Getty ImagesOne retirement rule of thumb is that retirees spend about 80 percent of their after-tax income in retirement. Generally, this doesn't work for early retirees because they save more aggressively. If you save 30 to 50 percent of your income, it makes more sense to use your expenses rather than your income to extrapolate your after-retirement spending.
If you saved aggressively and accumulated 25 times your annual expenses, then you are very close to financial independence, which means early retirement is an option. If you use the 4 percent withdrawal rule your r! etirement portfolio is likely to last the rest of your life. Most early retirees think their expenses will stay the same after they quit working, but that's not a safe assumption. Here's why you'll probably spend more after taking an early retirement:
Travel. Many of us want to travel more when we retire. With more time, it's possible to visit a country for two months instead of two weeks. That amount of time allows you to explore a destination in depth rather than the quick gloss vacationers usually do. Most of us have a bucket list of countries to visit, but traveling can be an expensive hobby. Travel will most likely increase your expenses after retirement unless you're committed to traveling cheaply.
It's possible to travel frugally, but you have to be more creative. In our working years, we value time more, so we don't mind paying extra for convenience. With more time, you can optimize travel financially instead. For example, airline ticket! s with more stopovers are usually cheaper. In retirement, dire! ct flights don't need to be a huge priority. You can even use creative options like booking a repositioning cruise instead of flying.
Hobbies and projects. When we're working full time, a lot of things are put on the back burner. In retirement you will have time to remodel the kitchen, take a photography class, learn to play an instrument and buy the Harley you've always wanted. Yet, all these activities that you've been waiting to do will cost money. Sure, do-it-yourself projects around the house will increase the property value, but home improvements will cost plenty of money in the short term. Your retirement budget should account for a variety of potential hobby activities.
Health care. It's essential for early retirees to budget for health insurance coverage after leaving their employment. Medicare is available at 65, but if you retire early health care is your responsibility. COBRA is one option, but it only lasts up to 18 months and the price can be very expensive. Another option for early retirees is the health insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act. Some early retirees might even qualify for tax credits with their lower level of income. It's extremely likely that you will use more health care services and have to pay more for health care as you get older, so you need to factor likely health care costs into your retirement budget.
Too much free time. Many retirees choose to keep busy, but it can take a few years to figure out what to do with your time. When we're working, we usually spend money in our idle time. This habit can carry into retirement when there is a lot more idle time avai! lable. If you spend your weekends shopping, eating out and going to shows, then you probably need to learn how to entertain yourself with cheap or free events.
Most early retirees are good with their finances and that's why they can retire early. However, they should realize that spending will probably increase after retirement and take that into account. But this uptick in spending isn't an insurmountable barrier for early retirees. They can work part time to cover recreational expenses or explore a hobby that doubles as an income stream. Early retirees are often resourceful and can adjust their course accordingly.
While the level of spending often increases initially upon retirement, it will usually decrease as people get older and do fewer activities. Health care expenses may increase in the later years, but travel and recreation expenses will usually go down. At some point, Medicare and Social Security benefits will kick in, and it will give you a little mor! e breathing room to have that extra cash and benefits coming i! n later on in retirement.
Joe Udo blogs at Retire By 40 where he writes about passive income, frugal living, retirement investing and the challenges of early retirement. He recently left his corporate job to be a stay at home dad and blogger and is having the time of his life.
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- Cost of living -- 114.1
- State tax burden -- 8.4 percent
- Median house price -- $377,625, per Zillow.com
- Climate -- 69/39 January, 105/75 July
- Traffic congestion -- Didn't make the Forbes list
Scottsdale is a retirement mecca, with a reasonable cost of living, state and local taxes well below the national average, a great quality of life and plenty of amenities. But housing costs are nearly double the national average. Winters are warm, but summers are sizzling hot. Peak temperatures can reach close to 120 degrees -- after all, it's in the desert. The locals will dismiss it as "dry heat," but that kind of heat will still send your electric bill for air conditioning soaring, and can necessitate you buying new cars more frequently than you'd like.
10. Scottsdale, Arizona -
- Cost of living -- 130.0
- State tax burden -- 9.3 percent
- Median house price -- $417,600, per Zillow.com
- Climate -- 74/64 January, 89/80 July
- Traffic congestion -- Didn't make the Forbes list
Key West offers Caribbean weather in the U.S., an attribute that makes it a natural choice for retirees. And who could resist the Jimmy Buffett-Parrot Head thing, especially once you're living a life of leisure?
You might be better off if you resist. The cost of living is 30 percent higher than the U.S. average, and housing costs at least twice as much. Travel is another issue. Key West is the most remote location in the continental U.S. The only road off the 6-square-mile island is the Overseas Highway, a 127.5-mile causeway that is largely one lane in each direction.
Hurricanes -- all too common in Florida -- are rare in Key West -- though Wilma did hit it in 2005. But when they do impact the island, though, it's worth noting that the city has the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other, and there's no part of it that's more than 18 feet above sea level. So homeowners must pay several thousand dollars a year for hurricane insurance.
9. Key West, Florida -
- Cost of living -- 132.3
- State tax burden -- 11.2 percent
- Median house price -- $482,000
- Climate -- 66/50 January, 77/67 August
- Traffic congestion -- Didn't make the Forbes list
As big California cities go, San Diego is a bargain. But compared to the rest of the country, San Diego is certified high-cost. Yes, the weather is near perfect year-round. But the cost of living is one-third higher than the rest of the country, and house prices are nearly 2½ times the national average. Add in California's high state and local tax rates and the earthquake issue, and San Diego should be crossed off your list of potential retirement cities.
8. San Diego -
- Cost of living -- 165.7
- State tax burden -- 10.2 percent
- Median house price -- $680,000
- Climate -- 80/66 January, 88/75 July
- Traffic congestion -- Second worst gridlock in U.S.
Can you imagine a more idyllic place to retire than Honolulu? Probably not. But as beautiful as it is, it shares many of the financial strains common to other cities on this list, plus a few more.
The overall cost of living is second only to New York City. After all, most of the goods people need have to be shipped across thousands of miles of ocean. The state tax burden is only slightly higher than the national average, but the median house price is triple the national average.
Finally, as far as cost of living is concerned, Honolulu has an unusual financial issue: travel expenses. Sooner or later, you'll want to get away from Hawaii. And there's no cheap way to escape from this paradise.
7. Honolulu -
- Cost of living -- 164.0
- State tax burden -- 11.2 percent
- Median house price -- $860,000
- Climate -- 57/46 January, 70/55 September
- Traffic congestion -- Third worst gridlock in U.S.
San Francisco frequently makes those "favorite cities in America" lists and for good reason. Situated on a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay, it is one of the most scenic cities in the world. Mild weather year-round, world class cuisine, charming neighborhoods and an eclectic population make it one of the most desirable places to live anywhere in the world.
But it has the highest median house prices in the country, which should scare off retirees. Its cost of living trails only New York City and Honolulu. And like the rest of California, its state and local tax burden is second only to New York.
One other reason people might avoid living in San Francisco is that it's prone to earthquakes. While that's certainly a concern for personal safety, few people from non-earthquake prone areas realize how it increases your cost of living. Homeowners need to pay several thousand dollars per year for earthquake insurance.
6. San Francisco -
- Cost of living -- 140.1
- State/district tax burden -- 4.0 percent on first $10,000 and up to 8.95 percent on income greater than $350,000 in D.C., 10.2 percent in Maryland, 9.3 percent in Virginia
- Median house price -- $395,000
- Climate -- 43/29 January, 88/71 July
- Traffic congestion -- 10th worst gridlock in U.S.
Washington is centrally located, is filled with historic attractions and has some of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the country. It also has one of the highest effective local income tax rates in the country. The district taxes the first $10,000 of income at 4 percent, then 6 percent to $40,000, then 8.5 percent on all income over $40,000 (you can exempt up to $3,000 in retirement income).
Like other cities on this list, Washington sports a high cost of living and some of the highest housing prices in the country. The area also has its share of toll roads, and traffic is a recurring problem. This is especially troublesome during the holidays and summer months. Interstate 95 -- which bisects the metro area -- is the principal travel corridor between the Northeast and Florida. Making traffic matters worse: the near-permanent road construction projects.
5. Washington, D.C. -
- Cost of living -- 136.4
- State tax burden -- 11.2 percent
- Median house price -- $456,000
- Climate -- 68/48 January, 83/64 July
- Traffic congestion -- Worst gridlock in U.S.
As recently as the 1970s, Los Angeles was widely viewed as the city that all America was looking to move to -- or at least to imitate. Perfect weather, endless beaches, palm tree-lined streets, plentiful housing, a powerhouse economy and the lure of rubbing elbows with a celebrity or two. Today, about the only things L.A. has going for it are near-perfect weather and In-N-Out Burger. The rest is mostly a faded memory. The city's success was, in fact, a key contributor to its decline: The near-doubling of the metro population since the 1970s has created East Coast levels of human congestion.
Property values are higher than New York's and nearly twice those of Chicago. The state and local tax burden in California is second only to New York, and the overall cost of living in L.A. is more than one-third higher than the national average. California's unfunded pension liabilities are nearly as high as those in Illinois, threatening serious tax increases that could squeeze retir! ees. Nagging quality of life issues include the worst traffic congestion in the nation and smog that could lead to higher medical costs.
4. Los Angeles -
- Cost of living -- 132.5
- State tax burden -- 10.4 percent
- Median house price -- $370,000
- Climate -- 36/22 January, 81/65 July
- Traffic congestion -- Ninth worst gridlock in U.S.
Boston is the quaintest large city in America, sporting centuries-old but impeccably maintained architecture, neighborhoods and surrounding communities that just ooze with charm and close access to the beaches of Cape Cod and the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. If Boston were a less expensive place to live, it could well be an popular and smart retirement destination.
But it isn't. The high cost of living and high housing prices are the main reasons cited by former residents for leaving the state. The state tax burden is higher than the national average; the cost of living is about one-third higher than the national average; and house prices are nearly double the U.S. median. Translation: a large chunk of your retirement income would be spent just covering basic living expenses.
3. Boston -
- Cost of living -- 116.9
- State tax burden - 10.2 percent
- Median house price -- $247,000
- Climate -- 32/18 January, 84/68 July
- Traffic congestion -- Didn't make the Forbes list
Based on the numbers, Chicago wouldn't seem to be the retirement financial disaster that other cities on this list are. The state tax burden is only slightly higher than the national average; the cost of living is tolerably higher than the U.S. average; and house prices -- while higher than the nation in general -- are downright affordable compared to the coastal cities.
However, in addition to being a generally more expensive place to live than the nation at large, the area faces burgeoning problems just over the horizon. Illinois faces the highest unfunded pension obligations of any other state in the country, at around $100 billion. Chicago faces a nation-leading $20 billion unfunded pension liability. Such deficits scream out for higher taxes across the board. We can only speculate as to which taxes will be raised (or created).
2. Chicago -
- Cost of living -- 216.7 Manhattan, 145.7 Nassau County
- State tax burden -- 12.8 percent
- Median house price -- $972,000 Manhattan, $440,000 Nassau County
- Climate -- 38/27 January, 84/69 July
- Traffic congestion -- Fifth worst gridlock in U.S.
The area has fantastic amenities -– theater, music, concerts, festivals, ethnic foods, diverse and quaint neighborhoods and close access to beaches and mountains. It also has probably the most comprehensive public transportation system in the U.S. But it breaks down spectacularly when it comes to the costs. The area has close to the highest cost of living in the country, which gets markedly worse the closer you are to Manhattan. House prices are out of sight, particularly in the more desirable communities and neighborhoods. New York State has the highest state and local tax burden in the country. New Jersey has the highest real estate tax burden in the country. And nearby Connecticut isn't much better.
Weather runs from winter-time deep freezes to protracted summer heat waves. The preponderance of bridges, tunnels and their tolls -- as well as antiquated roads running through quaint town centers -- makes congestion a constant problem, even on the weekends.
1. New York City - More from DailyFinance
Source : http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/06/21/why-you-will-spend-more-money-after-early-retirement/
