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The latte factor

Pick a daily expense and a time horizon. See the total you'd spend — and what it could become if invested instead.

The latte factor
What a daily habit costs vs. investing it instead
Years20
$
Total spent
$43,800
over 20 years
If invested
$138,509
at ~10%/yr in the market
Spending $6/day adds up to $43,800 in 20 years — or $138,509 if invested instead.
The idea

Small daily spends, big long-term numbers

A few dollars a day feels trivial — but multiplied by 365 and then compounded over decades, it becomes a number that surprises people. This tool projects the total you'd spend on a habit and compares it to the same money invested at market returns.

The point isn't to make you feel bad about coffee. It's to show the opportunity cost of any recurring expense, so you can decide what's actually worth it.

FAQ

What you're probably wondering

A popular personal-finance idea: small daily spends, invested instead, can grow into a surprisingly large sum over decades thanks to compounding.
It invests the equivalent monthly amount at roughly the long-run stock market average (~10%). Lower assumptions give smaller, more conservative results.
Not at all. It's about the opportunity cost of any recurring expense — useful for perspective, not guilt.
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