electronic money – Retirementally Challenged

I’m fairly sure my parents never used an Automated Teller Machine. Even though they were only in their 60s when ATMs became widely available, they continued to go into the bank to do their transactions. I remember thinking it was odd at the time. Why wouldn’t they prefer the ease and convenience the machines offered? Why add another 10 – 15 minutes to get a task done by standing in line and talking to a teller?

Fast forward 40 years. I’m now in my 60s and can better understand my parents’ reluctance. While I’ve embraced some of the digital cash conveniences, there are others I happily do without. If the system is safe, easy, and useful, great. But, if I don’t fully understand it, or I don’t see the benefit – especially if it involves downloading another app, I’ll stick with what I’m used to.

I’ve switched almost exclusively to using credit cards to purchase items and pay most of my bills electronically. I seldom use cash, and if not for haircuts and occasional pedicures, I could count the number of checks I write each year on one hand. Just today, the woman ahead of me at the grocery store wrote a check and I realized how rare that was. The checker told me that he gets only about five or so a day. The safety and convenience of credit cards and paying electronically has made a checkbook – something that was always in my mother’s purse – nearly obsolete.

Digital wallets are appealing. I see lots of people using their smartphones to purchase a cup of coffee or board a plane. More and more items, including loyalty rewards cards, event tickets, metro passes, and gift cards, can now be stored in a digital wallet. Not having to carry cash, credit cards, or print out paper receipts seems worth the one-time task of setting it up.

On the other hand, peer-to-peer payment apps, like Venmo, Zelle, and Cash Ap, are of little interest to me. I vaguely know how they work but I haven’t found that I need that payment option. If I was much younger, and my friends were using it, I’d probably make a different decision.

Cryptocurrency falls firmly in the “I don’t understand it” category. Fun fact: a Bitcoin purchased for $10 in 2012, would have been worth over $60,000 in 2021. Since then, the value has decreased substantially (today’s value would “only” be about $32,800), but that $10 initial investment would still look pretty good. But you know what? I don’t care. Yes, I would have loved an extra $60,000, or even a piddly $32,800, but investing in a product that I don’t understand isn’t in my comfort zone. I will leave that type of investment to those who either understand it or those who love to gamble.

How about you? Do you still prefer to pay with cash or a check, or have you fully embraced electronic cash, or a little of both? Anyone purchased a Bitcoin for $10? (Yay, you!) How about a $60,000 one? (So sorry, but maybe it will be worth that – or more – again.)