Essential vs discretionary spending.
Splitting expenses into these two groups is usually more useful than one combined total, because they behave differently as circumstances change.
Essential
Housing costs, utilities, groceries, health and insurance, basic transport. These tend to stay fairly steady and are the floor your income plan needs to cover in most years, including weaker ones.
Discretionary
Travel, dining out, gifts, hobbies, upgrades. These are the first things most households trim in a lean year, and the first things that expand once the essentials are comfortably covered.
One-off vs recurring costs.
- Recurring costs — groceries, utilities, insurance premiums — are what a fortnightly or monthly income figure needs to cover.
- One-off costs — a car replacement, a roof repair, a big trip — are better planned as separate lump sums than folded into an average weekly figure, which tends to understate the years they land in.
- Aged care and health costs often shift from discretionary to essential later in retirement, which is worth flagging even if it’s a long way off.
Adjusting for inflation.
A spending figure that looks comfortable today can fall behind if it isn’t reviewed. Essentials like groceries and utilities are usually the most exposed to cost-of-living increases, while some discretionary spending can flex to absorb a tighter year. Revisiting the split every year or two — rather than setting it once and assuming it holds — is usually enough to keep the plan realistic.
Up next
Retirement income planning
Turn lifestyle goals into income targets.
Age Pension guide
Understand the assets and income tests.
How much super do I need?
See what balance different lifestyles typically need.
Household expenses planner
Split the household into essentials and nice to have. You can enter either the monthly or annual figure for each line and the other column will update automatically.
Essentials
Core living costs, transport, property, health, and household running costs.
Essentials
More regular household costs to keep both essentials columns balanced.
Nice to have
Flexible lifestyle items, gifts, travel, and discretionary spending.
Use this as a free standalone worksheet for a future retirement income target or a paid Pension Pilot report.
Email yourself this breakdown - free
Get the full essentials and nice-to-have breakdown emailed to you as a PDF, or download it straight away. No cost, no account needed.
👁 Why this worksheet matters
👁 What to enter
Put in the household essentials and the nice-to-have spending using monthly or annual amounts.
You do not need perfect numbers on day one. Reasonable estimates are enough to start.
👁 Why we ask for it
This planner builds the real lifestyle cost that later stages test against super, pension, and retirement timing.
Without a spending picture, the retirement income target is just a guess.
👁 What it feeds
The spending total becomes the income target that later stages test against super, bridge years, and Age Pension pressure.
Cleaner spending inputs make the final PDF easier to explain and check.
👁 Estimates are enough to start
When spending is vague, retirement targets get vague too. A simple expenses picture makes every later assumption easier to review.
Start with reasonable numbers and tighten them later.