How to Afford Your iPhone Monthly Plan


If you've been interested for an iPhone for a while and have marveled at your friends' abilities to miraculously afford one of their own while you're left wondering how you're going to cover your monthly rent, this article is for you.

We're going to shatter the illusion: you will find out that many of your friends might simply be racking up credit card debt to pay for all of their expenses.

If you consider yourself poor - like so many people at universities these days justifiably do - then you're probably wondering how you would even be able to buy your own iPhone without going into debt. Well, as Dave Ramsey will tell you, debt is dumb.

But if Option A is to buy an iPhone with debt and Option B is not to own an iPhone at all, can't there please, please, please be an Option C?

There is.

Option C: How to Make Room for an Added Expense

The first thing to understand about an iPhone is that it can be a great purchase, but it is also a monthly expense. Sure, an upfront investment of a few hundred dollars can work out great for you if it really saves you time and brings a lot of convenience to your life, but if you're spending $90 every month on a cell phone plan that you hardly ever use, then that will become a problem. The first step to figuring out how to afford an iPhone is understanding how you're going to pay for that monthly fee.

The first thing to consider is the kind of monthly fee you're looking at. Since the iPhone has iPhone data and calling plans associated with AT&T, you'll want to check the link in this sentence to see the current options available to you. You can also keep in mind that it's possible to buy unlocked iPhones that have a little more flexibility in terms of the kinds of plans you'll be able to use.

Whatever you do, make sure that you spend as little as possible every month, because it's another monthly expense that will drain money from you. If you don't have any money coming in, this monthly expense can become a big problem. But for now, make room in your budget for an added expense. If you're going to be paying X dollars every month for an iPhone, look at the other areas in your life you might be able to cut X dollars out: for example, if you decide to go out to restaurants three less times a month, that might actually pay for the iPhone itself.

Income and the iPhone

In order to justify a monthly expense, you need money coming in - and more money coming in than you pay out in expenses. If you earn $100 per month but spend $120, you're just as poor as you would be if you earned $100,000 and spent $120,000. You need to have money coming in to justify certain expenses, and iPhone plans are not exempt from this rule.

Luckily, the iPhone is an expense that won't take very long to make up for in terms of income. You can take a "side gig" that will earn you more money than you pay for your iPhone, and use the rest of the money to save or to go toward other expenses. What's important is that you realize that paying with your credit card makes it very tempting to simply fund an iPhone with debt: it may seem like a good deal, but in the long run it will come to bite you.

How much room is in your budget for an iPhone? If you don't have enough money to pay for those new monthly expenses and still have money left over to save, you'll have to make room. You can cut some other expenses, increase your income, or do both.