3 Reasons to Use Cash Instead of Card for Most of Your Expenses
When all is said and done, it’s impossible to deny that we live in an increasingly digital and virtual world – and that a major manifestation of this has been that our financial lives have shifted increasingly to plastic cards, and computer transactions.
At times, of course, it will be beneficial and even necessary to use the services of companies such as Visio Financial in order to handle things like loans for homes, digitally. But, in many cases, it may actually be that you’d be better off resisting the current trend, and using cash instead of card, for most of your expenses.
Here are a few reasons why it’s better to use cash than credit.
Because it makes the idea of actually spending money more “real”
It may just be that one of the most insidious, and potentially harmful financial innovations of recent times, has been the invention of “contactless” card payments – that innovation of the chip and pin credit and debit card system that allows you to simply tap your card (or, these days, even a smartwatch or phone) to a card reader, in order to make a payment without even thinking about it.
Why is this such an issue? Well, because it absolutely removes the sense of weight and significance from the act of spending money, and turns the transaction process into something completely ephemeral and almost impossible to actually comprehend.
When you’re paying with cash, the exact opposite happens. You look into your wallet, and see how many notes and how many coins are sitting there. When you pay for your groceries at the store, you have to handle the money yourself, and then see it disappearing.
In this most fundamental emotional sense, paying with cash is just more painful, and more visceral, than paying with card. This means it’s easier to be financially responsible when handling cash.
Because it’s much easier to budget effectively with cash
One of the most popular digital budgeting systems today – that employed by “You Need A Budget,” for example — is a variant of the “envelope budgeting method,” which involves creating different budgeting categories, and moving money between them as it comes into your accounts, and depending on your ever-changing needs.
Well, as you might have guessed from the name, the “envelope budgeting system” was adapted from a totally analogue budgeting approach, which involved putting physical cash in real envelopes, and labelling them for different purposes.
When you are budgeting for certain expenses – such as grocery shopping, or “fun money” in particular – using cash simply makes the budgeting process far easier and more intuitive. Just put your “allowance” into appropriate envelopes or jars, and you can track and manage it almost effortlessly.
Because you have more privacy when using cash
Various revelations in recent times – such as those of Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who revealed the extent of NSA data mining and privacy violations – should probably give everyone at least some pause for thought.
No matter how much you may feel that you have “nothing to hide,” you would likely feel outraged if a complete stranger walked up to you on the street and demanded to know exactly what you’d spent every cent of your last paycheck on. So, the fact that various companies and governments collect the kind of data on you might not be in your best interest.
To maintain a higher degree of privacy and autonomy, using cash is one of the best things you can do. It doesn’t leave any immediate digital record like a card payment does.
