My Revised Number (and revised, and revised, and revised…)
My Revised Number (and revised, and revised, and revised…)
Debbie and I (as she will tell you) had a lot of fun over this … her original spreadsheet was really just a projection of her current expenses (with some additional ‘do you think I can really afford them’-type stuff) … in other words, it was a budget.
I hate budgets!
So, after a little bit of work – and, thanks to both Lee’s List and Ryan’s Table [imagine: the two most useful tools for this part of our exercise were created by our own readers/contributors … now, do you see the power of the 7m7y Community?] – Debbie has a clear and concise view of her Number that will knock your socks off …
… if you are just reading and haven’t yet tried to work out your own Number, just take Debbie’s post and give it a whirl … you’ll be glad you did …
I had an extremely difficult time coming up with my new number, using the spreadsheets and formulas and calculations. It was easier before – when I was just guessing on a number based on some general lifestyle situations, and then making some assumptions on the rest. Once I sat down to REALLY calculate it, with more accurate estimations and inflation – forget about it. AJC is probably wishing he was charging me an hourly rate for all the time he spent explaining (and re-explaining) how to work through my mess of numbers!
Anyway! What I found really interesting is the end result… my Number… after hours of calculating and discussing – is actually not all that far off from the number I just (basically) made a bunch of educated guesses to get back when we were first looking at the “Number” in terms of our life’s purpose! (It was about 8,250,000). What does that mean, exactly? Eh, I have no idea – just thought it was interesting.
| One-Off Expenses | Total Needed in 2008 Dollars | In 2018 dollars | ||
| Car1 | $22,000.00 | $33,000.00 | ||
| Car2 | $22,000.00 | $33,000.00 | ||
| House | $400,000.00 | $600,000.00 | ||
| One Time Australia Trip | $50,000.00 | $75,000.00 | ||
| 2 Kids, College Education | $443,000.00 | |||
| Start up Business Money | $500,000.00 | $750,000.00 | ||
| Subtotal | $1,934,000.00 |
| Annual Expenses | Cost | In 2018 dollars | ||
| Vacations | $30,000.00 | $45,000.00 | ||
| Gifts | $10,000.00 | $15,000.00 | ||
| Groceries | $18,000.00 | $27,000.00 | ||
| electric/gas | $6,000.00 | $9,000.00 | ||
| car gasoline | $2,000.00 | $3,000.00 | ||
| phone/cable/internet | $4,000.00 | $6,000.00 | ||
| Kids clothes/misc | $5,000.00 | $7,500.00 | ||
| entertainment(misc) | $12,000.00 | $18,000.00 | ||
| house help(maid/gardner) | $18,000.00 | $27,000.00 | ||
| School Tax | $7,256.00 | $7,256.00 | ||
| Property Tax | $9,000.00 | $9,000.00 | ||
| Income Tax | ||||
| Subtotal | $173,756.00 | |||
| multiply by 20 | $3,475,120.00 | |||
| TOTAL: | $5,409,120.00 |
But then- we had to do something about the income tax you pay when you’re a millionaire-type person. This was another part that was a bit over my mathematical-concept challenged head. But I used the info from AJC, which was to divide my Annual Expenses in 2018 Dollars / .65 and then Multiply that number by 20 before adding to the one-time expenses. So my new total, my new number, by the year 2018 becomes = $7,280,338.46
I think the absolute hardest thing about this process for me was 
realizing at that date, (November 2018) with that number ($7,280,338.46), I really wouldn’t have to work anymore. In my mind – I see myself always doing something or other, but the idea of picking projects and business opportunities because they are things I want to do… because they could allow me to make a difference in someone else’s life… it’s just so motivating! You’ll see I have “start up money” of about $500,000 (in today’s money) in my one-time expense category… it’s the business(es) I fund using this seed money that will likely continue to earn additional income on top of the money the “NUMBER” will be earning in interest to supply me with what’s needed for my living expenses the way I want my life to be by 2018. I already have a list of ideas in their infancy stages… can’t wait to put more thought into them.
Remember my Lee’s List? Those items are included in that mess of numbers too… mostly giving the ability to travel, spend more quality time with family and friends…and then the nicer house. Originally I thought “$500,000” seemed like the house price to go with, but after looking at some houses for sale – there’s not much difference between a $400,000 home, so I went with the lower of the two. I’m so used to being frugal that when the time comes, I could very well be excited over a $280,000 home and feel it has everything I ever needed or wanted!
Debbie, I am so thrilled to hear of your frustration of putting together you revised number:) I have put off re-doing my number again because I have thought, “this is so far above my comprehension”. But I tried one more time.
I appreciate your post because for some reason I seemed to understand it better than any of the others.