I’ve never drunk coffee in my life. And yet I’ve lived and managed to reach 46! So yeah, it’s possible!
Joking aside, I get that coffee is a daily expense for most people. And it’s the first thing they tell you to cut if you want to get rich in life.
But what does “rich” really mean, and how much money can you actually save? Is coffee the only sacrifice we need to make to get out of our comfort zone?
Are we all just lazy and prefer the easy fixes?
And finally, is switching to hot cocoa instead of coffee the secret to success that will guarantee me a pension when I’m old?
Let’s dive into all that in today’s letter where coffee… gets the spotlight!
Get Rich by Quitting Coffee and Other Fairy Tales 🤦♂️
I’ve noticed a lot of buzz lately in the Greek YouTube space (and beyond) about financial influencers. Suddenly, everywhere I look online, I see discussions about the “fairy tales” these “experts” are selling, especially on YouTube.
To my surprise, one fairy tale that everybody’s mocking is: “Quit coffee and in X years you’ll have saved Z amount and you’ll be set for life.”
I didn’t realize this advice had become so widespread. I’d heard it here and there from friends over the years, but I thought they were mostly kidding.
My take on it is this:
It’s way easier for someone to cut a small pleasure, a tiny daily expense, than to get off their butt and earn more.
Who’s out there burning the midnight oil figuring out how to make more money?
It’s obviously much easier to skip that takeaway coffee in the morning. Sure, you can only cut expenses down to a certain point, while there’s literally no ceiling on how much you can earn.
And humans always pick the path of least resistance, with the least friction. It’s not bad. It’s just human nature.
Plus, who doesn’t love being told they’re already doing the right thing? All of us.
That’s why people love the “quit coffee and get rich” fairy tale. Because it validates the easy choice they’ve already made.
At least that’s what I think. 🤷
How Much Spendthrift Can You Be When You Still Live With Your Parents?
My mindset has always been to earn more money instead of obsessing over cutting costs.
Ever since I got that lesson from my dad, which I talked about in a previous episode, I understood the goal should be to make money.
Not necessarily insane amounts, but at least to focus on growing my capital instead of shrinking my expenses.
After all, when you’re young and still fully dependent on your parents, how much could you even save?
From an early age, I realized that to become independent, I needed to focus on increasing my income, not on cutting the (very few) expenses I had while living with my parents!
To Get Rich, I Quit Peinirli-with-Egg Instead of Coffee
I’ve been following some personal-finance creators on YouTube (mostly English-speaking ones) for years.
I’ve learned a ton, especially about investing in real estate, which I obviously didn’t know before. Pretty much everything I know I learned from the internet over the last 30 years I’ve been online.
So yeah, I listen to what all these people have to say behind the screen. I listen to everything and everyone. But definitely not unfiltered.
One of the big mantras in personal finance is to cut your expenses as much as humanly possible.
I don’t think that’s necessarily bad, because without saving, how are you going to have money to invest in the first place?
I get the concept of saving, but I never really noticed the specific “quit coffee to start saving” thing. Probably because I’ve never drunk coffee, so that advice never hit home.
But I definitely noticed other equivalent daily habits I had, and if I cut them I could boost my savings.
For example, I used to have a peinirli with egg for breakfast. Back in March 2024, I swore to myself that I’ll only buy it again once my online business is back on its feet. Still keeping that promise.
Humans Always Choose the Easy Path
I know from myself that humans always choose the path of least resistance.
I constantly face challenges where my first thought is always to follow the easiest, least painful way out. Obviously, like everyone else, the last thing I want is to cause myself pain; physical or mental.
Yet I also know that only pain leads to big achievements.
For example, I spent years of my life in gyms and swimming pools. I was pretty athletic as a teen and in my early 20s.
I remember the pain I had to go through at the gym to bulk up. I was 75 kg and wanted broader shoulders and a wider back.
No pain, no gain, they say, and they’re not wrong.