Swipe, Tap or Confirm―A Cashless Society

As a fast-forward society, most people are all for technology and efficiency, but this often makes you wonder―has the increasing adaptation of cashless transactions detached us from our money?

Cash enables many people to lose control over their finances, as they do not see the magnitude of their daily transactions. It’s now common to see other shoppers frowning and fidgeting toward a person in front of them paying for their groceries with cash. It won’t be the first time we see such mannerisms, and it won’t be the last.

It seems paying cash at a lot of major retail and shopping outlets is not tolerated by other shoppers. It is safe to say we are in a haste to spend our hard-earned money as technology has enabled us to easily swipe, tap and confirm our transactions online in less than a second (and we do not even ask for receipts).

Many financial psychologists say personal financial management is 20% numbers and 80% psychology. They go further by explaining that financial success is about understanding the power of money, staying on top of your budget and vividly visualizing spending―what is going in and out and prioritizing needs and wants. In short, the more informed we are about our money, the higher our chances of achieving financial success.

In our contemporary world, all you have to do is swipe, tap or confirm a transaction and you have the latest gadget, big screen TV, new clothes and so forth. The physical action and emotional attachment involved in going into your wallet or purse to hand out your hard-earned sweat is obsolete in our world today. Try counting 15 $20 bills for a $300.00 smartphone and hand this stack of cash to the sales person. Would it make a difference?

Technology has undoubtedly made us a more productive society and in most cases we can identify more pros than cons; however, within the context of personal finance, we are also becoming a society of spenders via technology. When you use cash in your daily transactions, it enables you to budget for discretionary spending, and it is probably the safest form of transaction. There is also limited accumulation of consumer debt and most importantly, less guilt because one has many opportunities to thoroughly think about their action before proceeding.

Of course this may not work for everybody, but we need to curtail the notion of cashless transactions. The more we use our cards, the higher our chances of losing control of our budget. This will ultimately affect our financial independence.

Do you think society has become dependent on electronic transactions?