With the rapid spread of swiping, followed by the rise of tapping and digital wallets, is anybody using cash anymore?
Maybe not so surprisingly, the answer is – not much. The Federal Reserve estimates that people are using cash for only 26% of all transactions, and that number is sure to decline as Baby Boomers become less of the total population and Millennials and younger – raised in a cashless society – increase.
However, there are 2 advantages to using cash in certain situations:
1.) You’re likely to spend less – Studies show that opening our wallets and purses and forking over cold, hard cash is something we always hate to do. So, if we relying on cash, we’re far more likely to spend less.
2.) Cash helps small, local businesses – Whether you’re aware of it or not, every time you use plastic to pay for something, the businesses that gave you the plastic take a cut of the purchase price. For big corporations, that’s no big deal. But for smaller, locally-owned businesses, that extra percent of two can have a big impact on their bottom line.
So, perhaps it’s best to always have a little cash on hand.