The up front cost is irrelevant. It’s how much the phone depreciates over the ownership period (plus any interest if you finance it.) I ran the deprecition on my 6S+ over the last 25 months. It has cost me $25/month ($930 w/ tax less $290 trade-in value.) My guess is the iPhone X will cost ~$30/month over the same period. That’s the same or less than I was paying for iPhones under 2-year contract 5-10 years ago when the carriers were ‘subsidizing’ them (the carriers simply charged more for service back then.)
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How Many Buying the X but Really Cant Afford it?
- Thread starter haqsha23
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That's why I say fund the account as needed and don't leave unnecessary money in the checking. What's not there can't be spent.
If you only have a single account and keep everything in there, I can understand the fear.
I say keep at minimum two accounts and have them setup so you can transfer money between the accounts, but neither is a backup funding source for the other in the event of an overage.
A 401a/403b is a RETIREMENT plan, NOT a "rainy day fund". If "somewhat accessible" means raiding your retirement in order to pay for a new transmission, then no, I would not argue that is a stat worth "hating". Toss in taxes and a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you're under 59 1/2 and that makes things even stupider. All that assumes you even CAN access it early, as many plans have restrictions on early withdrawals too (and as mentioned, even if you can, it doesn't mean you should).
Having 6 months in savings isn't about how well it does for you on investment return anyway. It's about having a safety net that doesn't actively hurt you for using it. But hey, if you want to invest it in something performing better, that's a risk you might be willing to take. There's a reason why financial experts don't advise that though.
If you don't have liquid savings that are NOT earmarked for retirement, you can't "afford" a luxury item.
Again, it doesn't mean you can't have one, just that you can't "afford" one, which was the topic at hand...
i can’t imagine anyone actually needing it. But, many will go through the internal gyrations of convincing themselves they do. Just the same, a budget priced car will get you from point A to B whereas a luxury car will do it with more style. It all boils down to how someone wants to spend their money. I’m going to stick with my 7. Does what I need it to do. Would I like the X? Absolutely. But, I’m not willing to pay $1k plus for it considering my 7 is only a year old.
I would hope nobody is buying it that can’t afford it but the reality is that most that buy it can’t afford it. They are leasing it or on a payment plan.
I don’t care what people do with their money though so buy away if you want.
I don’t care what people do with their money though so buy away if you want.
Interesting article I read, with the stock market on its 2017 roll, a $1,000 investment January 2017 would be worth about $1,600 today. Not too shabby. A $1,000 iPhone X will be worth what in 10 months?
Idk why lease payments are viewed by so many as people being unable to afford something. If you’re given a 0% loan for something, and often times even perks for getting the loan (trade credits, as an example), what incentive do you have NOT to get the loan?
Loans and leases are just the new contracts folks. Companies are offering you discounted devices but you only get the full discount if you pay off the device over 24 months. Could I drop s grand in launch day? Absolutely. It makes more sense to trade in my moms 16gb iPhone 6 to T-Mobile and give her my 6s plus 128 gen (by the way both of those phones would net $300 in credit). I’m not financing $700 instead of $1000 because I’m getting $300, which is more than I’d get selling the old phone privately.
At the end of the day I’m sure there are folks who finance because they can’t come up with the money up front. I’m just unclear why there’s this strange elitism and stigma around financing. Not everyone is buying things beyond their means.
Loans and leases are just the new contracts folks. Companies are offering you discounted devices but you only get the full discount if you pay off the device over 24 months. Could I drop s grand in launch day? Absolutely. It makes more sense to trade in my moms 16gb iPhone 6 to T-Mobile and give her my 6s plus 128 gen (by the way both of those phones would net $300 in credit). I’m not financing $700 instead of $1000 because I’m getting $300, which is more than I’d get selling the old phone privately.
At the end of the day I’m sure there are folks who finance because they can’t come up with the money up front. I’m just unclear why there’s this strange elitism and stigma around financing. Not everyone is buying things beyond their means.
I live well below my means and have thousands of extra dollars coming in every month. My wife and I both have six figure incomes and we could get by with one of us not working if something drastic happened. Plus I can sell off various stocks I pick up here and there or take loans against my Roth 403b where I pay myself interest. I regularly invest the extra cash I have laying around because if it’s not earning interest then it’s losing value vs inflation. Also, just because I’ve got money invested doesn’t mean it’s earmarked for retirement. I can use it for whatever I need if anything happens, fortunately I make wise decisions and it’s unlikely I’ll even need to fall on one of the several backup options I have. Call it stupid if you want, but my nest egg is doing great by having it earn interest, and it’s much larger than most people my age, so you do you and I’ll do me.
And isn't it funny that with that amt saved, you are probably more hesitant than those with no savings about buying the new iPhone?
Lease or zero interest deals are good and make sense if you can afford something in the first place. Generally these deals were invented to get someone to buy that can’t afford to.
Yes and no. I think they were invented to make people feel like they’re locked to the carrier. “We will give you a discount but to earn said discount you must go through the 24 payments”. It’s exaxtly like the early terminations used to be.
I do see what you mean, I just don’t get the elitism and the d*** measuring. There are
Literally people arguibg over their incomes in here.
Good for you for living well under your means (seriously, no sarcasm.) But you have personal savings that you can use as a rainy day fun. It is not a smart idea to use a tax-advantaged retirement account to park emergency savings money. It sounds like you have enough savings that you can risk to have it all in the stock market. For many people that would not be such good advice. Think getting laid off in 2009 when the stock market dropped 40+%. You’d be forced to realize those losses just to pay your bills.
The iPhone X is a life-changing, once-in-a-decade product, so I'm not surprised that some people will overextend to buy one. As far as priorities go, I'd have food / shelter / education at the top, followed close by iPhone X. I don't expect anyone to go homeless to buy the iPhone X, all things considered it's a bargain. Back in 1995 I bought a 75 Mhz computer w/ 8 GB RAM and 1 GB HDD for $1300. Now you can get a SUPER COMPUTER IN YOUR POCKET, more than 50x the performance, for just $1000! AMAZING!
don't worry, i got you all.. i'll even get one for you @OP
heyyyyyy buddy
ill take one hahaseriously congrats if real.
10 million would be my magic number to retire. 200k for 50 years assuming 0 interest is pretty good
haha.. not real.. not even close.heyyyyyy buddy
seriously congrats if real.
10 million would be my magic number to retire. 200k for 50 years assuming 0 interest is pretty good
Perhaps, but I saw one poster who revealed his private financial situation right here; if they indeed were telling the truth. You can ask anything; people volunteer information. That is a choice.
Do you pay it off every month too? If not, then you can't afford it.
I charge everything possible to a credit card for the points/miles. Rent, bills, food, etc. I pay off my charges every week as is my personal preference, and never carry a balance.
Fell into some bad CC debt in the past. Thankfully didn't suffer any action from creditors, any late payments or even a serious ding to my credit score, but digging myself out required a crappy second job and the obliteration of my savings.
Never again.
If I don't have the cash in my checking account to pay it off (under no circumstance will I dig into savings, let alone retirement, for anything other than an emergency) I don't buy it. It's as simple as that.
I understand YOLO. It's a real concept. But for a phone, I personally don't see it as being worth it.
Fell into some bad CC debt in the past. Thankfully didn't suffer any action from creditors, any late payments or even a serious ding to my credit score, but digging myself out required a crappy second job and the obliteration of my savings.
Never again.
If I don't have the cash in my checking account to pay it off (under no circumstance will I dig into savings, let alone retirement, for anything other than an emergency) I don't buy it. It's as simple as that.
I understand YOLO. It's a real concept. But for a phone, I personally don't see it as being worth it.
This just made me question every purchase I made this year. Lol
I don’t pay the whole balance off every month but that’s by choice, not because I can’t afford.
To be fair, while yes the iPhone X is the most expensive. Both the Note 8 and Pixel 2 XL are very, very close behind in price (Samsung was the first to have a high price on the Note 8)
It’s a crappy trend, but that’s the trend for the major premium phones. Consumers demand everything plus the kitchen sink, and then demand even more far as technology packed into a device every year. This demand drives prices up, because it’s not cheap developing and manufacturing it.
I can afford it. But I think it's unnecessary. The 8 will be just fine. And no one really "needs" FaceID version 1.0 at this time.