Skip the Coffee? What’s Money for, Anyway?

By JOHN SCHWARTZ
The New York Times
Published: October 8, 2006

APPARENTLY, I’m an idiot. Every financial advice columnist seems to be telling me so.

My crime: buying morning coffee from Starbucks for my wife and me.

Avoiding the regular cup of overpriced coffee has become an easy cliché for financial advisers, a symbol of money frittered away. The advice has appeared just about everywhere. Drop the caramel mocha frappu-whatever, they say, or you’ll spend your retirement testing recipes that combine Hamburger Helper and dog food. David Bach, the author of “The Automatic Millionaire,” pushes what he calls the Latte Factor, which he has defined as “the daily extravagances that drain your resources.” Another guru, Paul Farrell, has estimated that skipping Starbucks and compounding the savings could save you an eye-popping $500,000 by retirement. At my own newspaper, Damon Darlin, a financial columnist, has repeatedly brought up this issue.

Before bringing up a point of disagreement — what logicians call the “Big But” — it is common to bestow a few compliments to ease the sting. So, as a preface to the Big But, let me say that Mr. Darlin is a fine journalist and, for all I know, a swell dancer besides.

Still, I disagree.

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Al-Qaeda affiliate burns coffee shop in Gaza Strip

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After the Palestinian branch of al-Qaeda took responsibility for killing a senior Palestinian intelligence officer and four of his escorts three weeks ago, the group again took responsibility for violence in the Gaza Strip. Early Sunday morning, Gunmen shot and set fire to an internet coffee shop in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, causing massive damage.

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Starbucks sees China as key to its international growth

By CRAIG HARRIS
P-I REPORTER (Seattle)

A day after Starbucks announced that it would introduce its gourmet coffee in four more countries, a top executive said Friday that the international chain could be in 14 more countries within five years.

Martin Coles, president of Starbucks Coffee International, said the Seattle-based chain could be in 54 countries by 2011, but he also said the company would expand judiciously.

"We don't want to show up and get the door open just to be present in a country," Coles said.

Starbucks has 3,604 stores in 36 countries outside the U.S., and it will open in Brazil, Egypt, Russia and India in the next year. The company on Thursday set a long-term goal with no timeline to have 20,000 international stores, and it believes its biggest growth will come in China.


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