Latte factor: Choose a SIP over Starbucks Coffee?

Starbucks opened its first store in India in south Mumbai today, two more shops are scheduled to be opened next. And it’s only a matter of time before their network spreads across cities.

While it’s cool to sip the branded coffee once in a while, making it into a habit could be a costly affair. The beverage menu shows that coffee drinkers are spoilt for choices, and a cup would cost you anything between Rs 80 to Rs 200, depending on the type and size of the drink.

If we assume an average coffee costs Rs 150, and you visit Starbucks once a week, for a year. You end up spending Rs 600 a month and Rs 7200 a year. That’s a good amount over a coffee.

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[caption id=“attachment_496820” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  You end up spending Rs 600 a months and Rs 7200 a year. That’s a good amount over a coffee. Reuters[/caption]

Instead, yes we are party poopers, but humour us: just imagine if you choose to make a 12-month SIP investment of Rs 600 per month for a mutual fund which gave you 12 percent return, you could get actually make Rs 7600.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong in drinking the coffee of your choice, but as author David Bach in his book ‘Start Over, Finish Rich’ has said, this could very well turn out to be your latte factor- Latte factors are those little expenses which we allow ourselves, that dig a big hole into our pockets, without us even realising it.

“Putting aside as little as a few dollars a day for your future rather than spending it on little purchases such as lattes, bottled water, fast food, cigarettes, magazines and so on, can really make a difference between accumulating wealth and living paycheck to paycheck,” he said.