Small Potatoes | Antony Holmes

Small changes can lead to big outcomes with a little bit of disipline.

Apropos of nothing, you might have heard a rubbish, but frequently repeated, expression along the lines of “save $5 on a coffee a day, retire a multi-millionaire” popularized by financial gurus like Suzie Orman and Dave Ramsey.

Sometimes called the latte factor, because everything requires a name and and a brand identity nowadays, no matter how mediocre, it’s the idea that cutting out the small purchases (like lattes), and investing that money over time, will give you a big retirement nest egg.

Whilst this idea is not althogether unreasonable, it’s a little disingenuous, and misleading. If you save $5/day for 250 days a year, every year and compound that over 35 years at an average 6% return, you get $140,000, which is A LOT of money by most estimations, but it isn’t a million.

Worth doing? In my mind no doubt, but you might need to temper your expectations regarding how much this strategy will change your life.

Can we still take away something useful from this though?

We sure can. The kernel of truth is that one small change might not make that much difference, but one change can lead to others and many small changes can add up over time to something big, really big. Something much bigger than a small potato: a really big potato or even a cauliflower.

Ultimately, financial freedom and building a retirement nest egg requires disipline for which no amount of buzzwords and phrases can help you. It requires a particular outlook and way of thinking. Skipping the coffee is symbolic. You have to want to meet your financial goals strongly enough that you’re willing to make sacrifices and optimize parts of your lifestyle to trade short term gratification for long term success. So the next time you’re standing in line at Dunkin’, think about it. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to become financially independent?

Want to live like me?

I don’t drink tea, coffee or alcohol so the latte factor doesn’t affecy my lifestyle and as well as saving I have fresh breath and a limited need for teeth whitener, but I fully appreciates that this isn’t for everyone.