Stocks and Phones

Oct 28, 2016
Financial Safety

Stocks
Picked up a few shares of Ford Motor Company stocks. Ford stocks recently had a decline due to a massive recall. This meant that shares are available at a discount. The company had higher operating profits than predicted, and can carry this momentum forward. The shares are trading at 5.5 P/E ratio and 5% dividend/yield. Which means the stock is a bargain price stock and it pays roughly 5% returns if you hold the shares. Ford has been around for decades now and it's unlikely to go away any time soon meaning these shares are likely safe for years to come. Although the recall hurt Ford's revenue, Ford is not  the only company recently having recalls. Toyota, Honda, and Volkswagon has had major recalls in the last few years.

Phone
I was so tempted by the release of the LG V20 that I almost bought it. There was a promotion with T-mobile where trading in an old phone will net you $200 of bill credit, a free set of premium headphones, and free tablet. I jumped at the opportunity since my old phone was worth about $30. I went to the store, put a pre-order on the phone, and walked away excited. But as I got home, it started dawning on me what I had just done. The retail cost of the LG V20 was $769, the headphones had a $149 value, and the tablet was only free if you signed up a data plan at $10 a month. Even with trading in a phone, the cost of the LG V20 would be $579, after activation fees and taxes, it would be over $600. The headphones, although nice, were not a necessity, as in I would never have bought them if it was up to me. If I could sell them online, perhaps I could get $100 for them.The tablet was not actually, and therefore I was not willing to spend more money on it. Best case scenario, the new LG V20 would have cost me $500 ($600 for the phone - $100 selling the headphones). The phone was a thing of beauty, and it was difficult but I had to call to cancel the order.

Instead I opted to get a refurbished LG V10 for $249. I was able to discount the price even more by signing up for an Amazon credit card which gave me $40 of credit, plus used my Discover Card to pay the balance with a 5% cash back. This puts the net cost of the phone at just under $200. The V10 is still a nice phone, not nearly as shiny but an upgrade from my current phone.