If you’re struggling financially chances are you might be doing some soul searching asking “how did I get here”. Ben Franklin’s famous quote; “beware of little expenses, a small leak will sink a great ship”, might offer some answers. For most of our clients this accurately describes their financial trouble. They don’t notice the dollars and cents running through their fingers until it’s too late. It’s not the big expenses that generally put people in trouble (though if you’ve got a second car that may be the culprit). It’s the little expenses that you don’t notice that add up quickly.
Still don’t think that those little expenses or those “guilty expenses” could possibly be the reason? To put things in perspective I put together a table showing the expense, the daily cost, and what that would have been worth after 30 years invested in the bank.
Daily Cost
Annual Cost
Invested for 30 years
Latte
3.75
1368.75
$169,994.12
Clothes/Hair/Makeup
10
3650
$453,317.67
Bottled Water
3
1095
$135,995.30
Lunch Out
7.5
2737.5
$339,988.25
Text Messages
2
730
$90,663.53
Cable TV
2
730
$90,663.53
$28.25
$10,311.25
$1,280,622.41
As you can see it doesn’t take amazing investments and risky real-estate deals to be wealthy. You just need to a couple of dollars saved every day. The opposite is also true. Many people don’t see that little expenses on the credit card add up quickly. I’ve put together another table to show what the same situation is like after only 5 years if a credit card was used to pay for everything.
Daily Cost
Annual Cost
On Credit 5 years
Latte
3.75
1368.75
-$11,285.25
Clothes/Hair/Makeup
10
3650
-$30,094.01
Bottled Water
3
1095
-$9,028.20
Lunch Out
7.5
2737.5
-$22,570.50
Text Messages
2
730
-$6,018.80
Cable TV
2
730
-$6,018.80
$28.25
$10,311.25
-$85,015.57
As you can see the situation is markedly different. Small expenses can add up quickly, so beware small expenses.
Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship
If you’re struggling financially chances are you might be doing some soul searching asking “how did I get here”. Ben Franklin’s famous quote; “beware of little expenses, a small leak will sink a great ship”, might offer some answers. For most of our clients this accurately describes their financial trouble. They don’t notice the dollars and cents running through their fingers until it’s too late. It’s not the big expenses that generally put people in trouble (though if you’ve got a second car that may be the culprit). It’s the little expenses that you don’t notice that add up quickly.
Still don’t think that those little expenses or those “guilty expenses” could possibly be the reason? To put things in perspective I put together a table showing the expense, the daily cost, and what that would have been worth after 30 years invested in the bank.
As you can see it doesn’t take amazing investments and risky real-estate deals to be wealthy. You just need to a couple of dollars saved every day. The opposite is also true. Many people don’t see that little expenses on the credit card add up quickly. I’ve put together another table to show what the same situation is like after only 5 years if a credit card was used to pay for everything.
As you can see the situation is markedly different. Small expenses can add up quickly, so beware small expenses.