I am becoming a big fan of your books. I read through Smart Couples Finish Rich and loved it, and I am currently halfway through The Automatic Millionaire. I have shared the Latte Factor with friends at work and it has caught on as a catch phrase. Our on-site premium coffee shop might not be our biggest fans but we have started making our own coffee, saving us each a few bucks a day.
In addition to what was in your book, I have managed to change some other habits which helped my wife and I pay one of our two cars off. We also have ratcheted my 401k up to 15% and since my company gives 5%, it puts us at a nice even 20%. A few other Latte saving ideas to share: I drastically reduced buying DVDs. Our new rule of DVD buying is that we won’t buy it unless we seriously feel it will get watched at least 5 times in the next two years. By applying that simple rule we cut down on 2 to 3 DVDs per month to like 1 in the last 6 months and that was for our daughter – who does get her fair use out of them. Another success has been in our dining out. We love dining out and instead of sacrificing something we love, we decided to just do it smart. We now split the main entree, order water and often times skip the dessert. We still come away full every time and don’t feel overstuffed. One other trick I would like to share is what I call the Hidden Vacation. My wife and I love to travel. Twice per year there is a 3rd paycheck which we don’t need for the bills. For us this amounts to $4,000 and we use that to fund our annual vacation.
I have been talking up all this stuff for several months and have seen differences in many of my friends. I plan to buy your Smart Women Finish Rich book for my sister who just graduated college and my sister-in-law who is 27 and best friends with Best Buy. Thanks.
