Do you use a Proper budget planer in retirement or fudge it

Hey Jim · Guru

Do you use a Proper budget planer in retirement or fudge it

Hey Jim · Guru

Ok then, silence has spoken. confuse Everyone seems to be a Fudger. wink biggrin biggrin biggrin

Jim

Roving-Dutchy · Guru

It's easy as, just added up all the bills that are expected in 12 months divide by 12 put that amount each month into another account that pays all the bills by direct debit, as they come in and then spend what's left over on whatever your hearts desire.

Plus take no notice of all the rubbish that the media publishes about how much money you need for a comfortable retirement, unless you really love working, call it quits entirely and enjoy life and remember no one has ever been heard to say, as the reach the end of their life. " I wish I had spent more time at the office"

Don't worry that the money you have set aside for retirement will run out, you can always fall back on the age pension and that amount, for a couple is now, the equivalent to the income you would receive from 1.25 million invested in a term deposit

You now no longer have to meet deadlines, attend meetings or please the Boss, just get out their and enjoy, you will be amazed how fast the time that is left you, will start to run out.

Have now been retired for 18 years and that seems to have only have happened last week.
Cheers
David

Hey Jim · Guru

Hi David,

Yep. So true, My problem is that I find yet another one off my bucket list. The wine , Dogs tablets ( The Russel has Epilepsy confuse ) and on and on.

The KIPPERS ( Kids in parents pockets, eroding retirement savings) biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin OMG.

See my problem, Excel leaves these little ones out. wink

I left my Lambie off the List. biggrin biggrin biggrin cry cry cry Here comes that rollen pin again. I thought I threw it out. confuse

Jim

-- Edited by Hey Jim on Wednesday 18th of May 2016 10:12:35 PM

Gaylehere · Guru

I guess we fudge it. I know when all the big bills come in though. I just have a couple A4 pieces of paper divided into months and write down the bills for each month (electricity, rates, car insurance, gas etc.)and I get 4 years to a page so you know when each is due from the previous year and approx. how much it will be. I also have a book where I write down income and expenditure and balance of bank accounts. I check this against bank statements. Besides looking at statements on line I still get a paper copy and just check this off every month. I started doing it this way, way before computers. When we were younger and the children were little we were living from payday to payday so i really had to know about every penny. Our children are now grown and have never been KIPPERS and we no longer have a dog which can be expensive. I don't budget as such though. If you keep throwing the rolling pin out you'd better budget for replacements. LOL.

Tony Bev · Guru

Hey Jim wrote:
Hi David,
Yep. So true, My problem is that I find yet another one off my bucket list. The wine , Dogs tablets ( The Russel has Epilepsy) and on and on.
The KIPPERS ( Kids in parents pockets, eroding retirement savings) OMG.
See my problem, Excel leaves these little ones out.
I left my Lambie off the List. Here comes that rollen pin again. I thought I threw it out.
Jim

-- Edited by Hey Jim on Wednesday 18th of May 2016 10:12:35 PM

Hello Hey Jim

Quote
See my problem, Excel leaves these little ones out
Unquote

You can put into Excel, or leave out whatever you wish, such as Dog - Kipper - Rolling Pin, etc

I made a simple Excel spreadsheet , of all the usual home base bills, such as house/car/RV/health insurance policy - council rates - water - electricity - phone - Internet - vehicle rego's, etc.

I therefore know by looking at my previous expenses, approximately how much my future main static living costs are going to be
I place this amount to one side, prior to gallivanting around the countryside

I fudge it in respect that when I travel, (about half of the year)
I only calculate the mileage of each trip, add a good margin for side trips, calculate the fuel cost of that period in time, and then place that fuel money to one side, prior to setting off.
It then makes no difference to me, how long that trip will last, as I more or less have the main expense covered.
This allows me to enjoy myself, without worrying where the financial stuff will be coming from

I keep a manual record of the litres of fuel purchased, plus the odometer reading at the time of purchase.
This allows me to confirm that my future fuel calculations, are based on a sound reading

I do not need, or have any ambitions, to use caravan parks, so I do not calculate their cost

I do not calculate the cost of food/entertainment, but I do estimate that it will be approximately 20% more, while travelling, compared to home base
I like to support the smaller towns, near the free camps, instead of the city supermarkets, hence the extra cost

There are plenty of paid off the shelf budget planners around
I suppose it depends on how complicated your finances are, as to what method you will finally use.

In my opinion
I think the bottom line is, that when a person becomes old/fortunate enough to retire, it would be a shame, not to enjoy themselves

I sincerely hope that you enjoy yourself, in the retirement playground

Radar · Guru

Yes, we have a bit of a plan, I retired at 66, we have 5 year plan allowing between us each year x figure, we now have 2 years remaining at that figure and coming in under each year.

The other surprise which we were not expecting was a small part pension each which is only small adds to the overall balance.

When the 5 years is up we will work out where to go from there.

Now my lovely lady keeps stock of what we spend each month, some hand written at first and then transfers to the computer latter each month, we try to collect each time we spend, the receipts. The lady knows where it all is from years of practice, as I have spent so much time away with my work there was no chance of me being ontop of the bills when at home. she did a great job of running our home.

We have also noticed as we settle into retirement we are spending less, want less and wonder how we had time for work. We are enjoying ourselvies doing things we never dreamt of, like now at present living in Austria for a couple of months, come home go away again for couple of months in our caravan.

We do need to be careful with where we spend and not over spend. Hope this helps.

Desert Dweller · Senior Member

We spend our money on food, drink, fuel & entertainment each week. Whatever is left over stays in our account & gradually builds up our balance. Not a lot of science in that but it works well for us.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

I retired at 57..... and they old me I was too young...... still laughing.

I looked at my tax returns, looked at the annual salary, subtracted the tax.

Then I took out all the money I had spent just to go to work...............union fees, conference fees, car parking, uniforms, cafeteria lunches, daily cappuchino, shoes, etc, etc.

To work out what I needed to live on I downloaded my bank a/c records into excel and worked out the categories of my spending for the previous year or so.

I looked at my superannuation.........divided it by the amount I had worked out that would keep me in the same quality of life..... and that gave me the number of years it would last me before I needed the pension. (Not accounting for income which the super account might earn form investments..)

Not rocket science but it set me free.

brickies · Guru

We have 2 bank accounts . number 1 is for all bill which are on going so this amount is set a side for that year and when the bill come in it is paid by direct debit so when we are on the road the bill get paid by the bank . Number 2 account is our day to day living account . We just kept an eye on the balance of number 2 account if it grows we can spend more money if it start to go down we spend less .

Dave+Addy · Veteran Member

Hi Jim, we went electronic, and after trying several different apps, we settled for MoneyWiz.

It's by far the best accounting/budget app I have ever used.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Yes the anxiety when we retire . You'll be fine .. Had a few sleepless nights myself . As said a few years time you'll look back ? It wasn't that bad after all ..

RosieW · Guru

We survive on a government pension. We pay what we can (life insurance, internet) monthly by direct debit, the big bills (m/h insurance, rego, car insurance, car rego) as they come up (but have plenty of warning.

We left with nothing in the bank (ok, so maybe $1500), and have, in 3 years, saved enough to get 2 pedigree kelpies & a showroom new car. We buy what we need (food etc) each week, then take out $100 for fuel, bread milk etc, and bank the rest.

Life is short, just go for it!

Sarge9 · Senior Member

Hey Jim, you are a few months in front of me.... I had a practice run on a free Government budget planner called Money Smart, https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-apps/budget-planner (not sure that link will work)

simple to use, found the results very insightful, as I only ever earn the money and the managing director is responsible for spending it, I learned some stuff I never considered before.... so there will be a big splash when I jump into the pond very soon.

Sarge. confuse

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Lucky buggers on pension !! Lol reminds me of the start of All in the family. Was it Ted Bundy ? Even the dog lined up for $$. Lol

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Sorry "Married with Children" ..

Hey Jim · Guru

Hi all,

Keep it rolling, Knowledge is power. the more we know now, the better off we shall be down the track.

Good on you for your imputes.

Jim

oldbloke · Guru

That money smart exel tool looks very usefull. I will give it a crack.

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

I used this to initially see if I could "afford" to travel

I now update it occasionally as some items change, either in cost or no longer relevant - or something new.

The numbers are mine still .. but you can override them easily.

Use <TAB> to move through the cells to input date ... or just click on the cells to populate.

Cheers - John

Phil C · Guru

Gday gang

Jim and Lambie, I am a bit of a geek when it comes to computers so I use excel for a running budget, fuel economy on a trip, caravan log and trip planner.

Thats just me, perhaps a bit OCD but I couldnt imagine doing an ad hoc trip...

Cheers mate, enjoy your retirement, I tell my bride just about every day "I could get use to this"

LLD · Senior Member

In my spread sheet I also have the cost of goods that would be hard to do without - fridge, washing machine, TV, etc. If a fridge cost $600, the life is 15 years and it's already 10 years old then I need to save $600 over 5 years. Getting to that point now where some replacements will outlast me and the wife - her car being one of them.

If you own everything and have spent most of your savings getting there, then an Aged Pension is adequate (some may disagree). My parents, both grandparents and many family members of my parents generation live(d) comfortably on the Aged Pension. Currently in SKI mode (Spend the Kids Inheritance) whist I still can.

RosieW · Guru

Aus-Kiwi wrote:
Sorry "Married with Children" ..

I remember that. I always felt sorry for Al, even when he was being a sleaze..........

As much as I love the life I have, I have days where I wish I had the choice of working, in a proper job, rather than voluntary with an understanding that when days off are requested, they are non-negotiable. I despise being on a pension, even though it's pretty well unavoidable (well, it is avoidable, we could refuse and starve). I know I worked long and hard for a lot of years, but I still have a few good ones left..........

And yes, I know you weren't having a go - I've known you long enough for that. just reminded me of why I'm on one. Let's leave it at today isn't the greatest day......

My advice to anyone thinking of hitting the road - do it. Do it ASAP. If you can afford to get a reliably rig, and have enough for small to middling 'Oh bugger!' moments, get out there. You will adjust your spending as you go, or you'll realise it's not the life for you, and make a base. Either way, give it a go. The clock is ticking, and could wind down at any time.

Wizardofoz · Guru

Never a truer word spoken RosieW, I am retired and NOT on the pension but the sentiment is the same, do it while you can as there are no 2nd chances when it's too late!

-- Edited by Wizardofoz on Friday 20th of May 2016 02:19:51 PM

El Gringo · Senior Member

Chris and i do a running budget as per attached.
it's pretty easy to use once you get used to it and you can see what effect spending on something you want now will affect the finances later on.

Happy to help set it up for you to use if you need it.

Cheers.