How do you know if you're rich? Well let me share when you know you're still not rich yet!
Sometimes I go to bed thinking how good life is. From the joys of breathing in clean air to the freedom of making money anywhere there's internet access, life is pretty great. Sometimes I even go far as to think I'm rich. But then reality smacks me in the face.
When You Know You're Not Yet Rich Yet
You know you're not yet rich when you're still willing to waste valuable time to save money.
Since I turned 40, we've been proactively trying to figure out ways to use money to improve our lifestyles.
For example, we finally tried out professional cleaners after spending the last 19 years cleaning up after ourselves. So worth it!
We also now frequently use food delivery apps to bring some of the best cuisine San Francisco has to offer right to our doorsteps. What a life saver after a long day's work. Yum.
So when my iPhone case cracked after I dropped it one evening, it should have been no problem to spend $100 to fix the thing at an electronics shop down the street. They take walk-ins and their turnaround time is only 45 minutes.
It's the perfect amount of time to do some grocery shopping for the family or get a haircut next door. I used them once four years ago and was pleased.
But this time, I decided not to use them because embedded in my iPhone usage plan was a Apple Care policy that I had used once before. The $120 policy states that in case of a cracked screen, I can go to any Apple Store or certified dealer and fix it two times in a two year period.
Each time I go, I still have to pay a $29 fee. In other words, if I'm fortunate or unfortunate enough to fix my iPhone twice in two years, the total cost is $120 + $29 + $29 = $178 or $89 for each fix.
The Endless Time Waste Saga Begins
I went online to book myself an appointment at one of the Apple Stores closest to my house and the next available appointment was a week away. Even though I had major crackage that required me to tape the screen to prevent shards of glass from cutting my finger, I decided to wait a week and keep trying for a better time around the city.
As a heavy phone user who is running a website, waiting a week is a big deal.
The next day I checked online again and was able to snag a 7:40pm spot at a store 5 miles away the very next day. Score! Given the Apple booking system said this was a same day turnaround and the store closed at 9pm, I figured it was worth going.
When I got there, they told me that they couldn't fix the phone in 1 hour 20 minutes and that I would have to leave my phone there overnight. No thank you. That was one hour of time lost.
Then I decided to go online again to see if I could get another appointment somewhere reasonably close by and found one in the city 10 minutes away from the high school where I was a high school coach.
The appointment time was 2pm three days later and I had to go pick up the kids at 3:00pm for a 3:30pm match. When I dropped the phone off at 1:45pm, they said I could come back any time after 3pm to pick up my phone.
Off To Fix The Phone
After getting some lunch, I drove to the high school, picked up some kids to drop to the courts at 3:10pm, drove back to the Apple Store at 3:20pm to pick up the phone as guided.
Of course when I got there, they said they were running behind, and that I'd have to wait until 4pm or later to pick it up! Not wanting to be too late to a big match, I drove back to the courts by 3:45pm, coached the players to victory until 5:30pm and then drove back to the Apple Store to pick up my phone during rush hour.
Bottom line: My decision to use my paid for warranty and not just pay $100 to the electronics store 5 minutes away from my house wasted 2.5 hours of my life and gave me unnecessary stress and frustration. If I was rich, I would have without hesitation paid the $100. But instead, I took a gamble with customer support.
This was the moment I knew I was not rich enough yet. Once you're rich, you clearly feel that time is more valuable than money. I had to keep saving and investing to build my passive income investments higher.
It's Hard To Not Maximize What You Have
Just the stress of being late for the start of the tennis match because it took me 15 minutes to find parking would have been worth the $100. I missed the player and coaches introduction because of my tardiness. But I just couldn't bring myself not to use my Apple Care warranty because I had already paid for it.
Having a warranty seldom makes sense for the consumer, which is why retailers and manufacturers love to sell them. Whenever I can use a warranty, I feel like I'm winning. When I got my phone, I didn't want the warranty, but Apple was running some sort of special that included it so I acquiesced.
Don't Like Having A Lot Of Stuff At Least
The other thing I hate is having unused inventory. For example, I started feeling completely wasteful living in a four bedroom, three and a half bathroom house in San Francisco with just my wife and I.
The house could rent for $8,500+, a price we would never pay ourselves. Therefore, we rented out the house and downsized to a cozier three bedroom, two bathroom house. With the three of us now, it feels great to maximize the space in our home, especially since both of us are stay at home parents.
If I was rich and smart, I would have spent even more and gotten one of those mobile phone fixing companies to come by my house and fix it on the spot. Alas, I'm not rich enough to waste money or hold unused inventory. After a lifetime of frugality, old habits are hard to break.
Always Make Some Lemonade
Despite wasting an hour driving to and from the first Apple Store, I did some positive things like picking up my favorite burritos from next door to feed the family. I also spent time asking for some iCloud usage help that had been bothering me. Finally, I picked up a longer phone cable since my old one was frayed.
And of course, I've decided to share my story on Financial Samurai, which may help bring about new discussion, more traffic, and more advertising revenue. It's nice to use Financial Samurai as an insurance policy against wasted time.
To conclude, here are some tips to consider:
* Never believe “same day service” even if it's advertised in writing. Drop your item off at the store as early as possible so the technician has more time to fix it.
* Nobody is ever on time because there's a lack of respect and operational efficiency in this world. Identify the people and organizations that are perpetually late and cut them out of your life.
* If you've got to go somewhere, figure out what else you can do while you're there to make your trip more productive. Every time I go downtown to get my teeth cleaned, I reach out to one of my advertisers to see if they can take me out for some steak lunch and talk business.
* Figure out if you have more convenient alternatives and calculate the cost of your time and happiness. If your time and happiness is worth more than the alternative cost, spend the money. If you can't get yourself to spend money to save time and minimize stress, this is when you know you are not yet rich.
When I Finally Felt Rich
Now that I'm updating this post in 2023, I've got to say I finally feel rich. Not only do I feel rich because I have a higher net worth, I also feel rich because life is more complete.
I've got two children that I love, a comfortable house with ocean views I bought in mid-2020, published a bestselling book in 2022, have some friends, a loving wife, and most of my health. For the most part, life is good.
However, I still worry about my children's future. I know they will be picked on and made fun of because kids are cruel. I also know they will be rejected by schools and jobs because life is ultra-competitive. Hence, I hope they will be resilient enough to face a difficult work. My job is to always be supportive and loving.
Related:
The Top 1% Income Levels By Age
Top Top 1% Net Worth Levels By Age
How To Feel Rich Even If You Technically Can't Get Rich
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Re: “Never believe “same day service” even if it’s advertised in writing.”
I always want to ask “or what?” Like, if some place advertises “same day service,” I want to know what they’ll do if they can’t meet their promise. (Usually, it’s nothing.)
I just paid extra for “one hour printing” of photos because I wanted to give them to people before leaving the area. I uploaded and ordered the pics online, but at the store (four hours after ordering), they said the printer was down. So, a verbal apology is all I got, but nothing else. I may be able to get the pics later today, but that’ll be inconvenient plus cost another trip.
It’s easy to promise one thing or another if the only downside of failing to meet that commitment is that you say “Oops.”
I’m so glad I’m not the only one person in the world that have issues with reinventing myself after living a quasi-frugal life. Insecurity? or is it being sensitive to a future you can’t predict? I actually believe it is an inter generational curse of being frugal to survive dire circumstances. Now it is time to have it exorcised. Your blog provides a soothing relief from stress that makes you believe in the ego driven mirage that whatever you save is not enough. You metrics and if experiences give me hope than one day I will firmly believe that I have nothing to worry about.
Part of it is insecurity since bad things happen all the time. I’m trying to protect against misery, as it’s easy for me to forecast my misery.
But I do believe the fear of running out of money in retirement is overblown as well.
Despite having money, I still look at sales for grocery to get good deals, particularly at the beginning of the year. And I still don’t buy drinks when I eat out. And I still track every penny with Quicken. Yet I have a fair amount of money, just no time.
Since my family recently expanded, I’ve recycled bottles and cans by taking them directly to the recycling center whereby each year it pays me about $100.
However, this effort has cost me over 3 hours per year; and it consumes storage space!
So, in order to satisfy my Scrooge Mac Duck money hoarding impulse, and save $100 per year, and not need to spend 3+ hours on recycling each year, I am no longer recycling directly, and instead I am consuming $100 less in soda, mineral water, and beer.
So the GDP will shrink, along with my waistline, but I gain 3 hours per year!
Haha, sounds like a win!
I have a friend who was buying iphone for Indian Rupee Rs 70,000/USD 1,000 approx every 6 months to 9 months. In the last 5 years, he would have brought more than 10 phones (similar model in some cases). This one habit indicates the spending habit of this person and he keeps complaining that he is not yet rich..
Uh Oh, I think I just pulled something similar on my trip to Florida to visit my mom. I didn’t want to pay for a full tank of gas knowing I’d only use about half of it so I opted to make sure I returned the car with a full tank of gas. It was a comedy of errors on the return. The first exit I stopped at the gas station was out of commission. So I’m getting a little nervous. I stop at the next exit and the gas station isn’t until 2 miles but it takes me right into rush hour traffic. I fill up the tank and my mobile re routes me to avoid traffic. On this route I am stopped by a train that I have to wait for –tick-tock. I then get re-routed onto a toll road that only works with the cars SunPass and I don’t know what I’ll be charged for that. Now I’m driving across Tampa at rush hour for 20 minutes to the airport watching the fuel tank needle edge down after trying to over fill the tank. When I finally arrive the computer says I owe money for fuel plus a $9.99 refill charge on top of the gas! I was able to talk them out of the charge as the tank looked full enough-yay! Altogether I think I saved $24 on the gas but don’t think I will ever do this again!
Ah, that is a stressful situation! I always do that too! Wait until the very end.
But based on reading the car manual, I realized that once the empty gas tank light goes on, you still have 2-3 gallons worth of gasoline left. I tested this out multiple times b/c I kept records of how much gas I added after the light went on. And one time, I even ran out as I was ROLLING into the gas station.
So exciting! hahaha. Not worth the excitement anymore.
It’s important to have frugal habits but also understand the cost benefit of doing so. If I can check in on yelp and save a dollar, I will ALWAYS do that because it’s so quick and easy, takes 10 seconds and I save a dollar. Or in hourly terms, that’s making $360/hr, I’ll take it!
But when it comes to convenience, I’m always paying more to save time and especially hassle. I wouldn’t have paid for the warranty plan in the fist place but I also know the value of my time so the shop down the street would have been a no brainer. Ever been to an apple store? It’s always a cluster f!
This is definitely a learned skill though and as I’ve made more $$, it’s become more important.
That sucks;and you saved $11? My friend has a huge bulky and ugly case for his phone and states “this case is why I don’t have insurance”, lol.
I’ve wasted plenty a time. But now I try to optimize. For example, I dropped my car off to get the brakes replaced and spent time taking a nice morning walk around the shopping center and checking out an international grocery store. I also watched the second half of a movie I started on Netflix on my phone.
In my mind, it wasn’t saving $11. It was more like NOT wasting $100 to spend money fixing something where I already had insurance to fix it.
Wow. This is a great article. My husband and I are struggling to break some of our frugal habits. This sounds crazy to some, because they are trying to build those habits. But for me, doing things myself is starting to hold me back from making money in a new business. A friend advised me that if I want to be rich, and truly make a level of income I dreamed of, I would need to let go of my old habits and value my time more. It’s a real change.
Sam, I have a simple solution. Like you my spouse and I have an Apple care + plan and pay the monthly Apple plan for the phone. ( i refuse to buy iPhones from telecom service providers so I have an unlocked phone without having to unlock it the hard way) after 2 years I own the phone outright and this becomes my back up phone. I currently have an iPhone 6S and IPhone 5S as complete luxury. I could resell them for a small amount of cash but I value the back up much more. I can drop of my iPhone X for a few days of service knowing I have 2 back ups. Great piece of mind considering I have never used a case in the last 10 years. I guess I am not rich enough to not care about just putting $1000 on the table and not use Apple Care + for a new phone replacement instead of a repair.
I know I’m not rich because when our road car, the little sports car we take on trips to the city (120 miles away) for my side gigs or my or my wife’s tennis team matches died the other day and was going to cost more than it was worth to fix, I bought another car and had mine towed to an auction. I spent $7,000 for the “new” sports car, a 2008 with 158,000 miles on it. I think that means I’m not rich. Also I just compare myself to my richest friend. He has four houses, his own island and a jet at our rural airport, three Porsche cars and did I mention his jet? Yeah, I’m not even close to rich!
Why not write a complaint letter to the Apple store — and cc. Apple’s CEO a copy?
This has always gotten results for me. If they advertise something, they should actually provide it. I wouldn’t give in and suck it up yet…
Hmm, could be good! I wonder what Tim Cook’s address is.
False advertising is pretty rampant. I wish it would stop. So misleading to say same day service, but then require you to leave it overnight.
I usually buy the Apple Care warranty when I buy Apple products, but forgot to on my last IPhone. I went in to have my screen fixed. It was about 100 dollars. I didn’t realize that if they can’t fix it, they replace the phone for the amount I had paid to have the screen fix, and I didn’t even have the warranty.
I’m not convinced that this is a sign that you aren’t rich. It’s more likely a sign that either 1) you haven’t done the cost-analysis for the repair, 2) you have done the analysis and concluded that your time isn’t as valuable, or 3) that Apple continues to be really, really good at social-engineering sheeple to buy their products and services.
Most well-run businesses have already figured out the cost-analysis for repairs. Having internal IT fix a product by jumping through hoops is neither time nor cost-efficient. That’s why they pay for a service plan that’s actually worth it (e.g. Dell Gold Tech support). Corporations typically don’t purchase support unless it’s business-class (i.e. next-day onsite replacements or 2-day replacement by mail), which is something Apple fails to deliver in spite of their exorbitant prices.
Apple is a special case. It has perfected marketing and social engineering. Its users are willing to buy overpriced phones that require overpriced dongles and overpriced support. And even when the users get kicked in the gut, they’ll continue buying Apple over and over again. It’s irrational; it’s also great social engineering that you fell for.
Totally right? I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid to use their products. What do you recommend I buy to follow your lead? What are the products you use and what is the online business you run? Thanks so much.
PS: I just realized maybe the reason why I use their products is because I’ve made a good return (six figures) on Apple stock over the years (it’s close to a record high today). Do you think that might help justify my usage?
There are a lot of tech snobs out there who won’t let you buy the product even if you make $200,000 in its stock.
But I think people like Nate are absolutely stupid to think that buying a product that is easy to use and that has served millions of people well so far is bad.
I love making money from an investment and using the product. I will guarantee you that Nate missed out on Apple stock and probably many others.
Maybe I can invent a ratio where if you make at least 100 times the absolute dollar amount of the product, you can feel guilt free to buy it.
So for example, if I made $100,000 on Apple stock, I should feel free to spend $100 on the product. Or, before I spend $1000 on a product, I need to make $100,000 in gains.
Could be a great hit post! Let me think of this has legs.
Financial Samurai: I don’t have any additional suggestions for you since you’ve already realized a good strategy for consumer products. You make enough to not have to care about dealing hours with support. Just eat up the costs and replace parts when necessary. Get a protection case for smartphones if you’re prone to dropping them. Warranties for most electronics are often rip offs, but it’s kind of a case by case basis.
DN: All I hear from you is ad hominem, ad hominem, ad hominem. You went off topic.
I work on internal IT support and am very familiar with every operating system. I’m an aficionado of most tech products. Anything I can do on an Apple product, I can do more efficiently on their competitors’ products. Both high-end Android (with the exception of a few enthusiast brands) and Apple phones have been equally-easy to use for years. For most users, there is no difference in basic functionality. The main difference is that you can eventually do more on the Android phone if needed provided you put in the effort to learn.
But comparing products is not what my post was about. It was about tech and product support. In the IT world, Apple and Google rank very poorly on support. This is why we often deal with 3rd-party support (e.g. Bettercloud, Jamf, Airwatch) instead of directly with them. Both of those companies are too focused on consumer-support and lack proper business-support. And even on the consumer-side, they usually fail to provide adequate service.
Nate, thanks for the inspiration! I wrote this post due to your comment: The 10X Investment Consumption Rule To Fix Poor Spending Habits
After realizing I’ve made a couple hundred thousand dollars in Apple stock since 2008, I feel OK that my business is overpaying for an overpriced iPhone every 2-3 years. Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet and overpay!
That must have been so frustrating to do so much running around to get your phone fixed. Thank goodness it’s done now at least! I probably would have opted to get my phone fixed at an Apple store if I was in your position too. It feels good to use coverage like that when you have it if it’s not too inconvenient. I remember I had to leave my laptop for a couple days at an Apple store many years ago when it needed repairs and that felt like FOR-EV-ER. LOL it’s hard to be without our devices nowadays!! Especially phones!
If you were a girl, you could get those adorable cartoon cases haha. I have one and it’s silicone with a back ring holder so it’s hard to drop, if it does drop the silicone bear case protects it. Preventative is the best measure. Warranties are totally overrated.
(I forgo the first smartphone case because I wanted to be frugal, well…I dropped it and the screen looks like yours. It was barely useable. So much for frugal….lesson learned!)
I’ve dropped my android tons of times. Silicone protector always worth it.
Nice post.
“Having a warranty seldom makes sense for the consumer, which is why retailers and manufacturers love to sell them.”
Great point! Best Buy makes more $$ from the warranties they sell than the electronic products. So Sam, do you recommend buying warranties for electronic gadgets (phones, ipads, etc), or was this a one time thing for you because Apple was running a deal???
I’m with you – spending a bit extra is sometimes worth saving on frustration. And yes, those warranties are typically worthless.
It can be so ridiculous that a store like Apple, which is known for its’ innovation, can be run in such a terrible way. False advertising runs rampant in our society, and it continues because it continues to work.
Financial freedom looks different for everyone, and most peoples financial freedom looks like maximizing their time and joy by spending a little extra on things that improve quality of life. If you only save, save, save, and never spend (responsibly), you’ll simply die on a mountain of unused cash. What good is it to you at that point?
I think the best way to determine how wealthy you are is to gauge what amount of money that could be dropped in your lap would be truly impactful and change your life for the better. As a poor college student, $500 would have been really life-improving. Where I’m at now, $5,000 or $10,000 just wouldn’t change much in my life. It would be nice to have, but not something that would make me giddy. $250,000 or more would, but that’s obviously a much larger number. Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffet wouldn’t even be impacted by $500 million.
Sam – you are rich. Next time a situation like this pops up, please just pay the nominal $100 and save yourself the headache, its not worth the stress. I’ve been in many situations like this and stress/headache/my time is always in my calculations. You are also correct, never buy these electronics warranties, entirely useless. It’s just better to replace tech. If you really want to waste/kill, time, try fixing it yourself – at least it is more interesting that way and you are putting your brain and hands to work. And about the phone, or laptop for that matter – these are your most used tools by far, for productivity and lifestyle. If they break, think about how many hours you have to put in to earn back a flagship smartphone or Macbook Pro, the answer will come to you within seconds. Just buy a new one. As long as you are not flipping your smartphone every 6 months and use them for at least 12-18 months you are good.
Haha, I can relate. I had to replace a headlight bulb in my car a few months ago. When I bought it at the auto parts store, the guy said it would be a pain in the butt to replace.
Come on, seriously – it’s just a bulb! I bought two to replace them both.
I ended up spending about 5 hours in the garage working on this. I had to remove the entire front bumper to do this – to replace a bulb!
I’m not a car guy or that mechanically-inclined so this was pretty frustrating. I wasted my time and happiness for sure on this one.
A friend at work knew of my frustration and decided to go to the shop to get it done. $100 and a half-hour waiting and he was good to go. I should have went that route for sure!
— Jim
Except when it happens a 2nd time, and if you keep the car long enough, it may, you will know how to replace the bulb, your friend will be out another $100.
Haha, after all my fun with that, I’ll drop the $100 the next time without a second thought! ;-)
You are a brave man Jim! It is so ridiculously complicated to change parts nowadays. Lesson learned!
When it comes to replacing car parts – you tube is your friend. It is unbelievable how much great info is available with a few strokes in a search engine. I can’t believe how many good people take time to put these videos out there for a few pennies a click. The democratization of knowledge is awesome!
Haha, it’s funny you say that @ccjarider – I had found a YouTube video of a 6 year-old doing the whole replacement on my same model car while his dad filmed it. I thought, “Hell, if a kid can do this, I can too!”
Yeah, not so much… well, I did do it, just not in the half-hour it took the kid to do it. :-)
— Jim
I had to open the windows after all that venting, lol.
I think rich is a mathematical reality, the median household makes north of 50k and all that jazz. Stress, happiness, and mindset (expecting people or companies to behave how you think they should) are different matters.
I make near minimum wage, but wouldn’t hesitate to spend thousands on a car to make my life easier or hundreds on books I will probably never read or remember after I do. Doesn’t make me rich, just means that I’ve had the pleasure of expanding my circle of competence the hard way. Ya can’t know something until you try it.
Then again I probably didn’t understand well enough the point, but I’ve tried to help. Have a wacky Wednesday.
I’ve had my iphone, sans case, for two years with nary an incident. Then, a couple months ago, I moved cross country and have cracked or completely smashed out my screen six (6!) times. When Verizon told me they no longer give upgrades, I was so bent out of shape–I’ve had Verizon for nearly 15 years. I ended up going to Walmart and getting a $5 glass screen protector and $5 clear case. A month later and the thing is already smashed to hell again, but it still works and doesn’t have jagged glass. Anyway, this $10 patch will help my phone limp through it’s end times while I weigh my options in regard to cell phone plans and providers.
Incidentally, when your kid gets older and bogarts your phone, flinging it down the steps at every available opportunity, you will be really glad to have a good case on it. My old phone had a lifeproof brand waterproof case that lasted for years and my daughter even used it liberally while teething (gross, yes, but she has a robust immune system).
Wow! Six times might be a problem my man.
*woman ;)
My toddler son is a bruiser. The floors are harder here. Maybe there’s more gravity. I’m less coordinated in my advanced age.
Seriously though, one of those nice waterproof lifeproof cases is something you need when you have a little one. I took that thing for granted and am regretting it now–I think the model was called the Fre. Only drawback was that the cheap amazon charging cable didn’t fit quite right. Small price to pay for having all my baby pics protected.
Funny Sam! I have alternative view prompted by a t shirt I heard about this week that read: “ bad decisions make good stories.”
Your bad decision gave you a good story and you are fortunate to be in a position to monetize that story – so that apple warranty made you money :)
Great Saying! I’m gonna remember that always from now on. Thank you. I’ll always share some stories. At the very least, it’s cathartic.
Got to reply. My OCD as an Engineer is kicking in. You did not buy a longer charger for your phone. The charger plugs into the wall, is usually about one inch cube. The CABLE the charging cable or lightning cable is what you most likely bought. Apple, in there infinite wisdom put an IC chip in the connector of that cable, but it is still a cable. The charger is still on the wall. Unless you bought a charger that now sticks out 2 inches :)
There are news articles that newer versions of the software that runs on your iPhone (iOS) causes 3rd party screens to misbehave. It is not clear to me if this is Apple pushing people to use their replacement parts, or if there really is something different. You at least got the better screen this way. (did you buy a screen protector??? They don’t protect 100% anyway)
Good catch! I love the OCD. I didn’t get the screen protector because I don’t want to spend the money and I felt that it ruins the resolution because there are bubbles that pop up sometimes.
I used to feel the same way about screen protectors but then I got the “ballistic glass” one from Tech Armor. Super easy application, no bubbles, doesn’t affect function and when the protector cracked, they replaced it for free (I paid shipping only). Worth the $10 or however much it was to save my screen.