Republic Wireless - We're Buying Smartphones finally??

Buying Smartphones: Republic Wireless

Courtesy of republicwireless.com

We have not transitioned into the current times yet. In fact, my brother has once asked me if I was living in today's world because we do not have smartphones. My nearly 80 year old parents have smartphones and an ipad among various other gadgets.

Republic Wireless (http://www.republicwireless.com) is offering a monthly plan that has 3G Wifi and Sprint coverage for non-wifi moments for $25/month per line. We do not need more than 3G since we wouldn't be streaming movies or music through our phones. But it might be nice to be able to get a couple of Apps that are interesting finally.

The catch is that we would need to buy the Moto X phones outright at $299 per phone. We'd need two. Two of us. That's $600 without tax that I'd need to pay upfront. Also, and this is a big one for me... The Moto X phones that we would be buying would NOT be available for use with any other carriers, should we choose to discontinue being patrons of the Republic Wireless service. We'd just be left with paperweights if we decide to move to an area where Republic Wireless does not offer coverage or we just don't plain like it and want to change back to verizon/sprint/whatever. Of course, there is an option of selling the phones back to someone who might want to try Republic Wireless at a discounted price. You can change your mind and return the phones within 30 days of trying it out.

I really like the layout of the Republic Wireless home page. There's an option to check whether any old phone numbers are transferable as well as whether certain area codes will have great coverage or not. I checked both of our phone numbers and they checked out as transferable numbers. Our area (old and new) checked out as great coverage.

Still, I'm hesitating on pushing that button because of the initial $600 price but I do realize that most smartphones will cost more than $300 if you buy them off contract unless I buy Iphone 3 off of Craigslist (going for $100 per phone at the current time). I will wait a bit more and talk it over with a couple of people before I take the jump but it is very probable that I would soon.

2013 Financial Goals: Updated

2013 Financial Goals:

I am modifying my 2013 financial goals to include Emergency Savings as the first priority due to the shaky nature of the current employment situation.

As an initial goal, the Emergency Savings should be at $6,000. After meeting the initial Emergency Savings goal, I plan to pay down the Chase Sapphire Credit Card, which has the highest APR.

 

Emergency Savings Goal

$ 6,000

Debt Elimination Goal

$16,000

Sharebuilder Bonus for Costco Members

I was looking through my mom's Costco coupon book this weekend (Oh, what a weekend...of cooking, cooking, and more cooking for my dad's house warming party.) I came across a bonus offer to open a new sharebuilder account for Costco members. Costco Executive members can get a $85 bonus while Gold Star & Business members can get the $65 bonus. One of the requirements is that you make a first transaction. The offer is not valid with individual retirement accounts or education savings accounts. It says that the bonuses will be deposited into the sharebuilder account within 4-6 weeks after the first transaction has been made. The catch is, of course, you have to be a current Costco member and open a new sharebuilder account with the first transaction made in the newly opened sharebuilder account prior to June 4, 2006.

Pretty good for current Costco members....too bad, I'm not one.