Top 5 Expenses that Go Down in Retirement

In order to safely plan for a successful retirement, it’s imperative to have a general idea of what your spending needs will be when retired.

We cannot calculate whether or not our anticipated withdrawal rate would be considered safe (in the range of 3% to 4%) without knowing the size of the annual withdrawal.

The Top 5 Expenses that Go Down in Retirement

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Commuting costs many of us not only time, but money, and perhaps more money than we realize. 

1. The Cost of Commuting

In our household, we have limited our commuting expenses in a number of ways, including: Living very close to my workplaces Bicycle Commuting – Working  less and then not at all. – Being a one-income household

I don’t count retirement savings as “spending,” but if you believe in the benefits of the Live on Half challenge, you will be directing as much money to your retirement as you spend on everything else combined.

2. The Cost of Retirement Savings

Our current biggest annual “expense”  is our retirement savings. Taxes represent our number two.

3. Taxes in Retirement

Once we are fully retired and no longer earning an income, I expect to be done paying federal income taxes. If we were to rent a home in a no-income-tax state, we could also avoid property and state income taxes.

This isn’t directly related to retirement. You can still work and be mortgage free like me or be retired with a monthly mortgage payment for many years.

4. Mortgage Payments

However, there is something to be said for the freeing feeling of being completely debt free, and I do recommend making a strong attempt to eliminate your mortgage prior to cutting off your sole income source.

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