October 3, 2018 • 39 mins
The newest iPhones that were just released are anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 - that is a ton of money!!! With all the different functions and duties that our smartphones are able to perform, it’s no surprise that the prices are continuing to climb but don't pay full price! Regardless if you’re getting the latest and greatest iPhone release, or if you’re buying last year’s Moto, you want to be getting a deal. In this episode we cover a bunch of different ways to save on your phone upgrade including where and when to buy, how to easily reset your phone of personal information before selling it, and some alternatives to getting a new phone altogether!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt, and
today we're discussing how to save money on a new phone. Joel,
(00:26):
how's it going, man? Fantastic, buddy. I was reading a
scene in Money article and they were talking about financial independence,
which is interesting to start to see mainstream media outlets
covering financial independence. Right Wait, I thought CNN was fake news.
They are all right, yeah, yeah, So this in the
New York Times like kind of started this domino effect.
(00:48):
They done it as well. Yeah, so nice. Well, so
that's where there was an article a few weeks ago
about some of our friends that we know in the
in the movement, Mr fIF hundred, who's donated beers for
this podcast. Yeah, that's right, was featured in the New
York Times. Carl, Yeah, and so I feel like it's
just cascading effects. Will tell me about this money. So
they were addressing early financial independence and how it's achievable,
and they you know, they gave examples of if you
(01:10):
make fifty dollars, this is what you're gonna have to do.
If you want to retire and say ten years, or
if you make a hundred thousand dollars, this is what
you'll have to do. They just essentially gave a bunch
of examples. It was an okay article. Yeah, But what
I found most interesting is that they linked to the
financial independence calculator that we've recommended in the past, the
net worth of five one. Yeah, that's awesome, and I
(01:33):
don't know something about that, seeing how this is something
that we've talked about, and like you said, it's something
that's sort of catching on in the mainstream. And maybe
what I'm saying is that you don't need CNN because
that's what we're talking about and to us instead. Yeah.
The thing is, it's sadly when when a lot of
these major publications cover financial independence, they completely seem to
(01:53):
get it wrong. And the way they covered it's like
this this novelty, or the way they describe it. I
feel like they missed the art of it so much
of the time. So I would rather, you know, if
I were wanting to know more about financial independence or
some great podcasts out there. There's some great blogs. There's
just so many good resources that I feel like in
New York Times or a scene in Money article, they
(02:14):
kind of let the casual reader know, Hey, this is
something that exists. But it's not very compelling. Yeah, that's
the only thing the casual reader is going to know
about financial independence, and they're going to kind of miss
the boat because you to know what it really is, truly,
I feel like you have to listen to the people
that are actually living it, and just those quick interviews
just like anything else, right, a quick interview, a couple
(02:34):
of quotes, you're just not gonna understand what it's all about.
And that's why I think the comments section on you
know articles that just like in the New York Times,
so I'm sure it was the same on the CNN
money article, the comment sections can just be terrible because
folks like ripped into it because they're saying, oh, I
can retire in five years. Sure if I live off
seven thousand dollars for the year, which is the example
(02:55):
that they gave. It was like seven or nine thousand
dollars for the year, and they're like, granted, this is
pretty extreme, but that's doable. Nothingk Most people, even us
would say, man, that is crazy. Yeah, and discouraging at
the same time, no doubt. Yeah, But I think that
the problem with those articles is, yeah, they they either
go to extreme or they have a couple of fifthy
quotes and it's just hard for the new reader to
(03:18):
understand it, and so they usually write it off wholesale
without thinking about it. And the bummer is there's so
many great people in the space and financial independence. We
think it is a worthy goal, and we covered that
on a recent episode of the show, right, And there's
just a lot that you have to think through when
it comes to that though, because it is this more
than just being smart with your money. It is kind
of wholesale life changes that you have to make in
(03:40):
order to think about financial independence well. And so we
want people to start thinking differently about the way they
live life, not just deciding that they need to say
fift what they make starting tomorrow. Um. So, yeah, it's
interesting that it's coming into the mainstream, but also I
don't expect a whole lot of new converts because usually
those articles are poorly done. But yeah, you mentioned the
(04:00):
financial independence episode that we recently recorded. If you are
interested in that and our thoughts on that, listen back.
That was gosh, maybe a few weeks ago. You'll be
able to find that one. Yeah, Matt, I wanted to
let you know real quick that I am just about
to sign a new lease on one of my rental properties,
and so I don't know how you feel time a
year two uh, get a new tenant in, right? It is? Yeah,
(04:22):
I hate I hate running out a house kind of
in the late fall, kind of going into winter. But
fortunately I found a good tenant. I ended up letting
my current tenants go month to month because they've been
so good and they were shopping for a house and
I wanted to, you know, kind of kind of be
kind to them in that way. And it worked out.
They found something right around the corner from from us.
Actually they're staying in the neighborhood. Uh. Found some good
(04:42):
new new tenants and I'm doing my first ever two
year lease, which I'm excited about. And I wanted to
mention this one thing. And I feel like you and
I have had the same experience in this. One of
the common mantras of real estate investors is that you
hadn't kind of have to build in a certain amount
of vacancy time for your properties. Right, I think to
the they say five for the year, Yeah, lost in vacancy.
(05:04):
So you're talking about essentially building in a month where
you're house or a part better or whatever it is
is not rented. I don't know about you, man, but
I literally have never had a day of vacancy on
any of my properties. And I'm kind of anal about it.
Like if if if my tenant current tenants moving out
on the on the thirty, if I want my next
one in on the first, and I will work until
three am in order to make sure that the pain
(05:27):
is touched up, everything's clean, uh and and completely ready
for the next tenant to come in. And I just
want to let people know out there, like I think
it's probably wise right to to figure that in into
your metrics when you're thinking about buying a rental property,
you know, factor in a little bit of that of
that downtime. But yeah, I mean if you're busting it out,
then that's money in your pocket, right, That's those are
expenses that you don't have to swallow. And you know
(05:48):
on the rentals that some of the rentals we have,
that's we're looking at close to seventy bucks a day
that we'd be missing out on. So, man, I'm completely
with you. So in five years, same thing, we have
never had a single day where there wasn't at least
signed like they didn't necessarily move in right away. But yeah,
I'm with you, man, I want it to be, if
not the very next day like they're being one day, uh,
(06:10):
lag in between, and have the cleaner set up, have
any any other work that needs to be done scheduled
on that day. That way, yeah, the least can pick
up right where the other one left off. You're maximizing
that revenue from that property. Man, I'm I'm totally with you.
That's funny. I don't think we've ever talked about that before,
but because they do say that, Yeah, they say build
in vacancy time, and that's built into my equations. Uh,
(06:32):
but in reality, we try to know we crank it
out even more. Yeah, man, So I just want to
encourage people outsides. There are a lot of reasons, I
think a lot of common reasons that people decide not
to get into the rental property game, and you know,
one of them is tenant horror stories. And I think
there's a lot of ways to prevent that. And we
need to do a podcast specifically about that coming up soon.
I'd love to do that because I think there are
(06:53):
a lot of ways that you and I built in
to find good tenants, to make sure we have good
tenants in there every time. But then the other thing is, well,
what about these things You're gonna cost me money. And
one of the biggest things is having your home, your apartment,
whatever it is, vacant for for a while. And you
want to avoid that. And so I think, uh, doing
it like this and and and just forcing yourself to
to have that essentially really hard day where one tenant
(07:16):
moves out and you get in there and get it clean,
get it ready for the next person, make sure it's
tip top shape. I think you can do that. And uh,
and I think that's just a good gold gold to
set when you're turning over a rental property. Yeah, man,
that's right. And see tonight we're drinking a beer by
New Belgium. It is uh the French oak says on
it is a barrel age sour farmhouse sale. I found
(07:36):
it on the discount shelf and we will give you
the tasting notes at the end of the episode. You
love getting those deals, man, you know what, Buddy, Yes,
So onto the topic at hand, Matt, how to save
money on a new phone. The newest iPhone just came
out and it's really expensive. It's more expensive than any
other iPhone ever released, and the top model costs anywhere
(07:57):
from eleven dollars. That's a lot of money. That's the
X something Max. I don't even know. Man, there's all
these letters, like all the letters and abbreviations. It's like
a it's like a degree. It's like the iPhone raised
to the third power with the pH pH Max. It's
funny to me that the that the iPhone releases are
still as popular as they are, the media seems to
(08:20):
cover them like it's still an event. Dude, it's a
huge deal. It's it's insane, and if anything, I feel
like it's kind of ramped back up. I think there's
a period there in the middle where it wasn't as
big of a deal, but lately, like the past couple
to three years or to three releases, it's blown back
up again. I feel like I hear more and more
folks talking about it and where they're essentially going to
tell us the really small incremental changes they made to
(08:40):
the phone that looks exactly the same as the previous generation.
It's it's just crazy, and they're charging so much money
for these phones. Uh and So the problem is that
cell phones are getting more and more expensive, as evidence
by the newest iPhone and by the Samsung phones. These
top end phones are getting really, really expensive. But at
the same time, there are a lot of really great
(09:01):
phones at really reasonable prices, And we'll kind of get
into that a little bit later in this episode. I
think one of the reasons too that they're getting more
expensive is it's natural, right, Like they're tiny little computers,
and more and more these phones are smartphones are able
to do incredible things that we didn't Everything was possible,
and some folks are even foregoing getting a computer at
home at all. Right, you just have your work computer,
(09:21):
say even if you go in or sometimes you have
a laptop or something like that. But then you've got
your phone, and everybody works from your phone, and you
do everything from your phone because it's easy you can
stick in your pocket. And so from that standpoint, I
kind of get it. Because sure phones are getting more expensive,
they're also doing way more. Yeah, there used to be
a lot of things that you wouldn't do on your
phone that you would actually go to a laptop or
(09:42):
desktop four right, or go to your actual flashlight, you know,
like yeah, flashlight on my phone? Who does that anymore? Though?
I use my phone flashlight so much. Shame here. I
sometimes I won't even flip on the light switch like
at the house because I'm just like, I don't want
to tump on the lights. I just want to see
where my my cup is so I can get some water. Yeah. Yeah,
so I mean, I I swear I'm signing documents and
(10:04):
and doing all sort of like real estate transactions like
on my phone. Now where I used to go sit
down at a at a desktop computer to do those things.
I used to be like, all right, I gotta get
my computer out, And now your phone it's just easy
to do all those things. Yeah. But the crazy thing
is at the same time that these high end phones
are getting more expensive, and granted, they can do more,
but there are cheaper phones that can do just as much,
(10:25):
that have essentially the same capability, but they are a
quarter of the price. And so we wanted to talk
about this because there are a lot of reasons that
consumers are falling prey to spending more money on the phone,
and part of that is advertising. A lot of that
is this need for the latest technology and fear of
missing out right on the newest phone, and if they
don't have that, somehow their inferior to their friends or
(10:47):
other people around them that do have the coolest new phone.
It's it's become more of like a status symbol, really, dude.
I totally agree with that, especially as I feel like
cars are becoming less the sort of status symbol because
our generation just doesn't driving as much, or because we're
living in cities, we we don't quite have the need
for cars. And yeah, phones, man, phones are totally becoming
a status symbol. Another reason, too, is that manufacturers phonemakers
(11:11):
are planning in obsolescence with phones just little pieces of
technology that could make phones better. It's like, well, maybe
it'll make it better. Let's just go ahead and plant
it into the next generation of the phone. Right. So,
I've always had iPhones, right, and I specifically think of
the old charger, which was the thirty pin I think
is what it was called, the old connection, and then
(11:31):
they changed it to the lightning connector, which is cool.
It's a lot smaller. Dude. I've had so many problems
with the lightning connector, and I'm pretty sure it's because
my kids put it in their mouth, but like something
about it. It like short circuits and its. I've purchased
so many, I've had to get so many new lightning chords,
and I never had to get a new thirty pin
(11:52):
connector for for a phone before the phone actually died.
And let's be honest, Apple is probably making almost as
much on preaking lightning cables as they are on the
phones themselves, those in the little power blocks. No doubt,
you don't need to get the latest and greatest phone, Matt,
and I don't care what phones in your pocket. We
actually hope that you have a cheaper phone, and we
will laud you for it. So we wanted to encourage
you don't need the latest and greatest and also give
(12:14):
you some tips on how to save on that upgrade
when you do decide to get a new phone. That's right, man,
So let's go ahead and get to some of these
tips might seem like a no brainer. But keep your
phone as long as possible. Phono grades are happening on
shorter and shorter cycles, right, and everybody does naturally want
the latest and greatest. Fight that urge, you know, resistant.
(12:35):
We talk a lot about swimming up current, you know,
like the little salmon kind of swimming up upstream. Don't
get sort of swept away by advertising and the consumer culture.
Just resist it. It's probably not even something you realize
you needed, you know, until you see that there's a
new one. It's it's one of those things where you
find a reason to get it, and it can be
so easy just to fall into those sort of consumeristic ways.
(12:58):
I want to say to a new to youth phone
own feels new. And I was really encouraged by a
friend recently. I saw them post that they bought the
iPhone Success right even after the iPhone tin just came
out or whatever it is, and it seems so far away,
like six, seven, eight nine, Now, like how many years
has it been? How old is that phone? In actuality?
What's crazy is that it hasn't been that long, right,
The six only came out I think like two maybe
(13:21):
three years ago they announced it. But what they just
announced the replacements of the tin, And so it makes
it sound like it's, oh, you've got the six, what
is that like five years old? Yeah? But it's not right.
So she so she ditched the success and uh and
and she had the five before that, and just she
was talking about how awesome it was to have this
newer phone that you was lighter and did a lot,
(13:43):
I had a lot more features than the phone that
she previously had. And so for most people out there,
I want to say, a new to you phone like
a success cost very little. Now it's like a hundred
and seventy five dollars if you find one on sale,
and you can find something like that and be just
as wild when you get it in your hands because
it's new to you. I also want to say no
when and where to buy if your phone is getting
(14:04):
long in the tooth, try to purchase a new one
around Black Friday or Cyber Monday when there are lots
of deals. And so I did this last Black Friday.
I bought an l g G six because I'm an
Android guy on like Matt Apple for life. That's me, man,
what HAPs dude, that's why you're wearing your trible neck tonight.
Huh with my wire frame glasses. Yeah, it would be
(14:26):
just like Steve. So I got this sweet LGG six,
which is like a five phone, for a hundred and
twenty dollars. Last Black you actually almost swayed me over
to the droid side last year because you're like, dude,
this is a killer deal. And I looked at it
and I said, dude, this is a killer deal and
almost got it, but I didn't. Yeah, So my my
phone was like literally just kind of on the fritz
(14:47):
that week before, and it was just perfect timing where
I was able to sign it for this, and it
was a carrier specific deal. And Matt, we've mentioned this
before on the show, and actually next week we're gonna
talk about how to save money on a cell phone plan,
but we're on brand and this was a Sprint specific
cell phone deal. I got it for a hundred twenty bucks.
It's still that phone is still selling like fours now.
So I wanted to mention that where you buy and
(15:09):
when you buy can have a really big influence on
how much money you're gonna pay for that phone. Ye man,
I actually have the iPhone SE and I got that
on a Black Friday as well. Two years ago. I
got it. There was a big sale and I got
it either for one fifty or two hundred bucks. So
Apple doesn't sell it anymore, but brand new on Amazon
you can still get it and it's still two d
(15:30):
which is insane. I basically got it at that price
two years ago, and it's I mean, it's actually in
pretty bad shape because I've dropped it a bunch and
the screens cracked and the glasses falling out, that kind
of stuff. But yeah, to know that I got such
a good deal way back then, just yeah, it makes
me happy even now. Yeah. One thing I want to
say is a general rule of thumb that that is
applicable most of the time. Don't buy a phone from
(15:53):
your cell phone carrier. Now, the contracts are a thing
of the past. Carriers are not the best place to
get a phone. It's best to shop a round. Sites
like best Buy and Amazon can often have cell phone deals,
and one of the best websites, in my opinion and
all of the Internet to find out about cell phone
deals is a site called deal news dot com. So
if you are specifically in the market for a cell phone,
(16:14):
start perusing deal news and find out, you know, what
are people charging and what phones are available on deals,
and just be flexible. I think if you're flexible, that's
how you're gonna find the best deals. Yeah, man, those
are some great tips. Next, we're gonna talk about what
to do with your old cell phone in order to
kind of offset the cost of that new one. But
first let's take a break, all right, man. So yeah,
(16:43):
like we just said, selling your old phone is a
way to offset the cost of a new phone. And
there are a few different places where you can sell
it yourself, places like eBay or a gazelle or even
taking it to an echo a t M you know
where they'll take your phone and recycling there for you. Uh,
those are all all great options. However, you know eBay
you're gonna get the most money, especially if you have
an account or a user profile that you've had up
(17:05):
for a while. Do you have a long standing eBay
accountdroble with sweet feedback with the Stars. I have a
long standing eBay account, and I have sold a few things,
these things like I purchased more things on eBay than
I sell, but enough to be able to sell things
here and there. But I'm definitely not a mega seller. Nice. Yeah,
I'm not a mega seller either. But for a while.
They're in college, my my roommate Andrew and I got
(17:25):
kind of got into a battle where where we were
raising each other to get to the next star because
they have like different color stars we're treating it like, um,
you know, like different color belts in karate, like you
get the green belt or like those I don't know.
I don't know Karate guys like going Mario Kart on eBay. Dude,
we totally like, guess what I just got the thirty
transactions blue Star. It's like, you're such a nerd dude.
(17:47):
But that being said, eBay, Yeah, you are probably gonna
get the most bang for your buck there, especially if
you can take a decent picture. We talk about Spring
Cleaning your Life. That was an episode we did several
months ago now back in the spring. But you're gonna
be able to definitely get top dollar for your phone there. Yeah,
eBay is going to be the place with the most buyers.
There are great companies like Gazelle that make it super easy,
Eco a t M as well, same kind of thing.
(18:09):
It's super easy to sell your phone, but you're just
gonna get a lot less money that way. Also consider
Facebook marketplace that's kind of taking off. I would avoid
Craigslist altogether. You probably won't get as much money in
the scams, especially when it comes to smartphones. They're super
prevalent on Craigslist. Dude, Craigslist is just getting sketchier and sketchier,
you know, like like having social media and being able
(18:30):
to use that platform to sell things. There's just so
much more trust in there because you can see somebody
that's selling something, and you can see, oh, they're friends
with ten of my friends are ten guys I know,
the neighborhood, that sort of thing. I was a fan
of Craigslist for so long. Oh yeah, us too, and
I feel like I just recently kind of started to
go down the path of oh yeah, Facebook's actually kind
of made Craigslist almost irrelevant. Man, it really is. And
one of the reasons one of the hurdles I think
(18:50):
that a lot of folks have to selling their phones,
uh quickly and not just sort of keeping them around,
is because there's a lot of personal information on your phone,
right You've got a card numbers stored on there, you've
got your password stored on there. There's a fear of
that information kind of getting out in the world, and
with the data breaches that we've had in security issues,
you know, there's there's reason to be kind of concerned
about that. However, there are some very easy ways to
(19:13):
do that I mean you can just google it, like Google,
whatever phone that you have, you can look up how
it is that you can clear that off. But even easier,
We'll put a link up on our show notes to
an article that explains out how to clear up the
personal data on all the major phone manufacturers out there. Yeah,
that's great, Matt. Trading in your old phone can be
an option to, by the way, but it's usually not
the best bet. The exception is when a cell phone
(19:36):
company offers you some super sick trade in terms, right,
promoting a new phone and giving you a lot more
than your phone is actually worth in credit towards a
newer phone. That happens, but honestly, a lot of times
right now, cell phone companies are doing that to try
to get you to sign up for a lease. And
I don't really like leasing a phone because you're paying,
you know, more than half as much as you would
(19:57):
be to own the phone, but you never learn anything
at the end. You're borrowing the phone, You're paying a
lot of money every month, and you have nothing to
show for it at the end of the day. Yeah, man,
that sucks, right, not having the ownership of it in
the end to be able to sell it and and
I'll set the costs. You mentioned this and actually looked
up my iPhone. So first, first of all, I can't
get anything from my iPhone because it's super cracked. But
(20:19):
I put in some like a fake iPhone sc and
if it was in perfect condition, so like no cracks
on the screen, no scratches or anything like that. Apple,
they actually have this sort of give back program like you.
I don't know it's called to give it back or something,
but my phone, if it was basically perfect condition, would
be worth seventy bucks, which isn't a ton of money.
It's not terrible, though not terrible. But then I looked
(20:40):
at some of the other sites, right, like we mentioned Gazelle,
and there's a few other ones out there. The same
phone in the same condition essentially was only gonna be
paying out about thirty or thirty five bucks. So again,
those sites are gonna be really easy, and even more
so to the walk up sort of eco a t M.
But you're not going to get nearly as much money
for it as you were if you were to sell
it on your own. So here's something you need to
(21:01):
keep in mind. Try to keep your phone in good shape.
To begin with, consider using protection on it, right, having
a case? You know, Matt and I neither of us
actually use a case. So this is do as we say,
not as we do. Well, no, I do now? Right
do you reate the story? We not talk about it?
So I used to never put a case on my
phone because I'm with you. I liked how I like
(21:22):
the form factor, like the design. So much thought went
into the design of the phone, and I just hated
putting a clunky case on it, covering it up with
this giant, plastic, colorful thing that doesn't slide in and
out of your pocket easily. Yeah, and like atterbox, Like
what does that even mean? Like I don't, I don't,
don't get me started. I mean, they're great, they're great,
but I can't do it. They're they're very they're very chunky. Anyway,
this past year, I dropped my phone after a run
(21:44):
because I used my phone for tracking my runs, and
in between taking it out of my arm band where
it's secure and strapped my arm to me pulling it
out to hit the stop button on it. It slipped
right through my sweaty hands and freaking cracked it right
down the middle of the middle of this screen took
a dive. Dude. Yeah, yeah, For most people, getting a
case is going to be the cheapest insurance you can get.
(22:06):
You know, those insurance plans through your cell phone provider
are really really expensive, and I would say say no
to that. Uh So instead, the cheapest way to insure
it is to put a case on it. Or like
we talked about in a recent episode on the lesser
known credit card benefits, we talked about getting cell phone insurance.
So purchasing your cell phone with a specific credit card
that has cell phone insurance, that's the cheapest way to
(22:27):
get cell phone insurance. That's right. Just be sure to
to read the fine print if you're specifically looking for that.
Fewer and fewer credit cards are offering that um but
specifically use the Sift app. We mentioned that on that show.
Uh S I F T Sift. That app is awesome
and it's got all the benefits they're listed out. And
you recently didn't you recently? Uh, it kind of came
to your rescue, right, it already came came through in
(22:48):
the clutch for me. There are very few credit cards
we mentioned this in the episode that offer price protection,
but one of the credit cards that I use does
offer price protection, and I bought something with it, your
Costco card, right, that's right. And and the shift shift
APF was tracking tracking a purchase side made and they said, hey,
this item is fifteen dollars cheaper now boom refund pushed
to me immediately. I didn't have to do anything. It
(23:09):
was so nice. Yeah. So they handle it completely, which
is freaking awesome. That it's beautiful. I haven't had the
luxury of actually using it that way. Yeah, I just
kind of used it to look at the benefits. I
need to make sure I have all of my cards
in there so that way they're actually tracking them, and
I want to miss it out on those credits, man, dude,
they're doing the work for you. Yeah. Man. But in
the end, what we want to make sure is happening
(23:29):
is that you're not just collecting your old electronics, right,
Like how many old pieces of electronics do you had,
and having like that specific drawer or like that one
box that you keep in your closet with all the
cables in it. You know that you like move from
one house to the next that you like haven't cracked
open once. I bet you got a cell phone or
two in there. And sometimes I see kids even playing
with like the old phones, right, like old phones that
(23:51):
you're not using. That's kind of like an expensive toy
that the kids using that you could have sold. The
biggest bummer is when the kid is playing with a
nicer phone model than I actually even have. Right, So
I'm just like, come on. You see a kid at
Target and you're like, holy crap, that's the SIXSS. I've
got a ne C man, He's like just doodling around
on it. And it was like, quick, do you have
to bake my phone and switch it with that? Switch
(24:12):
some cards right now? Yeah? Exactly. Well, speaking of which,
when did you do you remember when you got your
first cell phone? I? Do? Well. So here's the interesting thing, man,
I feel like you and I are at this interesting
age because we were kind of in high school when
the cell phone thing really started hitting, right, And so
there are probably some people out there listening that cell
phones have always been a part of their lives, and
there are probably people out there that cell phones didn't
(24:35):
come around for them until they were in their thirties.
And so the fact that they came around and we
were in high school, actually worked for a cell phone company,
and I actually dressed up as a cell phone on
the side of the road for a while. Weren't you
a cellphone like sign spinner? Pretty much? Yep, I wore
a cell phone costume. And actually, all right, the best story,
I gotta say tell it real quick. One time I
was standing by the side of the road in my
(24:56):
cell phone costume and I had this cardboard cell phone
hand right that I would wave people with. And these
dudes pulled up in a jeep while they were at
a stoplight, and they pulled out their sling shot and
some paintballs. Okay, is this like Dennis the Menace like
bro style, like what's going on here? It totally could
have been worse. But they shot some paintballs at me
(25:17):
and they hit my little cardboard hand and it was
really really funny. Um. So yeah, that was That's my
claim to fame right there, is that when you got
your first cell phone, though, when you're working for the
cellphone company that what was it like included? Yeah, And
so that's when they were all these like small businesses.
So many of the actual cell phone stores were small
businesses and they would sell a bunch of different provider
cell phones through them, and so I worked for this
(25:38):
one with j C Wireless, and I dressed up at
the cell phone and also got this super cheap cell
phone playing through them. I got a discount because I
worked there. And yeah, that was my first cellphone. Man.
I had that big Nokia, remember that, with like a
bunch of interchangeable face plates. That was the cool thing
about Nokia, by the way. They had all those face plates,
but you could play snake on it and it was delightful.
It was delightful. So I never had a Nokia. Um,
(25:58):
so I'm with you. But the first time I got
a cellphone was actually in college. So while I was
still in high school, my parents both had like fancy
I forget the company, but Star Tak or Star Tech.
Do you remember those? This was like more like mid
to late nineties. Yeah, I'm old, dude, but it was
like the super sexy first clamshell style phone that flipped
(26:20):
open and you got to pull up the little antenna. Anyway,
those antennas were so cool, super awesome. But I got
to take one of their phones anytime I would go
out with my friends because most of the time if
I was going out one of them was going to
be home and they had the landline still, so there's
no need for me to have my own cellphone while
I was still at home in high school. Wasn't until
I got one once I went off to college. So
(26:40):
I still remember the first time one of my co workers,
when I was actually working, when I saw a co
worker get the first smartphone. Oh yeah, And I will
tell you my initial thought was that's never gonna catch on. Really,
I was like, it looks so addicting. I don't think
I want to do that with my life. Uh. And now,
just like everyone else hook line and Sinker, I bought
into it. You missed the days of like the old
(27:01):
flip phone, you know, no smart abilities at all. I
missed my Motorola razor. Dude, I do all right, Matt.
After the break, we are going to tell people what
they should do if they want a new smartphone but
they don't have the cash to get one. All right, Matt,
(27:23):
we're back, and let's talk about what to do if
you don't have the cash on hand, but you're ready
for a new cell phone. First, we would say skip
the upgrade, ask yourself if you really need the new phone.
What's your why behind money? Do you really care about
fancy electronics? If so, then maybe it's okay for you
to save up and to buy a new phone. But
are you doing it just because everyone else is and
(27:44):
you're just used to upgrading your cell phone every year?
That is not a good reason to upgrade, and maybe
you should think about trying to extend the life cycle
of the phone that you currently have. Do They used
to be me like waiting in Lion for the new iPhone?
Was it really whatever? We never talked about that before,
have we? This one's been in a previous life before
I knew. Yeah, it was like back in my more
(28:04):
consumer consumer driven days. I will say that that was
because Kate and I actually shared a cell phone, which
sounds kind of weird, But when I first met you,
I remember that distinctly. That was that was a weird
thing about you guys. Yeah, we only had one cell phone.
You'll share share a cell phone. It was like, oh,
if I'm texting Mad, I'm texting Mat and Kate, just
like the people that have a joint Facebook account as
a couple. Yeah it's weird, right, it's weird. So you
(28:27):
know you were that weird guy, but I I loved
you through it. Yeah, little. Here's the reason was because
when early on in our marriage we had started our
photography company, and so we were always together first of all,
or if not one of us was at homeworking, and
so specifically, Kate had a Google Voice number that she
did a lot of her texting from because she was
oftentimes working on the laptop. And then we had a
(28:47):
second phone, but it was a Page you Go phone,
but we paid say, I think bucks for that flip phone,
and then we would just pay for like ten dollar
chunks as needed. That way, if one of us was
out and you just happen to need it, you just
make a phone call or send a text, no problem.
It seems like such a distant time now to to
kind of say all that, but yeah, that's one of
the ways that we were able to keep cost down.
(29:08):
But so because we're able to keep cost down, we're
able to kind of justify keeping a more updated phone.
So unless you're sharing your phone with your spouse, forego
that update. Yeah exactly. Also consider a more affordable phone,
something less fancy. Right by used, or consider getting a
used phone from your upgrade a holic friend, right So
(29:29):
if I was friends with Matt back then and he
was waiting in line for the new one, I might
slightly ask him what he was doing with his old phone,
and maybe I could get it at a cheaper rate
because they don't know any better, and they're gonna get
pennies on the dollar going to a site like Gazelle
or something like that, and I can get a good
deal buying their phone. And there are also so many
(29:50):
options for more affordable phones now that honestly have just
as many features as the high end smartphones from Samsung
and iPhone. And we'll put a list of a couple
in show notes, but in particular, man, the modo phones
uh that Google makes, they're really good, man, And they're
gonna hold one of those and kind of get a
feel for it. Yeah, I had one for a while
(30:10):
before this LG phone. It was really good. So actually
my last phone was actually a free one that I
got to hand me down from my boss, so it
was great. I used that tactic myself. She'd got a
new phone and said, hey, what are you doing with
that old one? Shamelessly, and she just handed it to
me said it's yours. So I mean, anytime if they
if one of your your friends or coworkers knows that
(30:31):
they're just gonna stick it in a drawer, they're oftentimes
more than happy to give it to somebody that they know.
And especially, like we mentioned, with the personal information being
on your phone, that's a worry of people and they
don't want to sell it. But if they know that
they're giving it to someone that they trust, it feels
a lot different and they're happy to just give you
that phone as opposed to letting it rot away in
a drawer. Y man, that's true. And another option is
(30:52):
to just get your phone fixed, right, resisting the urge
to just upgrade it because of whatever problem you feel
like it has. Um it's really easy to just do
some googling and figure it out. If you're kind of
the d I Y type. There's a lot of well
specific for iPhones. There's a lot of these kids out there. Uh,
I've purchased one before on I fix it dot com
and you go on there, you enter in what kind
(31:14):
of phone you have, and you just search whatever problem
that you have. And they've got these little kits. So
if say your headphone jack stopped working, well they've got
like a headphone replacement jack kit or if your phone
needs replacing, it's a more expensive kit because it's a
more expensive part and there's more little tools that come
with it. But yeah, especially if you're the d I
Y type, if you'd like putting things together, you know,
(31:35):
if you get excited about putting together I kea furniture
because for whatever reason you're you're messed up inside, then
then repairing your own iPhone or your own Moto phone this,
you know, that might be a great option for you. Yeah,
And lots of times you can fix a crack screen
on your own through with some of these like I
fix It repair kits, and we'll put a link to
I fix It in the show notes. And the great
thing is if you can repair your phone, like fix
(31:56):
your screen for seventy five dollars or eighty five dollars,
whatever it may cost, that's so much better than going
out there and dropping a thousand dollars on or news. Right,
So if you can extend the life of it for
another nine to twelve months, for I mean, that's really
really worthwhile. Ultimately you're gonna save a lot of money
instead of just buying the newest phone. Wait and get
a little more life out of the one you already have.
(32:17):
I mean, I know we're talking about this, but I'm
thinking about my phone now. Dude, you should totally repair
your own screen. I don't see I could, yeah, and
I got it handy, But I'm just thinking, like, my
battery is doing okay, I guess like it lasts, it'll
last all day, and the phone still works really well.
It's just the screens falling apart, like the glasses falling
out specifically. So here's what I would do. If you
really are jonesing for a new phone at this point,
(32:39):
then wait until Black Friday and either make for a
sweet deal. Yeah, either either make it last or repair
the screen, and and decide that you're gonna make it
till the least Black Friday, and see how much you
can sell your phone for after the fact. But but
definitely the thing you don't want to do is have
your phone beyond the fritz and be at the whim
of whatever time of season is when you need to
buy a new phone, because granted, you can buy one
(33:01):
on eBay, but but searching for for the deal and
buying at the right time from the right place, that's
ultimately going to be the best way to get a
new phone for you. But if you can fix yourself
and make it last, man, and you you enjoy it
and it works fine for you, dude, keep it around, Dude.
I think I kind of like having a crack screen
as well. You know, it's sort of like a badge
of honor. That's sort of like driving a beater where
you're just like, yeah, that's right. I don't care about
these sort of things anymore. Like there's something about it. Yeah,
(33:23):
there's something about having to kind of deal with it
for a while and say, you know, I'm not going
to allow myself to get something new because this is
a great thing already. I broke it, I'm gonna hold
onto it. I gotta keep it. And you know what,
I'm just some sort of consumeristic loser if I designed
an upgrade And no, you don't have to do that.
You don't have to buy into that. Man, you can
deal with a cracked phone. It still does way better
(33:44):
than that smartphone. Stevens rolling with manly Gate. Stevens such
a hard time last time about that flip phone, and
and you want to apologize, but I say no, Yeah,
I love the guy, but like, still made a hundred
bucks for a flip phone. That's that's not the way
to go. Sorry, Stephen, Still love him, dude. I love
this beer as what I love and we have both
(34:05):
drained ours and man, this is fantastic. Yeah, we drank
the new Belgium French Oaks Hayson. It's a limited release.
I got this on the discount rack. You mentioned that earlier.
How much did you pick that up for? I thine,
no joke deal and beers like this, I think I
mentioned it in an earlier episode. But beers like this,
like the wild Ales hours and the barrel aged stouts,
(34:28):
they really last a long time. And so this one
in particular is still drinking super super nice. Yeah, drinks
like a nice table beer. Like I think there's more
and more breweries that are kind of putting out these
sort of easy drinking beers for you to kind of
have day to day, Like it doesn't have to be
this huge flavor bomb, but something like this you could
easily have just pretty much with any meal, just nice drinking. Oh,
(34:50):
specifically it's Agian some sort of barrel right like what
did it say? What? Yeah, yeah, it's if they're Agian
French oak food or so nice, and so it made
me think of as the beery up. It's almost like
I was tasting white grapes. Do you feel that, like
this sort of clear grape juiciness to it, Not in
sort of like the I p A juice that we
always talk about, but like an actual grape fruit. No,
(35:12):
not like grapefruit, you know what I'm saying, but like grapes. Yeah,
exactly white grapes. Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say. I
think I feel like it was super drinkable but not bland,
like super interesting and something I could drink a lot of,
but also had interesting flavors going on. Yeah, I really
enjoyed it. I would much rather have this than like
(35:33):
a pilsner right now. I'm still learning how to drink
a good pilsner. From all the beer heads that I'm
talking to. They're all into the pilsners like the people
that actually brew beer. They want pills nurse for some reason.
It's hip. I just haven't gotten into it yet. But
on the other day and it kind of tasted like
I was drinking a like a rubbery tennis ball, you know.
I kind of had like these rubbery flavors and not
(35:53):
usually what I want, like garden hose, you know, like
it was kind of like this reverie. Anyway, I'm not
selling the pilsner very well, but we have We're not
have that on the show, so I'll stick to the
Seson's buddy. Yeah, this is a fantastic beer, perfect here
for the beginning of the fall. I'm glad you pick
this up. Man. Thanks. All right, man, let's get to
the final thoughts on how to save money on a
new phone. The problem is cell phones are getting more
and more expensive, as evidenced by the newest iPhone release.
(36:17):
We're talking of upwards of a thousand dollars for a phone.
That's so much money, dude, it's just getting ridiculous. Think
about how many beers you could buy with a thousand dollars.
Don't make me cry. You can't drink an iphoney, man. Specifically,
try and keep your phone as long as possible, you know,
resist that urge to consume and upgrade your phone every
(36:38):
time there's a new release. Yeah, and you want to
know when and where to buy if you are actually
going to purchase a new phone, Holding onto your old
phone as long as possible is great. But if you're
going to buy one, know that Black Friday and Cyber
Monday are some of the absolute best times to get
a deal on a new phone. And deal news dot
com is specifically just an awesome website to kind of
keep tabs on self pricing. Man, In one of the
(37:01):
ways that you can offset the cost of that new
phone is to sell the one that you currently have.
Make sure it's working, make sure you're taking care of it,
but list it listen on eBay if you want to
get the most you possibly can. But you know, if
you don't have a ton of time, and your time
is very valuable to you, at least consider gazelle or
some of the other sites that will make that process
for you much easier. Yeah, we'll link to those in
the show notes. Ultimately, we don't want that valuable piece
(37:24):
of electronics collecting dustin a drawer and man, and another
thing is to consider a more affordable phone. There's a
lot of less fancy phones out there that don't have
the latest technology. So yeah, I consider buying one of
those used phones, or even considering a prior generation, not
the very latest one that's just been released. And I
(37:45):
feel like even saying that Matt, we're talking about the
difference between a twelve megapixel camera and a sixteen megapixel
camera is not much. The changes have gotten to be
so incremental that really you're not giving up much by
going an earlier generation or even to a cheaper phone.
I will say I want my next phone to have
the portrait mode though you know where it makes. It
makes the background look all soft and boca e what
(38:06):
as I still got to fight the urge man. My
consumer my consumeristic nature is is still there, especially when
it comes to the iPhone. But just don't watch the ads.
Gotta fight the good fight. Also, consider Matt, getting your
phone fixed. So instead of just upgrading because your phone's
got like a bug or a problem, consider doing some
googling to figure out what the issue is. And if
(38:28):
your headphone jack is messed up for me, or your
screen is broken, that's me. Check out I fix it
dot com. Right. We'll put a link to that in
our show notes as well. But there are ways that
you can fix up that old phone and just like Cinderella,
go to the ball and win the Peti's heart. Actually
you want to maybe think of was snatch, you know,
at the very beginning of Snatch when he's going to
buy the trailer. What's wrong with this tip top? It
(38:53):
looked like the doors fall it off. Oh that's what's
a good movie. That's so good. I love guy Ritchie.
Thank you guys so much for listening. We really appreciate it.
Our home on the web is how to money dot com.
We'll have our show notes up there with some links
that we referenced in the show. Yeah, and if you
like what you've heard on this podcast and you found
it helpful, let us know please by giving us a
review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
(39:15):
It just lets other people know about our show, and
be sure to subscribe while you're there. That's right, man.
Until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt, and
today we're discussing how to save money on a new phone. Joel,
(00:26):
how's it going, man? Fantastic, buddy. I was reading a
scene in Money article and they were talking about financial independence,
which is interesting to start to see mainstream media outlets
covering financial independence. Right Wait, I thought CNN was fake news.
They are all right, yeah, yeah, So this in the
New York Times like kind of started this domino effect.
(00:48):
They done it as well. Yeah, so nice. Well, so
that's where there was an article a few weeks ago
about some of our friends that we know in the
in the movement, Mr fIF hundred, who's donated beers for
this podcast. Yeah, that's right, was featured in the New
York Times. Carl, Yeah, and so I feel like it's
just cascading effects. Will tell me about this money. So
they were addressing early financial independence and how it's achievable,
and they you know, they gave examples of if you
(01:10):
make fifty dollars, this is what you're gonna have to do.
If you want to retire and say ten years, or
if you make a hundred thousand dollars, this is what
you'll have to do. They just essentially gave a bunch
of examples. It was an okay article. Yeah, But what
I found most interesting is that they linked to the
financial independence calculator that we've recommended in the past, the
net worth of five one. Yeah, that's awesome, and I
(01:33):
don't know something about that, seeing how this is something
that we've talked about, and like you said, it's something
that's sort of catching on in the mainstream. And maybe
what I'm saying is that you don't need CNN because
that's what we're talking about and to us instead. Yeah.
The thing is, it's sadly when when a lot of
these major publications cover financial independence, they completely seem to
(01:53):
get it wrong. And the way they covered it's like
this this novelty, or the way they describe it. I
feel like they missed the art of it so much
of the time. So I would rather, you know, if
I were wanting to know more about financial independence or
some great podcasts out there. There's some great blogs. There's
just so many good resources that I feel like in
New York Times or a scene in Money article, they
(02:14):
kind of let the casual reader know, Hey, this is
something that exists. But it's not very compelling. Yeah, that's
the only thing the casual reader is going to know
about financial independence, and they're going to kind of miss
the boat because you to know what it really is, truly,
I feel like you have to listen to the people
that are actually living it, and just those quick interviews
just like anything else, right, a quick interview, a couple
(02:34):
of quotes, you're just not gonna understand what it's all about.
And that's why I think the comments section on you
know articles that just like in the New York Times,
so I'm sure it was the same on the CNN
money article, the comment sections can just be terrible because
folks like ripped into it because they're saying, oh, I
can retire in five years. Sure if I live off
seven thousand dollars for the year, which is the example
(02:55):
that they gave. It was like seven or nine thousand
dollars for the year, and they're like, granted, this is
pretty extreme, but that's doable. Nothingk Most people, even us
would say, man, that is crazy. Yeah, and discouraging at
the same time, no doubt. Yeah, But I think that
the problem with those articles is, yeah, they they either
go to extreme or they have a couple of fifthy
quotes and it's just hard for the new reader to
(03:18):
understand it, and so they usually write it off wholesale
without thinking about it. And the bummer is there's so
many great people in the space and financial independence. We
think it is a worthy goal, and we covered that
on a recent episode of the show, right, And there's
just a lot that you have to think through when
it comes to that though, because it is this more
than just being smart with your money. It is kind
of wholesale life changes that you have to make in
(03:40):
order to think about financial independence well. And so we
want people to start thinking differently about the way they
live life, not just deciding that they need to say
fift what they make starting tomorrow. Um. So, yeah, it's
interesting that it's coming into the mainstream, but also I
don't expect a whole lot of new converts because usually
those articles are poorly done. But yeah, you mentioned the
(04:00):
financial independence episode that we recently recorded. If you are
interested in that and our thoughts on that, listen back.
That was gosh, maybe a few weeks ago. You'll be
able to find that one. Yeah, Matt, I wanted to
let you know real quick that I am just about
to sign a new lease on one of my rental properties,
and so I don't know how you feel time a
year two uh, get a new tenant in, right? It is? Yeah,
(04:22):
I hate I hate running out a house kind of
in the late fall, kind of going into winter. But
fortunately I found a good tenant. I ended up letting
my current tenants go month to month because they've been
so good and they were shopping for a house and
I wanted to, you know, kind of kind of be
kind to them in that way. And it worked out.
They found something right around the corner from from us.
Actually they're staying in the neighborhood. Uh. Found some good
(04:42):
new new tenants and I'm doing my first ever two
year lease, which I'm excited about. And I wanted to
mention this one thing. And I feel like you and
I have had the same experience in this. One of
the common mantras of real estate investors is that you
hadn't kind of have to build in a certain amount
of vacancy time for your properties. Right, I think to
the they say five for the year, Yeah, lost in vacancy.
(05:04):
So you're talking about essentially building in a month where
you're house or a part better or whatever it is
is not rented. I don't know about you, man, but
I literally have never had a day of vacancy on
any of my properties. And I'm kind of anal about it.
Like if if if my tenant current tenants moving out
on the on the thirty, if I want my next
one in on the first, and I will work until
three am in order to make sure that the pain
(05:27):
is touched up, everything's clean, uh and and completely ready
for the next tenant to come in. And I just
want to let people know out there, like I think
it's probably wise right to to figure that in into
your metrics when you're thinking about buying a rental property,
you know, factor in a little bit of that of
that downtime. But yeah, I mean if you're busting it out,
then that's money in your pocket, right, That's those are
expenses that you don't have to swallow. And you know
(05:48):
on the rentals that some of the rentals we have,
that's we're looking at close to seventy bucks a day
that we'd be missing out on. So, man, I'm completely
with you. So in five years, same thing, we have
never had a single day where there wasn't at least
signed like they didn't necessarily move in right away. But yeah,
I'm with you, man, I want it to be, if
not the very next day like they're being one day, uh,
(06:10):
lag in between, and have the cleaner set up, have
any any other work that needs to be done scheduled
on that day. That way, yeah, the least can pick
up right where the other one left off. You're maximizing
that revenue from that property. Man, I'm I'm totally with you.
That's funny. I don't think we've ever talked about that before,
but because they do say that, Yeah, they say build
in vacancy time, and that's built into my equations. Uh,
(06:32):
but in reality, we try to know we crank it
out even more. Yeah, man, So I just want to
encourage people outsides. There are a lot of reasons, I
think a lot of common reasons that people decide not
to get into the rental property game, and you know,
one of them is tenant horror stories. And I think
there's a lot of ways to prevent that. And we
need to do a podcast specifically about that coming up soon.
I'd love to do that because I think there are
(06:53):
a lot of ways that you and I built in
to find good tenants, to make sure we have good
tenants in there every time. But then the other thing is, well,
what about these things You're gonna cost me money. And
one of the biggest things is having your home, your apartment,
whatever it is, vacant for for a while. And you
want to avoid that. And so I think, uh, doing
it like this and and and just forcing yourself to
to have that essentially really hard day where one tenant
(07:16):
moves out and you get in there and get it clean,
get it ready for the next person, make sure it's
tip top shape. I think you can do that. And uh,
and I think that's just a good gold gold to
set when you're turning over a rental property. Yeah, man,
that's right. And see tonight we're drinking a beer by
New Belgium. It is uh the French oak says on
it is a barrel age sour farmhouse sale. I found
(07:36):
it on the discount shelf and we will give you
the tasting notes at the end of the episode. You
love getting those deals, man, you know what, Buddy, Yes,
So onto the topic at hand, Matt, how to save
money on a new phone. The newest iPhone just came
out and it's really expensive. It's more expensive than any
other iPhone ever released, and the top model costs anywhere
(07:57):
from eleven dollars. That's a lot of money. That's the
X something Max. I don't even know. Man, there's all
these letters, like all the letters and abbreviations. It's like
a it's like a degree. It's like the iPhone raised
to the third power with the pH pH Max. It's
funny to me that the that the iPhone releases are
still as popular as they are, the media seems to
(08:20):
cover them like it's still an event. Dude, it's a
huge deal. It's it's insane, and if anything, I feel
like it's kind of ramped back up. I think there's
a period there in the middle where it wasn't as
big of a deal, but lately, like the past couple
to three years or to three releases, it's blown back
up again. I feel like I hear more and more
folks talking about it and where they're essentially going to
tell us the really small incremental changes they made to
(08:40):
the phone that looks exactly the same as the previous generation.
It's it's just crazy, and they're charging so much money
for these phones. Uh and So the problem is that
cell phones are getting more and more expensive, as evidence
by the newest iPhone and by the Samsung phones. These
top end phones are getting really, really expensive. But at
the same time, there are a lot of really great
(09:01):
phones at really reasonable prices, And we'll kind of get
into that a little bit later in this episode. I
think one of the reasons too that they're getting more
expensive is it's natural, right, Like they're tiny little computers,
and more and more these phones are smartphones are able
to do incredible things that we didn't Everything was possible,
and some folks are even foregoing getting a computer at
home at all. Right, you just have your work computer,
(09:21):
say even if you go in or sometimes you have
a laptop or something like that. But then you've got
your phone, and everybody works from your phone, and you
do everything from your phone because it's easy you can
stick in your pocket. And so from that standpoint, I
kind of get it. Because sure phones are getting more expensive,
they're also doing way more. Yeah, there used to be
a lot of things that you wouldn't do on your
phone that you would actually go to a laptop or
(09:42):
desktop four right, or go to your actual flashlight, you know,
like yeah, flashlight on my phone? Who does that anymore? Though?
I use my phone flashlight so much. Shame here. I
sometimes I won't even flip on the light switch like
at the house because I'm just like, I don't want
to tump on the lights. I just want to see
where my my cup is so I can get some water. Yeah. Yeah,
so I mean, I I swear I'm signing documents and
(10:04):
and doing all sort of like real estate transactions like
on my phone. Now where I used to go sit
down at a at a desktop computer to do those things.
I used to be like, all right, I gotta get
my computer out, And now your phone it's just easy
to do all those things. Yeah. But the crazy thing
is at the same time that these high end phones
are getting more expensive, and granted, they can do more,
but there are cheaper phones that can do just as much,
(10:25):
that have essentially the same capability, but they are a
quarter of the price. And so we wanted to talk
about this because there are a lot of reasons that
consumers are falling prey to spending more money on the phone,
and part of that is advertising. A lot of that
is this need for the latest technology and fear of
missing out right on the newest phone, and if they
don't have that, somehow their inferior to their friends or
(10:47):
other people around them that do have the coolest new phone.
It's it's become more of like a status symbol, really, dude.
I totally agree with that, especially as I feel like
cars are becoming less the sort of status symbol because
our generation just doesn't driving as much, or because we're
living in cities, we we don't quite have the need
for cars. And yeah, phones, man, phones are totally becoming
a status symbol. Another reason, too, is that manufacturers phonemakers
(11:11):
are planning in obsolescence with phones just little pieces of
technology that could make phones better. It's like, well, maybe
it'll make it better. Let's just go ahead and plant
it into the next generation of the phone. Right. So,
I've always had iPhones, right, and I specifically think of
the old charger, which was the thirty pin I think
is what it was called, the old connection, and then
(11:31):
they changed it to the lightning connector, which is cool.
It's a lot smaller. Dude. I've had so many problems
with the lightning connector, and I'm pretty sure it's because
my kids put it in their mouth, but like something
about it. It like short circuits and its. I've purchased
so many, I've had to get so many new lightning chords,
and I never had to get a new thirty pin
(11:52):
connector for for a phone before the phone actually died.
And let's be honest, Apple is probably making almost as
much on preaking lightning cables as they are on the
phones themselves, those in the little power blocks. No doubt,
you don't need to get the latest and greatest phone, Matt,
and I don't care what phones in your pocket. We
actually hope that you have a cheaper phone, and we
will laud you for it. So we wanted to encourage
you don't need the latest and greatest and also give
(12:14):
you some tips on how to save on that upgrade
when you do decide to get a new phone. That's right, man,
So let's go ahead and get to some of these
tips might seem like a no brainer. But keep your
phone as long as possible. Phono grades are happening on
shorter and shorter cycles, right, and everybody does naturally want
the latest and greatest. Fight that urge, you know, resistant.
(12:35):
We talk a lot about swimming up current, you know,
like the little salmon kind of swimming up upstream. Don't
get sort of swept away by advertising and the consumer culture.
Just resist it. It's probably not even something you realize
you needed, you know, until you see that there's a
new one. It's it's one of those things where you
find a reason to get it, and it can be
so easy just to fall into those sort of consumeristic ways.
(12:58):
I want to say to a new to youth phone
own feels new. And I was really encouraged by a
friend recently. I saw them post that they bought the
iPhone Success right even after the iPhone tin just came
out or whatever it is, and it seems so far away,
like six, seven, eight nine, Now, like how many years
has it been? How old is that phone? In actuality?
What's crazy is that it hasn't been that long, right,
The six only came out I think like two maybe
(13:21):
three years ago they announced it. But what they just
announced the replacements of the tin, And so it makes
it sound like it's, oh, you've got the six, what
is that like five years old? Yeah? But it's not right.
So she so she ditched the success and uh and
and she had the five before that, and just she
was talking about how awesome it was to have this
newer phone that you was lighter and did a lot,
(13:43):
I had a lot more features than the phone that
she previously had. And so for most people out there,
I want to say, a new to you phone like
a success cost very little. Now it's like a hundred
and seventy five dollars if you find one on sale,
and you can find something like that and be just
as wild when you get it in your hands because
it's new to you. I also want to say no
when and where to buy if your phone is getting
(14:04):
long in the tooth, try to purchase a new one
around Black Friday or Cyber Monday when there are lots
of deals. And so I did this last Black Friday.
I bought an l g G six because I'm an
Android guy on like Matt Apple for life. That's me, man,
what HAPs dude, that's why you're wearing your trible neck tonight.
Huh with my wire frame glasses. Yeah, it would be
(14:26):
just like Steve. So I got this sweet LGG six,
which is like a five phone, for a hundred and
twenty dollars. Last Black you actually almost swayed me over
to the droid side last year because you're like, dude,
this is a killer deal. And I looked at it
and I said, dude, this is a killer deal and
almost got it, but I didn't. Yeah, So my my
phone was like literally just kind of on the fritz
(14:47):
that week before, and it was just perfect timing where
I was able to sign it for this, and it
was a carrier specific deal. And Matt, we've mentioned this
before on the show, and actually next week we're gonna
talk about how to save money on a cell phone plan,
but we're on brand and this was a Sprint specific
cell phone deal. I got it for a hundred twenty bucks.
It's still that phone is still selling like fours now.
So I wanted to mention that where you buy and
(15:09):
when you buy can have a really big influence on
how much money you're gonna pay for that phone. Ye man,
I actually have the iPhone SE and I got that
on a Black Friday as well. Two years ago. I
got it. There was a big sale and I got
it either for one fifty or two hundred bucks. So
Apple doesn't sell it anymore, but brand new on Amazon
you can still get it and it's still two d
(15:30):
which is insane. I basically got it at that price
two years ago, and it's I mean, it's actually in
pretty bad shape because I've dropped it a bunch and
the screens cracked and the glasses falling out, that kind
of stuff. But yeah, to know that I got such
a good deal way back then, just yeah, it makes
me happy even now. Yeah. One thing I want to
say is a general rule of thumb that that is
applicable most of the time. Don't buy a phone from
(15:53):
your cell phone carrier. Now, the contracts are a thing
of the past. Carriers are not the best place to
get a phone. It's best to shop a round. Sites
like best Buy and Amazon can often have cell phone deals,
and one of the best websites, in my opinion and
all of the Internet to find out about cell phone
deals is a site called deal news dot com. So
if you are specifically in the market for a cell phone,
(16:14):
start perusing deal news and find out, you know, what
are people charging and what phones are available on deals,
and just be flexible. I think if you're flexible, that's
how you're gonna find the best deals. Yeah, man, those
are some great tips. Next, we're gonna talk about what
to do with your old cell phone in order to
kind of offset the cost of that new one. But
first let's take a break, all right, man. So yeah,
(16:43):
like we just said, selling your old phone is a
way to offset the cost of a new phone. And
there are a few different places where you can sell
it yourself, places like eBay or a gazelle or even
taking it to an echo a t M you know
where they'll take your phone and recycling there for you. Uh,
those are all all great options. However, you know eBay
you're gonna get the most money, especially if you have
an account or a user profile that you've had up
(17:05):
for a while. Do you have a long standing eBay
accountdroble with sweet feedback with the Stars. I have a
long standing eBay account, and I have sold a few things,
these things like I purchased more things on eBay than
I sell, but enough to be able to sell things
here and there. But I'm definitely not a mega seller. Nice. Yeah,
I'm not a mega seller either. But for a while.
They're in college, my my roommate Andrew and I got
(17:25):
kind of got into a battle where where we were
raising each other to get to the next star because
they have like different color stars we're treating it like, um,
you know, like different color belts in karate, like you
get the green belt or like those I don't know.
I don't know Karate guys like going Mario Kart on eBay. Dude,
we totally like, guess what I just got the thirty
transactions blue Star. It's like, you're such a nerd dude.
(17:47):
But that being said, eBay, Yeah, you are probably gonna
get the most bang for your buck there, especially if
you can take a decent picture. We talk about Spring
Cleaning your Life. That was an episode we did several
months ago now back in the spring. But you're gonna
be able to definitely get top dollar for your phone there. Yeah,
eBay is going to be the place with the most buyers.
There are great companies like Gazelle that make it super easy,
Eco a t M as well, same kind of thing.
(18:09):
It's super easy to sell your phone, but you're just
gonna get a lot less money that way. Also consider
Facebook marketplace that's kind of taking off. I would avoid
Craigslist altogether. You probably won't get as much money in
the scams, especially when it comes to smartphones. They're super
prevalent on Craigslist. Dude, Craigslist is just getting sketchier and sketchier,
you know, like like having social media and being able
(18:30):
to use that platform to sell things. There's just so
much more trust in there because you can see somebody
that's selling something, and you can see, oh, they're friends
with ten of my friends are ten guys I know,
the neighborhood, that sort of thing. I was a fan
of Craigslist for so long. Oh yeah, us too, and
I feel like I just recently kind of started to
go down the path of oh yeah, Facebook's actually kind
of made Craigslist almost irrelevant. Man, it really is. And
one of the reasons one of the hurdles I think
(18:50):
that a lot of folks have to selling their phones,
uh quickly and not just sort of keeping them around,
is because there's a lot of personal information on your phone,
right You've got a card numbers stored on there, you've
got your password stored on there. There's a fear of
that information kind of getting out in the world, and
with the data breaches that we've had in security issues,
you know, there's there's reason to be kind of concerned
about that. However, there are some very easy ways to
(19:13):
do that I mean you can just google it, like Google,
whatever phone that you have, you can look up how
it is that you can clear that off. But even easier,
We'll put a link up on our show notes to
an article that explains out how to clear up the
personal data on all the major phone manufacturers out there. Yeah,
that's great, Matt. Trading in your old phone can be
an option to, by the way, but it's usually not
the best bet. The exception is when a cell phone
(19:36):
company offers you some super sick trade in terms, right,
promoting a new phone and giving you a lot more
than your phone is actually worth in credit towards a
newer phone. That happens, but honestly, a lot of times
right now, cell phone companies are doing that to try
to get you to sign up for a lease. And
I don't really like leasing a phone because you're paying,
you know, more than half as much as you would
(19:57):
be to own the phone, but you never learn anything
at the end. You're borrowing the phone, You're paying a
lot of money every month, and you have nothing to
show for it at the end of the day. Yeah, man,
that sucks, right, not having the ownership of it in
the end to be able to sell it and and
I'll set the costs. You mentioned this and actually looked
up my iPhone. So first, first of all, I can't
get anything from my iPhone because it's super cracked. But
(20:19):
I put in some like a fake iPhone sc and
if it was in perfect condition, so like no cracks
on the screen, no scratches or anything like that. Apple,
they actually have this sort of give back program like you.
I don't know it's called to give it back or something,
but my phone, if it was basically perfect condition, would
be worth seventy bucks, which isn't a ton of money.
It's not terrible, though not terrible. But then I looked
(20:40):
at some of the other sites, right, like we mentioned Gazelle,
and there's a few other ones out there. The same
phone in the same condition essentially was only gonna be
paying out about thirty or thirty five bucks. So again,
those sites are gonna be really easy, and even more
so to the walk up sort of eco a t M.
But you're not going to get nearly as much money
for it as you were if you were to sell
it on your own. So here's something you need to
(21:01):
keep in mind. Try to keep your phone in good shape.
To begin with, consider using protection on it, right, having
a case? You know, Matt and I neither of us
actually use a case. So this is do as we say,
not as we do. Well, no, I do now? Right
do you reate the story? We not talk about it?
So I used to never put a case on my
phone because I'm with you. I liked how I like
(21:22):
the form factor, like the design. So much thought went
into the design of the phone, and I just hated
putting a clunky case on it, covering it up with
this giant, plastic, colorful thing that doesn't slide in and
out of your pocket easily. Yeah, and like atterbox, Like
what does that even mean? Like I don't, I don't,
don't get me started. I mean, they're great, they're great,
but I can't do it. They're they're very they're very chunky. Anyway,
this past year, I dropped my phone after a run
(21:44):
because I used my phone for tracking my runs, and
in between taking it out of my arm band where
it's secure and strapped my arm to me pulling it
out to hit the stop button on it. It slipped
right through my sweaty hands and freaking cracked it right
down the middle of the middle of this screen took
a dive. Dude. Yeah, yeah, For most people, getting a
case is going to be the cheapest insurance you can get.
(22:06):
You know, those insurance plans through your cell phone provider
are really really expensive, and I would say say no
to that. Uh So instead, the cheapest way to insure
it is to put a case on it. Or like
we talked about in a recent episode on the lesser
known credit card benefits, we talked about getting cell phone insurance.
So purchasing your cell phone with a specific credit card
that has cell phone insurance, that's the cheapest way to
(22:27):
get cell phone insurance. That's right. Just be sure to
to read the fine print if you're specifically looking for that.
Fewer and fewer credit cards are offering that um but
specifically use the Sift app. We mentioned that on that show.
Uh S I F T Sift. That app is awesome
and it's got all the benefits they're listed out. And
you recently didn't you recently? Uh, it kind of came
to your rescue, right, it already came came through in
(22:48):
the clutch for me. There are very few credit cards
we mentioned this in the episode that offer price protection,
but one of the credit cards that I use does
offer price protection, and I bought something with it, your
Costco card, right, that's right. And and the shift shift
APF was tracking tracking a purchase side made and they said, hey,
this item is fifteen dollars cheaper now boom refund pushed
to me immediately. I didn't have to do anything. It
(23:09):
was so nice. Yeah. So they handle it completely, which
is freaking awesome. That it's beautiful. I haven't had the
luxury of actually using it that way. Yeah, I just
kind of used it to look at the benefits. I
need to make sure I have all of my cards
in there so that way they're actually tracking them, and
I want to miss it out on those credits, man, dude,
they're doing the work for you. Yeah. Man. But in
the end, what we want to make sure is happening
(23:29):
is that you're not just collecting your old electronics, right,
Like how many old pieces of electronics do you had,
and having like that specific drawer or like that one
box that you keep in your closet with all the
cables in it. You know that you like move from
one house to the next that you like haven't cracked
open once. I bet you got a cell phone or
two in there. And sometimes I see kids even playing
with like the old phones, right, like old phones that
(23:51):
you're not using. That's kind of like an expensive toy
that the kids using that you could have sold. The
biggest bummer is when the kid is playing with a
nicer phone model than I actually even have. Right, So
I'm just like, come on. You see a kid at
Target and you're like, holy crap, that's the SIXSS. I've
got a ne C man, He's like just doodling around
on it. And it was like, quick, do you have
to bake my phone and switch it with that? Switch
(24:12):
some cards right now? Yeah? Exactly. Well, speaking of which,
when did you do you remember when you got your
first cell phone? I? Do? Well. So here's the interesting thing, man,
I feel like you and I are at this interesting
age because we were kind of in high school when
the cell phone thing really started hitting, right, And so
there are probably some people out there listening that cell
phones have always been a part of their lives, and
there are probably people out there that cell phones didn't
(24:35):
come around for them until they were in their thirties.
And so the fact that they came around and we
were in high school, actually worked for a cell phone company,
and I actually dressed up as a cell phone on
the side of the road for a while. Weren't you
a cellphone like sign spinner? Pretty much? Yep, I wore
a cell phone costume. And actually, all right, the best story,
I gotta say tell it real quick. One time I
was standing by the side of the road in my
(24:56):
cell phone costume and I had this cardboard cell phone
hand right that I would wave people with. And these
dudes pulled up in a jeep while they were at
a stoplight, and they pulled out their sling shot and
some paintballs. Okay, is this like Dennis the Menace like
bro style, like what's going on here? It totally could
have been worse. But they shot some paintballs at me
(25:17):
and they hit my little cardboard hand and it was
really really funny. Um. So yeah, that was That's my
claim to fame right there, is that when you got
your first cell phone, though, when you're working for the
cellphone company that what was it like included? Yeah, And
so that's when they were all these like small businesses.
So many of the actual cell phone stores were small
businesses and they would sell a bunch of different provider
cell phones through them, and so I worked for this
(25:38):
one with j C Wireless, and I dressed up at
the cell phone and also got this super cheap cell
phone playing through them. I got a discount because I
worked there. And yeah, that was my first cellphone. Man.
I had that big Nokia, remember that, with like a
bunch of interchangeable face plates. That was the cool thing
about Nokia, by the way. They had all those face plates,
but you could play snake on it and it was delightful.
It was delightful. So I never had a Nokia. Um,
(25:58):
so I'm with you. But the first time I got
a cellphone was actually in college. So while I was
still in high school, my parents both had like fancy
I forget the company, but Star Tak or Star Tech.
Do you remember those? This was like more like mid
to late nineties. Yeah, I'm old, dude, but it was
like the super sexy first clamshell style phone that flipped
(26:20):
open and you got to pull up the little antenna. Anyway,
those antennas were so cool, super awesome. But I got
to take one of their phones anytime I would go
out with my friends because most of the time if
I was going out one of them was going to
be home and they had the landline still, so there's
no need for me to have my own cellphone while
I was still at home in high school. Wasn't until
I got one once I went off to college. So
(26:40):
I still remember the first time one of my co workers,
when I was actually working, when I saw a co
worker get the first smartphone. Oh yeah, And I will
tell you my initial thought was that's never gonna catch on. Really,
I was like, it looks so addicting. I don't think
I want to do that with my life. Uh. And now,
just like everyone else hook line and Sinker, I bought
into it. You missed the days of like the old
(27:01):
flip phone, you know, no smart abilities at all. I
missed my Motorola razor. Dude, I do all right, Matt.
After the break, we are going to tell people what
they should do if they want a new smartphone but
they don't have the cash to get one. All right, Matt,
(27:23):
we're back, and let's talk about what to do if
you don't have the cash on hand, but you're ready
for a new cell phone. First, we would say skip
the upgrade, ask yourself if you really need the new phone.
What's your why behind money? Do you really care about
fancy electronics? If so, then maybe it's okay for you
to save up and to buy a new phone. But
are you doing it just because everyone else is and
(27:44):
you're just used to upgrading your cell phone every year?
That is not a good reason to upgrade, and maybe
you should think about trying to extend the life cycle
of the phone that you currently have. Do They used
to be me like waiting in Lion for the new iPhone?
Was it really whatever? We never talked about that before,
have we? This one's been in a previous life before
I knew. Yeah, it was like back in my more
(28:04):
consumer consumer driven days. I will say that that was
because Kate and I actually shared a cell phone, which
sounds kind of weird, But when I first met you,
I remember that distinctly. That was that was a weird
thing about you guys. Yeah, we only had one cell phone.
You'll share share a cell phone. It was like, oh,
if I'm texting Mad, I'm texting Mat and Kate, just
like the people that have a joint Facebook account as
a couple. Yeah it's weird, right, it's weird. So you
(28:27):
know you were that weird guy, but I I loved
you through it. Yeah, little. Here's the reason was because
when early on in our marriage we had started our
photography company, and so we were always together first of all,
or if not one of us was at homeworking, and
so specifically, Kate had a Google Voice number that she
did a lot of her texting from because she was
oftentimes working on the laptop. And then we had a
(28:47):
second phone, but it was a Page you Go phone,
but we paid say, I think bucks for that flip phone,
and then we would just pay for like ten dollar
chunks as needed. That way, if one of us was
out and you just happen to need it, you just
make a phone call or send a text, no problem.
It seems like such a distant time now to to
kind of say all that, but yeah, that's one of
the ways that we were able to keep cost down.
(29:08):
But so because we're able to keep cost down, we're
able to kind of justify keeping a more updated phone.
So unless you're sharing your phone with your spouse, forego
that update. Yeah exactly. Also consider a more affordable phone,
something less fancy. Right by used, or consider getting a
used phone from your upgrade a holic friend, right So
(29:29):
if I was friends with Matt back then and he
was waiting in line for the new one, I might
slightly ask him what he was doing with his old phone,
and maybe I could get it at a cheaper rate
because they don't know any better, and they're gonna get
pennies on the dollar going to a site like Gazelle
or something like that, and I can get a good
deal buying their phone. And there are also so many
(29:50):
options for more affordable phones now that honestly have just
as many features as the high end smartphones from Samsung
and iPhone. And we'll put a list of a couple
in show notes, but in particular, man, the modo phones
uh that Google makes, they're really good, man, And they're
gonna hold one of those and kind of get a
feel for it. Yeah, I had one for a while
(30:10):
before this LG phone. It was really good. So actually
my last phone was actually a free one that I
got to hand me down from my boss, so it
was great. I used that tactic myself. She'd got a
new phone and said, hey, what are you doing with
that old one? Shamelessly, and she just handed it to
me said it's yours. So I mean, anytime if they
if one of your your friends or coworkers knows that
(30:31):
they're just gonna stick it in a drawer, they're oftentimes
more than happy to give it to somebody that they know.
And especially, like we mentioned, with the personal information being
on your phone, that's a worry of people and they
don't want to sell it. But if they know that
they're giving it to someone that they trust, it feels
a lot different and they're happy to just give you
that phone as opposed to letting it rot away in
a drawer. Y man, that's true. And another option is
(30:52):
to just get your phone fixed, right, resisting the urge
to just upgrade it because of whatever problem you feel
like it has. Um it's really easy to just do
some googling and figure it out. If you're kind of
the d I Y type. There's a lot of well
specific for iPhones. There's a lot of these kids out there. Uh,
I've purchased one before on I fix it dot com
and you go on there, you enter in what kind
(31:14):
of phone you have, and you just search whatever problem
that you have. And they've got these little kits. So
if say your headphone jack stopped working, well they've got
like a headphone replacement jack kit or if your phone
needs replacing, it's a more expensive kit because it's a
more expensive part and there's more little tools that come
with it. But yeah, especially if you're the d I
Y type, if you'd like putting things together, you know,
(31:35):
if you get excited about putting together I kea furniture
because for whatever reason you're you're messed up inside, then
then repairing your own iPhone or your own Moto phone this,
you know, that might be a great option for you. Yeah,
And lots of times you can fix a crack screen
on your own through with some of these like I
fix It repair kits, and we'll put a link to
I fix It in the show notes. And the great
thing is if you can repair your phone, like fix
(31:56):
your screen for seventy five dollars or eighty five dollars,
whatever it may cost, that's so much better than going
out there and dropping a thousand dollars on or news. Right,
So if you can extend the life of it for
another nine to twelve months, for I mean, that's really
really worthwhile. Ultimately you're gonna save a lot of money
instead of just buying the newest phone. Wait and get
a little more life out of the one you already have.
(32:17):
I mean, I know we're talking about this, but I'm
thinking about my phone now. Dude, you should totally repair
your own screen. I don't see I could, yeah, and
I got it handy, But I'm just thinking, like, my
battery is doing okay, I guess like it lasts, it'll
last all day, and the phone still works really well.
It's just the screens falling apart, like the glasses falling
out specifically. So here's what I would do. If you
really are jonesing for a new phone at this point,
(32:39):
then wait until Black Friday and either make for a
sweet deal. Yeah, either either make it last or repair
the screen, and and decide that you're gonna make it
till the least Black Friday, and see how much you
can sell your phone for after the fact. But but
definitely the thing you don't want to do is have
your phone beyond the fritz and be at the whim
of whatever time of season is when you need to
buy a new phone, because granted, you can buy one
(33:01):
on eBay, but but searching for for the deal and
buying at the right time from the right place, that's
ultimately going to be the best way to get a
new phone for you. But if you can fix yourself
and make it last, man, and you you enjoy it
and it works fine for you, dude, keep it around, Dude.
I think I kind of like having a crack screen
as well. You know, it's sort of like a badge
of honor. That's sort of like driving a beater where
you're just like, yeah, that's right. I don't care about
these sort of things anymore. Like there's something about it. Yeah,
(33:23):
there's something about having to kind of deal with it
for a while and say, you know, I'm not going
to allow myself to get something new because this is
a great thing already. I broke it, I'm gonna hold
onto it. I gotta keep it. And you know what,
I'm just some sort of consumeristic loser if I designed
an upgrade And no, you don't have to do that.
You don't have to buy into that. Man, you can
deal with a cracked phone. It still does way better
(33:44):
than that smartphone. Stevens rolling with manly Gate. Stevens such
a hard time last time about that flip phone, and
and you want to apologize, but I say no, Yeah,
I love the guy, but like, still made a hundred
bucks for a flip phone. That's that's not the way
to go. Sorry, Stephen, Still love him, dude. I love
this beer as what I love and we have both
(34:05):
drained ours and man, this is fantastic. Yeah, we drank
the new Belgium French Oaks Hayson. It's a limited release.
I got this on the discount rack. You mentioned that earlier.
How much did you pick that up for? I thine,
no joke deal and beers like this, I think I
mentioned it in an earlier episode. But beers like this,
like the wild Ales hours and the barrel aged stouts,
(34:28):
they really last a long time. And so this one
in particular is still drinking super super nice. Yeah, drinks
like a nice table beer. Like I think there's more
and more breweries that are kind of putting out these
sort of easy drinking beers for you to kind of
have day to day, Like it doesn't have to be
this huge flavor bomb, but something like this you could
easily have just pretty much with any meal, just nice drinking. Oh,
(34:50):
specifically it's Agian some sort of barrel right like what
did it say? What? Yeah, yeah, it's if they're Agian
French oak food or so nice, and so it made
me think of as the beery up. It's almost like
I was tasting white grapes. Do you feel that, like
this sort of clear grape juiciness to it, Not in
sort of like the I p A juice that we
always talk about, but like an actual grape fruit. No,
(35:12):
not like grapefruit, you know what I'm saying, but like grapes. Yeah,
exactly white grapes. Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say. I
think I feel like it was super drinkable but not bland,
like super interesting and something I could drink a lot of,
but also had interesting flavors going on. Yeah, I really
enjoyed it. I would much rather have this than like
(35:33):
a pilsner right now. I'm still learning how to drink
a good pilsner. From all the beer heads that I'm
talking to. They're all into the pilsners like the people
that actually brew beer. They want pills nurse for some reason.
It's hip. I just haven't gotten into it yet. But
on the other day and it kind of tasted like
I was drinking a like a rubbery tennis ball, you know.
I kind of had like these rubbery flavors and not
(35:53):
usually what I want, like garden hose, you know, like
it was kind of like this reverie. Anyway, I'm not
selling the pilsner very well, but we have We're not
have that on the show, so I'll stick to the
Seson's buddy. Yeah, this is a fantastic beer, perfect here
for the beginning of the fall. I'm glad you pick
this up. Man. Thanks. All right, man, let's get to
the final thoughts on how to save money on a
new phone. The problem is cell phones are getting more
and more expensive, as evidenced by the newest iPhone release.
(36:17):
We're talking of upwards of a thousand dollars for a phone.
That's so much money, dude, it's just getting ridiculous. Think
about how many beers you could buy with a thousand dollars.
Don't make me cry. You can't drink an iphoney, man. Specifically,
try and keep your phone as long as possible, you know,
resist that urge to consume and upgrade your phone every
(36:38):
time there's a new release. Yeah, and you want to
know when and where to buy if you are actually
going to purchase a new phone, Holding onto your old
phone as long as possible is great. But if you're
going to buy one, know that Black Friday and Cyber
Monday are some of the absolute best times to get
a deal on a new phone. And deal news dot
com is specifically just an awesome website to kind of
keep tabs on self pricing. Man, In one of the
(37:01):
ways that you can offset the cost of that new
phone is to sell the one that you currently have.
Make sure it's working, make sure you're taking care of it,
but list it listen on eBay if you want to
get the most you possibly can. But you know, if
you don't have a ton of time, and your time
is very valuable to you, at least consider gazelle or
some of the other sites that will make that process
for you much easier. Yeah, we'll link to those in
the show notes. Ultimately, we don't want that valuable piece
(37:24):
of electronics collecting dustin a drawer and man, and another
thing is to consider a more affordable phone. There's a
lot of less fancy phones out there that don't have
the latest technology. So yeah, I consider buying one of
those used phones, or even considering a prior generation, not
the very latest one that's just been released. And I
(37:45):
feel like even saying that Matt, we're talking about the
difference between a twelve megapixel camera and a sixteen megapixel
camera is not much. The changes have gotten to be
so incremental that really you're not giving up much by
going an earlier generation or even to a cheaper phone.
I will say I want my next phone to have
the portrait mode though you know where it makes. It
makes the background look all soft and boca e what
(38:06):
as I still got to fight the urge man. My
consumer my consumeristic nature is is still there, especially when
it comes to the iPhone. But just don't watch the ads.
Gotta fight the good fight. Also, consider Matt, getting your
phone fixed. So instead of just upgrading because your phone's
got like a bug or a problem, consider doing some
googling to figure out what the issue is. And if
(38:28):
your headphone jack is messed up for me, or your
screen is broken, that's me. Check out I fix it
dot com. Right. We'll put a link to that in
our show notes as well. But there are ways that
you can fix up that old phone and just like Cinderella,
go to the ball and win the Peti's heart. Actually
you want to maybe think of was snatch, you know,
at the very beginning of Snatch when he's going to
buy the trailer. What's wrong with this tip top? It
(38:53):
looked like the doors fall it off. Oh that's what's
a good movie. That's so good. I love guy Ritchie.
Thank you guys so much for listening. We really appreciate it.
Our home on the web is how to money dot com.
We'll have our show notes up there with some links
that we referenced in the show. Yeah, and if you
like what you've heard on this podcast and you found
it helpful, let us know please by giving us a
review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
(39:15):
It just lets other people know about our show, and
be sure to subscribe while you're there. That's right, man.
Until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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