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In the Land of $1000 Televisions
Maybe my perception of reality hasn’t quite caught up to me because I think parts of my brain are still stuck in my childhood and college days. Back then, we had 20″ televisions and if you really wanted to splurge big time, you went for a 32″ screen. Only the wealthy, or those really in debt, had a big screen TV (i.e. front or rear projection).
The first time I bought a TV, it was in my senior year of college, and I bought it on my shiny new mastercard. I plopped down that card for a $600+ 27″ Sony Wega in 2000 and I was simply amazed at the quality. But it was hard to ignore that $600, considering I was making about $6,000 PER YEAR back then. But that leads me to the point of this article.
Since when did it become acceptable to spend over $1000 on a TV? More than acceptable, it seems to be the standard. Let me elaborate.
Big TVs, Little Bank Accounts
It seems that every single person in my extended family has a TV that costs over $1,000, except us. Whether they’re on fixed income or barely scraping by with 2 kids in college and pending layoffs, they have a big ole’ flat screen TV (in the 42″+ range).
As a note, we got our current 27″ Panasonic as a gift from a friend 3 years ago, and I still have my old 20″ from high school. My Sony from college died a year after I bought it during a move, but luckily I got an extended warranty on it and I got the full $600 back (and part of the prorated warranty).
The Joneses and Smiths
Looking around to my coworkers and friends, it seems like many of them have also replaced their perfectly fine CRT with a huge flat screen without even blinking at the thought. I simply can’t understand how people can so easily justify spending so much on a TV when I doubt they would have ever spent $1,200-$2,000 on a CRT or rear-projection TV just a few years earlier.
I know that there are numerous flat screen TVs to be had for under $1000, and even under $600, but these coworkers, friends and relatives are going for the big boys. They’re getting the 42″+ screens by top manufacturers like Sony (overpriced), Panasonic and Samsung. Not the cheaper brands like Visio, Insignia and Dynex (who the wha?).
I know that there are many of you who still only have a CRT, and even some of you who don’t have a TV at all. How tempted are you to buy a flat screen TV? I’ll admit that I’ve hovered dangerously close to buying a flat screen TV in the last year. We can easily pay for it in cash, but we refrain from doing so. Why? Well…
Why we haven’t splurged on a TV
We have other priorities. First, it was my schooling ($5,000 out of pocket this year). Then it was our $5,000 trip to Israel coming up in November. Now it’s paying down our second mortgage so we can refinance in a year.
And just recently, Stacie and I decided we wanted to go back to Ireland (ala second honeymoon). We could either spend $1,500 on a nice Panasonic 52″ TV (ooh it’s so pretty) or buy 2 round-trip tickets and a night or two in a castle. While the TV would hopefully last longer than the trip, we value the experience of Ireland much more. Either way, we’re not sure we can stretch the budget to make the trip next year thanks to our mortgage overpayments, but that also means we can’t stretch it for a TV.
Lastly, I want to watch LESS TV, not more. And that’s the main thing keeping me back from buying a new one (the other reasons are Stacie’s really). Because what’s a flashy new big screen TV when you only have basic cable (the REALLY basic cable)? No HD channels. No DVR. Nothing except the 5 network stations and our Wii. So we’d be even more tempted to upgraded our $20/mth cable to something more like $100/mth.
So while I would love to play Mario Cart Wii on a big flat screen TV, I can’t justify it right now. Heck, I can’t justify it until at least our current TV AND our backup TV dies. And even then, I can’t justify the TV when we’re in debt.
But then again, we’re not always logical people, right?
Photo by Wharman
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Clever Dude and his bride started with $113,000 in consumer debt and in just 3 short years, it's gone!
Our tv cost–free. But then it’s “only” something like 20″ and was a gift from people who had upgraded tv sizes. In fact, they had to replace their whole entertainment center and we got it.
Like you, I remember this kind of tv being a luxury, so it feels quite nice.
Ever since high school (the 80′s) when I realized that some people had an actual theater in their homes for watching video tapes and laserdiscs, a priority of mine has been to have my own home theater. To make that dream a reality, I saved money for a loooong time and, when my wife and I bought our current home two years ago, we renovated and built ourselves a home theater complete with 7.2 surround sound, a 1080p projector and a giant 106″ screen. Now, I know a lot of people will think that I’m crazy, but since we have no debt other than our mortgage and we paid for the entire theater in cash, we felt it would be OK. I tell you this not to brag, because really, what would be the point? No, I tell this only to point out something that nearly every personal finance blogger mentions at least once a month.
If you want to buy something, a book, a new wardrobe, a flat-screen TV, a new car, a family vacation, or even an honest to goodness super expensive home theater, SAVE your money until you can AFFORD it without taking on debt.
I don’t have a TV. I have a Netflix subscription, and I watch the DVDs on my computer. I will probably get a TV soon, because I am moving from an apartment to a house, and my living room and office will no longer be the same room (so I won’t be able to watch DVDs on my computer from my couch). I think my parents will give me one of their old TVs, though, so I won’t have to buy one.
I will probably buy a big flat-screen TV eventually. My purchasing philosophy has changed over the last few years, when I went from poor college student to having a decent-paying job. I used to buy the cheapest (and often low-quality) version of whatever I needed, and upgraded as necessary/possible, but now I would much rather spend more money up front to get a quality product that will last a long time so that I won’t need to replace or upgrade it in the future. Plus, on a product that should last for several years, the cost will be spread out over a long period of time.
I just recently bought a big screen TV after a dozen years with the same small TV. I am very happy with my purchase as it is more than just for me. I now have guest over all the time to watch movies or the game. But I would agree with you in your position. If you have any debt, which I don’t, you shouldn’t be buying a big screen TV.
I have a small house, and a 14″ tv. It looks appropriate. I could probably get away with a 20″ tv but no bigger. Having a living room that looks nice is so much more important to me than watching tv on a larger screen – particularly as I don’t watch all that much tv.
I don’t have a TV. Haven’t had for about 10 years. It’s such a wast… I watch movies on my computer – ok, now I have a shiny new iMac 20″ and have to admit, it makes the movies much more enjoyable!
i watch lots of movies; can’t miss: me or my dog, project runway, csi, numbers, monk, iron chef, man v. wild, lost, americas next top model, pimp my ride, desperate housewives, antique roadshow, cash in the attic, scrubs, boston legal, and a few more. and the picture is nice. i can connect my computer to it to do wii, my wife can do exercises at home, i can rub it and say my precious, foot print is small since it’s on my wall, i can display rotating photo slideshow. now it is a big jump for us since we just bought a flat panel to replace our 19″ tv.
I completely understand your reluctance to buy a flat screen TV. We only got one because my husband got a big bonus last year.
However, it did allow us to cut one expense. We were paying $17/month for broadcast basic cable (basically just the network stations), and with the digital antenna broadcasts, we are able to get an almost perfect picture with an antenna (HD, too), so we canceled cable. I know…we could have just gotten the free digital converter box
.
Are you forgetting inflation? A $1000 today is not the same that a $1000 was 20 years ago.
In 83 when I started working full time -I also wouldn’t dream of a $1000 TV. But a $300 TV was a more considerable expense for me in 1983 than a $1000 is right now. Yes my salary then was less than a third of my current salary, but even starting salaries today are higher. My first salary with an MS/CS was 28K a year in 1983. An MS with CS today starting his first job will get a lot more.
BTW – I used a 10-year old 32 inch TV until last December. Then it broke, and I bought a 46″ Sony HDTV. Guess what – I can afford to buy it just from my paycheck without even tapping my savings. So why shouldn’t I?
@kitty, I did consider inflation, but I also put in the disclaimer in the first sentence. But I was thinking more of $600 TVs 10 years ago vs $1000-$1500 TVs now. I didn’t make that line of thinking very evident I guess.
And if you don’t have other non-mortgage debt, and you’re not in a rush (like we are right now) to pay down your mortgage if you have one, and you’re doing well with saving and retirement, then go for it.
Our TV (a flat-screen off-brand, I think 36″?) was a housewarming gift. I’m truly grateful for the gift, because it fits perfectly on our mantle, and our long, narrow living room doesn’t lend itself to be set up to face anything other than the fireplace. But did we need it? No. Do we use the HD capability, or even bother to buy the HD cord to connect to the cable box? No. I never would have bought it myself.
I’m always amazed at how much money people spend on getting TVs for every room, fancy cable packages, etc. It seems like such a colossal waste of time/money. The worst feature I’ve seen so far is the multiple-room DVR. Who the heck needs that??
We refuse to spend money on a BIGGER “rot your brain” appliance than we already have. It’s that simple.
On another note, though – we recently turned off the cable entirely and went without (living on DVDs from the library) for a few months. Football season stressed dearest hubby out so we got an antenna, and that has meant that the TV is creeping back. I have to tell you, though … for the first time in three months, I watched (listened really – was doing homework on the laptop) and the nonstop commercials, political ads, news teasers and the like seriously raised my blood pressure and heartbeat, it seemed. Like an adrenaline response, really. It kind of freaked me out.
Guilty as charged.
I bought a 42″ flat screen (two actually) last year, but I got a screaming good deal on them. Seriously,.. if BestBuy had any idea what kind of deal I walked away with, they would probably scream. (I love slickdeals.com by the way)
That said, I saved for them and did my homework. Also, the one factor most people don’t account for is the HD service which is exorbitantly high. But the good news is that there is a wealth of HD content that is broadcast freely over the airwaves. All you need to do is get a good antenna (and there is no such thing as an HD antenna by the way) and you can enjoy HD broadcasting free of charge!
I’ve got a perfectly good 36″ CRT television that we got when we first moved in to our house. It isn’t as pretty or as crisp as the cool LCDs and plasmas that my friends are buying, but it works.
Do I want I cool new TV? You’d better believe I do! I’m always secretly hoping that my Wiimote is going to “accidentally” fly through the screen and force me to buy a new TV but it hasn’t happened yet, and until it does I can’t justify spending $1000+ to make Mario Kart look more impressive.
“And if you don’t have other non-mortgage debt, and you’re not in a rush (like we are right now) to pay down your mortgage if you have one, and you’re doing well with saving and retirement, then go for it.”
Actually I have no debt at all, not even a mortgage, and my net worth is in low 7 digits (although with the current market performance maybe not for long…) This was a rhetorical question, by the way…
I bought a 46″ Samsung earlier this year… looks lovely mounted on my wall
Why did I buy it? 36 month best buy 0% financing! Lots of frugal, PF people will say I’m crazy… but I was gonna buy a TV anyway and we were able to add our washer and dryer to the financing also!
Anyway… LCD TVs use less than half the power of a CRT TV, use less space, and look dang good in HD, they will also last a very long time if uses sparingly. We only watch TV during prime time then it’s off the rest of the day.
I’ve wanted a flat screen TV for a long time, but I think they’re becoming too commoditized (too many people are buying them). I’m holding out for a 1080p projector and motorized screen – something that the “keep-up-with-the-Joneses” crowd won’t be able to afford en masse for a longer period of time.
I have an old 25 inch CRT, a Sony. It works great. It’s funny, the only time I ever want to change it is after visiting friends and checking out their ‘awesome new flat screen’. And even then it’s not about me wanting better quality picture it’s a desire to keep up with others.
The reason I haven’t replaced although I have the cash is I try to live by the ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’. I can’t bring myself to plop down the cash for something that works. Same reason I can’t get rid of shoes until they are worn or computers until they die. When I buy electronics or other goods they are high quality ones that will last. It’s served me well thus far. The price of electronnics is always falling, once a decent sized screen is under $500 I think alot of people who haven’t made the plunge, will. If I did it in the future it would be because my CRT died or for space saving reasons since I have a smaller living room.
One of my last splurges last year before getting all Frugal on myself was a 62 incher! (that’s what she said). It’s all box-like circa the 80′s, but it is HD and you could see it from all the way down the street
And the best part? cost like $700 bucks at Bestbuy after some coupons and gift cards i used….no way in hell i’d do it now a days, but luckily it’s already occurred. holler.
We don’t watch a whole lot of TV, but we are both film buffs, and both work in related industries, so a TV is pretty important to us. We recently bought an Apple TV, which is actually just a little box that allows you to stream videos from your computer to watch on your TV, and we’ve been building our collection of HD movies over the past few months. We’re getting rid of cable completely because it will be cheaper to just purchase the episodes of shows we watch from iTunes (and then we don’t have to buy DVD sets later!). Actually, we’re selling off our current DVD collection as well, and going completely to downloads.
I would LOVE to have a new flat screen TV, but I personally still have a small amount of credit card debt, and a student loan to pay off, and as a couple we just made the first down payment for our first property: a new condo that is still in development and won’t be built for another 18 months still. We’ve decided that our old hand-me-down clunker can last us until we move, but since it’s so heavy, we’re not moving it again (for the 3rd time) when we move to the condo. So in 18 months, I get a brand new home, and a brand new TV!
I have a old old tube thinger TV. It doesn’t bother me since I don’t use it.
Guess I’ll be the oddball here. I have a 42″ flat screen bought 3 years ago when we moved. Love it and I will be keeping it until we move again and then getting a projector.
I love my TV. I watch movies, play wii, etc. Until then I had an inherited 20″ tv, no cable. Now I live in luxury! I am RICH! Not really but I feel that way.
I even upgraded to HD last year. Geez, I’m spoiled.
7 years ago I married my spouse and acquired the biggest TV I’d ever seen in my life. Its a 32″ CRT. Every time we had people over for dinner in our tiny sparsely decorated apartment they’d see the 3 year old thing and comment “I know someone with a bigger TV”. Geez like I care. Luckily when flat screens came out people seemed to stop noticing his bachelor purchase (influenced by his brothers whims). That single purchase has caused my spouse more regret than I can count but he did pay for his whole system in cash. Its just that a few years later his life changed so drastically he wished he’d still had his savings. He’s never been able to really enjoy it and even though we live in our own home now so that he could technically set up his whole system having little kids has prevented it.
I quite like the thing. I grew up where my dad had sautered a lock box into our TV so that we couldn’t watch anything unless he was home, including my mother. It was a small screen too. Our CRT has lasted almost for a decade now and I don’t think we will have to replace it for quite awhile. I don’t think I would really consider replacing the thing until all our student loans are paid off anyway.
But even when we have the cash that single purchase makes us think twice. We can afford it today – but really whats going to happen tomorrow?
You sort of answer your own question – you’re not buying a big flat-screen TV because it would be a big part of your income/budget. They’ve come down so far in price though that they really aren’t a big-ticket item for many people. Though I agree it is quite silly for people to buy them when they otherwise have little or no savings – but then again we can point to a million things those people shouldn’t be buying that they are. TVs have become largely commoditized. When I was in college about 10 years ago, you could buy a TV (CRT) and sell it a few years later without taking much of a loss. Now forget about it. The thousand dollar flat screen will barely fetch half that in just a year. But a lot of it is also due to the fact that home theaters have become a bigger and more important part of people’s lifestyles. Look at the new homes built now and they often have a home theater room or the family room is built in such a way to accomodate a large screen TV and speakers. I read a couple of years ago that they measured a substitution effect as well, where people were becoming more and more likely to watch a movie at home versus going to a theater, simply because home theaters have gotten so good. I have a fairly typical set up, but I have friends and colleagues who do have very high-end home theater rooms in their homes and I can tell you that it is like watching at a high-end theater except much more comfortable and you have total control.
As Tom sez: “LCD TVs use less than half the power of a CRT TV, use less space, and look dang good in HD”. Less power and less space are pretty good reasons to buy an LCD TV, but I really dig the way they hang wall-wise as well. Or even hanging them from the ceiling, if the screen and the ceiling are in appropriate juxtaposition with one another.
@lago, I don’t disagree with the power consumption or beauty of these screens compared to CRTs. However, I do disagree with using the “less power usage” argument as a reason to forgo a perfectly good CRT sitting in your home and go buy a flat screen. It’s like selling your Chevy Tahoe for a major loss just to go buy a brand-spankin new Honda Fit for “fuel economy”. It’s spending more money than you’re saving!
I have never owned a TV so I don’t understand why people want these flat screens instead of the regular old TVs. I actually said that to someone at a dinner party, I was like, “do you need the characters to be that much more… in high resolution to appreciate what is going on on your favorite show?” the guy thought it was funny because apparently I wasn’t even “using the right language to describe the experience.” Well then.
The flat screen tv is the epitome of the fetish of the commodity- the notion that some THING has this tremendous power to improve your quality of life or situation. I mean really. it’s just a little less pixelation (or whatever they call it.) Good for you for realizing that!
My husband bought our Sharp Aquos 42″ tv before our wedding last year. Similar to J. Money who commented earlier, the TV and stereo equipment that went with it was one of the last big purchases before we started tackling our joint debt. In my head I always call it his “last hurrah”.
Its purchase in fact was made without consulting with me. It was (so far) his biggest financial infidelity, but it happened months before our wedding. I will probably never know how much he paid, he claims much less than retail, it is currently selling for $1400. He did use a bonus from work, but I know it did not come close to covering everything.
I love my TV, I love the TiVo (in 2 rooms), the HD cable channels, and watch my prime time shows whenever and wherever I want, watch netflix instead of going out to movies, stream photos from our appletv instead of buying the prolific digital photo frame, invite friends over to play Wii or Guitar Hero instead of spending out at dinner or bars.
It was this exact purchase that caused me to tally up our combined debt and was the catalyst for our current efforts to get out of debt and then figure out how to live debt free.
I also love how getting the clunky entertainment center and CRT moved out made our living room look so much bigger and cleaner! (we wall mounted it and hid the cables in the wall in between ducts)
If TV, games and movies is one of your main entertainment activities an investment that sounds huge to some of you is well worth it to others. To me $150 for an opera ticket sounds insane.. to others it is a no brainer and worth it.
Oh and movies in Blu-Ray look awesome on it!
We have a projector & I love it. Never thought I would but by the 2nd day of owning it, I was a fan. We move A LOT & this thing is awesome, we no longer have the space constraints, family movie night is awesome w/ everyone having the best seat & when we have events, it’s easy to set it up for the neighborhood kids to watch it project on a plain white sheet… If I even come around to his way of thinking re: getting a Wii, I won’t have to worry about a controller going through the “screen” either!
If a Wii remote does indeed go through your “screen”, a little paint and plaster is better than a whole new TV.