Oh, I loathe this commercial. I shouldn’t pay with cash because it breaks your rhythm? Heck, it makes me want to pay cash. It makes me want to pay in dimes, in fact (some places have rules against using pennies, I understand).
it reminds me of the line in one of Heinlein’s books – Tunnel in the Sky, I think. To paraphrase from memory:
"My father paid in cash. They refused to accept it. So he pointed to the bill and made them read the part that said “This note is legal tender for all debts public and private.”
My two largest online purchases, using my debit card, were approximately $600 (bass guitar) and $1,000 (bass guitar amplifier). No problems, as long as the money was in my bank account.
You’re kind of both right actually. The Dad kept all the family’s in two baskets: one for them and one marked Uncle Sam. At the end of the year, he would bundle up the contents of the Uncle Sam basket and send it in.
The IRS comes out and begs:
For the Dad to keep and submit proper records.
For the Dad to stop sending cash.
For the Dad to stop marking “Spy” in the occupation column on some form.
The Dad’s responses:
He does keep records - in his head.
The aforementioned “all debts, public and private”
He’ll change it to “Unemployed Spy”.
I had just gotten this book back from nephew and had it to hand…
If they have plenty of money in their account, they could easily pay the credit card bill in full as soon as it arrives, and then incur no interest. And previous posters have noted that credit cards have stricter mandatory protections against fraud, so it seems to be in the best interest of every party (merchant, bank, customer) to use a credit card for large purchases.
The aforementioned disconnect that occurs when your money–the money you actually have to spend, not credit–does not pass through your hands. My experience is, not paying with cash helps pave the way towards increased personal debt, and having a whole society of people living in ever-increasing debt is not a healthy situation. If nothing else, more debt means less freedom; and you can’t have a free society with no freedom. Better for everyone to keep their financial houses in order, and I’ve found that’s easiest to do when paying for purchases with actual cash.
I am a little confused, if you don’t mind straitening me out. When you are saying cash, are you talking about actual bills and coins?
or
do you mean immediate payment verses credit? Becuase immediate payment also includes checks, debit card purchases, wire xfers, etc.
Because I 100% agree with you about immediate payment vs. credit. Credit is destrying a lot of peoples lives, and I intend to not buy anything with credit again for the rest of my life, with the possible exception of a house.
However, I took you first post to mean that you think we should only be using coins and bills, and that was what I was asking about. Sorry if I misunderstood you.
I was talking about actual bills and coins. To me it’s more “solid” as payment, in the sense that it’s more tangible in my mind when I pay for purchases with bills. “There goes thirty-five of my dollars.” I don’t get the same sense when I swipe a card to pay my bill; thus, to me, the money I’ve spent doesn’t “register” in my head the same way as it does when I use cash. I understand that, in a broad functional sense, there’s not much difference between handing over federal reserve notes or writing a check or even making a debit purchase. It’s just what goes on in my mind, how I do my accounting there, where it makes a distinctly different impact. And it’s that difference in impact that helps me rein in my spending, when I have to physically hand over those dead presidents.
My sense is that it’s actually the same for a lot of people–when they’re paying with a debit card (let alone a credit card), folks are more likely to lose track of just how much they’re really spending. The next time they turn around, their checking account is substantially lower than they thought it was. From that, they either don’t have enough money to buy what they want, or they turn to credit to make those purchases–and then they’re in the pit that you acknowledged above. There are subtle machinations of personal finance, and if you don’t stay on top of them, big trouble lies ahead. Thus, my strong belief in paying with cash (bills).
It does, thank you. And I even understand where you are coming from. I don’t know why, but for me I am almost the opposite. My balance is just a number, I don’t actually need to see a stack of money to feel like it is real. In fact, I tend to blow cash in hand very easily, becasue once I have it in my wallet, it is effectivly spent, as far as my budget is concerened. If I pull out 50 dollers in cash cuz I am going to the fair, and I spend 30, that other 20 is very likely gonna dissapear,and I won’t be able to say where.
I do much better managing my money electronically.
Also, for a large scale eceonomy, always carrying large sums of cash doesn’t make sense. Like buying a house. Or a company.
