For most Internet/technology savvy folks this won't be appealing. A few years back I realized that most of my technology purchases were actually "rentals." I

For most Internet/technology savvy folks this won't be appealing. A few years back I realized that most of my technology purchases were actually "rentals." I purchase them at full price, use them for a year or two and then unload them on eBay or Amazon marketplace. This goes for cameras, cellphones, laptops, etc. The rental price is basically the delta between what I purchase it for and what I sell it for. I've found that savvy decisions about when to sell a piece of technology can minimize the depreciation. A popular example is selling an old iPhone in May in anticipation of the latest and greatest coming out in June. By selling in May I minimize depreciation. The mistake I see many of my friends make is holding onto a piece of technology for too long under the false belief that they'll "find a use for it someday." Over the long haul the monetary value falls to zero (or near zero in the case of an old 2nd gen iPod shuffle I discovered yesterday) as does its usefulness.