A Sixteen-Year-Old's Phone, Books and Sunday Shifts
Sam, 16, lives with his parents and two younger siblings. He gets €25 a week from his parents and earns about €40 a week from a Saturday job in a café, but by Wednesday he has usually spent it on snacks, gaming credits and bus fares. He wants a €450 phone before the school year starts in ten weeks. His parents have said they will pay half of a €160 set of course books and expect him to cover the rest; they also want €15 a week board from September. Sam's savings account has €20. He has been offered extra Sunday shifts at €30 each, but he is sitting for his SEC exams in eight months and his Maths grade is weak. His friend is selling a second-hand phone for €220 with no warranty.
1. Sort Sam's goals and pressures using needs, wants and opportunity cost, and recommend an order of priority with reasons.
Read the worked answer
Needs: the course books (€160, of which Sam must find €80), bus fares to school and work, and the €15 a week board from September. Wants: the €450 phone, gaming credits and snacks.
The key idea is opportunity cost - every €10 spent on gaming credits is €10 not available for the books. The phone itself sits between the two categories: a working phone is a communication and safety need, but a €450 handset is a want.
Priority order:
- €80 for books. The deadline is fixed, the parents have already committed half, and the books are required for the course.
- Board and fares. These are ongoing obligations and non-payment damages trust with his parents.
- A modest phone replacement fund, targeted at the €220 second-hand phone or a longer save for a new one.
- Gaming credits and snacks, capped last.
The Sunday shifts are not automatically good: at €30 for a five-hour shift the rate is about €6 an hour, and they compete with Maths revision. If the shifts cost him the grade, the long-term opportunity cost is far higher than the phone.
2. Build a ten-week budget and show whether the €450 phone target is realistic, and what Sam would have to give up.
Read the worked answer
Income over ten weeks: €25 allowance + €40 wages = €65 a week, or €650 in total.
Commitments:
- Course books: €80, set aside in weeks 1–3 (about €27 a week).
- Board from September: start setting aside now, €15 a week, about €150 by week 10.
- Fares and snacks: capped at €20 a week, about €200.
Remaining for the phone: €650 − €80 − €150 − €200 = €220.
That is exactly the price of the second-hand phone, not the €450 new one. So the €450 target is not realistic in ten weeks on current habits.
To reach €450 he would need roughly €23 more a week, which is one extra Sunday shift every week, or cutting the snack and gaming spend to almost nothing. Both are real losses: the shift costs revision time, and the snack cut is hard to sustain at school.
A more honest plan is to buy a reliable phone at €220–€280 and put the difference towards a new phone later, or ask for a contribution as a birthday present.
3. Advise Sam on the second-hand phone versus a new phone, and on taking the extra Sunday shifts. Show the trade-offs.
Read the worked answer
Second-hand at €220, no warranty: Sam should check battery health, the IMEI status to confirm it is not reported stolen, whether it is activation-locked, and test calls, camera, charging and the screen. He should meet in a public place, bring an adult, and get a written receipt. A replacement battery may cost €40–€60, so the true cost could be €260–€280.
New at €450: two-year legal guarantee, known battery history and no risk. The premium over the second-hand phone, including a possible battery, is roughly €170–€200 - the price of certainty.
Judgement: for a 16-year-old with €20 in savings and no repair fund, the second-hand phone plus a battery check is the better value, provided the IMEI and battery are checked before payment. A new phone is a want financed by risk.
Sunday shifts: at about €6 an hour and with Maths weak, he should take at most one extra shift a month, and only after a revision timetable is fixed. A better route is to sell unused gaming kit, cut gaming credits to €5 a week (saving €15 a week, or €150 over ten weeks) and ask for the phone as a combined birthday and Christmas present.
The test is not which phone is nicer but which decision protects both the exam result and his ability to pay his way.