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This is a silly simplification. You might have $446,368. You might have $0, because in the interim your kids had to go to college, or you buy a house, or you go

This is a silly simplification. You might have $446,368. You might have $0, because in the interim your kids had to go to college, or you buy a house, or you got sick and you live in developing country that can't help you pay for it. Or maybe none of this happens, and annual 3% inflation cut the real value by roughly 75%, and you had to pay 20% taxes on top of that. You're left with around 90k of value, of which ~36k is your investment return. In the meantime, you gave up 18,250 lattes.

moojacob 6y ago
If we're going to be fair, we have to consider the 18,250 lattes too. Over time you'll build up tolerance and that cup of coffee isn't worth the same for you. Now you're burning cash for energy that would have been there without caffeine. And to think you could have paid for your kids college instead.