UNITED STATES—I have heard this phrase time and time again, “Cash is King,” but is it truly? I know so many people nowadays who barely and I mean barely carry $5 in their wallet. Everyone relies on technology and plastic and that is quite dangerous, very dangerous. This has become a massive trend as of late, and I CANNOT believe people don’t know this.
It is NEVER a good idea to use plastic at the pump, if you’re going to utilize a debit or credit card (I would still note, not to do it), go inside the actual gas station to swipe or insert your card. Why? If you utilize that piece of plastic at the pump you could have a hold placed on your credit or debit card of $125 until that transaction has fully processed.
I have had three people tell me in the last week they had holds on their cards after using them at the gas pump. My response, did you not read that message that notes a hold of up to $125 can transpire if you utilize plastic. That hold is not 24 hours; it could be 2-3 days if not longer. This is why keeping at least $20 in your wallet is a safe bet. Why? If you need to get something to eat or you need gas you have enough money for those things. Technology can fault, but so many of us seem to think that will never transpire. When it does happen, we don’t know what to do because we expect our debit or credit cards to always work.
There is so much talk about the economy and Americans being riddled with debt, but what are we actually doing to fix the problem? Nothing, we are doing nothing, the spending is still happening at a high-rate America. The problem is a vast majority of that spending is happening with credit cards. Those credit cards are mounting more and more debt, debt that is crippling many people no matter what part of the country that you live in.
We are indeed seeing more millennials, and Gen Z’s utilizing the plastic to just buy whatever they can buy without realizing that the plastic is a loan; that is money you have to pay back. If you do not pay it back, you are incurring interest, and that interest becomes difficult from one month to the next to knock it down. With cash you tend to be a bit more cautious of what you spend or what you do not spend because you don’t want all the cash you have to vanish.
Cash is very powerful; and when it comes to money NOT many of us think that. Yes, you can have a credit card with a $5,000 limit, but that $5k is spending power that is NOT your actual money. It is the credit card’s money. Now if you have $5k or more in your bank account that is slightly different, and you can afford to spend that money if you choose to do so but be cautious in the process of doing such.
Cash is so taboo nowadays because people don’t want to use it, but we need to start using cash more because it is going to help us be more budget friendly with our dollars and be prepared for the worst if it transpires. Why? Trust people are always going to accept cash over plastic any day because ‘Cash Is King.’
Written By Jason Jones
