Spend Less Than You Make

AI-Driven Savings

Every year I play the game with my Sirius / XM Radio service. I have it in my SUV and use the app on my phone. I’m not a huge user, but I do like having it. The ongoing problem – as with many subscription services – is that they jack up the price every year if you don’t renegotiate.

Over the last year, I’ve been paying $9.73 a month. I got a letter in the mail that my current “promotional offer” has ended and that my new price would be $25.58. An increase of 2.6x …!?

It wasn’t a big surprise as they do this to me every year. They always think their service is worth about $300/year, but they are nice enough to include a telephone number for me to call them and pretend to cancel.

This year I was surprised when they did prepare to cancel me. I literally had to ask them, “are you going to straightaway cancel me, or offer me another promotional offer?” Confused by the annual ritual, the Sirius / XM operator then put me on hold and came back with a new plan that was $10.40 a month. Initially, I thought that was a reasonable (+7%), given I haven’t had much of an increase in a few years.

As I was trying to clarify with her that the deal included both the car radio receiver and the phone app, I typed “Sirius / XM radio deals” into Google. Google AI Gemini popped up with a suggestion to ask for their “99FOR36” plan, which is available for “retaining loyal users”. This deal was $99 for 3 full years, or just $2.75 a month. Wait, what …?!

I asked her to look it up and sure enough – that’s my new deal. I paid for it all upfront – $104 after taxes. Three years.

I’ve done deal look-ups before, but I don’t usually spend to much time looking for them. This was amazing because AI just stepped in and gave me a great deal to ask for without even really looking for it. And, it worked! Makes you wonder what impact AI is going to have on inflation over the next 10 years as more and more people benefit from greater pricing transparency?

Do you have an annual subscription that you have to fight with every year?

Image: Pixabay

13 thoughts on “AI-Driven Savings”

  1. Nice idea. Haven’t tried AI on subscriptions. I was able to use AI to help on some complex tax issues for my Mom. Definitely nice to have an expert resource. It’s a perfect example of what’s happening with software stocks. I purchase and use H&R block every year but it couldn’t handle one of the IRS publications. So, I pivoted and used ChatGPT and it worked perfectly.

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    1. I used to use H&R Block’s Online Tax Service and sometimes would have to use the human assisted version to complete specific areas that the Software-as-a-Service couldn’t or wouldn’t handle.

      A couple years ago I switched to FreeTaxUSA.com. The software is totally free for Federal filings and $14.99 for California State. I think I pay an extra $7.99 for support. I like the way the software is laid out because it follows the flow of the actual IRS tax forms. It handled my consulting business well and K1 partnership returns. This year I took a deduction due to costs associated with evacuation living expenses and fire clean-up costs associated with the Palisades Fire. I used their $7.99 support service, and they sent me the specific tax code section, so I was able to complete the filing. Total cost came to around $40.

      I switched my son who runs a small electrician business from TurboTax to FreeTax a couple years ago because he wasn’t able to complete his filing. The switch saved him a couple hundred dollars.

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      1. That is great to know! I am going to do my mom‘s taxes this year myself. No more paying the accountant after my dad passed away. Her income and expenses are pretty simple, so I’ll try that FreeTaxUSA.com.

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    2. I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal last week about H&R Block. They have been performing well, but their stock has seen a huge sell off because of the threat of AI. I think they are trading for a PE multiple of less than 7 now.

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      1. I am helping my electrician son with his taxes on Sunday, using FreeTaxUSA of course. Two lessons I taught him is the collect his records and organize them throughout the year almost like an expense report system and to pay his estimated quarterly taxes.

        Too many small businesses show up with a brown paper bag full of receipts at their CPA and expect them to decipher their mess. If you are organized, then you have most of the work done already and FreeTaxUSA becomes a simple data entry exercise. My son has seen small businessmen not pay their estimated quarterly taxes and struggle at the end of the year when they have already spent it.

        We also look at his cost accounting, which is one of the most important things a businessman can do. Charge too little and you close a lot of deals, work hard and lose money. Charge too much and you never get any business.

        Good luck with FreeTaxUSA. After the first year, subsequent years and helping others becomes easy. Many of the fields will be prepopulated.

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      2. I’m just hoping she has some of the paperwork that she should have been sent. Last year she had nothing and I spent a lot of time trying to download it everywhere. Once I pulled everything together, she miraculously “found” them all. Oh, well!

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      3. It looks like Turbo Tax is now free for both Federal & STATE filings. I was on a University Advisory Board with Scott Cook (& his wife), who started Intuit. He was a really good guy. I think I’ll try his product for my Mom’s taxes. Thanks for the recommendation, though!

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  2. I used to use XM but switched to Bluetooth connecting my mobile phone that has a large catalog of music and has access to my Amazon Music Service for no additional charge. You did get a screaming deal though!

    I used to have to play the “what is your deal this year?” with my cable package provider. A couple years ago, my wife and I switched to 100% streaming and an off-air antenna and couldn’t be happier. We buy the programming we want a la carte and get the premium versions without commercials, at a fraction of the cost.

    Magazine subscriptions for my wife are the main area where we are still seeing the renewal games. They want you to sign you up for automatic renewal at the then current higher rate of course. I try to always get the initial subscriber rate when renewing.

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    1. I have XM on one vehicle, and then I use their app through Bluetooth on all my other ones. I also have a paid Spotify subscription which I like.

      The worst subscription jump I ever had was our local newspaper. It was one dollar a month for digital access, which then became a dollar a day! It took me about two weeks to notice. I will never subscribe to them again.

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      1. Caveat emptor with the $1 special offers. They are a way to trick you in giving them your credit card number and then it’s surfs up for charging.

        One of the life skills that I that my sons early is how to nuke bogus credit card charges. I have a perfect record since 1987.

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  3. I checked out TurboTax’s Free Edition out and it looks like there are built-in limitations so that only an estimated 37% can use it. The limitations that would have prevented me from using the Free version include Stock and Real Estate Sales, Energy and other Credits, Declared Disaster Related expense and previously Small Business and Partnership K1 income. As long as you Mom didn’t sell any stocks or real estate this year, you should be good to go.

    My electrician son would be a definite no for Turbo Tax Free Version because of small business income and stock sales. Getting his out for $22.98 on FreeTaxUSA is a good deal.

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  4. HI – what year is your car? I called and they said the offer is only for older cars and ours is a 2020 & they said its to new!

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