This Week In Your Wallet: iPhones, Side Gigs & Split Decisions
Sorry, iPhone 6ers, but your phone isn’t cool anymore. Okay, any readers who know me at all know I don’t mean that. I’m an iPhone fan, but still happily toting a 5S and I don’t plan on trading it in any time soon.
Those of you who don’t feel that way, though, probably already know that last week Apple announced its new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus will hit shelves later this month (Sept. 25th if you’d like to mark your calendar). And with this big announcement came another: Apple’s new payment plan, the iPhone Upgrade Program.
The installment plan allows you to pay for an iPhone over the course of 24 months and upgrade every 12. In this new, no-contract and subsidized-phone-free world (RIP $199 iPhones), it’s the tech company’s way of saying, “Hey, we’re still affordable!” It also makes choosing your next plan and phone all the more confusing.
The Washington Post offers a flowchart to help you decide — based on your m.o. as a consumer. For instance, if you already pre-ordered the new phone, then chances are you’re an “early adopter,” whose wallet would benefit from Apple’s new payment plan (i.e. it’d cost you $32.45 a month on top of your service plan). Profile yourself and see your options here.
Where To Sell Your iPhone
As for what to do with your old iPhone — or any smartphone for that matter— you should try selling it. (Trust me, you’re missing out on a decent amount of money by letting them gather dust in a drawer.) USA TODAY outlines eight options for you, starting with trade-in sites like Gazelle and uSell (both of which I’ve covered before). Right now, at Gazelle, you could get up to $270-$395 (depending on the GB) for your iPhone 6 Plus. Still holding onto an iPhone 5? You could get up to $60-$125 back.
Unlike Gazelle, uSell is a deal aggregator, so it will use your phone’s information (i.e. product model and condition) to show you offers from various resale sites across the web. Assuming the quality of your item matches the description you wrote on either uSell or Gazelle, you will be able to send your item in for free and, in return, get the promised value.
“Get Off Your Phone!”
All of this smartphone news seems to make this an appropriate time to point out just how much time we’re spending attached to our technology. Over 90% of college-aged adults own a cell phone (according to the Pew Research Center), and they average just over 300 minutes of use per day. That’s about five hours! They’re certainly not using it to study either. The research found more than 88% of their phone time is dedicated to leisure. So if, like me, you just sent your kids off to college, you might want to send a friendly text pointing out that this high-frequency cell phone use is associated with decreased physical fitness and lower grades.
Not Working For The Man
Tina Brown (ex-editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast) said it first in 2009: We’re in a gig economy. Fast-forward to today and 31% of U.S. workers consider themselves as “free agents,” identifying themselves as independent contractors, freelancers, small business owners, temps or even moonlighters, according to a new survey from recruiting and employment firm Kelly Services. I’m one of them!
I used to believe that job security, and therefore financial security, was just a matter of being valued by your employer. Today I believe having a portfolio of many streams of income may, in fact, be more secure than having a single job — and I say this from personal experience. And before you write this off as another millennial trend, the survey also found that 36% of baby boomers identified themselves as free agents compared to just 26% of millennials. As CNNMoney reports on the findings, when it came to work-life balance, skills development, career advancement and work overall, free agents reported higher levels of satisfaction than traditional employees (i.e. working for just one employer). And for job security, it was a tie.
Split Decisions
I’m excited to introduce Split Decisions, my new video series with Fidelity Investments that walks millennials through the most common (and confusing) money situations they’re facing today. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Have a great week,
Jean
