13 Women Share What They REALLY Spend On Retirement Vs. Coffee

It’s possibly the most exhausted “easy” money-saving tip of all time: Cut back on those coffeeshop lattes, and you’ll save enough to buy a home! Sounds straightforward enough, but also too good to be true. Besides, are we really spending that much on coffee? According to a new study, we apparently are. SurveyMonkey says that 44% of millennial women put less money into their retirement accounts this year than into their coffee funds. (Um, guilty.)

This is not a statistic to scoff at. But what do those numbers — and that shocking savings vs. caffeine spending discrepancy — look like on a day-to-day level? We spoke with 13 women* who were willing to share the breakdown of their monthly spending in both categories. These women span a wide range of industries, cities, salaries, and budgeting-app approaches, but they're all doing their damndest to reconcile their current coffee habits with their plans to, you know, be able to enjoy that morning brew in blissful retirement someday.

The verdict? Overall, these women are doing a startlingly good job of budgeting. Maybe I should ask them to talk me out of the cortado I just ordered.