The Retirement Cost of a Daily Latte

June 7, 2016
USA Today: Your daily Starbucks latte won’t keep you from retiring

The team at Lifehacker used an actual “Latte Factor Calculator” to run its own numbers, and the results were less impressive. Five dollars saved daily and invested at an 8% annual return over 30 years comes to about $225,000.

That’s a lot of money, but not enough to retire on.

1. $225,000 is more than twice the $104,000 that the average American between the age of 55 and 64 has saved.

2. At the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, $225,000 represents 15 man-years of full-time labor.

3. If push comes to shove, $225,000 will buy 112.5 tons of pasta (on sale @ $1 per pound).

So sip from that white and green cup in relative peace. It alone likely isn’t enough to make or break your financial future.

Despair.com: Irresponsibility

No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.

Hey, I'm not here to judge. When I was working I enjoyed my fair share of full price smoothies. Everything comes at a price though. That will be especially true if you once assumed 11% growth of your retirement savings, then assumed 8%, but hindsight someday shows you only got 4%. The bond market currently believes it could happen, and so do I.