Living expense expectations

Living expenses represent the ongoing yearly costs required to support your lifestyle—such as food, clothing, utilities, transportation, entertainment, and other personal spending. These expenses are a core part of long-term financial planning in Quicken.

When setting up a plan in the Lifetime Planner, you estimate your living expenses either as a single rough total or by category. This helps you forecast future costs and make sure your savings, investments, and income sources are sufficient to maintain your lifestyle over time.

By default, living expenses are assumed to increase each year at the rate of inflation. You can adjust this rate or the amount itself at any time to reflect changes in your plans or expectations.

This input is important because it fills the gap between major expenses (such as loans or taxes) and your projected income. Quicken uses this information to calculate how much of your income is consumed by everyday life—and how much may remain for savings or other goals.