Taking Stock: April

Beer, Bikes, Fiji and Other Threats to Financial Independence

The Damage

Well I wish I could say we are completely on track with our trial year of living on our retirement budget. The bad news is as of the end of April, we are $13,000 over budget.

Maybe the only shining light is that the bulk of that overage (70%) comes from my husband’s gear purchases (new skis and a new bike), that he assures me were one-time purchases in preparation for retirement. Also maybe the fact that we haven’t actually retired yet. We still have our incomes. This is just a trial run to see what it is like to live on our retirement budget. So we can have more freedom. But having enough money to sort of enjoy the freedom is important.

Photo by George Cox on Unsplash

Now that biking and camping season have arrived, our beer budget is suddenly out of control, groceries remain 30% over, and our travel budget was a woeful underestimate.

And don’t get me started on my husband’s subscriptions: 140% over. Okay my Yoga app is probably in there, purchased on his Apple ID so he gets the cost, but I’m over here re-using my contact lenses, while he subscribes to every streaming service under the sun.

The good news (I guess) is that some things remain on or under budget, including restaurants, my clothes and beauty products, contact lenses (a little grit never hurt anyone), gas, hair, pets, vehicles, and supplements.

But we clearly have our weaknesses. My husband: beer, gear and streaming services. Me: courses, food and travel. Hopefully the gear is as promised a one-time pre-retirement investment. But since my husband internet window shops to reduce stress, I have some doubts.

Since the retirement budget is the budget (as in there is no other money that is going to appear from elsewhere to my knowledge), we are going to have to learn to live within it, or cut dramatically from some underspent categories to top-up the ones that we seem to consistently go over on. So far there are no candidates.

Four Things Blowing Up the Budget

Takeaways so far from the things over budget:

1) Groceries: 30% over budget so far. Not a big surprise since we eat a mostly keto diet of meat, cheese and vegetables, and we eat a lot. I do meal planning and only grocery shop once a week to reduce waste, and I have a good eye and memory for prices. I will have to do a more detailed dive into our grocery bill. However, a quick review of this week’s budget suggests that meat is at 26% of the budget, veggies at 23% and dairy at 13%. Tea, coffee, oils and nuts are also bigger ticket items. If we cut the grocery budget significantly, we would likely be changing a lifestyle choice rather than finding inefficiencies. I do have some curiosity about more casserole type dishes and pre-making meals for several weeks… and fasting. We could do more fasting.

2) Alcohol: 27% over budget, which is horrifying given that the budget is $7 a day, and I don’t drink during the week except on special occasions. But my husband drinks craft beer at $3.50 per beer. Clearly I need to shift him to gin and tonics, which are about $2.00 per standard drink, if we are going to meet the budget.

3) Subscriptions: 140% over budget. Proton, Amazon Channels, Audible, Prime Video, Garmin, Substack, Spotify, and those are just my husband’s subscriptions. Add my Yoga app, Squarespace, Kindle Unlimited, ChatGPT. Ouch. We are definitely going to have to prune those and also start rotating through streaming services.

4) Travel: 69% over budget, and will likely recover a bit since we had three trips in the first five months and have none planned for the fall. But sobering. I haven’t even added in the trip to Fiji yet, and camping is proving to be less inexpensive than I would like. Since we want to do a lot of travelling during our early retirement, this is one that we are going to have to figure out. With a total budget of $10,000/year including camping, we are going to have to figure out how to travel even more on the cheap – and I already slept in a closet on one of my trips. If we want to travel extensively in retirement, we may need to rethink either the budget or our expectations. I see now why my dad became so adept at doing house exchanges for his travel, and will literally hit anyone he knows up for a place to stay.

The Real Problem

I suppose that the good news is that we are not blowing the budget on stuff for the most part (gear aside). We are overspending on things we genuinely enjoy: food, travel, experiences, learning and time outdoors.

Our spending habits are both reassuring and a little concerning. Reassuring because our spending reflects our values. Concerning because values are much harder to cut than waste. I probably FOMO too much, and greedily say yes to all the experiences because they help to offset the gruelling nature of work.

Perhaps once I have more control over my time, I will take more joy in the everyday and won’t feel as determined to gallivant around. Perhaps with less stress, my husband will give up his online window shopping.

We haven’t said no to an experience that we really wanted for financial reasons in years.

That may be the biggest learning that is required in our journey to retirement.

I am looking forward to a vast recovery in our spending in May, and surely by June we will be model students.