Many people including me have noticed the decreasing rate of using physical cash in payments while the increasing rate of using online payments and debit/credit cards.
Who would have imagined 100 years ago that we will be paying through something called an online transaction or payment, I don’t think a lot of people anticipated this rapid sequence of development.
Pros and cons of cash:
for someone who is using cash he/she won’t have to worry about any security breaches, paying with cash protects and prevents your personal data as well as your money, because it’s always next to you, there is no risk or fear from hackers online, you have more control over your spending’s when your cash is finished its finished (you can’t spend more than what you have), you don’t go into any debts unlike when using a credit card for example. Also cash is accepted everywhere, many people tend to think that its more private and more secure.
However, using cash has its downsides as well, the most main one is that cash can be lost or stolen, more over with the world as it is headed more and more towards technology and electronic development, electronic purchases won’t be an option or rather won’t be available maybe you would miss out on some rewards or promotions online. You will also miss the opportunity to build credit. And it’s also more difficult to track your expenses and payments with cash.
Pros and cons of online payments/cards:
Basically the advantages of using electronic payment methods solve most of the downsides of using cash, it’s better to pay big amounts of money by card as its much more convenient and easier to do, you can track your balance and money received and sent, you can use more money than you have (using credit, which can also be a disadvantage), on the other side, there are also downsides when using card and online payments, as some technical problems may occur, security threat and concern, sometimes there is limitation on the amount of money you can pay, there is also expenses for the service as well as interest rate.
Throughout the last years, many people started wondering wither we will stop depending on using cash for our payments and depend completely on using online payments and cards and head towards a cashless environment.
I would say that the younger generation is headed more towards the cashless environment while the older generation is still stick to using cash, mainly because they don’t trust the online procedures, and they aren’t used to it as they have used cash as their way of buying for most of their life.
Ultimately, cash may in fact disappear. But it’s mostly a question of where and when. While it may disappear in some countries, it might remain in others.
Resources:
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/cash-vs-credit-which-should-i-use/
https://www.sbalynxpayment.org/post/advantages-disadvantages-of-cash-discounts-allowances
I think it depends on generation, as it was stated in the article. The older ones tend to use cash, whereas the younger generation like to use online tools to pay. This article describes the topic!
I hope people change the current trend and stop phasing out cash. Personally, I think a world with only digital currency would create an opportunity for a dystopian, fully monitored by the government reality.
Additionally, the fact that printed and digital money is no longer directly linked to gold (as it used to be – in the U.S. until president Franklin D. Roosevelt withdrew from the gold standard in 1933) is a driving factor for the phase-out of physical money.
Cash has its psychological aspects as well – seeing the actual money leaving your hand has a higher impact on you than tapping your card on the terminal.
I’m a firm believer in cash – I think that it is not wise to fully phase it out, but balancing it with digital money seems like the best idea.
I think we are moving closer to a cashless society, as people are more dependent on credit cards. Also, now that the world has become more digitalized, we have multiple payment methods such as blik or your mobile phone, which people tend to use more often. I personally also prefer using a credit card more than cash, as it is simply easier and you don’t have to wait for change. However, I disagree with the fact that physical money may disappear. A lot of people still use cash and there are still some places that accept cash only. Furthermore, if we fully dive into digital currency, we make it easier for hackers to clear everything from our accounts without even getting caught. I think the solution is to balance both physical cash and digital cash payments.
Most developed countries are successively removing physical money from the market. There are a few reasons for that : better control over society, easier to control inflation and creating or removing money from the circulating supply if needed.
I would strongly advise young people to use physical cash although I know that Google Pay/Apple Pay or BLIK is way more convenient. You should have in mind that China and their digital yuan is the best example on what can government do if they have almost 100% over our “wealth”. They imposed an expiry date on money which means that you have to spend it in a certain timeframe in order to avoid loss of money. Now they have 100% control over your spendings, income and your whole banking history, with physical cash, they could not do that.
Ultimately I agree with guys that commented this blog post. The best way to avoid those kind of troubles is to balance physical cash and digital cash.