| I love to travel and enjoy fashion, but electronics are not a big deal to me. I normally buy new gadgets when I need them and rarely because they’re new or sexy—except for the iPhone. I succumbed to pressure from my new team at work and bought the iPhone. One guy, Brian, should’ve worked for Apple’s marketing team. He was constantly thinking up new iPhone commercials. For months, I heard teammates say—“There’s an app for that . . . . Check out this flashlight app . . . . The iPhone does this faster . . . . Google maps is much better on an iPhone,” and many more comments. It felt like working in an infomercial! When Brian showed me how to hack into the iPhone to get internet access on my laptop for no additional charge, I was sold. I bought the iPhone a few weeks later, justifying the purchase with the free internet. I justified an ongoing, long-term cost—monthly plan and maintenance to the iPhone— with a temporary benefit. Apple would eventually block the hack, which they did a few months later. Once I couldn’t use my iPhone to get internet on my laptop, I lost my main benefit and was stuck with the ongoing costs. Long-term costs should only be justified with long-term benefits; otherwise, when the short-term benefits are over, you end up stuck with all costs and none of the value. 2nd Problem: Maintenance Costs were too High I dropped things, and often. The iPhone was the most delicate phone on the market, due to the large glass screen. After having the iPhone for 8 months, I accidentally dropped and broke it, despite using a heavy duty case. Apple charged $295 for a replacement iPhone and wouldn’t lower the cost by allowing me to downgrade to older version or one with smaller memory. Final Solution: Change phones & providers! I had 2 options—sink another $300 into the iPhone, for a total of $1,725 annually, or move on to another phone. The chart below explains why the iPhone was so dang expensive!
For someone that’s not into technology and would rather spend that money traveling, it didn’t make sense to throw more money at Apple or AT&T. I changed to Sprint, where I got more minutes and unlimited texts for $20 less per month and got a HTC Hero with Android apps and a touch screen for $179 after the rebate. Get this—paying the early termination fee and buying a new phone was only $14 more expensive than getting a replacement iPhone.
The Sprint plan offers more minutes, unlimited texts, and costs $240 per year less than AT&T—just enough for a plane ticket to visit my best friend in Seattle! The iPhone was the best phone on the market. But did I need the best phone? Nope! Just one that fit my lifestyle.
If I had bought the replacement iPhone, I would have spent over $1,700 on my cell phone!
For some people, almost two grand was worth it. If you prefer electronics and can afford the iPhone after savings and bills are paid—then go for it! As I said in the beginning of the post, I’m not into electronics. If I had two grand to spend, I’d rather travel or shop. Spending according to my values meant changing from the iPhone to a cheaper phone and having more travel money! ——— What new item did you purchase because your friends, family, or coworkers influenced your decisions? Did the new purchase match your values? Try adding up the total yearly cost. With the yearly cost in front of you, ask yourself if the item is worth that much? Would you rather spend that cash on something else? * Although I bought cases for both phones, the cost of 2 iPhone cases and 1 HTC case was not included in the calculations.
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27 Dec
Financially Fab 
Posted by Oseloka Albert Okagbue on January 21, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Phenominal detail here. The numbers clearly show the advantages of spending to match one’s values and I love it!
Posted by FinanciallyFab on January 22, 2011 at 11:25 am
Happy you liked it! What are your top 3 priorities? Do you know if your spending matches that?
Posted by Belinda on January 18, 2011 at 6:47 pm
I love the analysis you did here. It’s hard to take a realistic at how much things cost sometimes, but seeing the numbers really help you make the right decision. I recently started using mint.com to track my expenses, and it’s so painful to see that last year, I’ve spent over $400 a month on dinning out. I now have a budget and only allow myself to dine out once a week. I’d rather save the moneyand spend it on traveling (also cut down on the calories):)
Posted by FinanciallyFab on January 19, 2011 at 8:52 am
You hit on something important–awareness! Once you know, you’re empowered to spend money in a way that makes you happier!
Don’t be too hard on yourself about dinning out. Last year you didn’t know. Last year is done. No guilt about last year. Focus on 2011 with positivity. Cutting back to one night per week could be a tough transition. It’s more important to cut back for the entire year than go hardcore for one month, then rebound to $400+ dollars. If once per week seems too rigid, try scaling back to $350 a month in Jan., cutting out just 1 or 2 meals. In Feb., try $300 or $250. If you cut your 2011 average to $250/ month, you’ll have $3,000 toward a fabulous trip!