I want to know where your money goes every month. Percentage would be more relevant than the actual numbers. I am interested in people who can go a year or two without working and cannot afford to buy a luxury yacht.
My major expenses seem to be almost always without any prior planning. Is there anyone out there who knows what they're going to spend in the next 6 months +-20%?
I don't have any answer for the first half but yes, I know what I am going to spend for the next 6 months.
I plan it out depending on the trends. Usual expenses for personal hygiene, cooking, daily wear etc are subscriptions I make on Amazon and other places at a discount. Dad save a lot on time that way.
I buy clothes 3 times a year and in a burst. Early enough before people start buying clothes for the season and later enough to not have to get from the old stock. That way, price is cheaper and I have more freedom in selection. Sometimes old stock can have good stuff too that never gets out of fashion.
Electronics I go for a generation behind just before the launch and sale days when students are going to college/school. I have a few places I ask for opinions so I don't have to do the research myself. There are communities for that such as suggest a laptop, build pc, etc on many major platforms. Upgrade cycle is 4 years - near august or december.
I have booked flight tickets already for 2 upcoming trips at a really reasonable price. I try to book them months before with an additional payment for a zero cancellation upto 24 hours before. Even if I have to pay for that feature, it's not much of a cost compared to the cheap tickets I get.
Electricity, phone, internet, water etc bills are automated via local payment apps. I get points on payments made via the app as well as for using the credit card.
I use emi/credit wherever possible to avoid paying upfront. I had dad set those up on autodebt as well. Building that credit history.
I wish I lived in less remote area, I could have subscription based groceries too.
The biggest benefit I guess doing it like that is I can easily download reports, transactions and put them up for tax returns. I can also set expenditure on different cards and family members by default this way. Green those cards equally, haha.
As for the percentages, I would say food and daily essentials are the biggest, medical costs/insurance premiums/investments, electricity/internet/mobile/water bills, transportation and rent. The rest as I said before is preplanned and happens in burst on set months.
4 parts rent to one part food to one part everything else (transit, utilities, laundry, etc), for recurring monthly expenses and small luxuries (a beer, a coffee, a movie ticket, etc).
One rent equivalent each to clothing and health care (includes dental and eye care) annually.
One rent equivalent per year to gifts; 3 to charitable donations; 1-2 for vacations; 2 for misc expenses and larger luxuries.
For every dollar spent, roughly a dollar goes to savings and a dollar to taxes (high tax locale by US standards, low by broader developed country standards).
it used to go to my "fuck you" pile of cash but now i put it all into stock market. cash is just dead value that depreciates with inflation. i keep some for bad times but the rest is in equities.
I plan it out depending on the trends. Usual expenses for personal hygiene, cooking, daily wear etc are subscriptions I make on Amazon and other places at a discount. Dad save a lot on time that way.
I buy clothes 3 times a year and in a burst. Early enough before people start buying clothes for the season and later enough to not have to get from the old stock. That way, price is cheaper and I have more freedom in selection. Sometimes old stock can have good stuff too that never gets out of fashion.
Electronics I go for a generation behind just before the launch and sale days when students are going to college/school. I have a few places I ask for opinions so I don't have to do the research myself. There are communities for that such as suggest a laptop, build pc, etc on many major platforms. Upgrade cycle is 4 years - near august or december.
I have booked flight tickets already for 2 upcoming trips at a really reasonable price. I try to book them months before with an additional payment for a zero cancellation upto 24 hours before. Even if I have to pay for that feature, it's not much of a cost compared to the cheap tickets I get.
Electricity, phone, internet, water etc bills are automated via local payment apps. I get points on payments made via the app as well as for using the credit card.
I use emi/credit wherever possible to avoid paying upfront. I had dad set those up on autodebt as well. Building that credit history.
I wish I lived in less remote area, I could have subscription based groceries too.
The biggest benefit I guess doing it like that is I can easily download reports, transactions and put them up for tax returns. I can also set expenditure on different cards and family members by default this way. Green those cards equally, haha.
As for the percentages, I would say food and daily essentials are the biggest, medical costs/insurance premiums/investments, electricity/internet/mobile/water bills, transportation and rent. The rest as I said before is preplanned and happens in burst on set months.