Habits

What a daily habit really costs

Small, regular spending is invisible by design. Each purchase is too cheap to think about and too frequent to add up in your head. This does the adding up, then shows the number that actually stings: what the same money would have become if it had been invested instead.

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The habit

Pick one, or set your own

Cost each time ($)

$

Times per week

Price rises per year (%)Nothing gets cheaper. 3% is a fair default.

The alternative

Over how many years

Investment return per year (%)Long-run broad market average is around 7% before inflation.

Cheaper substitute costs ($ each time)Coffee made at home, lunch from the fridge. Set to 0 to quit outright.

$

Quick questions

What investment return should I use?

The default is 7%, a commonly cited long-run equity average before inflation. Use 4-5% if you want a more conservative or inflation-adjusted view.

Should I count the cheaper substitute?

Yes, if one exists. The question is the net cost of the habit, the difference between what you spend and what you'd spend doing the alternative. Coffee at home at €0.60 versus café at €4.50 is a net habit cost of €3.90.

Read the full guide to the real cost of daily habits→