Is It That Hard to Save $10,000 A Year ?
In todays episode we asking the question; Is it really that diffucult to save $10,000 a year ?
In the last episode, I mentioned one of my favourite personal finance thought leaders, David Bach.
I first heard about him years ago on the school of greatness podcast hosted my Lewis Howes. I loved the way he broke down investing and had some interesting concepts about saving. He notoriously known for not believing in having a budget. Thats a conversation for another day.
The reason I mention David is that’s he officially retiring from releasing books, and is on one of his last tours as he’s re-releasing one of his New York Times best selling books titled The Automatic Millionaire.
He was on the mel robbins podcast, they were talking about compound interest and this was a very interesting and life changing part of the podcast
Wanted to share this with you guys and see what you guys think.
The Big Reframe
Well guys there you have it - saving 10k a year is only $27.40 a day.. That’s it.
Not $300 a day. Not $100 a day. $27.40.
For me, this was a big mindset shift to think about it this way. I do save at the bare minimum 5-6k a year, but after hearing David Bach breakdown 10k a year, I’m capable of saving more then that.
You only need to win today.
Most people fail at saving because they think in big, scary annual numbers instead of small, manageable daily choices.
Nobody wakes up and thinks, “I’m going to spend $10,000 this year on random stuff.” But we absolutely spend $20–$40 a day without realizing it.
Where $27.40 Actually goes
Let’s talk about real-life examples—because this is where it clicks.
Here’s how $27.40 quietly disappears for a lot of people:
A $6 coffee
A $15 lunch you didn’t plan
A $7 snack or delivery fee
Boom. That’s $27.40
Or maybe it looks like:
Uber instead of transit
Multiple streaming subscriptions you barely use
Daily takeout “because I’m tired”
Individually, none of these feel like a big deal, but daily habits compound fast—just like investments.
The Stacking Method
Here’s how saving $27.40 a day becomes easy—you stack small wins.
Instead of trying to save $27.40 all at once, you break it into pieces.
For example:
$10 saved by cooking at home
$7 saved by skipping impulse snacks
$5 saved by cutting a subscription
$5 saved by planning ahead
Now you’re already past $27—and you didn’t feel it.
Most people overestimate how hard saving is because they try to do it in one painful move instead of stacking painless ones.
Why I actually think $10,000 a year matters to most
I believe saving $10,000 a year means:
Emergency fund security
Freedom from paycheck-to-paycheck stress
Capital to invest
Options when life throws curveballs
If you invest that $10,000 consistently over time? That’s where financial freedom starts to snowball. It’s not about being rich tomorrow—it’s about being unstuck.
The Real barrier: Belief
I’m kind a of a personal finance nerd and have a lot of conversations with people about money and investments. From most of the conversations, majority believe that they don’t have enough money to invest or don’t even know where to begin.
But once you see it as $27.40 a day, the excuse disappears.
You don’t need perfection. You need consistency.
Even saving half—$5,000 a year, is $13.70 a day. That puts you ahead of most people.
What I got most from this clip from David Bach, is that it’s not all about looking too far into the future and just winning the day.
Not every day will be perfect. That’s fine.
Progress beats perfection every single time.
Saving $10,000 a year isn’t extreme.It’s intentional.
