Do you keep cash in the house?

[WellPreserved]

Not saying savings in general. But I am not keeping it in my house where it is not earning interest. I did the same last time I purchased my car. I could have paid the entire thing off, but since the were giving me 0% interest and were not offering a discount if I paid cash I made my money work for me. I put it into an account where I earned interest and paid $1,000 a month out of it for 36 months. At the end of the 36 months I had over $4,000 remaining in the account. If I had paid cash for the car I would not have earned that $4,000. See what I am saying? You need to learn how to make your money work for you and just keeping it hanging around it is not doing anything for you.

Maybe being in Canada where our banks are a Oligopoly, and the chances of a bank failure is almost impossible, but on the other hand service and competition is at a all time low. We have trust in the security of our banking system.

I know that this just applies to me but I keep a lot of cash in my house but rotate through it as I make a lot of cash purchases so it makes sense. Also, it gives me comfort. But, I have multiple checking accounts including a high yield money market account as well as investment accounts so it's not like I'm being "stupid" by not investing. Frankly, how much cash I have is really only my business but it irks me that the assumption would be that I don't know no better and need to be schooled on finances. People have cash in their homes for a variety of reasons and most people know that that money could be "working for them" if placed in an account. They have made the choice that they would rather have the convenience and security of having cash available and it's worth foregoing the interest that money would earn them in a conventional bank.

I was not meaning "you" as a direct reference to yourself, sorry if you thought I was. I was meaning you as a collective general term. I was just asking because I know my money is very easily accessible within my traditional accounts - between interac, e-transfer, ATM, and traditional banking. Of course my parents had money in the house as it was different back then, you had to physically go to the bank to get money. But now with all the optional ways to pay it is a little different. I do have a few hundred in the house at all times but that is about it.

I looked on line and 85% of Canadians do not pay with cash, even for small purchases. Heck I am guilty of the $2.50 tap and go purchase on my debit card. I heard but not sure that it was 40% of Americans do not pay with cash. This may give you an idea why I am so confused about the cash in the house.

I remember a thread or two about paying in cash and I do think it's much more common in US than in Canada. I deal with cash/or checks all the time. 25% of my sales are cash sales so at the end of each week, I have close to $thousand in cash. But, a large portion of my business and personal purchases are cash/check so it makes sense for me to have large amounts on hand.

I've had contractors in my house for the past 1 1/2 years and pay them in cash. I've bought (and sold) a lot of stuff on marketplace and always deal with cash (my daughter bought her car with cash). Could I deposit my cash into a checking and then just write checks, sure. But I like the convenience of cash and after living in cash only countries for a significant portion of time, it just seems logical. Purchases I make, I prefer to use cash so as not to have the added cost of CC/DC processing (or not have the business eat that cost). On any given day, I might make 5 or more purchases and carrying cash is just easier to me than writing checks. And, as others have stated, it gives me security having it if we have a significant weather event or other kind of emergency and need to leave. I keep petty cash in a sewing box and significant cash in a lock-box. I just view it the same as a conventional checking account which I also have but purposefully keep low balance.

I could relate to the OP as paying for dinners or reimbursing someone in cash because it just doesn't seem odd to me. An employee at a winery was interviewed and stated he remembered Willis paying cash for dinner and tasting in $hundred bills and I chuckled because I get several $hundred bills every day of service. They go into the lock-box, lol.

[mommy_jules]

But here is a question. Why would you want to keep $5,000 in a fire proof safe when at the end of the year you still have $5,000, while in a high interest savings account earning 5% you would now have $5,250? Now maybe this is because I was always taught to make your money work for you, and it does not seem like it is working for me sitting there earning nothing.

Why are we assuming the $5k is being kept for savings? It’s quite possible to have that on hand for cash purchases or what not. Also, not everyone has the same level of trust and knowledge of financial institutions. There are a variety of reasons why someone may choose to keep cash…maybe they are doomsday preppers. Idk. I do know that there are lockboxes and safes to protect cash and valuables, though.

Not saying savings in general. But I am not keeping it in my house where it is not earning interest. I did the same last time I purchased my car. I could have paid the entire thing off, but since the were giving me 0% interest and were not offering a discount if I paid cash I made my money work for me. I put it into an account where I earned interest and paid $1,000 a month out of it for 36 months. At the end of the 36 months I had over $4,000 remaining in the account. If I had paid cash for the car I would not have earned that $4,000. See what I am saying? You need to learn how to make your money work for you and just keeping it hanging around it is not doing anything for you.

Maybe being in Canada where our banks are a Oligopoly, and the chances of a bank failure is almost impossible, but on the other hand service and competition is at a all time low. We have trust in the security of our banking system.

All I’m saying is that there are a variety of reasons for why people keep cash. Not everyone is concerned with making their money work for them nor is it even a thought. There are also ways to better protect your cash and valuables in case of fire or home destruction such as safes and lockboxes.

[highlandmum]

I remember a thread or two about paying in cash and I do think it's much more common in US than in Canada. I deal with cash/or checks all the time. 25% of my sales are cash sales so at the end of each week, I have close to $thousand in cash. But, a large portion of my business and personal purchases are cash/check so it makes sense for me to have large amounts on hand.

I've had contractors in my house for the past 1 1/2 years and pay them in cash. I've bought (and sold) a lot of stuff on marketplace and always deal with cash (my daughter bought her car with cash). Could I deposit my cash into a checking and then just write checks, sure. But I like the convenience of cash and after living in cash only countries for a significant portion of time, it just seems logical. Purchases I make, I prefer to use cash so as not to have the added cost of CC/DC processing (or not have the business eat that cost). On any given day, I might make 5 or more purchases and carrying cash is just easier to me than writing checks. And, as others have stated, it gives me security having it if we have a significant weather event or other kind of emergency and need to leave. I keep petty cash in a sewing box and significant cash in a lock-box. I just view it the same as a conventional checking account which I also have but purposefully keep low balance.

I could relate to the OP as paying for dinners or reimbursing someone in cash because it just doesn't seem odd to me. An employee at a winery was interviewed and stated he remembered Willis paying cash for dinner and tasting in $hundred bills and I chuckled because I get several $hundred bills every day of service. They go into the lock-box, lol.

I also laugh when I hear people pay with cheques, I do not think my children have even seen one. I do not even own a chequebook anymore, and have not written a cheque in probably 5 plus years. Most of the time I e-transfer money to family and friends if they pick something up for me or I pick something up for them, as none of them even carry cash anymore. I pay no fees on e-transfers or debit purchases, but if I want cheques it is going to cost me something and no one takes them around here. Your choices are - cash, debit, or credit card.

Only places I know that still take cheques are large contractors that deal with high end reno's where the amount is over the daily e-transfer limit.

[WellPreserved]

Just wanted to add that Speaker Mike Johnson disclosed that he has no interest bearing bank accounts, only a non-interest earning checking account. No mutual funds, no retirement account, nadda. Bet he has a cash-stash, lol.