A few dollars here, a quick purchase there, most people barely notice the small expenses that slip into their daily routine. But personal finance personality Dave Ramsey says those tiny purchases can quietly add up to thousands of dollars each year.
“How to waste $5,000 a year: Spend $13.70 a day on things you don’t need,” Ramsey said in a post on X last year.
The idea behind Ramsey’s comment is simple. Many purchases feel insignificant because they are small and routine–a coffee on the way to work, a quick snack, or an impulse buy online. Individually, they rarely trigger concern. Over time, though, the repeated spending can quietly build into a large annual total.
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Spending about $13.70 per day on nonessential items equals roughly $5,000 over a year. That’s the type of habit Ramsey often warns about: not major splurges, but ordinary spending patterns that repeat almost automatically.
Other well-known investors have made similar points using familiar everyday examples.
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has frequently used coffee purchases to illustrate the same concept. Speaking on content creator Jules Terpak‘s YouTube channel last year, Cuban explained why he often brings up the daily latte.
“I did a thing on TikTok where I said don’t get that latte,” Cuban said. “Take that $6 or $8 or $10 depending on where you live and put it in a money market account.”
Cuban acknowledged the advice often frustrates people who see daily coffee as a small pleasure. “People were like you’re killing people’s experience, you’re killing people’s joy,” he said. “I’m like okay, it’s up to you. You can have joy.”
Even small daily habits can have a noticeable long-term impact. A $7 latte every day adds up to about $2,555 per year. Over five years, that spending reaches roughly $12,775 before any interest or investment gains.
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“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary has taken an even more direct approach when talking about everyday spending.
In a 2023 TikTok video, O’Leary criticized expensive convenience lunches. “You go to work, you spend 15 bucks on a sandwich — what are you, an idiot?” he said.
O’Leary compared the price of takeout with making food at home. “It costs you 99 cents to make a sandwich at home and bring it with you,” he said, adding that home-brewed coffee can cost about $0.20 compared with roughly $5.50 at a coffee shop.