By Erin Lowry, Broke Millennial
Reality sets in the moment dorm rooms and off-campus apartments are all packed up. College is done and it’s time to face the real world with its monthly rent, groceries bills, student loan payments and the real essential for all millennials –paying for a wireless phone.
Whether it’s due to a job requirement or a social requirement, a smartphone serves as an appendage for most of the millennial generation. Smartphones keep millennials connected to demands from a boss, enable them to share every thought on social media, check to see if there is enough money in a bank account before making a purchase, serve as a map when they get lost on road trips or just want to find the closest open restaurant and even get the news.
Unfortunately, smartphones are often costly to both purchase and pay the monthly bill. The average millennial graduates college in debt and by the time he or she needs to start paying a wireless phone bill, every dollar matters. Even millennials who paid for the phone bill in college are likely still facing higher costs in post-collegiate life.
Millennials trying to aggressively pay down debt or start saving for the down payment on a house or to buy a car or pay for a wedding all need to find a way to trim fixed expenses. A wireless phone bill could be costing $65 to $100+ a month. Slashing the cost of a monthly phone bill could put an extra $30, $40, or maybe even $50 back in a budget per month.
An extra $30 a month may sound menial to some, but it’s $360 of savings in a year. That could be an extra student loan payment, half the cost of a mortgage payment, or cost of car insurance for a few months. Bring it up to $50 and you’re pocketing an extra $600 a year to help pay down debt or fund your savings goals. You could even book a flight to Europe with that money!
This all sounds great, but how can you actually reduce a wireless phone bill? Sprint’s got you covered.
Sprint is currently offering to cut the monthly rate of a wireless phone plan in half for current Verizon and AT&T customers who make the switch to Sprint. Bring a copy of your recent wireless phone bill and your current working phone into a Sprint Store to get the process started. You will need to get a new phone – so if you aren’t ready to upgrade it’s an upfront cost you should keep in mind.
You don’t have to wait for your current plan to expire either. Sprint will pay up to $350 per line toward switching costs or the installment bill balance when new customers leave Verizon or AT&T and switch to Sprint. This $350 is paid via an American Express Reward Card.
You also don’t have to give up using your favorite operating system because Sprint offers service to Android, iOS and Windows.
Slashing a wireless phone bill provides a simple way to put money back into your budget and help you reach financial goals faster. So why bother paying full price when you could be getting 50 percent off your rate plan each month?
Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog by Erin Lowry, a blogger who writes about basic financial concepts for her fellow millennials. She is the founder of BrokeMillennial.com, where she uses sarcasm and humor to explain basic financial concepts to her fellow millennials. Erin lives and works in New York City and was hired by Sprint to write this item.
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