Kevin O’Leary Reveals Two ‘Stupid’ Ways Most People Waste $15K Each Year

Kevin O'Leary talks with his hands outstretched
Patrick Lewis/Starpix for The Paley Center / Shutterstock.com

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Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary had some tough words for some people who waste their money in “stupid ways.”

“Stop spending money on [stuff] you don’t need! What’s the biggest waste of money you see today?” O’Leary wrote in a Sept. 8 post on X, formerly Twitter.

In an accompanying Money Saving Advice video, O’Leary revealed two ways most people waste a ton of money every year.

First, he said, stop buying coffee for exorbitant prices. This is something he has reiterated in countless videos and articles, arguing that it costs 20 cents to make it at home and he “invests the rest.”

These seemingly tiny daily purchases do add up — and end up making a dent in your budget. Another red flag: buying lunch at work, instead of preparing a homemade one.

“You go to work, you spend $15 on a sandwich — what are you, an idiot? It costs you 99 cents to make a sandwich at home and bring it with you,” O’Leary said in the video, arguing that if you start to add that up every day, it’s a ton of money. “Most people, particularly working in metropolitan cities, are just starting out on their job, making their first $60,000, [throw] away about $15,000 a year on stupid stuff — and that’s what they should stop doing.”

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Persistent high food prices are another reason preparing a homemade lunch is better option. To put this in context, food-away-from-home prices — what you buy in restaurants or shops — are up 5.4% over the past 12 months. That figure is higher than the overall food prices increase, which stood at 3.2%, according to the consumer price index (CPI) report released Nov. 14.

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