I did something today that has affected me far more than I thought it would. I cancelled my home phone line. I have been with Bell since when we had to listen to the type of ring, to know if the call was for us. For the longest time we were two long rings.
I really did not think that it would affect me at all. I was just being frugal. The line that Bell supplies to our little group of houses is old and many times there is a very loud hum on the line. We have had a service man come out several times to fix it. The last time we called, it took the service guy a long time to find a line that did not hum, and was not in use. He was honest, and said that the main line coming in was very old and really needed to be replaced. When I asked if that might happen soon, he just laughed. All the money was going into mobile technology. There was very little chance that Bell would spend the money to install a new cable.
We still kept, and paid for, the land line. Well over the last few weeks the hum was back and so loud we had to tell people to call us back on our Cell so we could hear them. The Bell bill arrived just a day after we had had trouble with the land line. It was costing me $100.00 a month to have the land line. Besides the majority of calls on the land line these days are from Duct Cleaning companies, and crank calls, from telemarketers. Yes, we had registered on the do not call list. Which obviously does not work either.
I was paying a $100 a month for something that didn’t work, and, was at best, a source of aggravation. I have better uses for the $100.00. So, I called Bell to cancel the line. The loyalty department did the best they could to have me keep the phone. They were even willing to reduce my monthly bill by $35.00 a month. But they were not willing to commit to improving the service with a new cable. I was faced with a choice. Keep the aggravation and save $35.00 or, ditch the aggravation and save $100.00. I took the $100.00.
After I hung up, I had a really strange feeling. Like I had just dumped, or betrayed a lifelong friend. I have had a Bell land line for over 55 years. Now I didn’t. I felt bad.
One of the things I teach in the Wealth Accumulation course is that you might have to change your friends. Because one of the secrets to wealth accumulation, is to surround yourself with like minded people. I know that it is not easy to change friends, even if it is necessary. That is what getting rid of the land line felt like.
I have to remember that Bell did not want to have me keep the land line because I was a good long time customer. They wanted the regular monthly income. I guess I should look at it that way too. That $100.00 could easily make me $6.00 to $10.00 a month via a dividend paying stock.
If I bought Bell stock (BCE) at about $54.00 a share I could get about 22 shares by the end of the year. They pay a quarterly dividend of .775 cents a share. That means if I had 22 shares, I would make $68.00 a year. (22 shares X .775 X 4). That would fit my saving money, and having that money working hard for me. I might also not feel like I had betrayed an old friend.
Or I could take the wife out for a nice dinner once a month. Tough choice.
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