Conclusion

As you have seen, if you set out to SAVE BIG (not small), you will save more money in less time.

I demonstrated $1,176,916 worth of BIG SAVINGS in this book by cutting our top five costs: houses, cars, credit, groceries, and healthcare. You would have to install low flow showerheads in 200 houses for 65 years, adequately inflate the tires of five cars for 282 years, not go to other banks’ ATMs 59,113 times, pack your lunch every workday for the next 12 years, and give up 1,783 magazine subscriptions to achieve that savings!

Besides, those are the little pleasures that keep the big responsibilities from bumping into each other. What would life be without strong showers and hot coffee? Without long lunches and juicy magazines? I’m not saying you should go crazy indulging yourself with every single little expenditure; I’m just saying Small Stuff Savings are not the best road to riches.

And yet plenty of authors say they are. So, for one last time, let’s do the math.

If you pursued the Small Stuff Savings we so often hear about—showerheads, tires, ATMs, lunches, magazines—your total savings per year would be $4,007 for a family of four. Let’s say you managed to keep this up for 40 years and invested the money you saved, earning a 10 percent rate of return. After 40 years, you would have $1,950,815. That sounds pretty impressive.

But now watch what happens when you SAVE BIG on your top five costs—houses, cars, credit, groceries, and health care. Yes, I showed you $1,176,916 worth of savings in the pages of this book, but not every BIG SAVINGS technique is meant to be used every year. So since we’re talking about a 40-year time period, let’s be conservative and say you save one-fortieth of my total each year. That would be $29,423 a year.

If you invested that $29,423 each year, after 40 years—at that same 10 percent rate of return—you would have $14,324,641!

BIG SAVINGS

• Yes, $14,324,641!

• I think I’ve proved my point.

• My work here is done.