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28 year old here. I was buying starbucks 5 days a week and started drinking the office coffee back in january. I haven't spent a dime on starbucks ever since.

28 year old here. I was buying starbucks 5 days a week and started drinking the office coffee back in january. I haven't spent a dime on starbucks ever since. I realized at some point I want to buy a home and also retire. Tightened the belt a bit, wrote out a strict budget, and now i am adhering to it. Also, the crazy stock market prices are making me fearful. I still have my 401k and sp500 fund contribution each month, but I sold individual stock I was holding (mostly just faang's)... some of it is now in a cash savings account, in cd's, and a bit in just some vanguard mutual funds. Typing on phone, sorry for typos.

tudelo 8y ago
To be fair, 3 dollars on coffee 3 to 5 days a week is probably not eating in to your budget very much. But I guess we all focus on different things.
- berbec 8y ago
  Starbucks is the giant profit machine it is because of the high percentage of customers who don't order a $3 coffee. Their lifeblood is the venti soy, extra whipped cream, Chai flavor shot, double expresso Frappuccino. The article specifically calls out the drop in this high-ticket-price items decline as worrisome.
- dingaling 8y ago
  $450 per year is a new phone, or a return flight to somewhere for a weekend break. Or a coffee machine. And that's just the lower end of potential outlay. When i was at school in the 80s one of the mandatory classes we loathed was Home Economics. However many of its lessons have been fundamental to my life since. One example being to consider the cumulative cost of small daily expenditures.
  - tudelo 8y ago
    450 dollars. Is 450 dollars a lot of money to you? Yes, those are all other ways to spend 450 dollars. In my opinion, getting a coffee is a quality of life boost. It takes no effort, and it increases my productivity and happiness. We are talking about 450 dollars in a year. I spend much more money on my dog and she is much less of a guarantee of return on happiness... But, I do agree. Some people may not be able to afford 450 dollars of discretionary spending in a year. But they likely would just spend it on something else, and the yearly cost of coffee is definitely not near the cost of alcohol for anyone who drinks. It's really not something to worry about.
lotsofpulp 8y ago
Unless you have insider information or are a very good part time quant, I don't see any reason to think you can time the market.
- candiodari 8y ago
  Euhm. Of course there's the factor that there's "timing the market" and there's realizing the current expansion has been going on 9+ years (average = 8) and just not caring you get the top wrong by ~1 year. Timing the market is arbitrarily hard or easy depending on the time ranges involved. Saying that there'll be a recession somewhere in the next 2 years or so is almost a certainty. If you want to get it right to the day ... big problem. Month ... still serious problem. Right give or take half a year ... probably doable with enough research (though I think you'd conclude that it'll happen around the beginning of 2019, not quite now).
- Splines 8y ago
  If GP had stock mostly in tech it doesn't seem like a bad idea to diversify.
- timr 8y ago
  It isn't necessarily "timing the market" to cash out gains after a historic, decade-long run. You don't have to get the top or the bottom exactly right.
  - lotsofpulp 8y ago
    I would classify cashing out as timing the market. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to sell at current prices, but who knows if we'll have another +25% year or a -25% year? My point is there's no reason to be fearful, just realize that it's all a gamble unless you have an edge.
    - timr 8y ago
      "I would classify cashing out as timing the market." Yes that was already clear. "who knows if we'll have another +25% year or a -25% year? My point is there's no reason to be fearful, just realize that it's all a gamble unless you have an edge." The point is, there's a lot more that you don't know. Maybe they just sold out at a big gain, knowing that the economic cycle is a real phenomenon, that interest rates are going up, and the yield curve just inverted. Maybe they were over-weighted in a single sub-sub-sector (FAANG tech stocks) that have had a spectacular run, and it's actually a good idea to diversify. Maybe they have plans for that money in a few years, and the recent sideways movement in the market is a good excuse to take gains. Horses for courses. Even if you don't believe any of that, it isn't "market timing" to act on hypotheses, any more than it's market timing to sell a particular stock when the fundamentals change. You have no idea what the parent's situation or risk tolerance is, so criticizing with "don't time the market" is equivalent to "never sell", which is a comment with zero information content.
RickJWagner 8y ago
You're on the right track. Keep on, you'll build the future you want.

tudelo 8y ago

To be fair, 3 dollars on coffee 3 to 5 days a week is probably not eating in to your budget very much. But I guess we all focus on different things.

berbec 8y ago
Starbucks is the giant profit machine it is because of the high percentage of customers who don't order a $3 coffee. Their lifeblood is the venti soy, extra whipped cream, Chai flavor shot, double expresso Frappuccino. The article specifically calls out the drop in this high-ticket-price items decline as worrisome.
dingaling 8y ago
$450 per year is a new phone, or a return flight to somewhere for a weekend break. Or a coffee machine. And that's just the lower end of potential outlay. When i was at school in the 80s one of the mandatory classes we loathed was Home Economics. However many of its lessons have been fundamental to my life since. One example being to consider the cumulative cost of small daily expenditures.
- tudelo 8y ago
  450 dollars. Is 450 dollars a lot of money to you? Yes, those are all other ways to spend 450 dollars. In my opinion, getting a coffee is a quality of life boost. It takes no effort, and it increases my productivity and happiness. We are talking about 450 dollars in a year. I spend much more money on my dog and she is much less of a guarantee of return on happiness... But, I do agree. Some people may not be able to afford 450 dollars of discretionary spending in a year. But they likely would just spend it on something else, and the yearly cost of coffee is definitely not near the cost of alcohol for anyone who drinks. It's really not something to worry about.

lotsofpulp 8y ago

Unless you have insider information or are a very good part time quant, I don't see any reason to think you can time the market.

candiodari 8y ago
Euhm. Of course there's the factor that there's "timing the market" and there's realizing the current expansion has been going on 9+ years (average = 8) and just not caring you get the top wrong by ~1 year. Timing the market is arbitrarily hard or easy depending on the time ranges involved. Saying that there'll be a recession somewhere in the next 2 years or so is almost a certainty. If you want to get it right to the day ... big problem. Month ... still serious problem. Right give or take half a year ... probably doable with enough research (though I think you'd conclude that it'll happen around the beginning of 2019, not quite now).
Splines 8y ago
If GP had stock mostly in tech it doesn't seem like a bad idea to diversify.
timr 8y ago
It isn't necessarily "timing the market" to cash out gains after a historic, decade-long run. You don't have to get the top or the bottom exactly right.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  I would classify cashing out as timing the market. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to sell at current prices, but who knows if we'll have another +25% year or a -25% year? My point is there's no reason to be fearful, just realize that it's all a gamble unless you have an edge.
  - timr 8y ago
    "I would classify cashing out as timing the market." Yes that was already clear. "who knows if we'll have another +25% year or a -25% year? My point is there's no reason to be fearful, just realize that it's all a gamble unless you have an edge." The point is, there's a lot more that you don't know. Maybe they just sold out at a big gain, knowing that the economic cycle is a real phenomenon, that interest rates are going up, and the yield curve just inverted. Maybe they were over-weighted in a single sub-sub-sector (FAANG tech stocks) that have had a spectacular run, and it's actually a good idea to diversify. Maybe they have plans for that money in a few years, and the recent sideways movement in the market is a good excuse to take gains. Horses for courses. Even if you don't believe any of that, it isn't "market timing" to act on hypotheses, any more than it's market timing to sell a particular stock when the fundamentals change. You have no idea what the parent's situation or risk tolerance is, so criticizing with "don't time the market" is equivalent to "never sell", which is a comment with zero information content.

RickJWagner 8y ago

You're on the right track. Keep on, you'll build the future you want.