<Student’s name>
<Professor’s name>
When it comes to ditching debt, cash is king.
But is it really practical? Can you give up plastic without feeling like a 19th century holdout in a 21st century world?
The answer for many who've tried it is a resounding "yes."
Financial guru Dave Ramsey gave up credit cards more than 20 years ago. "It simplifies your life," says Ramsey, author of "The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness," and host of "The Dave Ramsey Show."
The other plus: "No gotcha fees," Ramsey says.
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/4-factors-to-weigh-before-going-all-cash-1.aspx
In one study, 114 participants estimated how much they would spend using cash vs. credit for a well-described restaurant meal. "People are willing to spend (or pay) more when they use a credit card than when using cash," the authors wrote.
In a second test, researchers highlighted the future pain of paying by having 57 participants estimate food expenses for an imaginary Thanksgiving dinner item by item, rather than just as a total. When they did this, the cash-credit spending gap closed. When people confronted the detailed reality of expenses, it no longer mattered whether they used cash or something else, the scientists conclude.
Then 28 participants were given a detailed shopping list to work with. In a questionnaire format, spent more when they used a $50 gift certificate instead of $50 cash.
Finally, 130 participants were given $1 cash or a $1 gift certificate to buy candy. At first, they were more willing to spend the gift certificate than the cash. But after holding the gift certificate in their wallets for an hour, they became less likely to spend it, indicating the the certificates came to seem more like real money.
"The studies suggest that less transparent payment forms [such as credit cards] tend to be treated like [play] money and are hence more easily spent (or parted with)," the researchers argue.
http://www.livescience.com/2849-study-credit-cards-spending.html
Cash Dying As Credit Card Payments Predicted To Grow In Volume: Report
Louise Collis likes to ride her bike around the Clarendon Hills suburb of Chicago. What she doesn't like is change -- as in spare change jangling in her pocket -- and she prefers to use her credit card wherever she goes.
"I keep a credit card in my back pocket, and I don’t have to carry cash around," Collis, 44, said.
Collis is the face of an increasingly cashless society. Last year 27 percent of all point-of-sale purchases were made with cash and that number is expected to drop to 23 percent by 2017, according to a report published Wednesday by Javelin Strategy & Research, a market research firm.
What was once the most secure way to pay for things -- hard cash -- is increasingly becoming currency non grata in wallets and checkouts across the country. Airlines won't take it for in-flight snacks and a growing number of stores and restaurants like Standard Market, a new neighborhood market in Chicago, won't accept it. It's plastic or bust for consumers who want to do a transaction in these card-only places.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/credit-card-payments-growth_n_1575417.html
