Today alone I've already stopped at Starbucks twice.

I purchase coffee about seven or eight times a week.

Three times a week.

Every weekday usually.

If you're like the average American,

every week you spend about $20 on coffee.

If we really like coffee, what's the big deal?

What's $20 a week on something that you enjoy?

Well, first off, it's $1,100 a year.

If you're 30 years old,

and you put all your coffee money into savings,

then by the time you're ready to retire,

you'll have deposited almost $40,000.

At 8 percent interest, your money will have grown

to almost $200,000 by then.

What would your 65-year-old self do with that money?

To really be motivated to save money for the future,

we have to care about the future.

We have to worry about the 65-year-old person

that we're going to turn into eventually,

whether that person will have enough money.

But that's not enough.

We also have to think about it when we're making a purchase.

So we have to think about how every dollar we spend now

could turn into $5 that that future self won't have.

I guess I spend around $12,000 over 10 years on coffee.

Actually, maybe I shouldn't go so many times. (laughs)

It makes me even think that

even paying a dollar less per cup of coffee or so

could save a lot in the long run.

If you're a first-year student in college, for example,

you’re really focused on what you're doing right now.

Your 65-year-old self when you're going to retire

might be the last thing on your mind.

Right now there's not really anything I need to buy.

It's pretty easy to get textbooks and stuff.

Some people think it through and decide that

the coffee is actually really important to them,

and they'd rather save the money elsewhere.

There's a quality of life issue in the present, right?

It's worth $12,000 for 10 years to not be sleepy. (laughs)

And that's only coffee.

Every week we spend money on lots of things

that seem too little to pay attention to,

but that rack up week after week.

The next time you pull out your credit card

to make another little purchase,

think about what you want for your future self

before you swipe the card.