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Special Expenditures

Submitted by phxsun1@cox.net on 7 April 2007 - 3:38pm

I'm slightly confused on how to use special expenditures. If the nature of your program is to generate a standard of living that helps determine how much to spend annually over a lifetime, what actually gets put into the 'special expenditures' section as opposed to letting the program generate reports that give you a annual consumption amount and letting you decide how to allocate various expenses to stay within the suggested guidelines. If I try to determine every 'special' expenditure over the hopefully next 30+ years of my life (ex. furniture, house painting, COBRA payments, annual credit card payments which are used in part for all my family living expenses, house maintenance, etc...) aren't I defeating the purpose of the program which is to tell me how much I can spend yearly. If not, what expenses should and shouldn't be put under special expenditures? Thanks for your help.

‹ Special Expenditures for Self-Employed Business Expenses?
Submitted by Laurence Kotlikoff on 25 April 2007 - 9:54am.
1

Hi,

You are correct that using special expenditures to specify every penny you'll be spending in the future defeats the purpose of the program. Instead, you want to enter under special expenditures only those expenditures that you definitely need to make regardless of what else happens. An example here is paying for your child's college tuition. If your child is in college and you definitely will be paying for the rest of her tuition, that's a special expenditure that needs to be included.

best, Larry

Submitted by phxsun1@cox.net on 26 April 2007 - 10:20am.
2

thanks, and congrats on a well written and useful product.

Submitted by phxsun1@cox.net on 20 May 2007 - 8:18pm.
3

So I'm finally clear, once the program calculates my annual consumption amounts, I'm to assume these are the $$'s that are available for whatever living expenses I choose but should not be allocated to pay for those items entered into Special Expenditures, Primary and Vacation Homes (i.e. values enter for property taxes, insurance and related condo and maintenance fees), and regular income taxes which the program already took into account and therefore paying them out of the annual consumption figures would be double counting....correct?

Thank you.

Submitted by Dick Munroe on 21 May 2007 - 6:29am.
4

Exactly,

Dick Munoe

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