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gwbas1c 16 hours ago

Some other nice things about cash:

- It's useful with children. A concrete representation of value is tangible compared to an abstract number in a bank account.

- It's great for gifts

- It's harder to refuse: I've had a restaurant make a mistake and then refuse to charge me. I left cash on the table when I left.

lxgr 16 hours ago | parent [-]

> It's useful with children. A concrete representation of value is tangible compared to an abstract number in a bank account.

I hear this often, but I'm not at all convinced it's true.

And even if it were: Children will eventually grow up and have to manage their non-cash finances at some point. Why not teach them early?

I've had a checking account and debit card since I was 10 years old, and subjectively this has only contributed to being able to treat "abstract" and physical money as exactly the same from a budgeting point of view.

> It's great for gifts

For in-person gifts. Sending it in the mail is usually a bad idea, as I've personally experienced too often in my life.

Also, at least in the US, there seems to be some weird stigma against cash gifts that's created a huge industry of Visa/Mastercard gift cards with horrendous fees and a high chance of falling victim to some kind of scam.

gwbas1c 15 hours ago | parent [-]

> I've had a checking account and debit card since I was 10 years old

I dare you to teach a 4 or 5 year old to use one!

lxgr 15 hours ago | parent [-]

Do you think they'd fare much better with budgeting physical cash?

rcdemski 13 hours ago | parent [-]

I certainly didn’t. I remember getting cash as a young child, thinking with $20 I was “rich”, and rapidly blowing it on Sim City.

I only understood the value of money once I both had a bank account and a job that funded it.