Get Retirement Budget Worksheet

The rule of thumb is that you can expect your expenses to be 70% to 80% of what they were before you retires. So if you spent $1,000 each month before you retired, you could expect to spend about $700 to $800 each month in retirement. Now, this is just a rule of thumb.

A good way to begin to estimate retirement expenses is to use your current monthly income as a starting place, and then add and subtract any expenses you expect to change in retirement.

How much money do you need to retire comfortably? According to AARP, one common rule of thumb is that you'll need 70% to 80% of your pre-retirement income after you retire. So if you made an average of $75,000 per year during your working years, you may only need $52,500 to $60,000 in retirement.

According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which is based on 2016 figures, older households defined as those run by someone 65 and older spend an average of $45,756 a year, or roughly $3,800 a month. That's about $1,000 less than the monthly average spent by all U.S. households combined.

Are these scenes of carefree times in retirement based on financial reality? According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which is based on 2016 figures, older households defined as those run by someone 65 and older spend an average of $45,756 a year, or roughly $3,800 a month.

Based on average annual spending for American seniors and the national average life expectancy at age 65 of 19.4 years, the average American will spend about $987,000 from retirement age on.

Are these scenes of carefree times in retirement based on financial reality? According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which is based on 2016 figures, older households defined as those run by someone 65 and older spend an average of $45,756 a year, or roughly $3,800 a month.

Food. Members of older households spend an average of $6,599 per year on food, including both the food they eat at home ($4,063) and eating out ($2,536).

However, for these purposes, we'll use stats for those over 65. Average Household Retirement Income 2020: Median Income $43,696.

The rule of thumb is that you can expect your expenses to be 70% to 80% of what they were before you retires. So if you spent $1,000 each month before you retired, you could expect to spend about $700 to $800 each month in retirement. Now, this is just a rule of thumb.