Do you spend more than $100k a year?

[ponyo]

lol unequivocally "yes" without even giving it any serious thought. Between house (mortgage), cars, kids, discretionary spending, etc., I'm reluctant to do the actual calculation but no doubt well over $100k/year. This year is extra spicy since we're taking one hell of a vacation in December that will run around 1/2 of that $100k figure by itself (probably a fair bit more if we were paying for the flights rather than using points).

Your vacations are first class all the way. No way I can convince myself to take single $50k vacation trip. My wife gets annoyed with me because I will sometimes book the cheapest budget places. She still gives me grief about the Howard Johnson crap motel room I booked in Orlando back in 2002. Almost 20 years later, she still gives me crap telling me how I made her sleep in that awful motel and how much she hated that room. lol. She again told me that yesterday when I told her I booked really cheap $52 night Ramada hotel room near Haeundae beach in Busan, South Korea, for our upcoming Korea trip in September. I plan to do lot of exploring and not stay in the hotel room much when I'm in Busan so I purposely booked cheap room near the location I wanted. I just need a room to sleep after a long tiring day of exploring the city. She thinks I'm being cheap. But I booked Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul along with really nice AirBnB place on Jeju island also on the same trip so it's not like I'm being cheap the entire trip. Just selectively cutting corners and saving money where I can. She doesn't appreciate the hard work I put in planning out these trips. I try to explain to her we'll be bored out of our minds if we only travel and stay in luxury places. She said she's ok with being bored.

 

[Exterous]

Yes and travel is a big chunk of our expenses even with all the mile and point usage

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Lordy the consumption you folks have!

Ratcheted down my spending the past 3.5yrs. Average monthly spend is roughly $3K/month as I save in excess of 90% including 401K.
I don't have expensive hobbies, drive cheap cars, rent rather than own, enjoy sleeping in a tent, prefer to cook than eat out, and usually get one Intl vacation in that costs $4K for a weeks stay for two.
Total credit card spend was ~$17K last year and ~$3K of that was a Peloton+.

 

[dasherHampton]

Not close. Maybe half that.

I give away a lot of money to friends. I don't know if that counts.

 

[Muse]

I literally shocked myself this year when I did my taxes. I was 8 bucks short of 100k AGI. I'd kind of forgotten that I was out of the market, then back in. My profit didn't go into my spending accounts, just to savings than back into the market, so I didn't think of it as income but Uncle Sam did. Therefore I owed way more tax than I've ever paid before.

In terms of pending, hell now, nowhere near 100k, but I'm hoping I can do that if my investment strategy works out. Even so, I have more wiggle room than I ever had by a lot and it feels good. I even have Amazon Prime this year. I'm slowly loosening up.

Over the weekend I ate out for the first time since Feb. 2020, ordered takeout. Cost me less than $15 and I haven't finished it yet (Indian cuisine). I should finish tomorrow.

 

[skyking]

Not going to toss around numbers, but we are on the short haul for retirement and are not spending as much as we invest/save/whatever.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I’ve never really thought about it to be honest. We’re a DINK household and each of us has a six figure salary. In typical years (ie, non-pandemic), the answer is likely yes since we take typically 3-4 vacations (most overseas) and I’ve started paying people to do things I hate (for example, lawn work). Outside of a mortgage which is almost done, we have no other debt - her student loans were paid off many years ago and we don’t have things like car payments. I’m at the age where if I would have had kids, they’d now be in college or fresh college graduates and that alone would’ve probably tipped the $100k mark per year, so I dodged that bullet.

On the other hand, unlike some here, I’m generally a cheapass and spending $100k+ per year sounds pretty depressing. As my career winds down, I’m hoping to pump up savings and investments even more so I can retire from my “real” job in the next 5-10 years and either find something I enjoy or monetize one of my hobbies, like 3D printing.

 

[snoopy7548]

Not even close. My yearly spending is in the neighborhood of $36k/year. No kids, no spouse, but I do have a house. (That's a pretty good rhyme!)

 

[Toastedlightly]

You can't include college savings, vacation savings, and investment contributions like 401k and IRA. Those are savings and not spending. We're talking about expenses.

I'll use the "money that left accounts" rule, last 12 months averaged 11k/month output (excluded the savings from the list, included paying off a car which was more of a "one-off"). That puts at roughly $132k/yr out.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Since we seem to be talking about living expenses too, in my case I spend $32k in reoccurring living costs alone, so let's say 40k just to round things up and account for anything extra I may spend money on. Things I want to buy for myself etc. I've greatly reduced my spending on things I don't need in the past few years so I can pay off the credit line and just save up in general. I want to buy some land when I find something good.

 

[YuliApp]

2019 (way over) >100k
2020 18k (minimalist in me got fed up and took over)

 

[ponyo]

Since we seem to be talking about living expenses too, in my case I spend $32k in reoccurring living costs alone, so let's say 40k just to round things up and account for anything extra I may spend money on. Things I want to buy for myself etc. I've greatly reduced my spending on things I don't need in the past few years so I can pay off the credit line and just save up in general. I want to buy some land when I find something good.

Of course living expenses count as yearly expense. Your Tim Horton coffee purchases all add up. The Hermes bags and purses, iPads, and MacBooks I buy for my family are all personal expenses. But unlike fixed expenses, most of my purchases are discretionary spending and can be controlled by me.

But some of you have high expenses. If something happens and you lose your job and source of income, some of you are going to be in world of hurt unless you find another job quick or have decent savings/investments.

2019 (way over) >100k
2020 18k (minimalist in me got fed up and took over)

That's drastic lifestyle change. I could cut out everything and still wouldn't be able to get my fixed cost down that low. And I have no house, car, or any debt payment. Just health insurance, property taxes, and home/auto insurance will put me over $25k a year.

 

[Brainonska511]

No, not right now. We have no kids, one dog, and renting an apartment.

That's all about to change though once my spouse starts med school.

 

[mztykal]

Just cus of you I looked at my yearly spend…I spend 150k a year… 🤦‍♂️

 

[YuliApp]

That's drastic lifestyle change. I could cut out everything and still wouldn't be able to get my fixed cost down that low. And I have no house, car, or any debt payment. Just health insurance, property taxes, and home/auto insurance will put me over $25k a year.

Not much lifestyle change, as i was fairly minimalist, but just dropped car, house, insurances, switched country, stopped paying for everything i do not need and drastically changed my diet. It would be actually even less than 18k, but i had still some expenses with switching, i aim to reach about 11k this year and 4-5k next year. Live from passive income alone.

 

[dank69]

That's like...1 night of bottle service you fucking poors.

 

[AdamK47]

My monthly expenditure to gross income ratio is currently 22.5%. I max out my 401K and Roth IRA at the start of the year. After doing that, my expenditure to net income ratio is 32.6%

I won't have a mortgage anymore at the beginning of next year and I expect my income to increase around 20%. Expenditure to net income is expected to be only around 11% to 14%.

 

[ponyo]

My monthly expenditure to gross income ratio is currently 22.5%. I max out my 401K and Roth IRA at the start of the year. After doing that, my expenditure to net income ratio is 32.6%

I won't have a mortgage anymore at the beginning of next year and I expect my income to increase around 20%. Expenditure to net income is expected to be only around 11% to 14%.

We weren't discussing our income in this thread but since you brought it up, you make less than $125k a year based on the fact you can contribute to Roth IRA and can max it out. So you fall into camp B which is ATOT baller but lives on shoestring budget category.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

We weren't discussing our income in this thread but since you brought it up, you make less than $125k a year based on the fact you can contribute to Roth IRA and can max it out. So you fall into camp B which is ATOT baller but lives on shoestring budget category.

Incorrect.


Learn about The Backdoor ROTH

And then learn about the MEGA Backdoor ROTH using an After-tax 401k.


Wife + I make well over 200k, and I max out 2x 401ks, 2x Backdoor ROTH IRAs, 1x Family HSA, and then I put in what I have left into my ROTH IRA via the Mega Backdoor way.

 

[highland145]

Incorrect.


Learn about The Backdoor ROTH

And then learn about the MEGA Backdoor ROTH using an After-tax 401k.


Wife + I make well over 200k, and I max out 2x 401ks, 2x Backdoor ROTH IRAs, 1x Family HSA, and then I put in what I have left into my ROTH IRA via the Mega Backdoor way.

HSA through your job?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

HSA through your job?

Yes - employers tend to give something with it - my wife's gives $1,500 in it annually.

However - you can open an HSA with ANYONE at ANYTIME as long as you have a high-deductible healthcare plan at that time.

I completely recommend opening one with Fidelity. They have the least fees - and the most versatility for investing it: https://www.fidelity.com/go/hsa/why-hsa

 

[Brainonska511]

Yes - employers tend to give something with it - my wife's gives $1,500 in it annually.

However - you can open an HSA with ANYONE at ANYTIME as long as you have a high-deductible healthcare plan at that time.

I completely recommend opening one with Fidelity. They have the least fees - and the most versatility for investing it: https://www.fidelity.com/go/hsa/why-hsa

For an individual HSA, Old National is also pretty good. A decent selection of low cost Vanguard funds, low annual fee on the investment side ($36/y), and no minimum to keep in the cash side, after you hit the $1k minimum to open an investment side account.

 

[highland145]

Yes - employers tend to give something with it - my wife's gives $1,500 in it annually.

However - you can open an HSA with ANYONE at ANYTIME as long as you have a high-deductible healthcare plan at that time.

I completely recommend opening one with Fidelity. They have the least fees - and the most versatility for investing it: https://www.fidelity.com/go/hsa/why-hsa

For an individual HSA, Old National is also pretty good. A decent selection of low cost Vanguard funds, low annual fee on the investment side ($36/y), and no minimum to keep in the cash side, after you hit the $1k minimum to open an investment side account.

Thanks. Last time I looked at it, we didn't qualify but don't remember why.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

For an individual HSA, Old National is also pretty good. A decent selection of low cost Vanguard funds, low annual fee on the investment side ($36/y), and no minimum to keep in the cash side, after you hit the $1k minimum to open an investment side account.

Thats just it - there is none of that on the fidelity side. It's... equivalent to a simple brokerage account. No minimum to hold in cash, no annual fee....





I also invest it in their Fidelity Zero funds - where the expense ratios are 0%.

No minimum investment mutual funds - Fidelity

With no minimums to invest in mutual funds and a zero expense ratio, Fidelity offers value you can't find anywhere else. Fidelity has lower expenses than most comparable funds at Vanguard.

www.fidelity.com

 

[ponyo]

Yes - employers tend to give something with it - my wife's gives $1,500 in it annually.

However - you can open an HSA with ANYONE at ANYTIME as long as you have a high-deductible healthcare plan at that time.

I completely recommend opening one with Fidelity. They have the least fees - and the most versatility for investing it: https://www.fidelity.com/go/hsa/why-hsa

Thanks for the info about Fidelity HSA. That's actually one of the best I've seen. I absolutely need to be able to buy individual stocks and options with no annual fee. I don't need mutual fund stuff.