Pick one: daily ☕ or $180k by retirement

So often I hear my fellow millenials talk about their obsession with their favorite hipster coffee shop. Single origin, small batch, pour over, the list goes on. Not a ☕ person? Maybe it's tacos🌮, fro-yo🍦, vape juice 💨, or your favorite IPA 🍺.

When most people think of $5 a day - they only think about that - the money spent that day. Even if you add it all up it's only ~$1800 a year - which is totally worth it for some people (☕ = ❤️). But what most millennials don't consider is the opportunity cost - or forgone interest from not having that money!

Using this handy calculator I got from Financial Mentor, I tried to mimic the typical spending habits of those around me:

Dollar amount: $5
How often?: Daily
Annual ROI¹ if invested²: 4%
# of years to estimate: 40

Total $ Spent: $72,960.00
Forgone interest earnings: $106,698.12
Real cost of expenditure: $179,658.12

$179,658.12 😲🤯🤑

Some of you might be thinking, but Matt - coffee is too good to give up! I totally get that, so here's a proposed alterantive that will keep you caffinated AND save you 💸. Get a simple coffee maker from Amazon like this Mr. Coffee 12-Cup - $25 and buy your beans in bulk (Costco sells them for $5.50-$7 a pound). According to coffeemakerpicks, you can enjoy your daily cup for around 50 cents. Over 40 years - this would only add up to $17,000 - so you can take the rest of that and save for retirement!

So, is that coffee shop experience worth $100k+ over your lifetime? You tell me (in the comments)!

Personal Finance blog by Matt Gabor
Consumable knowledge bytes to chomp on your path to wealth. All posts are under 500(-ish) words. Trying to help at least one millennial become more financially literate.