Many of the readers on these platforms are very frugal or are looking for ways to be frugal. I know I push myself to limit monthly expenditures I have that take away from life, interaction (to some degree) and also my pocket. I read an article from the NY times last year that said something around 90% of Americans are paying a form of cable television – 90%!!!! That’s a pretty alarming amount of people that are paying on a monthly basis to large corporations such as, but not limited to: AT&T (T), Comcast (CMCSA), WOW!, etc.. I know my fellow Diplomat – Bert – probably has shrills going through his body about this article because I know he enjoys having cable, more so for the fact to watch Sports, well, there are other means BERT.
Why Don’t I have Cable?
That’s the big question of this article and I will lay it all out in 5 reasons:
- The cost essentially is high and can range from $50-$100/month for basic + sports channels. If it’s $50/month, that’s $600/year or $3,000 in 5 years. Now, if you invest that $50/month, every month, for 5 years with a conservative 8% return, that $3K will balloon to $8,207 in market value. In addition, if you are receiving a 3.5% dividend, that will provide you another $287 in dividend income per year. Lastly, if you pay $100/month, the total becomes $16,415. Adding a 3.5% dividend yield would provide you $575/year in dividend income! That one reason is enough for me to “cut the cord” or in my term – never get the cord? Oh and to pay for $50/month at 3.5%, you need $17,143 to pay for this. No thanks.
- Time. I know individuals, including myself when I’m around a TV, that can spend entire days/weekends watching a TV show, game after game, DVR recording after DVR recording. Only after all of this – it’s Monday morning and they are back to work, recording their shows and waiting for the late nights or weekends to watch these shows. Sounds a little crazy, right? (Sorry if this is what you go through occasionally!) I think there are much better things to take advantage of – such as this weekend – I spent the weekend at a beach. In Cleveland. Re-read that – I was hanging out at beach in Cleveland. This is a good example of getting up, hanging out with new people, close friends and experiencing/exploring what life has to offer!
- Frustrations. How often do you go without a “hiccup” with your cable provider? Ever get the screen that begins scrambled? A screen that begins to stutter? Or how about this one – when it doesn’t work at all? After thinking of those questions – how often do you enjoy making those calls? Exactly. Enough said. I don’t need any more grey hairs than I do now when dealing with the cable company in rough-service-period times.
- Price increases. Even if you feel “comfortable” paying for $X/month and not being glued to it – how often does your price increase? Every year? Semi-annually? Quarterly? Definitely a time consuming period to call, argue or potential deal with switching the provider.
- Activate your mind. The TV can literally “Fry” your brain for lack of better words. You become knowledgeable about false fiction characters and the drama/stories they go through. Ultimately, you may retain less and less of actual productive knowledge to society. When paired up with #2 above, the time that could have been spent reading, learning and gaining a knew form of knowledge/expertise, such as investing!
Now, I do enjoy watching a show here and there, and of course I love my sports – I just choose “how” and “when” and even “where” I do these things. For sports, for instance, I will gather a group of friends and go to a close buddy’s house to watch the big games, or go to the nearest sports bar that would have an upbeat atmosphere. To me – the cost for one person to pay for this does not benefit me or the value I receive is not worth the cost, said a different way. Now if I were to somehow have a cable bill of $15-$30 – maybe I would re-evaluate that to see what type of value I’d receive, and the ability to share that with guests, etc..
How about the readers? Cutting the cable bill? What’s another form of a bill you can remove from your life? Thanks for stopping by! Bert, I know you’re probably pissed, bring on the comments as well, I’m curious to hear it.
-Lanny