You spent how much?! (Blue Lagoon, Iceland)

2016 was our 4th full year of living large. And this year we have the receipts to go with it.

We traveled a bit, spending time in 16 countries. This includes a month in Thailand, a month in Malaysia, a few days in Singapore, 4 months in Western Europe, 2 months in the US, and a few months in Taiwan. Jr has been to 17 countries now.

If that weren’t enough, Winnie finished and published her book (in Mandarin), we took a ton of photos, wrote some blog posts, attended a blogging conference, and even appeared in People Magazine (print only, see all press here.)

Whew! One of these days we are going to have to actually retire, or something.

Total Expenses

All of that moving around rang up some serious expenditures. Despite saving over $10k through strategic use of credit cards, we still managed to have our most expensive year yet.

Total spending for the year was $72,002, or ~$197/day.

Details2016 Annual ExpensesNotes
Housing$20,723~$57/day
Healthcare$2,887~$8/day
Transportation$10,613~$29/day
Groceries$5,010~$14/day
Dining Out$16,903~$46/day
Alcohol$914~$3/day
Entertainment$2,854~$8/day
Misc$12,099~$33/day
Total$72,002~$197/day

If we use the 4% rule, it would require a portfolio of around $1.8 million to sustain this level of spending. That isn’t our plan.

More realistically, our average daily cost over 4 years is closer to $138/day. If you insisted on having a baby every year (I wouldn’t recommend it), you could lump in all of our IVF and child birth expenses and our total comes to ~$155/day.

Data for previous years: 2013, 2014, 2015.

A Little Analysis

It wouldn’t be smart to live large without doing a little analysis about where the dollars go.

$29,067 (or 40% of the total) went to our European travels. I analyzed that spending in this post. The short version is: we are amongst Airbnb‘s favorite customers, and we like to eat all the things.

Roughly, a day in Europe cost 2x a day in Thailand or Malaysia. This is in part because we moved around between cities on at least a weekly basis. Trains, planes, and automobiles, oh my.

Healthcare was mostly insurance through Taiwan’s national health system, plus travel insurance while we were in Europe and the US. This basically paid for itself after reimbursement for care in Europe.

Upon returning to Taiwan, one of us started nesting again… we now have a kitchen full of useful kitcheny things. We are eating well at home more often.

Miscellaneous is the least innocuous category of spending. About 1/3 of it is baby related (diapers, formula, toys, books, etc…) ~1/3 is clothes & shoes. And the final 1/3 is all of those life things that come up: driver’s license renewal, mailing service, and electronics (rechargeable electric razor, new Kindles, and a new smartphone.)

Photo highlights

I believe I can fly #swimming #infinitypool #pool #travel #travelingram #singapore #marinabaysands #fly #fatherandson

A photo posted by Go Curry Cracker! (@gocurrycracker) on

Beach time #beach #positano #amalfi #travel #travelgram #italy

A photo posted by Go Curry Cracker! (@gocurrycracker) on

See Instagram for more.

Conclusions and Projections

So yeah, we spent $72k this year. Good times.

2017 is off to a strange start. We plan on avoiding US airports for awhile, and will likely remain in Asia for the next year or four. Expenses are expected to be a repeat of 2014, with another round of IVF and childbirth if all goes well. That would put annual spending around $60k.

Thank you for reading and for your support.

Please share your GCC love on Twitter and Facebook!

Jeremy, Winnie, & Julian
Go Curry Cracker!

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