Oh, Those Little Foxes

Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards.
The Song of Solomon 2:15 (NIV)

I always found this a curious and amusing verse. It appears in the middle of some pretty hot love poetry. In context, I suppose the bride wishes to banish all distractions that could possibly interrupt the physical expression of their love. The most frequent allegorical interpretation is that the little foxes are the little sins that destroy our relationship with the Almighty.

So, today I am going to discuss some of the little foxes that spoil the vineyard of our long term financial goals.

The average U.S. Cable TV bill runs $70-$75 a month. That would total up to $900 per year in real after tax money. My coworkers, with children, digital cable, and pay for view options seem to be running about $125 a month. That would be $1,500 a year.

Then there are the new cell phones. The numbers come from a New York Times article entitled, “What is That New Phone Really Going to Cost.”

The HTC EVO offered by Sprint costs $200 after rebates. It works on Sprint’s 4G network, and requires the high speed data option whether or not you live in a city that offers 4G service. This service cost $110 a month. If you add the hotspot option that allows computer connection to the Internet through the phone, it will cost you $140 a month.

That would total $1,680 a year.

The iPhone 4 with 32 GB of memory costs $300. AT&T, who still holds the monopoly on this highly desired model, no longer offers an unlimited plan. You can pay $115 a month for 2 GB of data per month, but you incur an additional $10 per gigabyte charge for each additional gigabyte of data.

That would total $1,380 a year.

Verizon offers something called a Droid X for $200. Their unlimited plan is $120 a month. The hotspot feature costs an additional $20 per month, matching Sprint at $140 a month.

Again, that would total $1,680 a year.

Whoops, I almost forgot. “To any carrier's monthly bill you also have to add an average $9 in taxes and surcharges, a total of $216 over the life of a standard two-year contract,” so double all those annual total and add $216 to understand where you are spending your after tax dollars.

My new car came with a XM satellite radio. I really like it. I love many different kinds of music. They offer so many stations I am not going to bother counting them. I also like Bloomberg Financial Radio, and the redneck comedy channel. Go figure, I like Mozart and Jeff Foxworthy.

The total for one year, $164.

I think I will probably let that little fox into my vineyard when my three month free introductory subscription expires at the end of this month.

Oh, those little foxes.