Last week I posed a semi-rhetorical question as to how our paychecks disappear so fast. This week I thought I’d actually find out where the money’s going. And it’s no surprise whatsoever, 33% of our expenditures go toward housing. To be fair, that includes utilities and upkeep as well as the tax, insurance, and mortgage payments. Far and away, keeping a roof over our heads is the biggest personal expense on this graph. That’s also an opportunity then where any realized savings can go a very long way—especially given that expenditures in the category have been increasing over the last five years. If you need some ideas about how to whittle yours down to a more manageable level, let’s talk.
Second is transportation. Don’t get me started talking about cars; I love them but they are way too expensive. What’s interesting to me here is that the prices of fuel and new cars have skyrocketed over the last few years yet this graph shows costs have been dead flat since 2019. Two possibilities. The first is that the graph is wrong. The second is that people are keeping their cars longer, which drives down the overall cost over time. Either one is plausible.
After insurance, the money spent on the next five categories of healthcare, entertainment, charitable contributions, clothing, and education have all shrunk. And they are down in direct proportion to the amount we’re spending on insurance. That’s no surprise to anyone.
The category I find curious is “reading”which has actually risen—though the category itself takes up such a minuscule portion of the graph that it’s practically indecipherable. It’s peculiar to me that reading actually has it’s own category and it’s not lumped into the “miscellaneous” grouping. Also interesting is that booze and smokes get more of our money than does literature. But to be fair, books are available for free from the library.
Also of note, “taxes” didn’t make the list. Probably because it’s a government study and they don’t want to draw your attention to the category and cause rioting in the streets. Incidentally, when you add up all the income, property, sales, etc. taxes we pay, it’s an average of 29% of our income. Makes that new car sound not so expensive now, right?
