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canyonwalkerRecently it's become a hot topic on social media whether buying a "$7 coffee" daily/most days of the week is a reasonable treat or a financial failing. This is kind of a repeat of canards like "avocado toast" and "$5 lattes" from past years. Of course now it's a $7 coffee instead of a $5 latte because of inflation.
The basic canard is that young people— and it's almost almost a tongue clucking criticism of younger adults— are destroying their financial futures by wasting their money on frivolous treats such as coffee, lattes, avocado toast, or whatever modern treat old fogies don't understand, when instead they could, and should, be saving that money toward important things like a down payment on buying a house, or retirement.
Although the social media shaming is a modern phenomenon, the underlying question of, "How much should one sacrifice today to save for tomorrow?" is not new. It's a question I asked myself long ago when I was starting out as an adult, years before there was social media and things like maligning avocado toast became memes.
Back then a common way to frame the question was around what to eat for lunch. Do you bring a bag lunch of a cheap sandwich, or do you go out to eat for lunch? A PB&J sandwich was the proxy for wisely saving for later; eating lunch out, even fast food, was the proxy for wastefully spending money today.
I made my own decision long ago that both halves of the question were simultaneously right and wrong. Yes, saving money for the future is right. But enjoying the present is right, too. And reducing the two to a dilemma— where only one is possible— is wrong. I would save some of my money to have nice things in the future while not forcing myself to live an overly austere life in the present. I would eat fast food lunches instead of brown-bagging PB&J sandwiches, because that brought me satisfaction in the present, and I would save for my own future. It was like I would have my cake and eat it, too.
So far it's worked for me.
The basic canard is that young people— and it's almost almost a tongue clucking criticism of younger adults— are destroying their financial futures by wasting their money on frivolous treats such as coffee, lattes, avocado toast, or whatever modern treat old fogies don't understand, when instead they could, and should, be saving that money toward important things like a down payment on buying a house, or retirement.
Although the social media shaming is a modern phenomenon, the underlying question of, "How much should one sacrifice today to save for tomorrow?" is not new. It's a question I asked myself long ago when I was starting out as an adult, years before there was social media and things like maligning avocado toast became memes.
Back then a common way to frame the question was around what to eat for lunch. Do you bring a bag lunch of a cheap sandwich, or do you go out to eat for lunch? A PB&J sandwich was the proxy for wisely saving for later; eating lunch out, even fast food, was the proxy for wastefully spending money today.
I made my own decision long ago that both halves of the question were simultaneously right and wrong. Yes, saving money for the future is right. But enjoying the present is right, too. And reducing the two to a dilemma— where only one is possible— is wrong. I would save some of my money to have nice things in the future while not forcing myself to live an overly austere life in the present. I would eat fast food lunches instead of brown-bagging PB&J sandwiches, because that brought me satisfaction in the present, and I would save for my own future. It was like I would have my cake and eat it, too.
So far it's worked for me.
