Why I Love Subscriptions

When I was in the early stages of growing my net worth, the common wisdom was to avoid subscriptions like the plague. They were viewed as sneaky money sucks—small monthly expenses that quietly drained your bank account and added up to big losses over time. 

I took that advice to heart. 

For years, I had very few subscriptions (maybe just a few magazines, mostly finance related). My mindset was simple: if I could live without it, I didn’t need to pay for it. Hahahaha.

But as my financial footing became more secure, I began to reassess this stance and dabbled in a subscription here and there. Then I had conversations with others in the Millionaire Money Mentors (MMM) community and I saw a different perspective. 

Many of them—despite being frugal and intentional with their money—embraced subscriptions that genuinely added value to their lives. They weren’t blindly signing up for everything; they were selectively investing in tools, content, and conveniences that made their lives easier, more productive, and/or more enjoyable.

So I followed along…tentative at first, but then gaining momentum. I began to incorporate subscriptions into all areas of my life—and I have to say, they’ve improved it in real and measurable ways. 

More on that in a minute.

Definition and Popular Subscription Types

Before we get too far down the road, let’s define subscriptions so that we’re all on the same page.

I define them as anything you pay an agreed upon amount for at an agreed upon time interval.

The most common agreed upon time intervals are monthly and annually (at least in my experience).

Here are some types of subscriptions as well as examples for each type:

• Streaming & Entertainment. Examples: Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Premium, Audible.
• Productivity & Tools. Examples: Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Grammarly Premium, Notion, Evernote Premium, Todoist.
• Learning & Growth. Examples: MasterClass, Coursera, Skillshare, LinkedIn Learning, The Great Courses Plus (Wondrium).
• Health & Fitness. Examples: Peloton App, Apple Fitness+, Fitbod, Calm, Headspace, Whoop, Fitbit Premium.
• Shopping & Lifestyle. Examples: Amazon Prime, Costco, Walmart+, HelloFresh, Blue Apron, ButcherBox.
• News & Information. Examples: New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Substack, Apple News+.
• Personal Finance & Investing. Examples: YNAB (You Need a Budget), Morningstar Premium, Seeking Alpha Premium, Quicken.

There are many more of course, but these cover some major territory and serve as great examples IMO.

The Benefits of Subscriptions 

Now let’s get into why anyone would want a subscription.

Here are several reasons subscriptions are worthwhile:

1. Cost Savings

Subscriptions often give discounts compared to one-time purchases. A great example of this is that streaming services cost less monthly than buying or renting each movie individually.

They also often save in comparison to other alternatives for the same content. I’ll share below how Apple News+ saves me at least hundreds of dollars.

2. Convenience

You don’t have to remember to buy something regularly—it just shows up or renews. 

For example, meal kits, coffee deliveries, or automatic software updates. 

I have never done an Amazon subscription but I’m guessing those fit in here too.

3. Access to Premium Content or Services

Subscriptions often unlock premium features or curated collections not available otherwise.

This seems more prevalent in my business subscriptions but I do have some personal ones that fit here too.

4. Ongoing Updates and Improvements

This mostly happens with software and service subscriptions which almost always include regular updates/improvements, keeping things current without extra fees.

Customization and Personalization

Subscription boxes or streaming algorithms often tailor content to your preferences, creating a better experience.

There are additional advantages too (like making life much less annoying — by eliminating ads, for instance), but the ones above are pretty good in and of themselves.

I’ll cover these reasons and more as I detail why I have certain subscriptions.

The Best Personal Finance Subscriptions

For fun (and because it’s the subject of this site), I asked ChatGPT to list some of the best personal finance subscriptions. Here’s what it said, with my thoughts added below each section:

1. Budgeting & Cash Flow Management

• • You Need a Budget (YNAB). Why it’s great: Helps users gain total control of their money by assigning every dollar a job.
  • EveryDollar (Ramsey+). Why it’s great: Zero-based budgeting system tied to Dave Ramsey’s financial philosophy.
  • Monarch Money. Why it’s great: Modern budgeting app with shared household access, goal tracking, and investment visibility.

⸻

I don’t have a budget and thus don’t use any of these.

I think (and it’s backed up by most millionaires) that budgets are useful for times when you need to give some extra attention to your cash flow.

Examples of this are when you’re trying to get out of debt, when you’re working on building wealth, and when you’re preparing for a big life change like buying a house, sending a kid to college, or retiring.

Otherwise, as long as you’re not a super spender, you don’t need a budget.

If you are a super spender, you’ll probably need a budget your entire life.

I do use Quicken, but it’s for tracking spending, not budgeting.

⸻

2. Investing & Wealth Building

• • Morningstar Premium. Why it’s great: Offers expert stock, ETF, and mutual fund analysis with portfolio tracking.
  • Seeking Alpha Premium. Why it’s great: Crowdsourced and pro analysis on stocks, dividends, and ETFs.
  • The Motley Fool Stock Advisor. Why it’s great: Offers monthly stock picks with a strong long-term track record.

⸻

Hahahaha. ChatGPT must think picking stocks is the way to wealth! lol 

Needless to say, I have none of these. I don’t need a service to tell me how to pick a good index fund!

FYI, I did use Morningstar reports back in the day. I got them at the library. This was during my uneducated days when I thought I knew more about picking stocks than I actually knew! Hahahahaha.

⸻

3. Credit Monitoring & Financial Tracking

• • Credit Karma. Why it’s great: Free credit monitoring with useful tips and account recommendations.
  • Experian CreditWorks Premium. Why it’s great: Offers FICO scores from all 3 bureaus, plus dark web monitoring and identity protection.

⸻

We pull our credit reports (for free) on a regular basis to check and see if all is well.

We get our credit score (like we even need to track it anyway) for free with our Costco Visa card. I just checked (it took 15 seconds to get on my phone) and ours is 835.

So no, we don’t subscribe to any of the above.

⸻

4. Financial Education & Coaching

• • ESI Money’s Millionaire Money Mentors. Why it’s great: Private community with actionable advice from over 450 millionaires.
  • Smart Investor from The Wall Street Journal. Why it’s great: Combines personal finance news with investment insights in a reputable format.

⸻

Can I tell you now why I love ChatGPT? Hahahaha.

The reason it recommended MMM is that it remembers I’ve talked to it about the site before. Not that MMM isn’t great, because it is (just look at all the awesome testimonials for it), but Chat probably isn’t recommending it to the Average Joe.

⸻

5. Taxes & Optimization

• • TurboTax Live or TaxSlayer Premium. Why it’s great: Offers live help and better deduction tracking for freelancers and investors.

⸻

Nope. I go all out for taxes and have used a CPA for a couple decades or so now.

It’s among the best money I spend every year.

Why I Love Subscriptions 

All the items noted above are great reasons to love subscriptions, but here are my personal benefits I get from having subscriptions:

• They’ve added convenience to my life. They save me time, effort, and frustration. In short, they’ve made my life easier. (BTW, anything that saves me a reasonable amount of time for the cost is a huge winner for me.)
• They’ve helped me grow. I’ve benefited physically, mentally, and financially (and probably a few other ways as well) from various subscriptions.
• They’ve improved my productivity. I’m not going to get into all the subscriptions I have for running ESI Money and MMM (which are extensive), but even leaving those out, I have subscriptions that help me be much more effective personally.
• They’ve helped me enjoy life. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Hahaha. I don’t have Netflix (like 99% of people seem to) but I have plenty of subscriptions that give our household plenty of enjoyment.

Want details? Let’s get into the specific subscriptions I have and why I like them.

My Subscriptions 

Here are the subscriptions I have in no particular order:

• iCloud 200GB – $2.99 a month. It’s a backup for all my photos. We’re on a family sharing plan so four of us use this.
• YouTube Premium – $13.99 per month. One of the MMM mentors recommended this and it’s a game-changer! I watch a TON of YouTube videos (probably as much as I watch TV) and having ads pop up was becoming unbearable. As such, this subscription is well worth the money to me.
• Verizon – $60 per month for two of us. Everyone needs a phone, right?
• YouTube TV – $82 a month. We do this instead of cable. I like that when we travel we can log in and all our stuff (settings, recordings, etc.) is right there. I also get the NFL package every year. Plus I’m so glad to be away from Xfinity!
• Google Fiber – $70 per month. Have I mentioned recently that I’m so glad to be away from Xfinity?
• YMCA – $117 per month for both of us. Has the pool where I swim plus weights, cardio equipment, pickleball courts, classes, etc. The membership allows us to visit any Y as well and we use a second one when our pool has maintenance or it’s just too crazy (every Saturday). It’s not as fancy as Lifetime Fitness in Colorado was, but it’s less than half the price. It’s even cheaper (and offers more) than the crappy gym in The Villages (that was the best gym in the area).
• Apple Arcade – $6.99 per month. Just canceled this. It had some ok games but we found some better ones from The NY Times (see below). My daughter has it now on a free trial so I still get it for some time. I really only use it to play Sudoku.
• Apple News+ – $12.99 per month. The cost for a digital subscription to our local paper is $159 a year. I get it as part of Apple’s plan. I also get the Wall Street Journal, Consumer Reports, Barron’s, Marketwatch, Sports Illustrated, The Family Handyman, Forbes, and on and on. If I was to subscribe to all these it would be hundreds of dollars a year (if not a few thousand). I get them all through Apple News+.
• ChatGPT – $20 every month. The big advantage is that there are zero limits. I was coming up against some usage barriers with the free version and I don’t need that hassle in my life.
• NY Times Games – $1.49 a month. My wife and I play these together every night. This is an intro rate for the first year.
• Todoist – $29 per year. Use it every day to manage what I want to get done.
• United Airlines Visa – $95 a year. Just canceled it as they are limiting the perks, raising the fee (maybe), and I’m just not getting any value out of it (most important reason.)
• PlayStation – $87 a year. This one’s on the cusp of not being worth it, but I still play enough to make it valuable IMO.
• Consumer Reports – $63.28 per year. I got it when we moved as I knew we’d be buying many new items and I wanted access to reviews. I won’t renew because I can get what I need through Apple News. Besides, we don’t use the reviews much (and find them hit or miss anyway) and they mercilessly hit us up for donations which is very annoying.
• Quicken – $74 a year. I have been using it for 25 years or so. It’s too late to stop now! LOL. It not only helps me track everything but also serves as a one-stop list of our finances. If I drop dead my wife knows where to go to see what we own.
• Costco – $130 per year for Executive membership. We’re there almost every week and average $200 per trip, so it’s worth it for sure. We usually get our gas there as well.
• Hilton American Express card – $150 per year. Will cancel this fall as the benefits just aren’t there any longer.
• Amazon Prime – $139 a year. According to Amazon, I have saved $324 so far using it the first five months of 2025. I’m not sure if this counts shows as well (I don’t think it does) so there’s added value there on top of the shipping savings.
• Chess.com – $59.99 per year. Got an intro rate last winter. I play every day so well worth it IMO. I also consider this an investment in keeping my mind sharp.
• Blink – $107 per year. This just makes using their system (and backups) so much easier, so why not?
• Sam’s – $110 per year. Not sure we’ll renew this or not as our Sam’s is not close and Costco is. We do get deliveries now and then but not enough to justify keeping it (at least so far this year).
• Spotify – My daughter pays for a family plan and we ride along for free.
• Audible – I currently don’t have it but have off and on in the past, so it’s worth a mention.

Tips on Subscriptions 

Here are a few thoughts on using/making the most of subscriptions:

• The key is to treat subscriptions like any other investment: ask what value they return, whether they align with your goals, and if you’ll use them regularly. If all of these check out, they are probably worth the money.
• You can often get deals on subscriptions at the holidays or through a year-one offer. Both of these can substantially reduce your costs.
• I regularly review all my subscriptions and cancel the ones I don’t use. That’s the real killer with subscriptions – if you don’t use them they are a complete waste of money.
• Yes, you can get some things for free (like at the library) but they are often a hassle and way less convenient. I can get the Wall Street Journal for free at the library…if I want to re-register every three days. Who wants that hassle in life?

Anyway, those are my thoughts on subscriptions. What do you think? Do you have any subscriptions you think are especially good?