It's called "The Latte Factor"

You can put the money on a regular basis in a savings account and watch it grow - even without interest the sum gets pretty large over time.

Also, if you purchase anything with the latte such as a muffin, list that too. any regular expenditures that are not absolutely essential to survival throughout the day, list those.

So add up your weekend and weekday items and put them in in this program. nothing magic here, it simply does multiplication. no interest calculations. I could add that later but it's nearly pointless these days.

The Latte Factor was apparently coined by David Bach in his book Automatic Millionaire, and it is also mentioned in Christian Financial Management classes as a way to reel in your costs.

investing

in 2004 David Bach was quoting 10% annual return on retirement accounts. one web site is claiming that the best Roth IRA rates are (were?) at 30%. I think that was before tha crash. but another internet article states that what your roth IRA returns as a rate "depends" (here recently if you invested before a certain date you got -30% interest).

my example

Back when I was working for a certain company, I brought my lunch, but I also daily bought something to drink. a styrofoam cup with water cost 5¢ as a courtesy. There were always drinking fountains I think. I also bought one Smoothie per workday, which was 5 days a week at about $3.50. I also bought a muffin or bagel (I forgot the cost, probably $2). sometimes I would buy a burger $6 If I was really hungry.

I also bought an all-zone bus pass, which allowed me transportation to work and back home for $40/mo.

$3.50+$2+$0.05=$5.50
5days×$5.55=$27.75/week on frivolous food
$40/mo÷4weeks/mo=$10/week
-------------------------------
$27.50+$10=$37.50/week

I could have moved out to somewhere near where I worked. that might have been better. I heard the apartments near that area were really expensive, so I avoided it. I was barely making it, even at the money I was making. I don't know how a person wins...

I was amazed at what all this was costing me. just look at the yearly cost of the food alone and hit calculate. then look at the cost of transportation too.

Proverbs 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

KJV