Why 'Shark Tank' Investor Kevin O'Leary Refuses To Spend $2.50 On a Cup of Coffee (cnbc.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Kevin O'Leary has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in small businesses over the course of his tenure as a star and investor on ABC's "Shark Tank." But there is one business to which he refuses to fork over his hard-earned dollars: coffee shops. "Do I pay $2.50 for a coffee? Never, never, never do I do that," O'Leary tells CNBC Make It. "That is such a waste of money for something that costs 20 cents. I never buy a frape-latte-blah-blah-blah-woof-woof-woof for $2.50." Instead, he makes it at home. "I drink coffee, one cup every morning," he explains. "It costs about 18 cents to make it, and I invest the rest." That idea -- saving small sums and investing continually -- is central to O'Leary's personal finance advice. "The truth is, there is a lot of crap you don't need," he explains.

Comments

Wholeheartedly agree

[Anonymous Coward]

The coffee shop explosion is one of the great rip-offs of our age

Re:Wholeheartedly agree

[dreamchaser]

Not to mention that most of those coffee houses serve absolute crap for coffee and overcharge for it. Hey, at least people get cute baristas once in awhile.

Re:Wholeheartedly agree

[TheRaven64]

For coffee, the real difference is likely the capital cost. If you like espresso, then it costs a few hundred dollars to get a good machine. Even if you like filtered coffee (which is about the cheapest to produce) then you get a much better cup if you grind your own beans, which means buying a grinder as well as whatever you're using to make coffee, which can add up to a hundred dollars or so. In contrast, tea can be made with just a ten dollar kettle.

Of course, this argument goes out of the window with places like Starbucks, where their entire business model revolves around making terrible coffee and then selling you syrups and creams to disguise the taste.

Re: Wholeheartedly agree

[Known Nutter]

Mod parent up. In the 10 to 15 minutes (on average!) it takes someone to pop into Starbucks, they could have done it at home much faster and far cheaper, which throws the "time or your money" argument right out the window.

$0.89 coffee at the 7/11 when you stop for gas? Okay, sure... $5 and 20 minutes at Starbucks?

Re:Wholeheartedly agree

[lucasnate1]

I pay a coffee shop to rent their wifi and/or space in order to meet someone. That's worth the money.

Re:Wholeheartedly agree

[geekmux]

It's really the "convenience" explosion. You pay for the convenience of not having to fool with it.

Decades ago, they made this machine that would automatically brew a hot cup of coffee at whatever time you set the coffee alarm to, so that people could wake up to a hot cup of coffee ready and waiting for them.

The true stupidity is listening to the Starbucks generation dealing with store lines, drive thrus, and obscene prices, claiming their way is somehow more convenient.

Yea Sure

[jetkust]

So I'm supposed to believe a guy that is worth more than $300 million never buys anything he doesn't need? Sounds legit.

Treat it as a luxury

[TheRaven64]

There are lots of things that are cheaper at home. Drinking a beer at home is a lot cheaper than drinking one at the pub, for example. You're not just paying for the drink, you're paying for the use of a big space where you can talk to other people. The problem isn't $2.50 coffee (actually, I'd be astonished if I could buy coffee that cheap around here), it's buying $2.50 coffee every day. Even once a day each week, that's $50/month on coffee. Two coffees a day and it's $100/month. Give that up, and you can afford a nice holiday somewhere, or pay back your mortgage earlier.

Re:Invest in Apple, But Don't Buy iPhone

[Opportunist]

That's basically the idea behind the Chinese economy boom. Produce the crap for the West but don't buy the shit yourself.