Can You Live a Good Life On A Starbucks Salary?
Let’s find out.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t do well with stress.
I like to wake up when I want to,
Work for a couple of hours.
Go on a lazy stroll with my dog.
And do anything I want, with whoever I want.
That’s why I was eager to find out how much money I needed to live a life like this.
Turn out,
You don’t need that much.
You can live a pretty easy and happy life just by serving coffee at Starbucks.
My number
As part of my relocation planning, I spent an afternoon working out my living expenses after moving to Australia.
Including rent, going on an overseas trip 2x a year, eating out a couple of nights, yoga 2x a week, savings for emergency funds and investments, my daily spending is AUD $197.
According to the exchange rate today it’s USD $131.51. For the sake of easy math, let’s round it up to $132.
That’s considering I pay the full rent myself as I’m single.
As a couple, your number may even be lower. Or if you have a family, your number can be higher.
If I choose not to get a car and cut out some of the unnecessary subscriptions, my number will go down to AUD$160, which is USD $107.
Unbelievable, isn’t it?
In fact, I wasn’t the only one saying this.
Tim Ferriss talked about this in his blog:
“For me to ride an Aston Martin DB9 in style, have a personal assistant handle my life, cover all of my expenses (including a new house and motorcycle), become a bestselling author, and take a month-long trip along the Croatian coast to celebrate, I must make…. $2,000 per day? $1,000 per day? No — $197.90 per day” — Tim Ferriss
Now he is Tim Ferriss, and he wants to ride an Aston Martin, as well as a PA, so yes, his number is higher.
You can aspire to have the same lifestyle as Tim Ferriss.
Or just the normal citizen like me who drives a Volkswagen with no PA.
How to make $132/day?
Now you know you don’t need that much money to live a happy life. Your next question is likely to be: How do I make $132/day?
Consider a regular job demanding you to work 8 hours a day.
$132/8 = $16.5
Depending on where you are, $16.5 is a humble hourly wage.
And it looks like you can easily achieve that just by working at MacDonald’s, Chipotle or Starbucks this coming April.
Or, if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, you can start building your online presence by:
- writing online
- affiliate marketing
- building your newsletter
- selling on Etsy / Gumroad / Amazon KDP
Now that’s not to say it’s EASY. I haven’t made $130/day writing on Medium.
But it’s an option.
You can choose to have a 6-figure salary job that chains you to the cubicles with demand from your boss every 2 minutes, covering up for that incapable colleague who always seems to be on a coffee break. ONLY to get taxed half of your hard-earned income at the end of the year.
Or
A job that is under your control and you can still make money to enjoy a good life.
I remember when I was in my recruiter days, I met one of the HR officers and she would take on a contract role for 4–6 months during autumn and winter. Then, in the summer, she ran a food truck selling Jamaican food.
She loved this lifestyle and said she made more than enough.
And one more friend who was in IT. He worked 6 months out of contract, 2 months doing nothing and 4 months travelling.
Have I mentioned he also owned a property and drove a BMW?
Now, I don’t know how he did that, but clearly, he knows the money game — you don’t need to make a lot of money to live happily.
I am not encouraging all of you to quit your jobs today and work at Starbucks or get a food truck; I want to craft a visual image of how living a happy life isn’t as difficult as it seems, so you can CHOOSE how you want to live your life.
Work out your number
What I would encourage you to do though, is to work out your number.
Tim Ferriss’ blog has a calculator you can use, or you can use mine (please make a copy and save your own copy). It’s slightly different but I’ve also included expenses I anticipate I may use, for example, travel.
This is how I calculated:
I plan to travel 2x in 2024.
I already know I have a wedding to go to in Jakarta.
And I am thinking of spending Christmas on the Sunshine Coast.
I took the budget for both trips (including accommodations, transportation, and daily spending) and divided it into 12 months. Then I included that as my “monthly expense.”
It’s really simple. It doesn’t take a math genius to figure this out.
Final thoughts
What is a good life for you?
Close your eyes. Picture what your ideal day looks like.
What’s your work day look like?
What do you do on the weekends? On holidays?
What about getting to spend time on your hobby when you want to?
And do something meaningful instead of working a stressful 12-hour day.
Then run your numbers.
It’s really simple.
Don’t listen to the gurus out there who tell you to work till you drop in order to have a good life.
Take a Sunday afternoon out of your busy schedule and do this exercise. You will be delighted to know your good life isn’t that hard to reach.
Disclaimer: I am not a certified Financial Advisor; this article is based on my personal experience. Everyone’s financial situation is different and you should always conduct your own research before making any financial decisions.