I heard a financial advisor talking about a client on a radio show. She was trying to get the client to look at expenses & figure out where they could reduce/cut some of them so they could put money in retirement accounts. The client said they just had nothing more they could ‘cut’, down to bare bones. The financial advisor said ‘let’s look at your expenses on a daily basis’.
Guess what she discovered? This couple was spending $400 per month at Starbucks!! So to answer your question as to how much on an annual basis, in this case, $4,800.
Personally, I won’t set foot in a Starbucks & I make my own very tasty coffee every morning.
“Personally, I won’t set foot in a Starbucks “
I’m not as hardline as you. If I’m out and about and suffering from a caffeine-withdrawal headache or driving a long distance and need help staying awake, I’ll spring for coffee from a SBUX or a McD or a Dunkin or similar. And I will also spring for an after-dinner coffee at a restaurant a couple times a month. ABut those 3 or 4 overpriced coffees per month maybe total to like $20/mo or $240/yr.
$4,800/yr in your example is crazy money for coffee, and very much an example of how folks waste money.
The other part about ‘saving $4800’ that people forget...it’s more than that because the $4800 is after taxes. Out of your salary, it really represents more like $6000+.
While it is still only $4800 out of pocket, I like to look at it from a non-taxed point of view - it helps me put better value on things. If you make $100,000/yr - and $6000+ is represented by coffee...it just makes the waste more acute. Spend it more wisely.
Everyone laughs at me drinking instant coffee. While I do think there’s some bad ones, they’re not all equal, some aren’t bad at all. For the, subjectively, better taste I’m not willing to spend 10x-100x more. It costs about 5c a cup vs 50c with a Keurig, vs $5 at SBUX??? It’s a no brainer.
That said, these kids are living in the world we provided them. Things are worse than 30 years ago. Housing to income ratios are bad. I get why some would have an ‘f*** it’ attitude.