A $5 Starbucks That Changed How I Invest
Four and a half years ago, I was holding a Starbucks coffee and doing the math.
I had one — sometimes two — of these every single day. What if I invested that money instead?
So I started. Five dollars a day into the S&P 500. Every single market day, manually.
Now, 4.5 years later, that account is sitting at $12,634.
And it turned negative 14% in year one. I almost quit. But I kept going. This is what I learned and here are my real numbers.
The Woman Behind the Idea
There is a woman named Ann Scheiber. She spent 23 years as an IRS auditor.
She never earned more than $4,000 a year. She retired in 1944 with a few thousand dollars saved.
When she died in 1995 at age 101, her estate was worth $22 million.
She got there by putting modest amounts into the stock market and leaving them alone. Time did the rest.
I think about her every time I look at my account. She did not need a big income. She needed time and patience.
Time in the market. Not timing the market. That is what Ann proved.
My Real Account: 4.5 Years of Data
The line is not straight. That matters. Most people see the end number and miss the story.
Here is what actually happened, year by year:
| Period | Amount Invested | Account Value | Return % |
| Jan 2022 (start) | $0 | $0 | — |
| Sep 2022 (low point) | ~$600 | ~$405 | -14% |
| End of 2022 | ~$840 | ~$722 | -14% (held) |
| End of 2023 | ~$1,665 | ~$2,100+ | Recovering |
| End of 2024 | ~$2,490 | ~$3,500+ | Growing |
| June 2026 (latest) | ~$8,308 | $12,430 | +48.91% |
| July 2026 (with dividends) | ~$8,381 | $12,634 | +50%+ |
Note: invested amounts are approximate. Returns track the account’s end-of-month value against total contributions.
The negative period that nearly ended this
By September 2022, I was down 14%. That meant I had lost $195 of real money.
The market was not cooperating. Every day I logged in, the number was red.
But I kept buying. That is the whole point of dollar-cost averaging.
When prices fall, your fixed dollar amount buys more shares. So I kept going.
This is the moment most beginners quit. They see red and stop. But quitting at -14% means you lock in the loss and miss the recovery.
The recovery and the compounding
The market recovered. My contributions kept accumulating shares.
By mid-2026, those shares were worth $12,430 — a 48.91% gain on my invested dollars.
That means the market added over $4,800 on top of what I put in. That is the compounding at work.
48.91% is the return percentage. If you invested $1,000 a day at the same rate, you would be up $48,910 — same percentage, much bigger number. The amount matters less than the habit.
The Dividend Story
There is a number that does not show on the main sheet. Dividends.
The ETF I use pays dividends every three months. In the early days, those payments were tiny.
But now they come in at around $35 every quarter. And I reinvest every dollar.
That is why the July balance of $12,634 is higher than the June sheet shows. The dividends added shares quietly in the background.
Reinvesting dividends is how the compounding accelerates over time.
How to Automate This
I used to log in every market day and buy $5 manually. That gets old fast.
Now it runs automatically. Here is how to set it up.
Step 1: Figure out your annual equivalent. $5 a day sounds simple, but the market is not open 365 days a year.
Step 2: Divide $5 by 365 and multiply by the actual number of trading days (about 252). That gives you $7.24 per trading day.
Step 3: Set up a recurring investment in your brokerage app for $7.24 per trading day — or $153.71 per month if you prefer monthly.
Most major brokerages now support this. Set it, then leave it alone.
The automation removes the emotion from the decision. You do not have to choose to invest each day. It just happens — including on the red days when you would have hesitated.
My FAVORITE brokerage to use for this is Webull. In fact, they are offering you a special bonus when you get started today:
What $5 a Day Becomes Over Time
This is the part I want younger readers to pay close attention to.
Time is the biggest variable in this equation. Here is what the math shows at an 8% inflation-adjusted return:
| Starting age | End age | Monthly amount | Est. value at 65* |
| 15 | 65 | $153/mo ($5/day) | $1,100,000 |
| 25 | 65 | $153/mo ($5/day) | $480,000 |
| 35 | 65 | $153/mo ($5/day) | $210,000 |
| 45 | 65 | $153/mo ($5/day) | $82,000 |
*Projections use 8% inflation-adjusted annual return. Results are estimates, not guarantees.
Starting at 15 instead of 35 produces more than five times the result. Same $5 a day. Same investment. Just more time.
Ann Scheiber understood this. She did not need a large income. She needed decades.
Two Common Objections — Answered
‘$12,000 is not a lot after 4.5 years’
That is the wrong way to look at it.
The percentage is what matters. 48.91% growth in 4.5 years is a strong result.
If I had invested $100 a day instead of $5, the percentage stays the same. The dollar gain would be close to $100,000.
The challenge is about proving the habit and the method work. They do.
‘Most people cannot afford $152 a month’
I hear this a lot. And it is often true. But here is the honest conversation.
The average new car payment is $770 a month. The average American spends $329 a month dining out. Subscriptions average $219 a month. Coffee shops average $90 a month.
That is not a judgment. It is a question. Is there one thing in that list you could reduce by $5 a day?
If not, start with $1 a day. Or $30 a month. Start somewhere.
And when you get a raise, increase the amount. Do not let lifestyle absorb every extra dollar.
The goal is not $5 a day forever. The goal is to build the habit and then scale it.
Three Things to Do Right Now
1. Open a brokerage account today
If you do not have one, open one. Most require no minimum to start.
Pick a simple, low-cost S&P 500 ETF. Set up a recurring investment for whatever you can afford.
Then leave it alone.
My favorite Brokerage? Webull!
2. Do not check it every day
I made this mistake in 2022. Watching the number go red did not help me. It just added stress.
Check your account quarterly. Reinvest any dividends. Do nothing else.
3. Increase the amount when you can
$5 a day is a starting point. It is not the destination.
Every raise is an opportunity to put more to work. Even going from $5 to $10 a day doubles the outcome.
📊 Track Every Dollar the Way I Do
The Transaction Register I have used for over 10 years — the same spreadsheet that tracked every dollar from -$100K to financial independence. If you are starting an investment habit, this is the tool that keeps you honest.
â–º Get the Transaction Register — $15.99
How to Invest $5 a Day with Webull
Want to know how to set up the Webull app for $5 a day investing? Check out this video:
The Bottom Line
I started this with a Starbucks cup and a question.
Four and a half years later, that question turned into $12,634.
The market went negative. I kept going. The market recovered. The compounding kicked in.
You do not need a large income to build wealth. Ann Scheiber proved that at $4,000 a year.
You need a habit, a long time horizon, and the discipline to leave it alone.
Drop your investing start date in the comments on the video linked up above. I read every one.