Weekly Financial Review #16 |
13 Comments |
There was a lot going on this week this week, so let’s get to it:
- Last week, I mentioned Energi Gal and I were going to have a Financial Day. The idea was that we were going to pour through our financials. Well we got through a portion of the financial planning. I was hoping I could get her finances in a spreadsheet like mine, but we didn’t get that far. I think it’s best to wait until the middle of next month as that’s when I do my monthly expenses. Then we’ll have things in sync and it will be a matter of just combining the spreadsheets to get a good total financial picture.
- Sometimes customer service surprises you. Earlier this week, I mentioned the mess I had getting my car repaired. Well, Mic’s Auto Body in Redwood City installed a new bumper today in 45 minutes - while I waited. I didn’t have to wait for a rental car or anything. They went as far as offering to pick up the car from work, but I figured I’d save them from that. So even though they had an accident in the first place, they went above and beyond and it’s why I’ll use them in the future.
- I have a pair of questions for you:
- I had mentioned the problem with my Treo 700P in the past. It’s a $600 phone, so if I had to replace it without the warranty, it would be expensive. I could buy insurance for around $7 a month, is it worth it? Simple math seems to suggest yes, but it’s a $50 deductable to get a new phone and I could probably pick one up on Ebay for much less than $600. It’s also been around for a year, so chances are a new model will come out in the next 6 months, making the current model I have cheaper.
- I didn’t realize that MLB and the cable companies came to a settlement, so I can now order all the Red Sox games for $160. Last year Energi Gal and I probably watched over 120 games. However with the games being on from 4PM to 7PM local time, I’ll be at work most evenings. So should I get it or not? What would you do?
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 Propeller13 Responses to “Weekly Financial Review #16”
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April 30th, 2007 at 6:43 am
It’s worth noting that Consumer Reports says that laptops are one thing that you should insure. The reason is that by their mobile nature they are more likely to get broken. I would agree with you on the TV, fridge, washing machine and dryer, stereo, etc. I’m not too worried about losing my dryer or having someone come in and steal it. Also dryers are built to last years - people have them for 10 or more years. Cell phones aren’t built with that kind of quality, can be easily lost, or stolen. Lastly they don’t have known problems like the Treo audio jack that have broken on me time and time again.
That’s a great point on the credit card thing. I don’t typically use my credit card to extend warranty. Anyway, in this case, the new phone comes with a new warranty (according to the Sprint rep), so it’s effectively doubled anyway.
April 30th, 2007 at 6:10 am
The insurance isn’t worth it. Insurance is good when it protects you against potentially catastrophic loss. It’s bad when it insures against small loss.
Generalize it: should you get the “extended warranty” or “insurance” on your TV, fridge, washing machine and dryer, computer, Treo and stereo? There is a decent chance you would use that insurance for a repair or replacement of ONE of those items. However, you’re probably paying a good chunk of change to insure all that. Say it costs $100/month for all those insurance policies. Within a few months you’ve covered the replacement cost of half the items on your list. Within two years you’ve covered everything on the list. There is no reason to insure yourself against small losses — it’s a very high profit margin for the insurer. “Self-insure” against small losses by keeping some money set aside to cover them.
Also remember that many credit cards offer automatic extended warranties/insurance when you use them to make that purchase. Make sure you aren’t double-insured. Find out which cards offer this and make these purchases with that card (just make sure you don’t carry that balance!).
April 28th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
1) Because Quicken blows. I should probably expound on that. It blows in the very specific ways, so hard, so bad, and wicked bad. That’s a little SNL reference. I seriously can’t keep my Quicken all working. It gets confused between my paycheck that’s an automated deposit in my bank from my online bank and my own entry of it so that I can keep the taxes separated. I tried on three separate occasions and Quicken just isn’t “Intuit”ive.
2) Yes companies make money on insurance, but that’s because they profit on replacing the average phone - the $50 ones. Surely I wouldn’t pay $7 for that. However, if those people are subsidizing a potentially lost $650 phone (something like 9 years worth of insurance payments), that doesn’t seem like a bad deal.
3) I have Comcast’s DVR, but it’s not helpful for me for sports. Sports have to be watched live or reasonably live. There’s no thrill in it if I can fast forward to the next play. I’ve tried, it doesn’t work.