Five Bucks a Day

Five bucks per day.

The price of a latte frappie mochaccino whatever...

One and two-thirds gallons of gasoline.

Less than a crappy sandwich from Subway costs.

In keeping with my newfound thought of commenting on the thousands of articles that I have saved, I recently read and saved one called "How $5 a day could help close the wealth gap."

The "article" is basically an ad for Acorns, but the thought behind it is good.

For those of you who have never heard of acorns, it is an app that rounds up your purchases on linked credit or debit cards, then sweeps the change into a computer-managed investment portfolio.  It's a good idea, particularly for whoever thought of, developed and owns the app and collects a fee from its users.

About that five bucks...

Researchers invited a group of 1,772 Acorns users with annual incomes ranging from less than $25,000 to more than $250,000 to save $5 a day, and another group of 1,744 users to save $150 a month.

The outcome was incredible: While the two amounts are mathematically equivalent, 30 percent of participants started saving when it was framed as a daily contribution, versus just seven percent who were prompted to make monthly contributions.

Saving $150 does not seem like much to me now.  These years, I typically invest at least a grand per month between my own IRA, my wife's and our daughter's 529 account.  I no longer contribute to our son's 529 account as he is currently in his third year of college and I am now in a paying mode for him than a saving mode.

And pay I do.  Try three grand per month for ten months of the year!

Had I written this twenty years ago at the age of twenty-seven or even ten years ago at the age of thirty-seven with a ten-year-old son, a five-year-old daughter and a stay-at-home wife with absolutely zero income and with my salary a good twenty-five grand less than what it is today, saving $150 per month for myself would have been about right.

Not to say that I did not invest $200, $300 or even $400 some months to my IRA back then, but it was sporadic at best and I definitely did not Pay Myself First back then.  As a matter of fact, I had never read or heard the phrase until about five years ago.

The upshot is that at only five measly bucks per day, one can save and invest often—that means making recurring contributions as frequently as you can, which you can do using Acorns' $5 daily recurring investment option (though you’re free to set up any investing interval you’d like).

I doubt that too many first-time investors will happen across this post, but if you do, saving on a regular basis and seeing your money grow builds confidence and serves as a powerful motivator to keep on going.

Personally, I have no intention of linking my card to this or any other similar app. But I never say never, and I would not be against my children utilizing it.

I prefer controlling my own investments to a greater degree and currently plan to automate more when the New Year rolls around.  It would be disingenuous to urge others to automate their investments if I do not do so myself.

On another note, I often enjoy reading comments on articles and often more than the article, itself.  The downside is that I have read so many whacked-out theories and political diatribes that I have grown weary of them.  They all start sounding kind of the same.

Apparently, on the Yahoo! Finance article that I referenced, Starbucks seems to be the thought of as the primary culprit for people not being able to set aside five bucks in a day, followed closely by smokes and beer.

Of course, several commenters use this opportunity and any other that they are given to rant about liberals, who it seems are obviously the cause for the common man not being able to set aside five bucks per day.

Check out some of these comments:

Frank     But low income people can't spare $5.
Those smart phones with $100/month plans and the fast food meals and the Starbucks are Necessities in today's world.

Alan  Yes, agreed it's better to save $5 a day then be in debt $5 a day.

Unhyphenated- What most people tend to forget is that you have to start somewhere and work your way up in any pursuit. The only way around that is to be born into wealth but even that requires some semblance of commonsense or advice. I started with nothing and I'm doing just fine today. Did it happen overnight? No! You have to have a plan and start saving your money. 401K's is one of the easiest ways to save money tax free and most employers match (up to a percentage of your contributions) but you have to contribute to your 401K.

Bill H  I know plenty of people that complain they can't save a dime that walk in with a $5 coffee EVERY SINGLE MORNING [MM: Starbucks perhaps?]. Meanwhile I'm drinking my nickle a cup Yuban without complaints.

Phil  Most people who feel "poor" are that way because they have no idea what they're spending their money on. Try recording where you spend every dollar for the next 30 days, then decide what you really didn't need to spend money on, and make a plan for the next 30 days. That's how you start a budget. After you plan out everything you really need - housing, utilities (NOT including internet or TV), food, and transportation, and what you have already agreed to pay (debts), then see what your "disposable income" really is.

gary siverts      And what is virtually a universal habit of the poor: they smoke.
Bought a pack of cigarettes lately? There’s your $5.bucks per day.

Bjorn   Nope. Tariffs increase inflation, inflation increases interest rates, interest rates increase payments leading to less disposable income leading to decreased sales leading to layoffs leading to increasing unemployment numbers. Doesn't happen overnight, but it happens in a predictable flow-chart fashion.

Redheadadmirer Not that hard to save five bucks a day. Stop going to Starbucks daily if you are low income no need to fill up on soda every time you pass the convenience store or gas station.

Flounder This is the wrong way to look at the issue. The majority of us can't save more because the rich don't spend more. If Jeff Bezos increased his PERSONAL spending by $2 billion a year, that would create literally THOUSANDS of HIGH paying jobs. But what happens every time a rich person spends a lot of money? They get shot down for conspicuous consumption. That's a huge mistake on OUR part to fault the rich for actually spending what they have. So let's ENCOURAGE the mega rich to build THOUSANDS of new mega mansions, buy new planes and helicopters every year, and employ massive armies of architects, builders, designers, pilots etc. that are on the receiving end of their spending.

Webzeppelin Well duh. Those of us who are barely clinging to the Middle Class have been screaming about this for years. Yet neither Dems or GOP care to do anything about it. Why's that? Because although they may not be in the top 1%, but they sure are in the top 10% so who cares about the rest of us schlubs.

Jay  So assume they invest $5 per day. The markets are so heavily manipulated or mismanaged due to corporate greed and bad policy causing extreme ups and downs. When recessions hit these people don't have more money to buy at low, but the rich do. That's where the gap widens the most.

Middle of the Road  The loss of a Middle Class in America is a problem. I own 2 businesses but am not rich. One of my businesses sells to middle-income people and they are hurting - they don't have much disposable income. I work 7 days a week. I don't smoke. People who inherited their money have a big advantage over people who started poor.

Reality Speaking   But I needs my $7 pack of smokes, my $6 Starbucks coffee, $5 in scratch off tickets, and a $4 mug of beer at the bar every day

Iamct011 Should be ten a day, forgot about health care savings account.

Rickt Savings is a lost concept. All of these stories that report gains in wealth "Gap" are overlooking the main reason. Prior to the 1900's and in some case WWII in other countries there was no established banking system and investment system that wealth could be stored in. You might lose your entire savings due to war, fire, famine, gov't seizure, etc. etc. So basically the last 100 years is the first time in history where wealth will continue to multiply in a safe and secure system. So if a rich person left their children a large sum of money, it's going to continue to grow forever as long as they spend reasonably. Take and average family and the parents die and they leave $50K to their child. The child pays off their credit card debt, student loan debt, etc and takes a vacation and it's all gone. If a Warren Buffett (going to give most of his to charity) decided to leave his child 10 billion dollars and they only spend $5 million a year for the next 100 years through multiple generations that would grow to $13 Trillion at 7.5% rate of return. That's 15% of the entire US wealth right now that 1 person would own.

John Five dollars a day? Stay out of Starbucks and ditch the smokes.

old guy  But that's two cheap draft beers a day...I'm out.

Jim Bob Your 'Mission' is to come up with BS ideas that perpetuate the Ruling Class while minimizing the fact that the 1% are Greedy, Selfish, and Inherited their Fortunes from their ancestors .

Matthew  Trump gave democrats "crumbs" that amounted to more than $5 per day and they hate him for it. Some people will always be negative and hateful.

FreedomHawk The Fed’s printed trillions of dollars out of thin air to create an artificial “Wealth Effect” which bailed out a bunch of dumb fools but it also helped bring wealth and income disparity back over 100 years but please don’t mention that. Signed, Wealthy Asset Owners of America.

Been Oh ya, it's that simply. This guy is a genius. What he fails to understand is that low income=low education, it also brings along another burden that the rich have, alcoholism and drug abuse. The rich can work with that because they have the means to pay for the habits while poor people can't. Big difference. 

John Want to close the wealth gap? Get a job and stop waiting for the government to feed your kids, give you free rent, and pay your medical bills. Just get off your rear end.

Michael G Liberals doing drugs, criminals who came here illegally , and punks playing video games, don't deserve other peoples money. These fools make up 1/2 of the country.

rmm3165 What a stupid article. I can just imagine the media liberal reaction if trump told people to save 5 dollars a day instead of 150 a month. I wasnt that hungry so I told the waiter instead of slicing the pizza into eight slices (thats too much to eat) to slice into six pieces. Six slices is a lot easier to eat than eight.

I had considered perhaps doing a website where I only post comments such as those above and the millions of other similar ones that are posted all day every day on every website.

Heck, why not post something about how stupid I am or greedy or something to that effect right on this here site?

Promise I'll read it.