to others in your situation.
September 15, 2016 @ 7:48 AM
no_such_reality wrote:Jimho,
[quote=no_such_reality]Jimho, it’s a bit pointless comparing grand totals across spectrum.
On our block, there’s over an $8000 a tear spread on property tax alone. One family has four kinds ranging from 13-20 in the house, we have an elementary age child, another new buyer has two preschool and preggo and another older retired couples kids are all moved out.
You can redo things like mortgage and peel Money off there, but comparing across is a bit pointless. If your family or financial situation necessitated buying in the last couple years your cost a very different based on when exactly bought. In fact when you’ve bought in the last fifteen years makes a pretty big difference.
You could look at categories like dining, groceries, utilities and entertainment to see if you’re way out compared to others in your situation.[/quote]
Very true. My highest expense years were when I had 2 in college. They added at least $35K each and housing was >$3K plus, v $1300 plus now. I easily spent 3 times what I spend now, probably for all 6 years I had at least 1 in college (undergrad, they paid for grad school). Utilities are going to be a function of the size of the house and number of occupants. Dining, groceries and entertainment are some of the few variables that can be controlled after a home is chosen.
September 15, 2016 @ 9:09 AM
Some utilities are reflective
Some utilities are reflective of the house, some reflective of choices. Electricity consumption and AC usage is affected by the house. And affected by the choices of how cool, when cooled, how cooled (fans, whole house fan, AC efficiency etc) solar, water use, gas or no gas etc.
Other. Like cell phone bill, TV, Internet, are not
Then there are the services: gardener, maid, child care I consider those semi utilities. And ironically. If you use them while working you’re actually quite unlikely to cut them after retirement.
September 15, 2016 @ 10:15 AM
I stopped trying to count my
I stopped trying to count my expenditures, since it was taking too long. What I do is set target goals on how much of money goes to savings/investments per year, and figure out each month if I’m above or below the target per month.
Currently, I’m allocated so that my yearly contributions are
(1)
$18k/yr into a 401k/Roth 401k split 50/50
$25k/yr into my employers employee stock purchase plan
$24k/yr into my after tax index fund basket
(2)
$5k /yr into my kid’s 529 college savings plan.
$14k/year into a a UGMA custodial account for my kid
(3)
$20k/yr into an emergency fund to deal with unexpected expenses funded from positive cash flow of rental properties,
*My target is a 4% return on (1) is 4% annually
*My asset allocation on (2) is the most aggressive possible, so see where it ends up 10-15 years later.
*My allocation on (3) is low interest CD, money market, and tiny percentage in munis, in case the economy blows up…
Anything left is for expenses, hobbies, vacations etc,
With a 4% return annually and a regular contribution of that amount for 10 years, I’m hoping that will set aside about $800k per decade, before tax consequences. Usually, that’s a conservative savings investment, since for example, I haven’t had a need to tap into the emergency fund, and net cash flow from rentals after taxes has been well above my targets, since well, rental income has been steadily rising lately. But I”m not counting on that to last indefinitely.
Meanwhile, drip drip drip into those accounts.
September 15, 2016 @ 2:03 PM
flu wrote:I stopped trying to
[quote=flu]I stopped trying to count my expenditures, since it was taking too long. What I do is set target goals on how much of money goes to savings/investments per year, and figure out each month if I’m above or below the target per month.
[/quote]
That’s exactly how I do it also. No line-by-line budget. Keep it simple, sock the $$ away into investment accounts and fixed expenditures first. Whatever left over is spent however we wish. Tracking each and every $$ on how it being spent is just crazy.
September 18, 2016 @ 9:36 PM
nanny for one $2k a
nanny for one $2k a month
health ins. for 3 $1.5k a month
car payment one car 850 a month
piti $4,300 per mo.
etc etc.
no wonder I’m broke.
September 21, 2016 @ 3:29 PM
I religiously track
I religiously track everything in Quicken and have for years.
It’s sad considering I have no mortgage as my house is paid off but I typically spend on average about $20,000 per month. A bit sickening. But our biggest line item expense by a mile is traveling.
But everything just adds up when you have young kids in the household.