This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rob Mallernee, the CEO of Eton Solutions, who teaches a class in private wealth management at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flager Business School. Business Insider has verified his employment. This piece has been edited for length and clarity.
I teach a wealth management class at the University of North Carolina, where I show students how being intentional about their spending can shape their finances long term.
The vast majority of people, especially those without financial training, underestimate how much they could save over a lifetime by avoiding these common spending traps.
Most people don’t think about spending in such a systematic way — but the ultrawealthy do.
Buying a coffee every day is a bad financial habit
Let’s say you go to Starbucks every morning and buy a $4 cup of coffee. Calculate what that costs if you do it every day from age 22 to 65, and how much less you’d have compared to buying a Keurig and making coffee at home each morning instead.
The difference in numbers will be an astonishing amount of money — thousands that you could otherwise invest and grow.
It’s easy to make poor decisions when buying a car
A while back, I was looking at SUVs. At a Honda showroom, I took a picture of the sticker for one of their models, and later did the same at a Mercedes showroom. When I compared them, the features were almost identical, but the Honda cost about $50,000 while the Mercedes was $125,000.
That’s not to say a Honda is a Mercedes, but both will likely get you where you need to go, while one is $75,000 cheaper.
Then, there’s also the matter of how often you replace the car. It’s worth running the numbers to compare the lifetime costs of buying a new car every eight years versus every three.
If you do the math, you’ll see that over the course of a 45-year working life, you’ll end up with enormously more money at the end if you hold onto your cars for longer.
Pay more attention to assets that aren’t investments
Regularly buying a new car, which depreciates in value dramatically the moment you drive it off the lot, is probably not a financially wise decision. On the other hand, buying a vacation home in a popular area that’s likely to appreciate over time is probably a smart move, especially if you rent it out to cover the costs.
It’s important to be thoughtful about why you’re making certain decisions, especially when it comes to assets that aren’t investments.
Small choices, big consequences
Whether you’re talking about a $4 cup of coffee or a $125,000 car, everybody has choices in terms of how they consume. The key is understanding the math behind those decisions.
Always ask yourself questions like: Is it really worth spending an extra $75,000 on a car, or is it just a short-term psychological benefit that won’t make a big difference to your daily commute?
In many cases, you might find that you’d have been better off taking the extra $75,0000 and investing it in something that you can watch grow over time.
That’s how the ultrawealthy tend to think about these things.
