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Perhaps, but hopefully much of the "extra" income is saved for things that are sure to come up.
New Roof on modest house: $5,000
Rebuild transmission on car: $3,000
New tires on car $600
Gas goes back up above $4
Washing machine/Dryer/Dishwasher/Fridge needs replacing
Paint outside of modest house:$2,500
These prices are on the high side a little. I just had a new roof put on using 30 yr shingles and it cost about $3500. A few guys that work for one of the roofing companies did it on a Saturday. This included tear off of old shingles. I'm not sure I would ever plop down $3k for a car's transmisssion - typically these go out when the whole car isn't worth much more than $3k. As far as paint, this is why I prefer brick. I frequently see 30s and 40s homes that look as though the brick was never touched.
Regardless, these are things which are done every 10-25 yrs. I'd suggest putting back at least $1500/yr for house/car repairs.
Sure you can do every single thing that needs to be done to your house yourself.
But then your retirement time is actually spent working.
You switched careers to maintaince man is what changed.
Between maintaince,longer term projects,gardening,snow removal ,painting and preventive maintaince i could have been busy every day on my homes.
Most folks just end up letting things go until they can't anymore but the fact is doing things yourself is still working.
Should a "retired" person also have a hired maid so they don't have to fix meals, do their laundry , or clean their own house?
Those things you mentioned are things most common folk like me don't even give a 2nd thought to doing and don't even make a big deal out of. ( whether when we were fully employed or retired)
- $20,000/yr passive income (increasing with inflation)
- modest home paid off (1000-1500sq ft)
- fuel efficient car paid off
- no debt
- low cost of living part of the US
With an income of $20k/year, health insurance can be had for free (Obamacare).
A modestly sized home of say 1000 sq ft (not small in most countries or even the US 40+ yrs ago) will allow for low utility cost, low property tax and lower maintenance cost.
If a person locates near a decent sized city (50k+) they may even be able to walk/bike/use public transportation.
Here is my personal expenses:
Rent $0
car payment $0 (for the next 7-8 years)
Food $325/month (includes eating out a lot)
Utilities $225/month (includes required $50 cable tv package)
Gasoline $60/month
Cell with unlimited data $40/month
Gym $20/month
Car insurance $60/month
Property tax $67/month
Health insurance $38/month (could get a bronze plan for $0)
home insurance $50/month
clothes/haircuts $30/month
home/car maintenance $??/month
travel/vacations ??
total: $915/month -- as low as $850 if needed.
That's about $11k/year which gives me a cushion of about $9k/year. I also have savings which can be tapped in an emergency.
I don't like work, schedules, mornings, bosses, responsibility, feeling replaceable, consumerism, etc, etc.
I do like coming and going as I please, sleeping until noon, hanging out at the pool, traveling, women, reading BS on the internet, playing basketball, working with my hands once in a while, etc.
Anyone else want to join me?
Yawn, what a boring life that would be. Not near enough for entertainment, I easily blow $200 a weekend on drinks. Food also has a low budget, what are you eating, noodles only? McDonalds?
Should a "retired" person also have a hired maid so they don't have to fix meals, do their laundry , or clean their own house?
Those things you mentioned are things most common folk like me don't even give a 2nd thought to doing and don't even make a big deal out of. ( whether when we were fully employed or retired)
You are missing my point,the point is you reach a point where you can do every aspect of your life by yourself. But is that what you want to retire into by trying to retire on such limited income early on in life.
Remember we are not talking here retiring at retirement age in this thread.
First of all i grew up in a nyc housing project so don't tell me about common folk.
Yes those with limited income do all those things themselves . But many folks have well paying jobs that allowed them to at least farm out those more intense projects.
But instead they retire by choice poorly planned on very limited income and end up swapping one time consuming job for another as well as adding financial stress to their lives now as they try to survive on a limited budget that counts on everything going as budgeted.
I believe you may have a differing view on "limited" income. I would say only 5-10% of the populaion make enough money as to not think about doing common household chores themselves. Just think, the average family income is what $50k? And a lot of that goes toward the house payment, food, bills, kids, etc.
I hope you got good teeth and genetics. A few major dental bills can destroy your budget.
I did give some thought to this. Dental insurance is about $50/month. However, have you ever looked into what dental stuff cost in other countries? Costa Rican dentist and the like often do the same procedures for 30% of what it cost here.
are we talking 20k pretax or after tax. ? I am figuring 20k magi in kaiser. If you are talking a gross amount of 20k then i can see your insurance as being way less.
$20K pretax. I have already signed up on Healthcare.gov and paid my first month's premium of $53.67. Kaiser gave me a figure of $90 a month, so it isn't 100% accurate, apparently.
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