Comment by Paradigm2020 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Paradigm2020 | Hacker News Reader

Debt pile visualizer...

The financial advise tends to be to pay off your smallest debt first, even if the interest is low, because it will give a mental boost...

So yeah the website would ask you to list your debts in order. (Student loan, car loan,...) And the interest rate.

Than it would make a (not too depressing) visual and ask you how much you can pay per month.

Bonus points for using Google sheets as a backend.

But main thing would be that people would be able to get helpful reminders / tips.

"You've saved yourself 500$ over the next 10 years, keep up the good work".

Christmas time "If you got a Xmas bonus and can double your loan pay off this month you'll speed up your debt freeness by 2.5 months"

"Did you know:A Starbucks frappucino cost 0.55c to make, and in ventti size costs 8$ and 400kcals (more than 2 ice creams). The coffee of the day cost 0.40c to make and cost 3$ and 10kcal. Caffeine the same.

Anyway v 0.1 probably only takes a day to make.

Cool initiative good luck

I totally agree with your suggestion for ordering, self-reporting the success and the "if x then imagine y!" you discuss and I get you didn't ask for criticism, but in your last example - the value of coffee to you might not be what it costs to make. The value can be a lot more for some people than others:

- Utility-wise: If you need to perform at work.. even if having it every day means the coffee nolonger changes from your original no-coffee baseline..

- Social: My girlfriend doesn't really go to the expensive coffee shop because it's worth the 2x marker. It's because she can chat about relationships, have security in her relationships with her friends and they can designate this as an unscheduled-long time to talk through issues

- Regulating your emotions For me at least buying something small and pleasant can avoid troughs/peaks. In fact overstressing the financial ratio of cost:price of a product causes these troughs for me. That's also why poorer people often buy small but tasty things, even when it's pricy for them, it regulates their mood up enough to slog through the rest of the 1am shifts with difficulty seeing the future (I have been there...)

That's why I'd be wary of having an app pressure you not to buy something. You don't always know the real reasons your body gets you to do things.

Utility-wise: I specifically mentioned same amount of coffee so this one is moot.

Social: most coffee is consumed for takeaway and on Auto-Pilot. In the usa most starbuckses make 80%! From takeaway and 20% from sit ins (they tried to close some Starbucks locations because of this but the funny part is that sales drop more than the 20%... Probably because people take the "cost of the store" into their reasoning why they are spending 7-12$ on a cup of Joe.)

-regulating your emotions: if you are in a luxury position that's fine... Being / perceiving / stressing about being poor causes a drop of 8 IQ points. I know/understand what you mean and changing a default always causes stress but the question is always about short term pain vs long term gain... Nobody likes to change... Being told what to do... The app is not pressuring you - it's making you aware of options / costs that you might not have considered. (Did you know) The thing is that if the app is well made and you trust the maker you know you have a "friend" who is looking out for you... Even though you might still ignore him/her (think friends who smoke cigarettes etc...)

The brain's main goal is not too think because it tries to preserve energy... Unfortunately the environment is simultaneously safer (we killed all animals that literally can kill us) and more dangerous (our fellow humans who used to stand next to us having our back against the animals are often against our interests now.)

The question is always what is a low effort high reward substitute... I'd say takeaway coffee is probably one of the best options for a lot of people.

The art is just to visualize the profit you're gonna make in the future in the now --- because your brain focuses on the now... If I said to you that if you drink a coffee less every other day you'd "make" 4140$ in 5 years would you --- pretty sure for most people in dire financial straits they would... On the other hand not meeting with your friend for brunch once a month might save you more even but a friend is harder to substitute than some sugary beverage...

The question is always "why" - the "suffering" now is always certain (change is painful if it is not perceived as improvement) but by making the future gains big, visual and realistic people (can be) more self motivated.

I would say I wouldn't agree, but maybe our language in common is why we don't agree - for example, the idea that coffee is 80% takeaway... this global report puts it at 65% in cafe. My experience in most of europe is about 75% in cafe: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/cafe-mar...

So maybe your use of coffee is just different to you know, the old world ways that developed it.

I said most coffee is consumed take away... With the report you mentioned (65%) that is still correct.

I pointed to Starbucks for the 80% angle...

I currently live in Vietnam and I'd say it's probably 50% or less takeaway depending on the day and the venue (most takeaway is done from little stands that don't even have place to sit...)

I do have to say your "the old world ways that developed it." Is wrong on all counts...

1) I'm European and have consumed coffee in Europe... As well as America, Vietnam, countless other places.... over extended periods of time... Context being everything aka american forum etc.... Unless a location is explicitly specified it would make sense to put it in an american context.

2) coffee drinking came from the middle east to Europe so unless you're using "the old world ways" to mean the middle east... (which would be an uncommon language / culture thing on your part.)

Again I understand your context but in this final post you really seemed to get nitpicky and rather look for where "he's wrong" rather than a quest for truth.

Anyway to speak/write or to communicate/seek that's the question. Have a nice day

> A Starbucks frappucino cost 0.55c to make

I saw variants of this phrase a lot, but I don't think it's accurate. I wouldn't be surprised if 0.55 would be close to a payment processing fee alone.

My very rough estimate is frappucino costs close to $5 to make. I used Starbucks located in Manhattan, New York to make it even more cliché.

- Ingredients & disposables: $1.03

- Direct labor (including shift supervisor): $1.30

- Occupancy (rent, insurance): $1.54

- Equipment depreciation: $0.14

- Utilities: $0.10

- Supplies, cleaning, waste: $0.10

- Management, marketing, investment: $0.60

- Card processing, other: $0.16

Total: $4.97

What about milestones. Some gamification can make paying the high interest debt more of a buzz.

Maybe dont make it about paying off debt but make it about reducing interest. Each $10/m reduced is a gold star. You get to buy a frappe each time you do that. (Less than one month).

It's a good goal because you can reduce interest by paying off and also by consolidation and refinancing.

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