Failing Upgrade: Why Saving Money Is About Status Quo

As your money saving woes go from one day to the next, you, as a concerned individual who wants to have a savings account that matters or an emergency fund that isn’t fledgling, constantly look for ways to improve your financial standing.

That often leads to the most obvious of places: lowering your car payment or even trading it in for something a little older or trying to figure out how to make that mortgage amount lower than it has been for the last few years.

But just beyond those big-ticket items is analyzing how you’re spending and seeing if those current or would be habits are holding you back quite a bit.

The one habit that should stand out more than others is your propensity to purchase items that are newer versions of what you already have, thus bucking the idea that “good enough” just really is that anymore.

The biggest culprit are electronic devices, followed closely by transportation. The electronics have developed a strategic marketing plan and sales initiative that sees new devices, with new features and bells and whistles, coming out on what seems like a yearly basis.

For the consumer, this is hardly a tough sell, for more reasons than one.

Not only is the device new and has added bonuses across the board, but the way most electronics of any value operate in today’s marketplace allows you to upgrade to a new device with trade-ins and payment plans so that you believe you’re getting better, more advanced technology after one or two years.

What you tend to overlook, however, is that if you’re paying $40 per month for a smartphone, for example, over two years that is nearly $1,000 spent on a phone. Not only have you overpaid for a phone but now you’re going to trade it in after you’ve finished your payment plan and then start the process over again. Even the most tech-savvy individuals know that financially you’d be better served to keep the phone you already own now or, from the beginning, simply buy it outright at a lesser price.

As for vehicles and your cars, trucks, and SUV’s, the markup on new cars is incredibly high, but leases are running rampant for buyers. Leasing typically leads to lower monthly payments but again, much like the phone but on a more expensive end, you’ll always have a payment as part of your budget. Sometimes buying and financing a used car that isn’t too far gone make more sense for not only a smaller payment but the ability to own the car and get some mileage out of not having a car payment.

The status quo, simply, in this case, enjoying what you have, means you’re bucking trends of wanting to upgrade to the point of fault, realizing that by not going for the newest, you’re making the best financial decision possible for yourself.