A couple of years ago, Mr. Money Mustache lost some credibility among the faithful when he wrote this blog post about actually trying to spend a bit more money, while buying a Tesla as the first step in that program.
“Look at me!”,
I thought to myself at the time,
“I’m such an enlightened middle-aged Badass, adjusting habits and realigning myself at the snap of my fingers. Onward to the next forty eight years of the Good Life!”
So, two years passed with an even greater feeling of abundance. I had a marvelous time traveling everywhere and spending money like I thought a proper wealthy person would do.
I dined out in stylish restaurants, booked hotels based on their niceness rather than their cheapness, paid extra to sit in the “reduced torture” seats of the airplanes, and gave zero fucks about paying double for groceries if I happened to be in a Whole Foods rather than my usual Sam’s Club and Costco (and yes I treat myself to memberships at both warehouse stores!)
Among the highlights, my son and I have worked our way though a nice selection of late night EDM concerts and three Meowwolf art venues including a Christmas Day road trip from our winter home in Tempe Arizona to Las Vegas last year. And having spent much of the year as a single man, I had a wide open schedule to just meet up with friends, explore new places and meet new people as opportunities came up. It felt like a year of adventurous transition, which means it felt like much more than twelve months.
With all this flashy spending, I was sure my budget must have crept back into full American Consumer territory. But I was having too much fun to bother adding it all up to check.
Until recently, when I was doing another round of informal coaching for a friend and we both decided to tally our spending for the past year to compare notes.
When I finally finished sorting all of those transactions into a spreadsheet and hit the “sum” button, the results surprised me.
While my overall spending had indeed increased (especially in travel-related categories), the big-picture effect was still pretty minimal. Depending on how I account for things like the car and my business expenses, my spending went from $20,000 to about $30,000 (plus the usual hidden subsidy of a paid-off house.)
This level could still be sustained by a $1 million investment nest egg. Since my investments are quite a bit higher than that (especially after these recent years of crazy economic growth and the never-ending stock market rally), I’m still way under budget.
Although I still “failed” to really increase my spending to the MMM-recommended levels for old wealthy people, this still makes me happy, because I have genuinely had more fun with the abundance mindset, and I can keep trying more life experiments in the coming years.
As we covered in the 2019 article on the idea of an Optimization Council, it’s always a good idea to compare our spending, tips and tricks on how to get the most out of life. Almost twenty years into early retirement, this is where I have landed so far, although I’m always learning and open to feedback.
Anyway, let’s cut the wistful commentary and get into the budget.
| Category | From Personal Card | From Business Card | Total | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groceries | $5,465.56 | $494.83 | $5,960.39 | For me + young adult son about half the time + guests |
| Restaurants | $2,145.11 | $98.48 | $2,243.59 | Restaurants only for special fun rather than just getting food |
| Travel | $3,982.00 | $2,176.77 | $6,158.77 | Business travel is for things like Camp Fi and other fun conferences |
| Utilities | $1,909.51 | 0 | $1,909.51 | |
| Amazon/House | $949.64 | $2,604.46 | $3,554.10 | About 75% of business is actually construction materials for clients (usually friends) which were reimbursed via invoice |
| Booze | $250.67 | 0 | $250.67 | Wine and other beverages for entertaining. |
| Healthcare | $813.20 | $2,723.46 | $3,536.66 | This is cheap thanks to Sedera Health Sharing plus a Direct primary care (DPC subscription) Also paid for some advanced blood tests just for screening and learning purposes. |
| Automobile | $2,191.68 | $233.53 | $2,425.21 | This is just car insurance and registration. We could add a “depreciation” figure in here to be more accurate. |
| Phone+Internet | $1,410.56 | 1410.56 | $50 Gigabit Internet (!) and about $25-30 for my monthly for Google Fi bill + tax | |
| Property Taxes | $2,577.30 | $2,577.30 | Surprisingly reasonable given the $500-600k value of houses in my neighborhood. | |
| Total | $20,284.67 | $9,742.09 | $30,026.76 |
In summary: Wow, how interesting! When we compare this to my 2019 post on that year’s spending, it’s only a bit higher even after all the inflation we have seen in recent years. I spent more on travel and fun, but less on home renovation – partly because I was away so much I didn’t have as much time to work on my house. The health insurance is a new cost too since I was self-insured back then.
The Biggest Savings:
My budget is notably missing the biggest expense for most people, which is housing costs. This is because I paid off my house long ago, and I also love working on and taking care of my own home, which means there are no bills for lawn mowing, plumbers, tree pruning or handyman services.
This strategy is not for everyone, and it’s not even the optimum financial one for me – I would have been better off taking out the biggest mortgage I could get at 3% back in the sweet borrowing times of 2021, and putting all that principal to work in stock index funds where it would have almost doubled since then. But I still get a great peace of mind from just having no mortgage payment, and there’s really no better way to use your money than to buy such good feelings. Also, I get a secondary benefit of not having to buy house insurance, which saves me another $2000 per year, boosting my effective return on that payoff.
What about Health Insurance?
First of all, the biggest money saving factor of good health and good luck has continued, meaning I’ve still had no actual medical expenses. But I still do maintain two layers of health care support which together feel very much like the ultimate version of health insurance: a membership with a top of the line Direct Primary Care (DPC) medical clinic ($107 per month) plus a high-deductible plan ($201) with a health sharing organization called Sedera.
The combined cost of $308 per month is less than the cheapest Bronze plan in the field of standard health insurance, yet I get personalized support with zero deductible for almost all typical medical needs, plus some protection from larger medical bills if my good luck runs out.
But as a disclaimer, I’m not an expert on medical needs and health insurance because I’ve had so little experience with the system. And the highest priority in my life is arranging my days for maximum health to give me the best chance of keeping it this way.
How could I do better?
When it comes down to it, money is a tool for survival and if we’re lucky, self actualization. So I’m always asking myself if there’s anything I can change or improve to make the most of this good fortune.
I also try to keep in mind an interesting principle of happiness, which says that,
Fixing your persistent problems is more effective than just doubling down on things that are already good in your life.
For me, there are already a lot of good things which don’t need improving. My family, friends, relationships, health, food and daily activities are pretty much as good as I could imagine.
The only annoyance I can think of is physical chaos: I have a lot of space-intensive hobbies like construction and music, and I currently live in a pretty small house which is basically maxed out. I could really use a doubling of my workshop space from the current 2-car, 440 square foot garage to maybe a thousand or so.
But I also love where I live and wouldn’t want to give up my views, neighbors or current place. So I’ll keep optimizing what I’ve got unless some perfect opportunity comes up for a bigger place right on my block.
In the longer run, a mountain compound with its own cliffs and stream are also on my “maybe” list. But once again, my days and life are already overbooked with joyful things. My existing house and our HQ Coworking space already have long to-do lists. Would I actually be happier if I added another place to my portfolio? So I keep this idea on the shelf until I’m willing to trade it for another existing commitment – like selling my house or the coworking space.
But for now, I’m just extremely excited to blaze into 2025 with loads abundance and piles of challenging stuff on my to-do list. And I wish you the same!
In the Comments: Where are you at on this spectrum of stinginess versus abundance mentality, and fulfilment versus longing in life?
A Temporary Note about Teslas and other electric cars:
Rumor has it that the $7500 EV tax credit might be disappearing when our new president takes over next week, so this might be the cheapest chance to buy what I feel are the best cars on the market: The Model Y, or Model 3.
Both used and new prices are at record lows so shop around and get an additional $1000 off a new one if you use a referral code from a friend or here’s mine if you need one (many thanks!)
Full article here at The Model Y Experiment.
FTC Compliance Note: I use referral links for some products when possible which means the blog may earn a commission if you use them. More details here.
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