“I guess about $1.50.”

“So you’re spending about $4 a day for a latté and a biscotti. Interesting.”

I let Deborah continue taking me through her day. In the process, we found another $10 in miscellaneous costs—a candy bar here, a Power Bar there, a protein shake in the afternoon, and so on.

When she was done, I pointed out that just by cutting out her latté, a couple of Diet Cokes, and a candy bar, Deborah could save about $5 a day—and that $5 a day equaled roughly $150 a month, or almost $2,000 a year. This $2,000 could be put into her retirement plan at work, where it could grow tax-free until she retired. If she put in $2,000 every year, and she invested it all in stocks (which have enjoyed an average growth rate of 11 percent a year over the last 50 years), chances are that by the time she reached 65, she would have more than $2 million sitting in her account. In other words, she would be able to retire a multimillionaire!

By the time I had finished, Deborah’s eyes were as big as saucers. “That is so amazing,” she said. “I never realized my double nonfat lattés were costing me $2 million!”

So I ask you now…

Are you latté-ing away your financial future?

I’m not trying to pick on you if you are a coffee lover. I happen to enjoy a great cup of coffee in the morning myself. I just want to point out a simple fact: Everyone makes enough money to become rich.

What keeps us living paycheck to paycheck is that more than we make on stuff we don’t need. Take the $16 you were going to waste over the next few days on junk food (you’ll be healthier without it) and the $9 you were going to throw away on two glossy magazines (you can borrow a friend’s copies), and you’ll have $25 this very week that you can devote to savings. Keep this up and you’ll soon be putting away 12 percent of what you earn. Before you know it, your life will be changing dramatically for the better. Once you see the 12 percent solution at work, you automatically will start looking for ways to save even more. The process creates a new habit—one that will make you feel great!