Full budget series
This month’s 3.97% withdrawal rate provided some reassurance that our FIRE budget is realistic and sustainable. We really needed this after last month’s 4.59% withdrawal rate, where we also depleted and overran our uncategorized sinking fund.
Income
4% Withdrawal: $4,511.08
Expenses
Total: $4,476.91 Withdrawal Rate: 3.97%
| Grocery Store | $915.51 | Our groceries finally settled down under the $927 projection we were targeting |
| Uncategorized | $500.00 | Sinking fund |
| Discretionary | $500.00 | Sinking fund |
| House Escrow | $450.39 | Sinking fund: property taxes $3,428.62/year, insurance $1,976/year |
| Auto/Umbrella Escrow | $288.46 | Sinking fund: $2335/year auto ins, $677/year umb., $350/year registration, $99.50/year AAA. |
| Health/Dental Ins. Premium | $253.78 | $165.78 health, $79 dental, $9 vision |
| Water/HOA | $250.92 | |
| Clothes | $200.00 | Sinking fund |
| Taxes including Roth Conversion | $134.33 | Sinking fund: $6012 total taxes, minus $4400 child tax credit |
| Gifts | $120.00 | Sinking fund |
| Car Replacement | $115.55 | Invested sinking fund: Allows a $20K inflation-adjusted purchase every 10 years. That plus the trade-in value will get a decent new car. |
| Natural Gas (Xcel) | $30.70 | |
| Electric (CORE) | $145.88 | |
| Life Insurance | $99.81 | |
| Phone | $93.35 | Three lines (Google FI) plus LTE for BC’s Fitbit Ace |
| Internet (Xfinity) | $60.00 | |
| Gym Fund | $54.16 | Sinking fund: Peloton + Rec Center |
| Giving | $123.65 | Sponsored child and some donations to the school |
| Gas | $58.47 | One tank in the Crosstrek lasted the whole month |
| SimpliSafe | $32.99 | |
| Amazon Prime | $12.17 | Sinking fund |
| Cloud Storage | $2.99 | |
| Virtual mailbox | $13.00 | This is our PostScan Mail virtual mailbox that we will cancel at some point |
| Kids’ investing | $20.80 | Portion of kids’ earnings around the house that goes to their investment accounts |
| AC Braces | $0 because paid with HSA HSA ending balance: $42,996.88 | $4,709.00 – Braces for AC paid in full $132.00 – teeth cleanings, braces consultation at places we didn’t select |
Analysis
The 3.97% withdrawal rate brings us to a running average withdrawal rate of 4.11% since returning to the US, July through September.
AC’s braces, while sitting outside the budget as an HSA expense, still stung a bit. My hope is that the HSA is big enough that with growth, it will last forever. Spending $4,709 in the early months of FIRE doesn’t help that cause. It does, however, feel good being able to do that for AC. That’s one kid’s braces out of the way, with one to go.
Uncategorized spending was very manageable this month. We didn’t just avoid surprises; we had plenty and still had room to spare. These included $211.16 in school supplies and fees, and $104.23 with BC spending some of his deferred chore earnings. Despite those and some other miscellaneous expenses, we still saved $114.77 into the sinking fund.
October should be a cheaper month, with little need for air conditioning or heat. The kids are settled into school, so we’re also looking forward to a break from supplies and fees. It’s a good chance to bring down our running withdrawal rate.
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