By: Brian Johnson
I happened across an article the other day and was surprised to read that the average cable television bill in 2011 was $78 per month. This surprised me because my Comcast bill is significantly less than this figure. In fact, my Comcast cable, ATT internet, and Netflix bill total less than $78 per month – $62.28 to be exact.
This had me thinking…what is the real cost of those extra channels?
Out of curiosity, or pure boredom, I decided to find out.
Last month my Comcast bill was $20.21[1]. The difference between the average cable bill in 2011, $78, and my cable bill is $57.79.
When this difference is saved for a year it totals $693.48.
If someone saved this yearly amount for a 30 year period, without earning interest, they would have $20,804.40. Of course this isn’t accounting for inflation, but it’s not accounting for possible interest earned, either. Not a bad little nest egg.
But what if we did earn a bit of interest on our money?
$57.79 invested each month for 30 years, earning a modest 5% return, would total just over $48,000. Ah…our nest egg grew a bit.
When building a budget it is important to think about the small things. When committing yourself to a fixed monthly payment, take a moment to reflect on the real cost of that particular service or product and what value it brings to you. Do you receive that much joy from a few extra channels? You know…there’s really nothing on anyways.
[1] We have a limited basic cable package and receive all of the major network channels in HD. This is not a promotional price.