Every year around January 1, I calculate my (our) net worth and tot up my (our) spending. [I’ve been doing this for many years, since well before I met Mr. PiN, so I will revert to the singular going forward, mostly.]
I have written about this on the blog before, usually in January.
Once again, I spent some time around New Year’s Day going through accounts to calculate the household spending, and compare it to our net worth. And once again, as usually happens every year, I note changes that bear some consideration.
What did I notice this year?
Intentional spending happened
Over the summer, I figured if I had reached FI but was still going to work, I might as well feel okay spending some of the money I was earning. So I did.
I felt free to spend money on home projects, like replacing half our carpeting, and our refrigerator when it died, without worrying about saving money.
Our house spending went up a bit, but not by tons.
Another increase in spending comes from our pursuit of fitness. During the 2024 holidays, Mr. PiN wanted to gift his son a membership to the local pickle ball establishment. I totally agreed, for many reasons. I also splurged on reserving a tennis court for the entire indoor season, so that I could have a lesson through the winter.
These outlays definitely increased our sports spending a bit.
The big kahuna, though, was our increase in travel spending.
I’ve been thinking about our travel spending for a few years, starting with my wish in 2021 to spend more on travel (after spending nearly zero dollars for 2020). Last year, I decided it might be time to increase my travel budget, which hadn’t changed since 2010.
Between that, and my plan to enjoy my salary a bit more, our travel spending exploded! (Though maybe I shouldn’t use that term around air travel?)
What did I get for all this? Actually, quite a lot:
- A week’s rental in Florida to get out of the winter cold.
- A week in New Orleans, split between vacation and a medical meeting.
- A long weekend for another medical meeting.
- A week and a half in British Columbia, with slightly fancier airfare and much nicer hotels than I am used to.
- A week and a half in Europe, with a total splurge on the airfare (Premium Economy, with a last minute upgrade to Business).
- A solo trip for Mr. PiN to see his uncle, with some hotel nights and a car rental.
- A few trips for me home (very cheap, just airfare).
- Airfare for our next 2 trips in 2026, and a few hotel nights.
The big question is: was it worth it?
To be honest, I very much enjoyed going to all the places we saw.
The hotels were much expensive than I am used to; some of this has to do with the increase in costs since the pandemic, and some of it to do with booking trips at the last minute.
I will also say the fancier hotels were very nice.
For our first trips of 2026, I have booked some less-fancy brands of hotel (think Hampton Inn vs Four Seasons). We will see if I have become too accustomed to deluxe hotels, or if I can still enjoy myself while saving some money.
The upgrade in flight tickets was… instructive. We had the privilege of paying for upgraded tickets to B.C. without actually getting that service, thanks to the Air Canada strike. Definitely not worth it.
We actually got to experience the fancier class of service going overseas, which was very nice. I’m not sure this can be the way we travel all the time, but it may be something to budget for when we can. It made the long trip with jet lag much more manageable.
Overall, we could afford this bump in travel spending, but I will admit I felt a little uncomfortable adding this up. I might see if we can moderate this a bit going forward.
Our spending categories continue to change
This year I didn’t even bother with a category for yoga, or supporting the step son (the pickle ball is a gift).
I did add a category for Door Dash, as I was surprised at how much our spending here increased. Interestingly, this planned increase in spending didn’t actually increase our overall restaurant spending much.
The mystery categories of “cash” and “miscellaneous” grew this year, to levels not seen for years.
But some spending remains surprisingly constant
My Kindle outlay remains pretty constant at $9-11 per month. I feel I am doing pretty well at actually reading the books I purchase this way.
Spending on movies, books, Scrabble, and a few other discretionary purchases also have been relatively stable.
Am I [still] FI?
This has been the big question in the past few years.
If I were to simply divide my liquid net worth by my spending, I would be fine.
Once I start with the adjustments: account for taxes, include full price health insurance premiums and a fund for big repairs around the house….I think I still may be able to get by with a 4% withdrawal rate. But it’s close.
What now?
Happily for the math, I’m not planning on retirement this year. I’m just not quite ready to give up on some of the other benefits I get from my work.
Financially, working longer does a lot for me. I can put away more for retirement, and don’t need to cover some of the benefits work will provide (health insurance!). For sure, if the market drops and drags my investments with it, I can still sleep well at night.
On the other hand, being maybe, probably financially independent means I can feel free to spend more. My list of home improvements can get whittled down with less stress. I can splurge on some expensive treats, if not quite so many as this year.
And, if I choose to spend less (looking at my travel budget here), I can feel a good deal more confident about calling myself financially independent.
I’m working one more year, though mostly for non-financial reasons. For those who have retired, how did you decide it was really time to retire?
You did a lot of travel last year. I know what you mean about the nicer hotels. Thanks to business travel, I was spoiled staying in more expensive hotels. Now when I have to “slum it” at the Holiday Inn or Hampton Inn, I notice the difference.
I may have shared before how I decided when to retire. Money aside, it was just a feeling that the benefits of the job no longer outweighed the frustrations for me. As I said to my co-worker, “When every email I open or every meeting I attend makes me roll my eyes and say WTF, it’s time!”
Michelle, I don’t recall hearing previously about your decision to retire. Thank you so much for sharing.
I did travel a lot last year, but I really enjoyed it, and finally felt refreshed when I returned to work after my last few vacations. I do realize that I’m actually looking at the costs for about 1 and 1/4 years’ worth of travel, so maybe the costs are not so, so bad.