Comments on: What’s Your Latte Factor? http://youngdough.com/2008/05/13/whats-your-latte-factor/ a college kid's journey to financial freedom... Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:27:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: john b http://youngdough.com/2008/05/13/whats-your-latte-factor/#comment-133 john b Tue, 20 May 2008 03:25:23 +0000 http://youngdough.com/2008/05/13/whats-your-latte-factor/#comment-133 I respectfully disagree with Paul's theory. Having accumulated savings provides peace of mind and greatly reduces stress. Knowing that your world will not fall apart every time life throws you a curve ball offers a degree of personal comfort that no amount of spending could ever achieve. In my opinion. And obviously, $948,000 will have significantly less buying power in 30 years. But this savings was achieved with five bucks a day. Increase your savings to several hundred or several thousand dollars a month and you will be able to relax in peace on the beach somewhere in 30 years, spending to your hearts content. You reap what you sow. I respectfully disagree with Paul’s theory. Having accumulated savings provides peace of mind and greatly reduces stress. Knowing that your world will not fall apart every time life throws you a curve ball offers a degree of personal comfort that no amount of spending could ever achieve. In my opinion. And obviously, $948,000 will have significantly less buying power in 30 years. But this savings was achieved with five bucks a day. Increase your savings to several hundred or several thousand dollars a month and you will be able to relax in peace on the beach somewhere in 30 years, spending to your hearts content. You reap what you sow.

]]> By: Paul @ MoneyAnswerTree http://youngdough.com/2008/05/13/whats-your-latte-factor/#comment-132 Paul @ MoneyAnswerTree Fri, 16 May 2008 15:10:47 +0000 http://youngdough.com/2008/05/13/whats-your-latte-factor/#comment-132 This is a cool post. I like the idea of cutting out some random expenses like coffee. I personally don't drink coffee everyday, but I do buy lunch everyday. You might think that's an unnecessary expense, but for me it's cheaper, and I am paying for the time. There is a huge debate there that I won't get into. That said, my basic theory of money is that we have it to spend it. What's $948,000 dollars going to get you in 30 years? You wouldn't even be able to buy a house for that much in 30 years. Cutting out unnecessary things in life will definitely save you money, I agree that's good. Why not cut out everything, then we would all be rich! It's those little things that are more than necessity that make people happy. Money is worthless until you spend it. This is a cool post. I like the idea of cutting out some random expenses like coffee. I personally don’t drink coffee everyday, but I do buy lunch everyday. You might think that’s an unnecessary expense, but for me it’s cheaper, and I am paying for the time. There is a huge debate there that I won’t get into.

That said, my basic theory of money is that we have it to spend it. What’s $948,000 dollars going to get you in 30 years? You wouldn’t even be able to buy a house for that much in 30 years. Cutting out unnecessary things in life will definitely save you money, I agree that’s good. Why not cut out everything, then we would all be rich! It’s those little things that are more than necessity that make people happy. Money is worthless until you spend it.

]]> By: john b http://youngdough.com/2008/05/13/whats-your-latte-factor/#comment-130 john b Fri, 16 May 2008 06:00:11 +0000 http://youngdough.com/2008/05/13/whats-your-latte-factor/#comment-130 Hi Blake - You make some excellent points. First, you are correct, most people have no idea how much it really costs them to buy say Starbucks everyday. If they took the time to do some simple calculations, as you did, they would probably never step foot in a coffee shop ever again! Second, you highlighted the power of compounding interest, one of my favorite subjects. A 10% return is not that hard to achieve. I will gladly pass up Starbucks everyday at $5.00 a pop in return for $948,000 at retirement! Water please! Good work running the numbers, now if we could only get people to listen.... Hi Blake - You make some excellent points. First, you are correct, most people have no idea how much it really costs them to buy say Starbucks everyday. If they took the time to do some simple calculations, as you did, they would probably never step foot in a coffee shop ever again! Second, you highlighted the power of compounding interest, one of my favorite subjects. A 10% return is not that hard to achieve. I will gladly pass up Starbucks everyday at $5.00 a pop in return for $948,000 at retirement! Water please! Good work running the numbers, now if we could only get people to listen….

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