What Do We Pay for Subscriptions?

King Solomon had this to say about wealth: “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” Proverbs 13:11

There is a corollary that is equally true. Expenses that eat away at your budget little by little decrease your wealth. Some expenses are necessary in a modern world. We need to have cell phone and internet services.

Other expenses are a luxury. The Sirius satellite radio subscription for the 2020 Ford Escape is a nice thing, but it isn’t a necessity. The same is true of my Wall Street Journal (WSJ) subscription or any news subscription. Some subscriptions benefit me but have little or no value to Cindie.

What Subscriptions Can Be Canceled?

When I die, it is highly likely that Cindie will want to cancel the subscription to Seeking Alpha. StockRover falls into the same category, as does the WSJ subscription. There are other subscriptions that might have value for a couple of years. My WordPress subscription for this blog might be beneficial even if I am not contributing new articles. Perhaps one of my children or grandchildren would want to assume responsibility for the blog. I’d like that, but I don’t want to presume upon their time and energy.

What to Monitor

Some of our services delight in increasing the annual or monthly cost of the subscriptions. They hope I just won’t do anything and that they can increase their revenue. Two that come to mind are Sirius radio and SimpliSafe monitoring. Each year, when they notify me via email of the new cost I call them to cancel the service. Each year, to keep me as a subscriber, they offer to keep the price the same. Simple diligence can keep subscription costs in line with your real needs.

The Total Cost for Subscriptions

If I didn’t miss a subscription, then our total cost is about $2,771 per year. Given the total of our expenses, that isn’t a huge amount. However, it pays to keep costs under control. I suspect that most people have no idea what they spend in total for subscriptions and services.

The two most important services, in my opinion, are the PureTalk mobile phone service and our Spectrum internet service.

Recommendation

Most people don’t have or like keeping a budget. Perhaps you are sacrificing some of your future retirement dollars on the altar of unnecessary luxury expenses. Take the time to examine your spending habits and don’t ignore price increases. Learn to negotiate with your providers.

All scripture passages are from the English Standard Version except as otherwise noted.