My 2024 Spending: What Financial Independence Actually Looks Like
The Numbers You Never See
Everyone talks about how to reach financial independence, but almost no one shows you what FI actually looks like in practice. What do financially independent people spend money on? How much do they spend? Where do they splurge and where do they save?
Today I'm pulling back the curtain completely. I'm sharing my actual 2024 spending. This is every category, every dollar, with explanations for my choices. This isn't a humble brag or an attempt to shame anyone for spending more. It's a real-world example of how someone who's achieved FI actually allocates money.
Some of my choices will probably surprise you. I spend more than you might expect in some categories and far less in others. The goal is to show you that financial independence doesn't mean living like a monk. It means being intentional about every dollar.
Important context: I'm in my 30s, married, live in Texas, and achieved FI in 2022. My spending reflects someone who no longer needs to save aggressively for retirement but still maintains most of the habits that got me there. I have two dogs, no children, and no debt except my mortgage.
In a future post I’ll share my past spending when I was still strictly saving as much as possible.
Total 2024 Spending: $66,065
Here's how that breaks down by category:
Housing & Utilities: $39,050 (58.7% of total)
What this includes: Mortgage, property taxes, home insurance, maintenance, electricity, water, trash, natural gas, pest control, HOA fees, cell phones
Monthly average: $3,254
My choices and reasoning:
Don’t be too worried that 60% of my expenses are housing. That’s more of a function of how low the other categories are than how high this one is. That said, I do spend far more than needed on housing. My home is more valuable than the median home in my area and I only have two people in my household. I could certainly rent an apartment for far less. Luckily, I don’t have to and I choose to spend extra on housing because I spend most of my time inside it.
This number used to be lower, but property taxes have increased substantially over time along with utility rates and insurance.
Compared to FI guidelines: This number is higher than I would recommend for FI for most people. If I sold my home and rented a suitable apartment, I could be spending ~$1,500/month total. Of course, I’m paying for extra (and more luxurious) space right now and that raises my taxes, utilities, and HOA fees.
Transportation: $2,627 (3.9% of total)
What this includes: Car insurance, fuel, registration, maintenance, tolls, parking, and mass transit passes
My vehicle situation: My wife and I share a 2008 Toyota Land Cruiser for most driving. In late 2023, I purchased a completely unnecessary, luxurious, and financially wasteful 2018 Porsche Boxster GTS. (I’ll post on this in the future.) It puts a weekend smile on my face, so I keep it.
My choices and reasoning:
The Land Cruiser is easy. It’s the most reliable vehicle ever produced and most of them last until 250,000 miles and beyond. At the time I purchased it, nearly all my driving was in snowy or off-road conditions in Colorado. (I biked to work back then.) Even though it’s not the best vehicle for Texas highways to go the grocery store, swapping it out would cost even more, so I keep it.
The Boxster is only for fun. I mostly drive it on weekends to play tennis. (Not an acceptable vehicle during the accumulation stage!)
The FI perspective: Our transportation costs are extremely low. This is mostly because we don’t commute to work. We put ~2,000 miles on the Boxster annually and ~4,000 on the Land Cruiser. This means we don’t even need to change the oil annually, though we do.
Let’s address the obvious: there is no car payment or depreciation in here. I always pay cash for my vehicles, so I don’t have a car payment. Depreciation is a real expense and you should include it in your outlays. In my case, both the Toyota and Porsche are increasing in value because they are no longer produced. That is an extreme aberration for a vehicle and you should not count on it.
It would be fair to take the purchase price of my vehicles and divide them by the number of years I expect to use them and add that to my spending. For simplicity, I didn’t do that because the money didn’t leave my checking account. Also, I expect to keep the vehicles indefinitely. The Land Cruiser has 140k miles and the Boxster has 20k. At my current usage, they might last my lifetime. (Although I’m sure they’ll be technologically obsolete long before then.)
Food: $6,234 (9.4% of total)
What this includes: Groceries and restaurants
Breakdown:
Groceries: $4,885
Restaurants: $1,347
My choices and reasoning:
We have fairly low food costs for two adults. First, we eat out together only monthly on average. The remainder of the restaurant spend is mostly from me when I’m traveling alone. Second, 95% of our grocery spend is from Costco and Walmart, with the remainder from Whole Foods for specialty items. Third, my wife is vegetarian, so all of our home meals are too. Fourth, we cook in bulk and eat leftovers 3-4 times during the week. Fifth, we cook from scratch every meal.
Post-FI changes: Our food costs declined because I stopped commuting to an office. No more lunches out. More shared meals and cooking in bulk.
Healthcare: $4,200 (6.3% of total)
What this includes: Insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs
My health insurance situation: I purchase private insurance as an individual off the exchange. Last year it was $350/month for two adults on the HDHP plan from the Texas Farm Bureau.
My choices and reasoning:
You may notice that insurance is 100% of my spending. Yes, that means I spent zero dollars at healthcare providers during the year. No drugs, no hospitals, no doctors. I hope to keep it that way for as long as possible. I still have 20/20 vision, so I’ve never seen an optometrist. For dental, I negotiated a cheap cash deal with a nearby dentist for cleanings. It’s not included in the healthcare number, but it’s less than $100. I haven’t had a filling in 10+ years and I’m hoping to keep it that way.
The early retirement healthcare reality: Health insurance in the US isn’t great. Healthcare is probably the scariest part about leaving your 9-5 job because employer insurance is usually better than the private market unless you qualify for subsidies. In 2023 I used an ACA plan with subsidies, but when my income rose in 2024, I switched to the TFB plan to save. (BCBS ACA wanted $1,300/month for both of us versus $350 with TFB.)
Travel: $1,311 (2.0% of total)
What this includes: This includes flights, hotels, rental cars, and Taxi/Uber.
Where we went: Glacier National Park (5 days), Chicago (7 days), Vegas (2 days)
My choices and reasoning:
We used miles to fly for free during off days for all three trips. We stayed for free using Marriott points in Whitefish, MT and stayed with family in Chicago. In Vegas, we stayed in a comped room and only paid taxes/fees. The rest of the money went to rental cars, buses, Ubers, etc.
The FI travel advantage: Not working allows you to take advantage of the cheapest flights, whether in dollars or miles.
Note: we usually eat granola bars and fruit for breakfast, skip lunch, and have an early dinner at a restaurant while vacationing. When in Chicago, we cooked family meals, but our hosts paid for the groceries. The restaurant spend is included in our food category.
Entertainment: $1,675 (2.5% of total)
What this includes: Streaming, internet, newspaper,and admissions (zoo, museum, etc)
My choices and reasoning:
We don’t spend much on entertainment. Over time, I’ve discovered the best things in life are free. The park, the library, and a bike ride bring me more joy than concert tickets, sporting events, and the State Fair.
I pay for Spotify, Netflix (this rotates), the Wall Street Journal, fiber-optic internet, and a local museum membership. To be transparent, I also have access to HBO Max and YouTube TV, but I don’t pay for them. If they weren’t free, I would cancel them.
Personal Care: $5,571 (8.3% of total)
What this includes: Clothing, haircuts, household goods
My choices and reasoning:
$1,700 of this is for haircuts. We used to cut it ourselves at home, but after reaching FI, we decided we could splurge. Clothing is $1,082 and the rest is household goods. Mrs. Prosper makes her own clothes and can repair mine, which saves us money.
Charity: $2,525 (3.8% of total)
What this includes: Donations
Notable items:
This was split between Campus Crusade and The Nature Conservancy.
Pet: $2,871 (4.3% of total)
What this includes: Pet food, grooming, vet care, toys, treats, and boarding
Notable items:
Annual checkups are now over $500 each. Food is up to ~$750/yr. Dogs are wonderful, but they become more expensive every year.
What's NOT Included
These numbers don't include:
Investment contributions (not an expense)
Business expenses (tracked separately)
Non-cash expenses (depreciation, accumulated maintenance)
Reimbursements (if I bought something for a family member who paid me back)
How This Compares to My Pre-FI Spending
Total spending change: I have increased spending by roughly 32% since FI. I previously spent $50k annually during the accumulation phase.
Categories that increased: Housing. Home insurance was up 70% this year. Electricity was up 50%. Taxes are up 60% in three years.
Categories that decreased: Travel, entertainment, healthcare, transportation. As traffic increases near us, we avoid driving unless it’s truly necessary. Meanwhile I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been.
The biggest surprise: Pet expenses! The vet used to be $200 for a visit. The price increases for anything related to animals are shocking. We love our dogs, but when the time comes, we’ll be content with one.
Other observations: My lifestyle has inflated since 2022, but most of my core FI habits remain intact. Our investments return far in excess of our spending.
How This Compares to Average American Spending
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American household spends about $77,280 annually. My spending is lower than average. (source)
Where I spend more than average: Housing, personal care, pets
Where I spend less than average: Food, alcohol, clothing, transportation, healthcare, entertainment
The key difference: Transportation. I have posted about this before, but cars are far more expensive than people realize. If I had “normal” transportation costs, I would be spending abbout the same as the average household.
The Psychology of Post-FI Spending
What changed mentally: I stopped pressuring myself to save every dollar. I no longer stressed about paying for bottled water at the airport or stopping at Shell instead of Costco for gas.
What stayed the same: The big items. We didn’t start eating out, upgrade our house, take extravagent vacations, etc. If we had done that, we would no longer have been financially independent!
New considerations: I think less about “can I afford this?” and more about “does this add value to my life?”. I also used to feel guilty about “unnecessary” purchases, but now if they are small dollar, I let them go. It’s also a shift to move from every dollar delaying financial independence to every dollar coming from investment returns.
The Areas Where I Could Optimize Further
Reviewing my numbers make me realize there are definitely areas where I could spend less:
Haircuts: I spend $360/year. Mrs. Prosper spends $1,340! Somehow I was thinking giving up our home hair studio was going to cost a few hundred.
Dogs: We might need to go vet shopping.
Why I don't optimize everything: My time is my most important resource, not my money. It’s not worth it to spend an hour clipping coupons to save $5. It’s not worth it to spend $50 less on a hotel room and add 30 minutes of travel time to the national park. I optimize the big items and the recurring items.
The Bottom Line
Financial independence isn't about spending as little as possible. It's about spending intentionally on things that actually improve your life while avoiding waste on things that don't.
My $66,065 in annual spending supports a comfortable, enjoyable life without the stress of needing to earn more. Could I spend less? Absolutely. Could I spend more? Also yes. But this level feels right for my values and priorities.
Some of you are reading this while making $35k and struggling to imagine how I spend so much. Others of you are reading this making $200k and struggling to imagine how I spend so little.
The key insight: My spending reflects sustainable comfort. It’s enough to live well indefinitely without anxiety about the future. It's not about having the least or the most, but having enough.
For your journey: It’s not about the dollar amount. We all have different circumstances. It’s about the savings rate.
For your homework: Track your spending for one month and calculate what percentage goes to each major category. Compare it to my numbers not to judge yourself, but to see where your money is actually going versus where you think it's going.
Here's to spending consciously, not carelessly,
Max
Remember: These numbers reflect my specific situation, location, and preferences. Your optimal spending will be different, but the principle remains the same: be intentional with every dollar and align your spending with your actual values, not what society tells you to value.