The Calculator That Ruins Impulse Purchases
YOUR MONEY
VS TIME
Enter your hourly wage. See how long you actually work for everyday purchases. That $7 latte? That's 23 minutes of your life. That new iPhone? Two weeks. You'll never look at a price tag the same way again.
Coffee (latte)
$7
About a lunch break
Fast food meal
$12
About a lunch break
Lunch out
$18
About a lunch break
Uber ride
$25
A meeting or two
Tank of gas
$55
Most of a workday
Groceries (weekly)
$150
8 hours of your life
Netflix (monthly)
$16
About a lunch break
AirPods
$180
10 work hours
PlayStation 5
$500
27 work hours
iPhone
$1,200
64 work hours
MacBook Pro
$2,500
133 work hours
75" TV
$1,800
96 work hours
Gym membership (annual)
$600
32 work hours
Concert tickets (2)
$250
13 work hours
Weekend getaway
$800
40 hours of your life
Nice dinner for two
$150
8 hours of your life
Designer sneakers
$300
16 work hours
Annual vacation
$4,000
5 work weeks
Used car
$15,000
20 work weeks
New car
$35,000
47 work weeks
Wedding
$30,000
40 work weeks
Down payment (house)
$60,000
80 work weeks
Student loans (avg)
$37,000
49 work weeks
Tesla Model 3
$42,000
56 work weeks
Rolex Submariner
$10,000
13 work weeks
First class to Tokyo
$15,000
20 work weeks
Birkin bag
$40,000
53 work weeks
Kitesurfing gear (full)
$3,500
5 work weeks
Shocked? Share this with someone who needs a reality check.
I built this calculator and immediately regretted looking at my Amazon order history. That $47 kitchen gadget I used once? That was almost 3 hours of my life. On the bright side, the kitesurfing gear was worth every minute. Priorities.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the money vs time calculator work?
Enter your hourly wage (or annual salary, which we convert). Then see how long common purchases take to earn in work hours. A $7 coffee at $20/hour = 21 minutes of your life. We also factor in estimated taxes to show your real after-tax time cost.
Should I stop buying coffee to get rich?
No. The 'latte factor' is the most overblown personal finance advice of all time. The real wealth killers are the big three: housing, transportation, and lifestyle inflation. That said, seeing the time cost of purchases does change how you think about spending. Use it for big decisions, not to guilt yourself about coffee.
Why think about money in terms of time?
Because time is your only truly non-renewable resource. You can always earn more money, but you cannot earn more time. When you see that a $50,000 car costs 6 months of your working life, it reframes the decision from 'can I afford the payment' to 'is this worth half a year of my life?'
What is the average hourly wage in the United States?
As of recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the median hourly wage in the US is approximately $23-24/hour (around $48,000-$50,000 annually). However, this varies dramatically by profession, location, and experience level. The calculator lets you use your exact wage for personalized results.
Does the calculator account for taxes?
Yes. We apply an estimated effective tax rate based on your income bracket to show the real after-tax time cost. This means the actual hours you need to work are higher than the pre-tax calculation because you don't take home your full hourly rate.
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