Kevin O’Leary Says People Waste $15K A Year On ‘Stupid Stuff’ Like Buying Lunch At Work — ‘It Costs You 99 Cents To Make A Sandwich’
“You go to work, you spend $15 on a sandwich—what are you, an idiot?” Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary shared some brutally direct financial advice with his viewers in a September TikTok video. Known as “Mr. Wonderful” for his sharp business insights, O’Leary took aim at two everyday habits—your pricey lunch breaks and coffee-shop splurges—that quietly drain thousands from your wallet each year.
O’Leary argued that making coffee at home costs around $0.20 per cup, compared to the $5.50 many people regularly spend at coffee shops. And then there’s lunch—another major culprit. “It costs you 99 cents to make a sandwich at home,” O’Leary said. Yet, according to an October 2023 survey from ResumeBuilder.com, a whopping 71% of office workers buy lunch at least three times a week, with nearly half spending $20 or more per meal.
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O’Leary said that many individuals, especially those starting their careers in metropolitan areas with an annual salary of around $60,000, waste $15,000 each year on “stupid stuff.” While a few coffees and sandwiches might not seem significant daily, O’Leary points out that these costs accumulate substantially over time.
For example, buying lunch three times a week at $20 per meal sets you back $60 weekly. Over a year, that’s roughly $3,120. Add a daily coffee habit at around $5 each day, and you’re spending another $1,300 annually. But what if you’re the typical city worker who grabs lunch daily and a few coffees to keep going? Suddenly, you’re easily hitting the $15,000 mark O’Leary warned about.
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Now imagine taking that same $15,000 and putting it into the stock market instead. Historically, the S&P 500 has averaged around a 10% return annually. Invest that $15,000 each year for 10 years, and you’d end up with over $260,000 thanks to compound interest. Over 20 years, that figure balloons to nearly $860,000. Talk about turning lunch money into life-changing cash.
This spending reality hits harder when we consider that according to a Bankrate survey earlier this month, only 41% of U.S. adults could comfortably cover a $1,000 emergency expense. This is a drop from last year when 44% said they could cover the expense from their savings. And yet, workers continue to casually blow their budgets on conveniences that add little long-term value.
