Top 10 Reasons Why CASH Is King...

[RickLee]

I have found several reasons why it's better to pay in cash.


1. Emergencies. Power outage? Bank system failure? Need your car towed? You can still use your cash.

2. Budgeting. Use envelopes for each expense category. Fill each envelope with a predetermined amount of cash. Spend the cash in the envelope for that type of expense. When it's empty, stop spending. It's a David Bach thing.

3. Credit Card control. Have problems with unpaid credit card debt? Cut them up and start paying for things in cash. Or leave the credit card alone, hidden at home for dire emergencies. Just keep it out of your wallet, and replace it with a hundred bucks or more in cash.

4. Tax. I can go into several tax reasons why cash is better for business as well as for personal tax purposes. Perhaps I will save these points for a later post. For now, let's just say that if you don't have a top line, you don't have a bottom line. If that was too cryptic, you've obviously never been audited.

5. Prestige. Forget about flashing gold credit cards, platinum credit cards, or black centurion american express cards. Instead, casually pull out a stack of high society - a fat pile of hundred dollar bills totalling ten grand, and start peeling them off to make your purchase - now THAT's showing off.

6. Gifting. For many, many years, the Chinese gave cash in red packets to the children in their family. They don't do gift cards. Call me sentimental, but I still smile and a single tear rolls down my cheek when I see a generous gift of cash in my greeting card.

7. Discounts. First ask for what kind of discount can you get if you use a credit card. Then, offer to pay cash and see how much deeper of a discount you get than if you used a credit card. A one-two Marvin Haggling punch that sends the toughest independent retailer to the mat with dollar signs over his eyes.

8. Privacy. Use a credit card to buy that overpriced stereo, and mysteriously you get junk mail offering music memberships, electronics, and other detritus. Pay cash, and your spending habits are kept to yourself.

9. Worldwide acceptance. They may or may not take your credit card or your travellers cheque. But they will surely take paper money of SOME kind.

10. Tips and Grease Payments. It's hard to tip the restaurant, cab, hotel with a credit card. Difficult to get the customs officer to release your goods quickly with a cheque. But place a small rectangular Ten dollar bill, enclosing a small One dollar bill, into the hands of the doorman, and you and that special someone can get in the club a lot faster, to buy those overpriced drinks.

RICKLEE

[starshard0]

Cash is great and wonderful until hyperinflation sets in. Of course then you can use it to heat your home.

[ckeener]

One thing I agree with is credit and debit cards encourage you to spend more than you intend to by giving you easy access.

[starshard0]

Originally Posted by ckeener

One thing I agree with is credit and debit cards encourage you to spend more than you intend to by giving you easy access.

That's very true, I have fewer qualms about using my card to buy things then I do if I have a limited amount of cash on me.

[hermione]

Reasons I don't use cash:

1. To earn cash back and reward points on my credit card which I treat as no different from spending cash - necessities only.
2. I don't like handling cash because my hands feel dirty afterward. Ever since I was little, my mother and aunts always told me cash is one of the dirtiest/germiest things because it passes through so many hands.
3. If you lose a wallet full of cash, you can be 90% sure that the money is gone for good (I have heard of some people getting their wallets back with the cash still intact, but I once lost a wallet at school and found it in the trash sans cash). But if it's credit cards, it's a little harder for the thief to spend than cash and you can report the them stolen and not be liable for unauthorized charges.
4. You have a printed or online record of every expenditure you make on a credit card so you can see where all your money is going.

[starshard0]

I have to agree with Hermione, those are some pretty solid points. Using a check/debit card is no different than using cash (for the most part) and it has a lot of convenience factors going for it.

[brainiac]

My SO and I did a cash-budget experiment, and it worked wonders for us. We're back to using our debit cards now, and each method had its perks.

Debit cards are more convenient, and work just like cash. When using the cash system, we had to keep a very tight grasp on our receipts, or make a note in our budget prior to spending it.

But cash feels so much more authentic. It's easier to get carried away when using a debit card; you don't visually witness the money transfer. A quick signature on the receipt, and that's it.

http://thisisntbrainscience.wordpress.com

[amyschiff]

I definitely agree a lot with Hermione's points. I treat my credit card just like cash and don't have the problem of overspending because of it. I also hate how grimy my hands feel after handling cash--I always reach for the hand sanitizer or soap afterwards.

I DO keep cash on me at all times, but never more than about $40. I like to have it around in case I need to get something small, need to leave a tip, or just don't feel like getting out my card.

[hermione]

Originally Posted by amyschiff

I DO keep cash on me at all times, but never more than about $40. I like to have it around in case I need to get something small, need to leave a tip, or just don't feel like getting out my card.

Every 6 months or so I put a $20 in my wallet mostly for paying library fines for overdue books , picking up used books off the Friends of the Library shelf, or for a small purchase at a dollar store that has a minimum purchase requirement for paying by credit card.

[Mische]

Yeah, cash really is better. I have cut back on my credit cards a long time ago.