I was scrolling through my budget document and saw the list that I used to break down my expenses into the categories: Essential, Lifestyle and Future. I had skipped this process in 2020 so was curious to see how my current budget lines up with my goal to flip the suggested 50-30-20.
Here’s how it lines up with both the aim and previous years:
| My Aim | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | |
| Essential | 20% | 57% | 48% | 33% | 25% | 27% | 34% |
| Lifestyle | 30% | 27% | 28% | 30% | 29% | 21% | 20% |
| Future | 50% | 16% | 24% | 37% | 46% | 52% | 43% |
While my Essential and Future costs are moving to the more traditional direction, I noticed that my essential block contains an increase to my monthly mortgage payments. With the added payments, we’re on track to pay off the mortgage in 11 years and 5 months – June, 2032. This would bring us 2 years shy of the original 25 year amortization.
Paying off the mortgage ahead of 50, would give us a solid opportunity to save for our retirement. This would include not only the savings to cover reduced income but the ability to outfit our home so we can stay in it as long as possible.
Saving Without Scrimping 