the lifetime cost of TV

[hfojvt]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ts/070712/10367373.html?.v=4&.pf=banking-budgeting

"So what does this all add up to? Say you're 25 years old and you initially spend $2,000 for your TV, DVD player, entertainment cabinet and gaming system after getting your first job. Add in monthly costs of $100 for cable, $10 for electricity use, $20 for renting movies, $25 for buying games and $20 for an occasional pay-per-view event, and you're looking at $175 a month. Add in another $525 a month extra you spend due to the influence of commercials if you are the average person, and you are costing yourself $700 a month watching TV.

If you instead invested this money and received a return of 8% compounded annually over 45 years until you're 70 years old, you would have more than $3.7 million in your account.

That is actually a conservative number, as additional upgrades in equipment were not included. Not to mention potential repair costs. It's also more than likely that many of the services will rise in price over time and new TV-related services will be introduced. And the calculation does not even take into account the potential additional opportunity cost, which could be a significant amount of money."

Now they tell me. Now that I am 45 and already own a TV. For many years I did not own one. In fact, somebody gave me one in graduate school. I have never had cable either. Also, obviously the $525 extra a month does not apply to me, since I have never had that much disposable income per month.

I have a hard time believing this:

"Economist Juliet Schor estimated that for every hour of TV a person watches each week, he or she will increase his or her annual spending by about $200..."

It may somehow be true for all society, but I watch alot of car and beer commercials and have never bought either. I don't believe that advertising sells very much beer. At best, it influences the brand of beer purchased, not whether one purchases or not. And even on brands, I think those companies are mostly wasting their money. No amount of advertising is ever gonna make me buy a pepsi. Maybe there are more people though, who can be persuaded.

[shenmue]

1. "If you instead invested this money and received a return of 8% compounded annually over 45 years.."

When is that going to happen?

More whining about television. People blame it for everything except the weather nowadays.

How about the times when I've had a hard day and I relax by watching a couple of shows? How about the benefit?

If somebody paid me back for the time I wasted reading that holier-than-thou pap, I'd be able to invest that too.

[redqueen]

2. ...

:thumbsup:

[hfojvt]

16. You should be relaxing by reading a book

:spank:

Or by listening to good music :spank:

What is 'holier than thou' about considering costs?

[slowry]

49. It's the new meme, since the gore/vegetarian threads.

Everyone with an opinion about anything needs to shut up, because... hey HEY! You think you're better than me?!

*turns on Family Ties*

[LSK]

3. I bought a 27" at Kmart for $190 last year

I dont understand the need for all this flatscreen plasma stuff.

Got basic cable for around $50 a month.

I have a remote and dont do commercials. :)

[melody]

4. I bartered for my TV, exchanging a barbecue

What's the point?

You can add up anything and spin it as the end of the world. We need
to accept responsibility for our own choices and stop blaming it on
something else.

[leftofthedial]

5. not to mention the erosion of our culture and socialization

one quibble--most beer advertising (and soft drink and fast food advertising) is not primarily intended to change people's minds about their brand preference. it is intended to convince those who already consume that type of product to want to consume it now. Beer commercials are more about getting viewers to go get a beer out of their fridge, regardless of brand, than to go to the store and buy beer. That way, they'll have to replenish their supply sooner. When they do go buy more, they might possibly be influenced by sale prices, store merchandising or the memory of multiple advertisements to purchase a particular brand.

[hfojvt]

15. I forgot about the Hardees commercials

There's no way I am every buying a thickburger either.

[aikoaiko]

34. Aww, now that you mentioned one, I have to go buy a thickburger for dinner. Maybe 2. With bacon.

[mondo joe]

6. And if you invested instead of buying music, going to sporting events, having a gym

membership, having drinks, having pets, smoking, etc etc etc.

Everyone makes choices - everyone's choices seem wasteful or stupid to someone else.

[Ioo]

7. I think your numbers are WAY WAY off.

[hfojvt]

17. wrong pronoun

I did not write the article. So don't shoot me, I am just the piano player.

[Vincardog]

8. Please tell me where I can get 8% compounded annually over 45 years.."

[LSK]

12. T Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=PRWCX

[wuushew]

30. Growth is not sustainable

As seen in the September 2005 Scientific American


http://sef.umd.edu/files/ScientificAmerican_Daly_05.pdf




ECONOMICS IN A FULL WORLD
Herman E.

Daly The global economy is now so large that society can no longer safely pretend it operates within a limitless ecosystem. Developing an economy that can be sustained within the finite biosphere requires new ways of thinking
Growth is widely thought to be the panacea for all the major economic ills of the modern world. Poverty? Just grow the economy (that is, increase the production of goods and services and spur consumer spending) and watch wealth trickle down. Don't try to redistribute wealth from rich to poor, because that slows growth. Unemployment? Increase demand for goods and services by lowering interest rates on loans and stimulating investment, which leads to more jobs as well as growth. Overpopulation? Just push economic growth and rely on the resulting demographic transition to reduce birth rates, as it did in the industrial nations during the 20th century. Environmental degradation? Trust in the environmental Kuznets curve, an empirical relation purporting to show that with ongoing growth in gross domestic product (GDP), pollution at first increases but then reaches a maximum and declines.

-snip


The financial sector. In a sustainable economy, the lack of growth would most likely cause interest rates to fall. The financial sector would probably shrink, because low interest and growth rates could not support the enormous superstructure of financial transactions-based largely on debt and expectations of future economic growth--that now sits uneasily atop the physical economy. In a sustainable economy, investment would be mainly for replacement and qualitative improvement, instead of for speculation on quantitative expansion, and would occur less often.

[high density]

28. Plenty of low cost index funds over at Vanguard...

http://www.vanguard.com/

[PDJane]

9. Don't own one.

Have never, in fact, bought one.

Don't have a cell phone, and have never bought one of those, either.

Take my computer & books away, though, and we're gonna rumble.

[undeterred]

10. Most assumptions incorrect.

I have an 8 year old 13" tv that cost $127 and no cable, no DVD.

[hfojvt]

20. I think you are missing out on the DVD

Although I notice I have about $1500 worth of DVDs and video tapes. It is much more economical than going to the movies. Not to mention the free ones you can get from the library, and now rentals for $1.

I guess people with cable get to watch Keith Olberman though.

[undeterred]

24. I have a friend who spends all his money on it

so I don't need to.

[Warpy]

11. I guess it's a lifetime cost to a vidiot

Honestly, dishes are cheaper than cable, only a total fool spends that much money on a set and speakers, and other than the drugs that tell us we're all really sick and need this lifestyle crap which we might buy into because we're economically oppressed, overworked and overtired, I don't think there are too many things out there people who are vegging out in front of the TV go looking for. Everybody I know buys on sale, buys with coupons, buys Brand X, or does without.

Then again, every national advert we see has been vetted in front of multiple focus groups of cud chewers, so there probably are people out there who do experience this type of cost in a lifetime.

They're not going to pony up two grand for an entertainment center, though.

[pitohui]

13. it's totally bogus

if this were true i'd have the three million dollars by now, as for the first 20 years of my adult life i had only free teevees given to me by someone else and the current teevee is some ancient piece of shit we paid like $169 for

we've never had cable

and yet where all these bazillions we should have had?

who spends $2,000 on a teevee anyway, admit i haven't gone shopping for one in many years and then as i said i just got the cheapest color set they had sitting around...

another friend of mine has not had a teevee for 15 years, except for a brief period of about 6 months when i got one of our junk free teevee to work in her small cottage, and guess what she is no millionaire either

i once saw a commercial for a movie on teevee and went to see that movie, so i guess that's another $10 we spent, with $40 for the dinner and drinks before if you want to include that, but come on

the only way it works is if he says, well, cars are advertised on teevee, and people buy cars, and if you buy a car you saw advertised on teevee because of the rebate or sale, teevee caused you to spend $15,000 but that's crazy you would need the car anyway, teevee or no teevee

[GeorgeGist]

14. Simple math tells you ...

that Juliet is FOS.

1hr x 365 days x $200. = $73000.

[hfojvt]

23. you are looking at the wrong numbers

for every hour a week, and not for each week.

So 10 hours a week means $2000 in extra spending per year. Twenty hours a week means $4000 in extra spending, etc. These are average numbers, so the fact that I am below average in spending does not disprove it.

[Lex]

18. Pretty much the same could be said for your internet & connection.

Life is full of choices.

[Raine]

44. That's right

and the pleasure you get out of something can be worth much more than money.

[InvisibleTouch]

46. Need my net connection for work, though...

...so that's a necessity, not a luxury. The fact that I use it for more than work, is secondary. :)

[onenote]

19. I'd like to see evidence supporting that $525/month extra spending

That's one of the most absurd things I've ever seen. The vast majority of the purchases I make are unrelated to advertising I see on tv. Maybe she should be blaming the internet, or magazines and newspapers, since I see ads there too.

Crapola on a stick.

[ComerPerro]

33. they probably just tried to assume that essentials are due to advertising

as in, that $525 would have been spent anyway, TV or not

[Dora]

21. It was true for us.

We didn't spend money on our television habit. No cable expenses, not many movie rentals, we watched a pass-along 13" color given to us by a friend moving out of state. But when the television was stolen, and we decided not to replace it, our lives changed.

We stopped wanting things - I started throwing away catalogs without reading them. I used to wait for Williams-Sonoma with bated breath, but they were suddenly repellent.

We stopped eating out so much, stopped ordering in so much. Started cooking more, and our grocery shopping habits changed. Processed foods slowly left our pantry.

I know that not watching television has saved us money in many ways. I doubt that I could ever quantify how much, neither could I point to any clearly causative relationship. But deep in my heart I know that ridding ourselves of the television has freed us from some very strong and insidious pressure to consume.

I highly recommend it for everyone. Sadly, no one ever takes it seriously. They always say, "Oh, I'm not influenced by that," or "I only watch PBS/The History Channel/The Sopranos," or "it's just background noise." I once had a friend exclaim wistfully, "I wish we could do that," but when I asked her, "Why don't you?" she could only give me a blank look and shrug her shoulders.

:shrug:

[pitohui]

22. but it doesn't really save money

as i said i've not had a "real" teevee for many many years and i watch very little teevee

if we are honest it quite obviously doesn't save money, people who stay home and watch teevee are spending way less than those of us who go out and DO things

i don't eat processed food to begin with, but that sure as hell doesn't save you money, let's see $1 for the value meal or $5 for the meal i have to cook at home from scratch, nope, if we're honest in our souls, there is no way that we're saving money here, as rgbolen said on another thread, he's getting $3.99 for pizza and cola delivered as advertised on teevee, while i'm putting together a real meal with fish, genuine butter, almonds and spices for the fish, jeez even the damn lemon is 75 cents now, and then we still need a salad and a side vegetable

way more expensive to cook "real" meals than processed, not just slightly more, WAY more

people w. kids can't give up the teevee as a cheap babysitter because of that magic word "cheap," compare the price to sending the kid out to take horse riding lessons or piano lessons or any of that other crap, jeez louise, teevee is the money saver here

and i don't even LIKE teevee, it's boring and makes a jabbering noise all the time, that's the real true reason we don't watch it

[Dora]

51. But for us, it really did save us money. So what gives?

Well, if we're going to compare our not-watching-television credentials, then mine are: We have no TV (real or imaginary), going on six years now, and the only TV we see is what we're exposed to in public or in other people's homes. When we stopped watching television, it was in August '02, the media was rumbling terror and WMD, and my evenings were spent glued to the crap of Survivor, Blind Date, and so much bilious crap I can't even remember what I watched. That's how wasteful television is. If I think about it and squint really hard, I am unable to recall how I spent four hours a day for HOW many years of my life? 10 years, maybe 20? Time is indeed money. When I stopped squandering my time on television, I stopped squandering my money in the world.

If we are being honest, it quite obviously DID save us money, people who stay home and don't watch TV are still spending way less than "those of you" who go out and spend money but call it "doing things" to convince yourself that you're doing something productive, when you're actually doing the opposite.

And no, it is not more expensive to cook "real" meals than processed. Jesus on a Stick - we do it every day.

We do agree on this: it's boring and makes a jabbering noise all the time.

The real true reason I don't watch is that I refuse to have my thoughts occupied by anyone but myself.

[gollygee]

25. Who spends that much on their TV?

Come on, those numbers are conservative? LOL

[Katherine Brengle]

37. That was the tv + dvd/vid player + gaming system + furniture to hold it all etc.

Not just the tv, which many people spend $500-%1000 on alone.

I'm cheap and mine was still about $200 for a very basic television, then another $100 or so for the dvd player (a cheap one), $90 for a vcr, $200 for a Playstation 2, a little extra for cables, we were lucky to get a second-hand free entertainment center so that's a lot saved.

It's definitely an expensive habit.

[gollygee]

39. 9 years ago we spent $300 on a TV player and $150 on a DVD player

I thought that was a lot. The cabinet it's in isn't cheap but it isn't that much. And we're into gadgets and have enough disposable income that it seems like we'd be in a pretty high level as far as spending. I don't think most people are spending as much as that article suggests, although I know *some* people do.

[high density]

26. Influence/time of commercials?

My MythTV box skips right past those. :) The total cost for me is approximately $70/mo for cable and electricity to run the TV and MythTV computer. DVD purchases are beyond that at about $200/year. I used to buy more movies, but the HD-DVD/Blueray fiasco has pissed me off.

[trekbiker]

27. I haven't owned a TV in over a year...

donated my old 25" Zenith to Goodwill a year ago when I was selling my house. And I have to say.... I MISS TV!!!!

I've been reading a hell of a lot more, definately saving money with no cable bill... but I have to face the cold facts. I'm addicted. Reading is great but after a few thousand hours of it and a whole pile of books later I still want my TeeeVeeee. I mean, other than a couple years in the '60's when our tiny black and white set broke and my dad refused to fix it, I've never been without a TV. I guess I just need the timewasting, braindeadening hypnotic druglike effect of it. Not all the time, just a couple hours a night would be fine.

So why havent I purchased another TV?? because I'm waiting for the new 8th generation Pioneer 50" 1080P plasma.. Elite model. Coming out this Sept.

CANT WAIT!!!!

[SoCalDem]

31. TV is my radio.. I listen more than I watch

and the stuff i love is not avaliable without cable, so we gladly pay..

I shop when we NEED something, and we purposefullt wait until a show's been "on" for about 30 minutes, and then watch through the PVR and scan through the commercials :)

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

29. Silly.

[ComerPerro]

32. well, for starters, the $525 a month from commercials is very telling

its obviously fabricated, over the top bullshit that was inflated for shock value.

[DS1]

35. these numbers suck ass

that is all.

[Skidmore]

36. TV the vicarious bloodletting of the Roman Circus with none of the

odors and you can hit the mute button for the screaming and not have to waste energy for the orgies..

[mainer]

38. What about the value of TIME WASTED?

The average American, I believe, watches about 2 hours of TV a day. That's 14 hours a week. That's a workday and a half. Say you get paid $8 an hour to work (okay, that's low, but it will serve). That's over $5,000 a year of income you could be earning instead of watching American Idol. Or 700 hours a year you could be spending reading a book, learning a new language, or working on your novel.

[gollygee]

40. That assumes you'd be spending the time making money otherwise

And reading a book or learning a new language might be more valuable to you, but it wouldn't be to everyone.

There are lots of things people do that could be considered worthless. I don't see why that's a problem. We don't have to be productive all the time.

[Cobalt-60]

41. 2000 bucks is rather a lot

Scavenging, tinkering and using used equipment can save on that.

[dysfunctional press]

48. not any more-

if you want a decent sized hd flat panel and blu-ray.

[Cobalt-60]

52. true

But the latest isnt really necessary.
Standard DVD technology and a used CRT-TV like my old sanyo 27 inch have video covered.
AS far as gaming is concerned, there is again no need to have the latest.
I'm an atavist, but I love some old school ninetendo console games.
And I thrive on abandonware for my old PC.

[taught_me_patience]

42. This has got to be written by an "adveritising consultant"

$525 extra per month spending because of the influence of TV advertising? Totally bogus. Also... cable costs $50/month not $100!

If I gave up:
drinking
eating out
movies
dating
golfing
surfing
backpacking (all that gear is expensive)
skiing
gym membership

I'd probably have more money in the bank... but my life would be utter crap. We all make choices in life, and what I spend my money on is valuable to me (and obviously worth it or I wouldn't keep spending the money).

[Raine]

43. The same could be said of many things

that people spend their money on but if you get enjoyment out of what you are spending it on that counts for something too.

[InvisibleTouch]

45. My TV costs:

Right now, almost zero. No cable, and I unplug the whole system when not in use so it doesn't draw power ("phantom load"). So I'm only paying for electricity when it's actually in use, maybe 2-6 hours a week. As for movies, I'm a big fan of the library. You can get almost anything, especially if you're willing to wait a few days/weeks for an interlibrary loan - and best of all, it's free! I do occasionally buy a DVD that I really love, but would be loath to spend money on rentals.

[dysfunctional press]

47. money well spent, afaic...

directv full premium package- i LOVE it.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

50. I'd rather play the piano or read a book or listen to Randi or Pacifica.

I haven't had cable since 1988 when my ex yanked it out to "punish" me.

He was the one watching it. Whoop de doo.

[Deja Q]

53. That's nothing compared to the lifetime cost of marriage...

Especially if it ends in divorce. :P