Stop Drinking Large Coffees.

If you’re reading this post, chances are, you probably stop off at your local McDonalds or Starbucks and get a nice, warm, large cup of coffee.

You’ve also probably heard your mother tell you to “stop drinking that, It’ll give you heart attacks”. And, you’ve probably wondered if this is true.

The Effects That Coffee Has On Your Health

You may have heard of studies that prove the detrimental effects of coffee on the human body. They state that Coffee is an addictive drug, that it can cause heart attacks and can increase the chance of stroke. Some also said it could lead to stomach ulcers, heartburn, and other ailments.

Well, don’t believe everything that you hear, because these studies have actually been disproved. The studies didn’t always control the other factors that could lead to poor health like drinking, smoking, and exercise.

Coffee might actually be good for you. According to this Time article, “recent research reveals that once the proper adjustments are made for confounding factors, coffee drinkers don’t seem to have a higher risk for heart problems or cancer than people who don’t drink coffee. Recent studies also found no significant link between the caffeine in coffee and heart-related issues such as high cholesterol, irregular heartbeats, stroke or heart attack.”

So, by now, you may be wondering why I’m recommending to you not to drink as much of this beverage.

Many fail to understand the economic impacts of drinking coffee. While it might not be bad for your health, in the long term, it could have a big impact on your wallet.

Remember how I stated that studies proved that Coffee is addictive, and people tend to crave it? Well, that was one of the only things that modern studies did not disprove. This is still a fact. This makes it an extremely easy habit to form, but a difficult one to break.

That’s the major reason behind your morning craving, and why you go to Starbucks or McDonald’s every morning and pick up a coffee. Its an addiction, but one that wakes you up, and makes you ready for the day.

But, because you go each and every morning, this adds up, economically.

Let’s say that you go to Starbucks every day, for 40 years (your working life), and pick up a coffee. I’m going to assume that weekly, you drink 8 cups of coffee — 5 in the morning, and two over the weekend. I added a bonus one because many go and get one at lunch periodically. Over your working lifetime of 40 years, you’d drink 16,686 cups of coffee.

That adds up.

Currently, a large (venti) cup of freshly brewed coffee from Starbucks costs $2.45. So, over your lifetime, you would spend forty grand on coffee!

If you cut out coffee and saved this money, you would have about $40,800. If you invested these funds, (a monthly contribution of $85.00) for 40 years and with the average stock market return of 8%, you would walk away with $275,552.24 (If you invested in a 401k). That in itself is enough to buy a house, but if you took out a loan, you could buy a multi-million dollar house with all of that coffee money.

But, I get it, it’s hard. You need that cup of coffee every morning. Well, if you switched from a large cup of coffee to a small cup of coffee, you could still end up buying a house with that money.

A small (tall) cup of Starbucks coffee costs $1.85, a cost difference of 40 cents. If you switched from drinking large drinks to small, saved and invested that money over 40 years, you would walk away with a crazy $41,494.79. That’s enough for a down payment on a house in a great location or a large apartment.

So, what will it be… Coffee of luxury homes? You don’t even need to cut it out entirely, just tone it down, and you can still buy a house.

If you are in this blogs intended demographic, 13–25, you likely are just starting this habit, so it’s a lot easier to not do it. Simply don’t drink (or buy) coffee, and in 40 years, you could have a mansion.
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