The pros and cons of cold, hard cash

We all love cash. But is it smart to keep cash on you all the time? Here are a few pros and cons of our favorite green paper…

Pro: It’s easier to visualize your spending: If you often use a credit card, you can find yourself swiping without much thought. Start using cash more frequently and I guarantee you’ll pay more attention to how much you’re spending every day. Simply using cash for meal purchases can make a huge difference when it comes to your spending habits.

Con: It can’t magically return: I hope you’ve never been mugged, but if you have, you were probably more concerned about the cash in your wallet than the plastic. You can always cancel a credit card, but you can’t do anything about lost cash.

Pro: It keeps the marketing away: I’ve talked about Amazon a lot. I’ve warned you how it can make your spending habits go nuts, but it can also save you quite a bit of money on the things you frequently buy. One downside however, is that not long after you look at a product online, you’ll see ads for the product popping up everywhere you look on the internet. Just today, I googled “Rack Room Shoes” and ten minutes later saw a sponsored ad on Instagram for (you guessed it) Rack Room Shoes. Retailers must love it, but it can be annoying for the rest of us. Cash solves that problem. You can’t shop online with cash, so you’ll be seeing a lot less of these ads.

Con: Your credit score doesn’t care about cash: Behaving when it comes to your credit cards is a great way to build up a good credit score. If you’re not using your cards frequently, you won’t be helping yourself too much. Obviously, there are other ways to build good credit, but this is definitely something to think about.