How to Money · Friday, September 25, 2026
Matt discusses his decision to put a case on his iPhone after noticing small scratches, realizing the value of a protective case as a form of insurance. He contrasts this with the idea of not needing device insurance if a case is used.
“But I decided I'm just not cut out for that man I didn't drop it or anything okay I was ready for the story of the multi-dollar repair okay i just i was just literally yeah i was pulling something up on my phone and before i unlocked it i could see against the black there's like a tiny little scratch in the top corner i was like oh no i flipped it over, looked on the back too. I was like, oh no, shoot, there's one over here too, right next to the lens. Luckily not on the lens. I'm assuming that happened from some of our travels. I feel like phones get beat up a little bit more when you're traveling. You're shoving it in a bag. You're using it a lot more. But I was like, you know what? Neither one of these are impacting the ability for me to fully enjoy the phone. But it was enough of a shot across the bow for me to say, let me just buy a stupid case. get a screen protector on there. So I literally did that yesterday in order to help preserve my, my device. Um, yeah, I will say I don't.”
“Like it as much with the case on it, but yeah, I mean, that's why when I think that the iPhone air didn't do very well because it was like the thinnest iPhone ever. And people are like, well, I'm going to slap a case on anyway. And so the, the case is a lot of, we get asked questions about this. The case is, the cheapest form of insurance you can have. And it really means for most people that you don't need any sort of actual square, whether it's square trade, whether it's from the manufacturer, you don't need any sort of insurance on your electronics, right?”