Current Events > Psychologist: You should always keep a $100 bill in your wallet

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https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/always-keep-100-bill-cash-in-wallet-says-psychologist-why-experts-agree.html

If you carry around a $50 or $100 bill, you might be saving money without even trying. How so? We tend to think twice before breaking bigger bills because we see them as special money, explains Dr. Mary Gresham, an Atlanta-based psychologist. Heres why you might want to consider trading in those $10 and $20 bills for a crisp hundred. A concept called mental accounting has to do with how we make financial decisions based on our associations with money. Those associations arent always rational, so the resulting decisions dont always pay off. We treat money differently depending on how we categorize it, says Gresham. We associate a lot of small bills with miscellaneous, petty cash, while we associate large bills with special money. Lets say youre given either one $100 bill or five $20 bills. Because we tend to associate smaller bills with miscellaneous purchases, its more likely that youll spend the money if youre carrying those five $20 bills than if youre carrying one $100 bill, according to a research paper published by The Journal of Consumer Research.

When it comes to spending, most Americans prefer credit cards and other forms of payment over using cash. In a survey of more than 2,000 Americans, U.S. Bank found that 50% of respondents said they have cash with them less than half of the time. When they do carry cash, 76% said they keep less than $50 on hand, and nearly half have less than $20. You can make a case for using cash or credit. But handling cash can heighten the pain of paying and make you think twice about the transaction, compared to using a credit card or mobile payments on your phone to pay for your items, Jeff Kreisler, co-author of Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter, told Grow earlier this year. Modern technology can be a real problem with spending; the more automatic things are, the more easy it is to spend, Kreisler says. And thats not always good. But while carrying large bills may help curb your spending, its not a foolproof strategy. Businesses are often reluctant to accept $50 and $100 bills.



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They're right, honestly.

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I wipe my ass with hundreds

I make the average CE user income

Sabram posted...

They're right, honestly.

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I feel like this advice made a lot more sense decades ago when you couldn't just whip out a card or phone and pay for anything, anywhere, instantly.

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I've been doing this for years.

Having said, for most people nowadays, just carrying any cash would have the same principle.

Long story shot, breaking big bills hurts more.
And can't imagine what it is like when you use plastic and never even have that.
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If you're a stupid impulse buyer and generally careless with money, sure, I could see this helping you.

what kind of boomer uses cash

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Sounds like Dave Ramsay garbage.

Some people just spend cash more. This helps depending on the person.

I get rid of cash, large or not, much easier because I always feel compelled to tip people things. Eventually Ill spend that $100, and now I have smaller bills. An assortment at that.

Just keeping a large bill with wont prevent you from using it. If youre not using it but another payment method, then why carry it around?

It doesnt make sense to me. What, are you constantly converting any change you get into a $100?

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Blighboy posted...

what kind of boomer uses cash

Drug dealers

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Mbn to have $100
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cuttin_in_farm posted...

Just keeping a large bill with wont prevent you from using it. If youre not using it but another payment method, then why carry it around?

I think the idea is more that the reluctance to split the bill makes you not spend anything, not that you just pay a different way

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Blighboy posted...

what kind of boomer uses cash

this

this would have been good advice 20 years ago.
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This has almost never stopped me from buying something, unless the place didnt accept large bulls.

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This has worked for me before but I mainly use credit now so eh. I'm just good with saving money.
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Having had my wallet stolen a few times I would much rather not lose 100 bucks cause its viewed as special money.

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s0nicfan posted...

I feel like this advice made a lot more sense decades ago when you couldn't just whip out a card or phone and pay for anything, anywhere, instantly.

exactly. like i barely carry cash anymore. usually just some in case i split food with somebody and they only have a card so they pay and i just give them some cash. or there's some bars and stuff that are cash only or some fast food places will be cash only for a bit when they're cashing out the card reader or whatever they do.

the other problem with the $100 is when you do need it some places can't even break it and they say they need something smaller so then you might just be screwed.

A 100 is money, a 1 is money, there's no difference to me, and I will not hesitate to break a 100 on some DUMB shit
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I was carrying around 5 $100 notes and 10 $50 notes (along with a lot of smaller notes) at one point so does this apply to me

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I ultimately see cash as extra, burdensome money to get rid of as quickly as possible, so it's the opposite for me.

I count cash as spent money in my head. Once it's out of my account, it might as well be spent. The size of the bill makes no difference to me.

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I personally just don't feel comfortable always having $100 on me. I don't live in the safest area, and $100 is a lot

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Carry a 100 dollar bill and never spend it.

Not spending money saves money!!! Whoa!

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5/5 pickpockets agree.

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I'd probably be more likely to spend it because I'd want to break it into smaller bills. A lot of places don't like to take 100s so I'd hate to need it and be unable to use it.

I use a card for everything anyway though.

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Is this article from the 60's?

If I don't want to break a hundred, I'll just use my card.

Hell, I'll use my card instead of a five, lol.

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This seems like good advice for people who are terrible with money. Which I learn is more people than I ever would have guessed the older I get. Really though you're supposed to do a cost-benefit analysis for every purchase. The idea is that once you have a routine you can build in fun stuff like dinners or new clothes to your budget so that it isn't stressful every minute of every day.

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Why have a $100 bill you're not going to spend when you can just bump up the balance of your savings account with that hundred? I carry small bills for fast food drive thrus. Otherwise I would have no need for cash at all.

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Makes sense....if you have $100 in small bills, buying a a $3 item is easy and doesn't seem like you're spending anything since you have so many bills in your wallet. If you just have a hundred dollar bill, then buying a $3 item will have a big impact on how you see your cash situation.

Obviously that's just looking at the impact of physical bills and the psychology. At the end of the day your spending choices are the only thing that matter. But I believe carrying only cash and carrying only larger bills can help people see how scarce their money actually is, and influence them to spend less.

Haircuts is about the only thing I still pay cash for.

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I keep a pair of $200 jeans in my wallet

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I would just use my debit card if I didn't wanna break the $100 bill

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Since I only use a card, I'd rather have that money in the bank earning interest.

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s0nicfan posted...

I feel like this advice made a lot more sense decades ago when you couldn't just whip out a card or phone and pay for anything, anywhere, instantly.

the psychologists next bit of advice is to put a chastity belt on your phone

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AlleyViper620 posted...

Since I only use a card, I'd rather have that money in the bank earning interest.

How much interest?
And do you ever pay debit card fees?
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Or just make a budget and be an adult by sticking to it...

or just dont be a sheep and stop buying dumb shit on impulse

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"Keep $100 in your wallet so the person who steals your wallet has more to be happy for."

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TIL everyone gets pickpocketed always.
And paying fees to get your own money is a good thing.
And also 5% interest, if you are lucky, really amounts to much annually. >_>
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MudKip_Master posted...

Or just make a budget and be an adult by sticking to it...

It's a better idea to understand your weaknesses and come up with an effective way to deal with them than to just pretend you're never going to struggle with them because you're an adult.

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I find that I will whip out my credit card for many purchases even when I have cash in my wallet simply because it doesn't feel like I'm spending as much money.

For starters, cards let you deal with reality later. Is my account starting to rack up a bunch of purchases? Maybe...but I can check my account and face reality next week. right now I want to enjoy these dope new shoes.

If I only have cash, then I am constantly seeing a more accurate picture of my money situation every time I spend. With cards it's like okay this card has this balance and that card has that balance and then I gotta pay at least x amount by this date and also my checking account has x dollars in it....ah fuck it I'm just gonna go spend.

Just saying...this stuff matters. I don't use cash very often. I'm a card guy. But I am also not very thrifty because I have lots of disposable income.

The $100 I keep in my wallet is mugging money.

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Like Dave Ramsay's advice, probably useful for those who are terrible with money

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ToadallyAwesome posted...

Having had my wallet stolen a few times I would much rather not lose 100 bucks cause its viewed as special money.

a few times? Damn

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DocDelicious posted...

The $100 I keep in my wallet is mugging money.

like you plan on being mugged? What if they want more than the $100?

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YellowMustard69 posted...

If I only have cash, then I am constantly seeing a more accurate picture of my money situation every time I spend.

I guarantee you dont carry around your full paycheck in cash, so no. Its not an accurate representation at all.

By your own admission, you barely even use cash.

The limitations of cash in general completely outweigh any possible benefits. Who the hell just impulsively buys shoes? They would do the same shit if they had cash.

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lww99 posted...

like you plan on being mugged? What if they want more than the $100?

Yeah, it happens more often than you'd think.
Usually when you throw $100 at someone they'll just fuck off, don't generally question if there's more.

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That's moronic. I always try to break my big bills first thing
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