Just look at this interesting chart.
There are several things that stood out to me here, but most notably these:
- Look at how much housing takes up at every single level. No wonder I was able to accumulate such wealth by paying off my mortgage early.
- Food is a category that most people spend way too much on IMO. Almost every single person we coached spent multiples of what we did on food (much of it on expensive, processed, branded products and eating out) even when we had more people in our family.
- Transportation is a huge money suck. This information makes a good argument for living close to work, driving a car until it can't go any more, and keeping these costs as low as possible.
In fact, if you look at these three costs, they make up half the spending at almost every income (much more than that at lower income levels).
Here are some quick thoughts on how to reduce the spending in each area:
- Buy a house below what you can afford. This will not only help you pay it off faster but save on associated expenses. It's well documented that the larger the house you have, the more you spend on related items.
- Reduce your restaurant costs and branded purchases. From there take the right steps to save even more on your remaining food purchases.
- If you can live close enough to work to bike/walk, do it. If not, get a gas-efficient car and drive it into the ground. Or even better, see if you can work from home. :)
Doing these will make a MASSIVE difference in your budget and free up resources you can use to save and ultimately retire early.
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