Becoming a Cashless Society

If you have little or no cash in your wallet, you’re not along.  A UK company called VoucherCloud finds 57% of American adults say they don’t usually carry much cash.

And only 10% say they always carry cash.  We are becoming a cashless society.

Andrew Schlage of MoneyCrashers.com approves of the trend.

“The benefit of going cashless is the ability to track your spending, understand your budget, and figure out where you can decrease your expenses and save more for the future,” Schlage tells KTRH News.

We now live in a world where it is more expensive to use cash than plastic.  Tufts University finds that between ATM fees, theft, and lost tax revenue the cost for a typical family to use cash is $1,700 dollars a year.

Constant advances in technology make using plastic, or something like it, easier.

“As technology grows it is going to further support the ability to go cashless.  Apple Pay is one example and a step in that direction.  The ability to put your finances within electronic devices that you carry every day will only increase the ability of people to track their spending, go plastic, not use cash and eventually put their financial lives in order,” says Schlage.

In our global economy, Sweden leads the pack and is the first country to be almost cashless - 4 out of 5 purchases involve plastic.  Most countries, including the U.S., are racing to catch up. KTRH