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Buy Yourself a Latte

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Re: Buy Yourself a Latte

#261

Post by csomar »

Sure. How about saving up that $5 coffee until you die. Then you can enjoy your millions in your grave-yard. I'm close to turning 30 and one thing I learned: There are certain experiences you only enjoy when you are at a particular age.

You can't go hiking when you are 75. You'll probably be sitting on a chair. You can't also go drinking and dancing in some cities around the world and coming back to your hotel room with a date. That can't happen at 75 unless you are paying for it. I also don't think you'll enjoy it as if you were 22.

The truth is: You should save/spend and optimize for your perceived livelihood. Unless you have an agenda of passing your wealth to your children. I'd rather cease my existence at 75 or 80 than struggle with illness and pass my wealth to pharmaceuticals and doctors.

But back to the issue. $5 coffee? Yes but only because I can sit at Starbucks for 2/3 hours. They give you electricity, WIFI and some starbucks do have rather, very nice, views. Buying a take-away starbucks everyday because you are too lazy to make coffee is stupid, however. (or rich enough)

Re: Buy Yourself a Latte

#262

Post by BenMorganIO »

Just a summary:

- Budget to be able to buy lattes. The inflation and results from $100 a month may be better spent frivolously than conserved. In other words, budget for frivolous expenses. - Don't spend money on this stuff if you've got bigger problems.

My opinion:

I mean... It's a drink. I'd recommend Tim's instead of Starbucks if money is tight. As a person who spent two years homeless, this stuff is helpful for mental health. Being able to have less worries than more worries is important.

Don't forget the old 50/30/20 rule. 50% on needs, 30% on wants, 20% on savings. Recalculate that not to your needs or wants, but how often your unemployed and if that number is more than 20% a year you should increase savings to cover that as well. Then recalculate needs, review on current bills, and rebalance and so on.

Also keep a month or two of cash reserves for emergencies.

Now go buy a mocha, they're better.

Re: Buy Yourself a Latte

#263

Post by lloydde »

munk-a wrote: post #251
jimbokun wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The article isn't advocating that you buy a coffee every single day." That is EXACTLY what the article is advocating, very explicitly. Your case sounds very different than the "$5 latte a day habit", which is probably just someone standing in line in the morning, grabbing their coffee and absent-mindedly sipping it as they walk to the office. You got an hour of shelter and a comfortable place to sit in a nice enviro…

This article is terribly misleading and, honestly, makes me wonder if it's just some BS starbucks guerilla marketing. I agree that having an occasional treat is great - the latte a day habit is an addiction it stops being a treat. The article fails because it uses terminology to positively frame it as a treat while using terminology to include the negative framing when describing what you can do... it is terribly wri…

Thank you! It is poor use of time to argue about such a terribly writen article. If the OP author genuinely wants people to know it is OK drinking $5 lattes daily, they need to stop qualifying the consumption as occasional. The article has so many other problems, but the real premise of the article encouraging people to understand variable small expenses vs fixed large expenses and flat wages is critical. The comments here demonstrate how impossible conversations are when discussing the inarticulate.

Re: Buy Yourself a Latte

#264

Post by leftyted »

codr7 wrote: post #186

I grew up in a poor family, could never afford anything unless miracles happened, never went on any trips etc. I later scaled all the way up to much more than I needed as a software developer and lately I'm pretty much down to nothing. The main thing I learned over 42 years of going back and forth is that a warm place to sleep, good health, good food (and coffee) and nice, caring people are priceless. Money is the ul…

> Posting this here is likely karma suicide, but here we go; this is my perspective, and it's as valid as any other.

Not all perspectives are equally valid.

> Money is the ultimate drug, yet piling it up and walking over dead bodies to get ever more is seen as successful and worthy of admiration. I know a junkie when I see one, the fact that the drug is legal changes nothing.

Saying that friends and family are more important than money is a truism. Most people prioritize "things that matter" (including friends and family) over pursuit of money. People who pursue money to the detriment of everything else are rare.

Listing your "born poor credentials" is irritating. Boasting about how you lost your savings, which means you care about things that matter, which makes you virtuous (because you are poor again) is irritating. It's a transparent and silly perspective.

Pretending that the only two choices are virtuous poverty and sinful solvency is also silly. There are people who do not irrationally pursue money to the detriment of their personal lives and yet manage to avoid poverty.

I know it's discomforting to admit that there are people who have made better choices and live happier lives than you along every dimension. But it's true.

Re: Buy Yourself a Latte

#265

Post by war1025 »

Giving up Lattes and Avocado toast is classic penny wise, pound foolish logic. If $5 / day is going to break the bank you have bigger problems. If $5 / day isn't going to break the bank, you almost certainly have larger expenses that could be trimmed to much larger effect.

Financial insecurity is often a lifestyle problem, but it more often revolves around excessive debt than a few frivolous habits.

Re: Buy Yourself a Latte

#267

Post by smsm42 »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #112
ineedasername wrote: post #46

If part of your audience consists of people living without much a safety net, that $5 a day adds up. Also, the author's point that saving that much isn't going to be $1 million, but "only" as much as $500,000 then that point rather falls flat. Sure, inflation may decrease the utility of that amount of money, but it will also increase the cost of that latte, so you'll be saving more than just the $5 over time. Finally…

that $5 a day adds up The article isn't advocating that you buy a coffee every single day. It's saying a. focus on larger issues and b. it's okay to do a little self care and a little self indulgence. I sometimes bought myself a fucking coffee of some sort at Starbuck's back when I was homeless. I needed the caffeine to help treat health issues. It let me plug in for an hour and get some electricity for my tablet, pl…

I think the point is not "never ever buy a coffee again until the day you die (or retire)". The point is "examine your routine spending and see if you can cut off anything and use it as a source of money for savings". If you did that and consciously prefer saving a little bit less and indulge now and then, these recommendations are not for you, you're already past that stage. A lot of people didn't even get to "consider your spending, make a budget and evaluate your expenses and decide which ones you can do without". They don't even think in terms of considering whether it's worth it or not. I think getting people to think about that is the point of it.

Re: Buy Yourself a Latte

#268

Post by geodel »

esotericn wrote: post #54
ineedasername wrote: post #46

If part of your audience consists of people living without much a safety net, that $5 a day adds up. Also, the author's point that saving that much isn't going to be $1 million, but "only" as much as $500,000 then that point rather falls flat. Sure, inflation may decrease the utility of that amount of money, but it will also increase the cost of that latte, so you'll be saving more than just the $5 over time. Finally…

Right. $5 a day is a significant amount of money to a huge number of people. In the UK, if you're on minimum wage, a 3 quid coffee represents approximately 5% of your daily income. If such an individual (someone who earned minwage for a lifetime) were to end up with even "merely" 100K in today's money at age 60 that would actually be an enormous amount relative to their cohort.

> 3 quid coffee represents approximately 5% of your daily income.

So 60 pounds a day is minimum wage in UK? It seems to be very decent middle class income rather than minimum wage. Or maybe you meant 50%?

Re: Buy Yourself a Latte

#269

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #240
jimbokun wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The article isn't advocating that you buy a coffee every single day." That is EXACTLY what the article is advocating, very explicitly. Your case sounds very different than the "$5 latte a day habit", which is probably just someone standing in line in the morning, grabbing their coffee and absent-mindedly sipping it as they walk to the office. You got an hour of shelter and a comfortable place to sit in a nice enviro…

From the article: Let’s consider five reasons why you should occasionally treat yourself to a cup of Joe. It's arguing against the people saying "Your daily coffee habit is costing you a million dollars!" It's saying that is nonsense. That isn't the same thing as issuing the opposite edict that you, yes you , need to rush out and drink coffee every. single. day. Defending your right to make such purchases as you see…

> It's arguing against the people saying "Your daily coffee habit is costing you a million dollars!" It's saying that is nonsense.

Hopefully nobody is saying that. A $5 daily habit costs $20-30k per decade, after you factor in reasonably anticipated investment gains. No more no less. Viewpoints about what an ideal world would look like, or one's right to make such purchases, or whatever else, have zero impact on the cost. It is what it is. Each person has to make their own judgment about whether that cost makes sense for them.

Re: Buy Yourself a Latte

#270

Post by DoreenMichele »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #269
DoreenMichele wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: Let’s consider five reasons why you should occasionally treat yourself to a cup of Joe. It's arguing against the people saying "Your daily coffee habit is costing you a million dollars!" It's saying that is nonsense. That isn't the same thing as issuing the opposite edict that you, yes you , need to rush out and drink coffee every. single. day. Defending your right to make such purchases as you see…

> It's arguing against the people saying "Your daily coffee habit is costing you a million dollars!" It's saying that is nonsense. Hopefully nobody is saying that. A $5 daily habit costs $20-30k per decade, after you factor in reasonably anticipated investment gains. No more no less. Viewpoints about what an ideal world would look like, or one's right to make such purchases, or whatever else, have zero impact on the…

From the article:

It’s a cliché that refuses to die: personal finance guru Suzy Orman warned investors last week that if you “waste money on coffee, it’s like ‘peeing $1 million down the drain.’”

That's apparently the reason the article was written -- to rebut that claim in specific.

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