This article just came across my newsfeed and was worthy of some serious thought. Here it is:
What I found particularly interesting is 40% of all transactions, according to the San Francisco FED Bank in 2012, are cash. When reading the "alternate" prepper community you hear talk of the demise of the cash. At this point it seems Cash is still King/Queen at least in 2012.
Like so many I follow a variety of blogs and web sites on Food Storage, Home Store, Prepping, Finance including saving, retirement and just plain old daily living. A common number to have on hand for each family member is a minimum of $50. Of course there are those that feel a $1,000 per person is better. You would need a safe or VERY safe place to store that much cash. You will discover, if you read the article, up to $50 is the common cash point for spending. After that debt and credit cards take over. Either way you will need to decide how much to keep safe and on hand.
At one point I paid cash for a variety of large purchases. You should have seen the looks. We live in a society that it is debt and credit cards. Even the clerks have an interesting look on their face.
Hacking of plastic is another concern we all face. It seems every other day it is in the news. Then of course it seem regularly the banks are sending new cards out to replace the old ones. Now the new rules the store faces the misuse of the card. This is a "big" thing if you are a merchant. The End of Swipe and Sign discusses this, which was implemented October 2015. I guess the banks found the price of covering those charges from thieves was too much to handle.
New forms of "plastic" have been in use such as PayPal and BitCoin. They are offering different approaches to solve the cash issues when making purchases. I know those that swear by PayPal. Step by step I will give these a try in the future.
Taking all of this into consideration -
The envelop system of controlling spending alive and well at least according to this study. I am looking to put in place a more detailed system for our cash. We are at a turning point in our financial situation - retirement - where the flow of cash is slowing down. I am at the point of trying to decided will I use the old fashion cash based envelop system or the new fancy digital envelop system. Probably it will be a mix of both system to keep the budget under control. Remember my experience with those clerks and large sums of cash. :)
Now to put my money where my mouth is and put the systems in place! Judy
