I'm not getting the Apple Watch!

With release of the latest Apple Watch Series 6, is it finally time for me to hop onto the smartwatch game? As much as I love stuff from Apple, I’ve managed to avoid buying any of the first five generations of Apple Watch, principally because I don’t believe in dropping that few hundred dollars on a watch only for it to be slightly more functional than the true mechanical watch I was wearing. For sure it would be nice to have some of the health monitoring functions– the heart-rate monitor should be hugely beneficial in noticing when my anxiety levels have increased – but the barrier to entry in terms of price remains something difficult to get over.

Until now! Alongside the introduction of Series 6, the Apple Watch can now be bought on a 24-month interest-free installment plan using the Apple Card. Much the same as an iPhone, I can now spread that relatively high entry cost over a long period of time. $20 dollars a month is definitely more palatable than dropping over $400 at one time. Coincidentally, I recently just finished paying off my iPhone’s own installment plan dating two years back, so there is a $60 per month hole burning in my pocket right now.  

But that’s how they get you with the lure of payment plans, isn’t it? To entice you to buy things you wouldn’t otherwise, had you needed to cough up the whole cost at once. It’s indeed a clever trick that got me pondering the viability of buying the Apple Watch now that I can do so in installments with zero interest. What’s another $20 a month on top of the numerous things I am already doing monthly payments on? I’d be using the Apple Watch to monitor my health and keep me fit! That’s worth something, isn’t it?

Ah, so many ways to justify wantonly spending money. I just plop down quite a bit of cash for a built-to-order 16-inch Macbook Pro, so I’m not terribly inclined to spend yet more money on a shiny Apple gadget, even if I can now amortize that price over a longer period of time. Payment plans are a great tool of flexibility for people who can otherwise afford the Apple Watch but have better things to do with their money, and if I ever do buy one, I’d be going that route.

Until then, let me say for the time being I am not getting the new Apple Watch Series 6. Hold me to this, blog-reading friends.

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Pivot!

Feels great, baby!

A few days ago I received an email from Citizens Bank notifying me that I’ve paid the final payment on the loan for my iPhone. The monthly expense of roughly $60 is off the books, and now I am free to spend that money somewhere else - just kidding; maybe. Indeed the notification was a nice boost to the happiness meter: it feels great to pay off debt and no longer owe anything. I had forgotten what that feels like, because what I’ve done during my whole adult life thus far is borrow money from the bank to finance a car. Even during the brief year after I sold the Mazda MX-5 and therefore completely debt free, I was saving up in preparation to buy the 911 GT3, which obviously required much additional borrowing.

The lesson here is that while it is tremendous to not have debt, I can’t seem to hang onto that feeling because I love cars way too much. The likelihood is high that after I pay off the GT3, I’ll go spend that chunk of money on another car. It’s not like I can afford to buy a house around these parts anyways; what’s the point of working hard to earn money if you don’t spend it on something you like? For me that just so happen to be cars; I’m sure for some of you, your thing must cost significantly less, and for that I congratulate you.

That email saying I’ve paid off my phone did prompt me to take a brief look at the books for the GT3, and turns out I’ve got about an average new car transaction price’s worth of payments left to go on that car. In the grand scheme of things I consider myself lucky to owe only that much on what was a six-figure transaction a year and a half ago; while the GT3 is an extravagant purchase to the relative extreme, I made sure to not extend myself by borrowing way too much, (and thus have an unsustainably high monthly payment) and with a ridiculously long loan term. I’m right on schedule to pay the car off in five years from the original purchase date, which is exactly how I planned it.

However, with interest rates so low, I can afford to be flexible. It wouldn’t cost anything to refinance the loan, extending the term and have a lower interest rate. I would then have a lower monthly payment, freeing up some money should I need to do something with it, like move out of a house and rent a spot. Of course, none of that is necessary nor possible until this whole COVID thing subsides. Keeping debt manageable and having cash in reserves is a great position that I am fortunate to be in.

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My reason for treason.

A year with Squarespace

Difficult to believe it’s already been a whole year since I’ve move to the Squarespace platform. It was also a surprise because when I went to check on my money accounts (I use Mint), a hefty charge of $215 showed up on one of the credit cards. That is indeed the yearly fee for the privilege of using this wonderful host sans any limitations.

Much like how the annual fee for Amazon Prime sneaks up on me every year, I can see why people of my generation much prefer these payments to be broken down monthly instead of annually. The emotional optics are simply easier to stomach than having to all of the sudden cough up a few hundred dollars. It’s especially jarring for people like myself who keep monthly budgets as tight as possible.

The new iPhone that costs over one thousand dollars? No it doesn’t! Split into 24 payments it’s only $56 dollars a month! An infinitely easier pill to swallow, isn’t it? That brand new BMW sedan isn’t really over $40,000 dollars; on a lease it’s only costs $300 a month!

For the less financially inclined it’s of course easy to fall into the “affordable” monthly payment trap and go way beyond proper spending limits. But for the financially savvy - which I think of myself as - sectioning a big monetary outlay into tiny bits can be an excellent strategy to maximize returns (however small they may be). I rather do a piecemeal plan and hoard as much cash as possible to at the very least earn interest in a savings account.

This is precisely why instead of the typical lump sum every 6 months, I pay my car insurance every month. I can do the bi-yearly plan no problem at all, but it’s more prudent to keep the leftover cash in an investment account to accrue some modicum of gain. Plus, it’s far easier for budgeting purposes.

Anyways, it’s been a good year, Squarespace. Please don’t raise your fees.

The charts match the chairs and floors.