Remember the days of checkbook ledgers and balancing your account? Remember the times when you had to drive to the bank and deposit an actual paper check? Remember the family vacations where Dad would have a literal wad of cash in his billfold at the start of the adventure?
The use of mobile banking services and online savings and checking accounts have changed the landscape of how we manage and spend our money. And while there are still some people who sit and balance their checkbook with a pencil and a checkbook register, an increasing number of Americans simply monitor the balance of their accounts with an online app. In fact, with a swipe of a card you can make payments that are both large and small. With a picture of the check that she received from babysitting, your teenager can deposit her check online and be shopping at the mall the next.
Online Savings and Checking Accounts Provide Instant Information About Balances
This generation of consumers not only has instant access to any movie or television show that they want, they also have instant access to any information that they want about their banking accounts. With nothing more than their phone, today’s consumers can deposit checks, make payments, purchase items online, and track the balance of their accounts. They can even transfer money from their savings account into their checking account instantly.
These digital payments, in fact, make cash nearly obsolete. In fact, according to a Gallup survey from July of 2016, more than six in 10 Americans agree with the statement, “The United States will be a cashless society, in which all purchases are made with credit cards, debit cards and other forms of electronic payment.”
In spite of all this digital technology, or perhaps, in part, because of it, Americans are in more debt than ever before. Some wonder, in fact, that with the use of card swipes instead of cash it is possible that some people do not even think about the money that they spend. And when you are not thinking, it may, in fact, be easier to overextend your finances. With the use of credit cards, for instance, consumers often buy more than they need with the swipe of a card. Worse yet, these consumers who go on to only make minimum payments instead of paying off balances find themselves in difficult financial situations.
Did you know, for instance, Millennials deeper in debt than previous generations? This debt is complicated by the fact that the average salary of a Millennial today is 20% lower than the average salary that a Baby Boomers had at the same age.
The convenience of today’s online banking offers a number of benefits, but it is very important that parents, teachers, and financial advisers make sure that the next generation understands the benefits of staying out of debt.
