Comments on: Double The Worth Of Your Money – Save Before You Earn

By: Norma Walker

Norma Walker — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 13:44:03 +0000

When I first read about buying coffee every day I couldn’t make sense of all the money I would save. We didnt have a Starbucks and I could buy a cappicino that tasted good for $.89 at our local dairy convience store. Since I don’ work this is once an occasional treat,

By: twins15

twins15 — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 07:15:55 +0000

That Benjamin Franklin was one smart d00d!

By: pfadvice

pfadvice — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:58:08 +0000

A lot of it depends on where in the country you live. Take your federal tax rate, then add in state taxes (high here in CA) and local taxes (county and city), plus add in the social security tax and medicare and it gets up there real quick…it’s probably slightly lower that 1:2 ratio, but pretty darn close where I live. Now it will be a much different ratio if you live in a state that has no taxes, but it’s probably a lot more than you think (since it is deducted out of your paycheck, most people don’t pay close attention to all of it) – the numbers were derived from where I live (since that is what I know) and will vary depending on where you live. They aren’t supposed to be definitive numbers (numbers will always vary depending on where you live and your lifestyle so you always need to plug them in for your situation) – it is an example of a different way of looking at your money using my situation as an example.

By: Lazy Man and Money

Lazy Man and Money — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:49:18 +0000

I see where the math comes from now, but I’m still not sure I give half my gross money to taxes. I mean I might by the time you factor in sales or service tax, but it would seem to be closer to 33-37%.

I couldn’t find firm Starbucks prices, but I did see that in 2004 it was $2.25-3.00 depending on your cost of living – http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2004-09-28-starbucks-prices_x.htm. That said, I would expect that your wife might take some vacation and/or have some holidays, as well.

Granted things could go up in two years, but I would think that in a lot of cases it’s possible to get a small drink for about $3. If that’s the case, and the tax is around 35% as I suggested, it would be the equivalent of about $1150.

As for the time and gas to get to a Starbucks, one is on my fiancee’s way to work (walk from public transit), so I don’t think there’s too much of either involved for everyone, though there might be some for the average person.

By: pfadvice

pfadvice — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 01:52:00 +0000

This is how I arrived at the number. Since I don’t drink coffee, I went by the drink that my wife gets which is $4.75 – that comes to $1235 ($4.75 x 52 weeks x 5 times a week) and since this is a comparison of what saved money would be if you earned the money it gets doubles to $2470 ($1235 saved is equivalent to getting a $2470 bonus) – cost of own coffee and savings in travel (if any) I made a guesstimate at $2400

If the coffee is $2.75, then the savings would be $715 which would be equivalent to approximately a $1400 bonus

If the coffee is $3.50, then the savings would be $910 which would be equivalent to approximately a $1800 bonus

You can substitute the real number in for yourself…

By: Jaime

Jaime — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 01:35:14 +0000

I also have my doubts about the Starbucks(R) math. But I think that we also have to consider the time and gas that takes to drive to Starbucks(R). Great post, thanks,

Jaime

By: Lazy Man and Money

Lazy Man and Money — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:47:26 +0000

I guess it depends on how you define “earnings.” I define earnings as money after taxes, social security, medicare, etc. because that’s really what you are earning. In that light, I’ll take the $115 more.

I’ve found that I’ve done most of the “savings” that I can do painlessly. I’m at the point where saving $100 is painful.

I’m not sure I get the Starbucks math. I’m not a coffee drinker, but $2400 in savings sounds like it’s $10 a day (240 work days = roughly 5 work days x 50 weeks). I think my fiancee spent about $2.75-$3.50 the last time she was there. So it would seem like that would be something like $750 a year or so. That said, my fiancee makes her own coffee and brings it to work each day. I think it’s a smart and great move, I just see a lot of exaggerated Starbucks talk in the blogosphere and I don’t get the math behind it.