What do you think of this pie chart (average US household expenses)?

[StageLeft]

http://www.visualeconomics.com/how-the-average-us-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/

Most numbers are not surprising. I think a couple are silly, though, like spending $5/day on apparel and services, though I have no idea what "services" are. Are they getting your car fixed or getting happy ending?

Anyway, people spend:

Entertainment: $2,698
Eating out (food that is, you sick bastards): $2,668
Healthcare: $2,853

These are interesting. People in fact spend only marginally more on health care than they do eating at Applebees and Subway

 

[Genx87]

I do think it is fascinating we spend the same % on entertainment as we do on healthcare.
I think a glaring expense is transportation. If we got serious about promoting telecommuting we could lower that expense greatly.

 

[nickbits]

Is health inssurance in the healthcare or insurance slice?

 

[daishi5]

I don't think this chart is appropriate for looking at HC expenses. Most HC insurance is a job benefit, therefore there is no cash outlay from the household for the insurance. The insurance covers a lot of HC, so a portion of the money spent on HC on behalf of the family is not coming from the families pocket, and that would also not be an expenditure captured here.

 

[Genx87]

That healthcare could be out of pocket expenses for procedures not covered by insurance or people with higher deductibles.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I know this sounds quite liberal of me but...

1) Like NYC, every menu item should have the calorie count listed next to it.
2) I would seriously like to explore the idea of a fast-food fat tax on everything from potato chips to french fries to Coca-Cola, etc. Every cent earned goes to some massive healthcare fund. I mean, can we really have a healthcare debate without looking at one of the biggest root causes of disease in this country?

 

[dullard]

Most numbers are not surprising. I think a couple are silly, though, like spending $5/day on apparel and services, though I have no idea what "services" are. Are they getting your car fixed or getting happy ending?
...
These are interesting. People in fact spend only marginally more on health care than they do eating at Applebees and Subway

Good find on the graph. I like it.

Keep in mind that these are family numbers (average 2.5 people were stated on the webpage). So, in reality that apparel and services comes down to $2/day/person. Since they don't define it, I'll assume it is referring only to apparel services (tailoring, dry cleaning, etc.) I don't think $2 is that out of line. Even if you really cheap out you'll likely spend $0.6/day. I got that number by using 2 pairs of shoes at $25 each, 3 pairs of pants at $25 each, 5 cheap shirts at $10 each, $10 for socks/underwear/gloves/hats, and $25 for a coat. If you splurge a bit and throw in quality items ($50 pants, a suit, a sunday dress, $50 shoes) then that $2 doesn't seem unreasonably high.

As mentioned above, the health care number does not include employer and government benefits. Those run around $1000/month for a family. Add in the $2853 in the graph and you see that real health care expenses (20%-30% for most families) runs a bit more than the shelter component.

 

[JTsyo]

http://www.visualeconomics.com/how-the-average-us-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/

Most numbers are not surprising. I think a couple are silly, though, like spending $5/day on apparel and services, though I have no idea what "services" are. Are they getting your car fixed or getting happy ending?

Anyway, people spend:

Entertainment: $2,698
Eating out (food that is, you sick bastards): $2,668
Healthcare: $2,853

These are interesting. People in fact spend only marginally more on health care than they do eating at Applebees and Subway

By reducing #2, might reduce #3 too.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

I call shens on that pie chart. Just the portion I pay each month for my employer-subsidized health insurance is more than the allotted amount they list for "Healthcare". That's not even considering co-payments, deductibles and coinsurance.

 

[ProfJohn]

It is a shame that they took out the piece paid to taxes. Pretty much ruins the whole chart due to that.

 

[Slew Foot]

9K/yr for transportation seem WAYYYYY high. Im assuming that insurance is covered in the insurance category, even so thats 4500 per year per car that the average person is spending?


Everything else seems OK.

 

[Slew Foot]

It is a shame that they took out the piece paid to taxes. Pretty much ruins the whole chart due to that.

Yeah the tax paid would be the single largest slice (shelter is divided into a few groups).

 

[dullard]

9K/yr for transportation seem WAYYYYY high. Im assuming that insurance is covered in the insurance category, even so thats 4500 per year per car that the average person is spending?

What seems out of line with the car portion? $3k per year on car purchases seems reasonable. If you buy car (new or reasonably good condition used) every 5 years, you'll be right around there. $2k for gas (remember this is two drivers) seems reasonable. Two drivers would drive about 24k miles, which would use over 1000 gallons, so $2k in gas is normal. What is left is $3k for repairs, maintanence, insurnace, bus/train/plane tickets, etc. That doesn't seem too high. Two people with insurance would be $1k-$2k depending on the cars and the location. That leaves only $1k-$2k for all repairs and other transportation costs including airplane tickets. One family plane trip a year will easilly eat that up.

 

[CycloWizard]

It is a shame that they took out the piece paid to taxes. Pretty much ruins the whole chart due to that.

This. It would make people uncomfortable and see how much better off they'd be if they weren't having a large chunk of their work taken by force and squandered on the political equivalent of hookers and blow.

 

[Slew Foot]

What seems out of line with the car portion? $3k per year on car purchases seems reasonable. If you buy car (new or reasonably good condition used) every 5 years, you'll be right around there. $2k for gas (remember this is two drivers) seems reasonable. Two drivers would drive about 24k miles, which would use over 1000 gallons, so $2k in gas is normal. What is left is $3k for repairs, maintanence, insurnace, bus/train/plane tickets, etc. That doesn't seem too high. Two people with insurance would be $1k-$2k depending on the cars and the location. That leaves only $1k-$2k for all repairs and other transportation costs including airplane tickets. One family plane trip a year will easilly eat that up.

Is vacation transportation included in there? Then it might make sense, but buying a new car every 5 years is a humongous waste. Shit I dont do that, and Im in the 99% income percentile.

 

[ElFenix]

I know this sounds quite liberal of me but...

1) Like NYC, every menu item should have the calorie count listed next to it.
2) I would seriously like to explore the idea of a fast-food fat tax on everything from potato chips to french fries to Coca-Cola, etc. Every cent earned goes to some massive healthcare fund. I mean, can we really have a healthcare debate without looking at one of the biggest root causes of disease in this country?

there's nothing liberal about it. it's authoritarian.

Is vacation transportation included in there? Then it might make sense, but buying a new car every 5 years is a humongous waste. Shit I dont do that, and Im in the 99% income percentile.

we are talking average. the churn rate for cars has gotten higher over the last decade with the increased rate of leasing.

 

[Farang]

I spend just over 5% of my income on health care, but my employer is covering 75% of my costs. I imagine most households are similar. Keep that in mind when trying to directly compare health versus entertainment costs on this chart.

 

[ussfletcher]

I wonder if internet and computers come under the 'Education' or under the 'Enternainment' category.

 

[Genx87]

I call shens on that pie chart. Just the portion I pay each month for my employer-subsidized health insurance is more than the allotted amount they list for "Healthcare". That's not even considering co-payments, deductibles and coinsurance.

Your situation isnt like most of America however. For instance my total healthcare costs last year were 60\month insurance + 750 in out of pocket. About 1500 bucks for a year. And I have some conditions which require a regular checkup. Like my allergy and asthma situation.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

Your situation isnt like most of America however. For instance my total healthcare costs last year were 60\month insurance + 750 in out of pocket. About 1500 bucks for a year. And I have some conditions which require a regular checkup. Like my allergy and asthma situation.

Do you have family coverage or single coverage?

 

[soccerballtux]

I know this sounds quite liberal of me but...

1) Like NYC, every menu item should have the calorie count listed next to it.
2) I would seriously like to explore the idea of a fast-food fat tax on everything from potato chips to french fries to Coca-Cola, etc. Every cent earned goes to some massive healthcare fund. I mean, can we really have a healthcare debate without looking at one of the biggest root causes of disease in this country?

there's nothing liberal about it. it's authoritarian.




we are talking average. the churn rate for cars has gotten higher over the last decade with the increased rate of leasing.

Posting how many calories something is isn't going to help people making incorrect decisions like "I won't get the meat because the protein has so many calories".

They will also incorrectly conclude that the salad has a lot more calories than it really does-- vegetables have almost no calories, because fiber does not get processed. Yet when they burn the vegetables, they are burning the fiber and counting it towards the calorie count of that food.

The information is out there for people that want to eat healthy. Vegetables, proteins, fruits, and avoid empty starches. That's all you need to know. This combined with portion size will get you miles further than counting calories.

 

[dullard]

Is vacation transportation included in there? Then it might make sense, but buying a new car every 5 years is a humongous waste. Shit I dont do that, and Im in the 99% income percentile.

It says all "other transportation" which can only be assumed to include vacation transportation (vacations aren't listed in their own category). Yes, a new car every 5 years is a waste. But, it is fairly close to what Americans do. It doesn't have to be every 5 years though. If you spend $30k once for a vehicle (fairly typical for an SUV, crossover, or the like) and drive it for 10 years, you'll be pretty close to $3k loss per year. Or even if you buy $5000 used cars, they still lose $1k per year in value.

 

[Genx87]

Do you have family coverage or single coverage?

For me it is single coverage. If I had family coverage my deductible doubles. So I may hit 3K in spending. Which isnt that far from the above numbers. And typically my health costs arent like they were last year. Usually a few refills of my Fexafenadine and one check up. Maybe 300 out of pocket.

 

[Genx87]

I spend just over 5% of my income on health care, but my employer is covering 75% of my costs. I imagine most households are similar. Keep that in mind when trying to directly compare health versus entertainment costs on this chart.

Then you also need to add in that as compensation on the other side.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

For me it is single coverage. If I had family coverage my deductible doubles. So I may hit 3K in spending. Which isnt that far from the above numbers.

I rest my case. Single coverage premiums cost about 1/4th of what family coverage premiums cost per month.

Apples and oranges.