That's not good advice. You always take financing when you are not being penalized i.e. 0% spread out over time. You use other people's money to work for you.
It depends on the person. While some people can act perfectly and remember to make on-time payments and use credit wisely, about 25% of the population fails to do so often through no fault of their own like losing a job. Every business that can will capitalize on these 25% which is how they can afford to do 0% financing.
I travel outside the US often and sometimes it’s just a pain to remember all the bills. I do like it if a company has automatic payments. I also like using certain cards for rewards. I would never carry a balance if the APR was higher than I can earn by investing money. Usually, 0% is a no brainer. But think of the people who lose their job or miss a bill. That 0% turns into high interest rates that seem scandalous quite often. And most of the time it claws back to the origination date of the loan.
Also, many people use too much credit that they can’t afford. I would say if you can get 0% financing, can automate the payments, and you have the cash to do it, it’s almost always better to invest the cash and take the free money.
Even AAPL and other big companies, that have massive amounts of cash often offer debt instruments to avoid taxation. This is becoming less attractive as interest rates are rising quickly which means they must pay higher bond yields.
If one doesn’t get the 0% financing, or lower cost than their investments can return, they shouldn’t pay ridiculous fees unless they can leverage the device in some way. For example, maybe one needs an iPhone specifically for business and they need the newest version for some feature (SOS satellite service?), if that iPhone can make them more money than the cost of financing, and they don’t have the money it may be worth the risk.
In general, I think of one doesn’t have the money, they shouldn’t buy whatever it is they want. Because things don’t buy our happiness. But using free money can definitely benefit some.
And some people need to just pay the cash, as they feel happy not owing anyone. I know several people like this, and it’s not wrong. Many people don’t want the feeling or burden of debt. They’re not wrong. If you want, pay the cash and don’t owe anyone.
If one lives paycheck to paycheck, don’t finance anything, as one needs an emergency fund to pay their bills in case something bad happens.
The great thing is in life we all have choices. Many of these choices can lead to wealth or despair. The most important thing for all of us is to understand our situation and play life by our rules and moral compass rather than hard facts of you should always do something because someone said so online.
