I enjoy getting cashback
If you were to look at my finances you would quickly see that I enjoy getting cashback rewards with my credit cards. Indeed, the 
However, not every place accepts credit cards. Credit cards charge fees to the merchant and it is often 1.5% (more of less). If I am paying my property tax that is $5,000/year that 1.5% is $75 in fees and I can guarantee you that the people receiving the tax money want every single penny. However, there is a payment processor called Chexy and they allow me to pay any bill I like (almost, I found a couple exceptions) using my credit card. The catch is that I have to pay them the 1.5% fee. But my credit card gives me 3% cashback.
Even paying the fee I still make a little money on every bill I pay
After two days of setting up Chexy to pay all my bills I am now pretty pleased with myself. Two things are likely to happen:
- I'll get about $400 / year in cashback from my credit card
- Everything will be in one place so I can show my wife the bills much more easily.
The cashback is nice. The list of all my monthly expenses all in one place? Very useful....especially because if something ever happens to me my wife can see everything all at once.
I was an early digital adopter
Right now I would say that the vast majority of people do their banking online. An app for this or online banking for that. So convenient, right? However if you go back to the earlier days of online banking it was very different. Back in 1998 the very first entrant into the digital banking was the Bank of Montreal with their online division MBANX. I still have the fridge magnet/pictureframe they sent me as a reminder all those years ago.
Their slogan at the time was "Spend less time banking and more time with..." and the wedding picture of my wife is sitting in the middle of that.
I was also one of the first to sign up for ING Direct when it came to Canada as an online only option. I eagerly joined up with KOHO when they became the first Fintech company in my local area. I was also one of the first to sign up for an online brokerage when they came to Canada as well.
Virtually every purchase I make is using a credit card so you may think that I'd be a supporter of getting rid of physical currency.
But you would be wrong
Advice from older generations
As much as I like digital payment I remember the voices of both my father and my grandmother when I hear of countries getting rid of physical currency.
My father was more pragmatic.
His advice to me was simple
Son. Always make sure you carry $20 in your wallet. Credit cards are nice but you never know when you need something and the credit card network isn't available
Image Source: Nano Banana (Gemini AI)
The credit card networks don't go down often but I've worked in retail long enough to know that they do go down. There have been times when our machine wasn't processing properly or the processing network has having issues. I would have people come in for their medication. When I ask for cash payment they almost look offended "I don't carry cash with me anymore just take my card". The problem is...I can't and I can't let the medication go without payment.
But sometimes it is a little more basic than that. I've been camping without internet service and without stores nearby. If I want to make a trade with a camper I'll need cash or something to barter. Or one time I was driving home and a storm took out the utility wire in a canyon. The road was blocked going forward and the nearby town had no communication available. I went to a gas station and they had a generator to keep the gas pumps running but no cash meant no gas.
My sons think I'm crazy when I say they should keep some cash in their wallet, just in case, but I like a backup plan.
My Grandmother was more alarmist.
My grandmother read her Bible diligently and in the Bible in Revelation 13 verse 16-17 it says
"It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name."
She saw credit cards as a way for the devil to number people and control them. She also saw it as a way to promote debt and debt slavery. She absolutely wanted nothing to do with either.
Now I'm not sure I agree that credit cards are the mark of the devil but I can say that used improperly the debt issue is a major problem and a good reason to use cash. To spend only what you have and feel the loss of something whenever you purchase something. A tactile response for a purchase makes the brain thing much more than just tapping a credit card.
But there may actually be something about being tracked by your cards
While I was in Indonesia I found out that credit cards were not as predominant as they are in Canada. I also learned that physical cash was not universally accepted, especially after the time of COVID. As a Muslim country the idea of debt is haram and credit cards are distasteful because of that. The predominant form of payment is via a QR code. Scan a code, give your fingerprint, and the money comes directly from your bank account.
Some places were QR code only. and that was problematic.
As a foreigner I couldn't get a bank account or use the QR code system
It makes me feel very much like an outsider when commerce becomes limited because I'm not a resident. Doing some research I've found that this is even more prevalent in China. If I go there and don't have the right payment app or QR linked bank account? I may find that I have no funds to participate in daily life there.
It kind of makes sense. China doesn't like western credit card companies to infiltrate their payment system and extract money from their citizens. Good reason to limit credit card use. Cash is legal and from what I've read mandatory to accept, in theory. In practice I hear that many vendors simply don't want the hassle as the Chinese digital system is just that good. If you have a bank account and the apps
I hope I never see a day without physical cash
I'll admit. I love digital payments
I'll admit. I hope that I never see a day where physical cash is no longer an option.
No idea what the future will hold but digital assets can be stolen virtually, can be traced digitally, and don't work without internet and electricity. As much as I love them I know they are not without weaknesses.
Physical cash? Kind of a pain to count and make change for. Easy to lose and get stolen but then again, doesn't require internet or electricity. Governments may love the idea of not having to print physical cash and worry about counterfeit bills. Governments may like the ability to track every purchase and every person by their credit card. However, I hope they continue to support physical currency...at least for my lifetime.
And that's my take on the Hive Learner prompt about digital vs physical currency. Thank you for time to read this far and I love it when I get comments. Thanks again.