What is the most amount of money

[SeerSGB]

I'm trying to get away from using a debit-card. Getting tired of leaving a transaction trail just to buy a pack of batteries. Draw down as much cash as I can, and pay in small bills.

 

[FordSVT]

My mother bought a new car in cash once because the dealer gave her a better price that way - I'm guessing so he could do something possibly not 100% legal tax-wise with it.

Probably not. There are certain costs that come out of a dealer's pocket when someone leases or finances a vehicle, and getting 100% of the vehicle's price up front in cash is in the best interest of the dealer. My dad always pays for his vehicles with cash as well, and yes the dealerships are usually pretty good to him.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Getting tired of leaving a transaction trail just to buy a pack of batteries.

Why is that a big deal? The government doesn't track this kind of stuff, but the *store* will (no matter what payment method you use).

 

[Shikarnov]

I don't even remember the last time I handled cash at all... I think it might have been lunch with a friend a few months back (it's easier to split the bill with paper than with plastic).

 

[Spot's Meow]

Man some of you guys carry a lot of cash! I don't think I ever have more than $5 or $10 and often I have no cash on me at all. I use my debit card for everything.

 

[John Picard]

Getting tired of leaving a transaction trail just to buy a pack of batteries.

Why is that a big deal? The government doesn't track this kind of stuff, but the *store* will (no matter what payment method you use).

It gets cumbersome to log all of those transactions in a register, assuming you're smart enough to track purchases. If one is going out to pursue a series of small purchases, it's easier to just log a cash withdrawal and then use that cash as needed.

As pointed out in some earlier posts, paying cash is a definite advantage. I don't carry dental insurance and instead pay my dentist cash. Paying him cash means less paperwork, meaning more money his practice can pocket, which means a reduced price for me.

A lady I work with recently paid cash for a 2010 Ford Fusion. This lowered the price of the vehicle, while the idiot salesman tried to tell her she'd be better off financing at 4%.

Businesses like cash because electronic transactions cost ~2% of the purchase price. When making a major purchase (ie buying furniture or appliances) cash gives the buyer greater leverage.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Getting tired of leaving a transaction trail just to buy a pack of batteries.

Why is that a big deal? The government doesn't track this kind of stuff, but the *store* will (no matter what payment method you use).

It gets cumbersome to log all of those transactions in a register, assuming you're smart enough to track purchases.

I don't log them. I simply look at my account via my bank's website. All the transactions are there.

 

[John Picard]

Why is that a big deal? The government doesn't track this kind of stuff, but the *store* will (no matter what payment method you use).

It gets cumbersome to log all of those transactions in a register, assuming you're smart enough to track purchases.

I don't log them. I simply look at my account via my bank's website. All the transactions are there.

Wow You're a financial trainwreck waiting to happen

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ How so?

(I do keep the receipts until the transaction clears the bank.)

 

[nevermore]

that you would feel safe carrying around?

A woman here in Australia had her life savings in her purse (it was either $125,000 or $150,000). She accidently left her purse in a shopping trolley and when she returned the purse was gone. Luckily for her the police have recovered most of the money and charged three people in connection with the theft of the money.

She had her life savings in her purse and a) went shopping and put it down and b) forgot it? Are you fucking kidding me? She should be docked 25% for abject stupidity. I also don't think anyone should be charged with theft for finding a stupid woman's purse full of cash and not giving it back to said stupid woman.

Anyway, the most cash I ever had on me that I can recall was about $1000; that was the amount I needed to get my car out of the tow lot. I don't generally carry more than $40 or $60 in cash, and it's usually less than $10. I just use my card for everything, even when I have cash.

 

[Lindley]

Wow You're a financial trainwreck waiting to happen

Who logs plastic purchases anymore? Half the reason checks went out of favor is because they required so much writing.

I just take a look at my online transaction history every few days to make sure there's nothing unexpected. Seems to work.

I rarely carry more than $200 in cash.

 

[Franklin]

As pointed out in some earlier posts, paying cash is a definite advantage. I don't carry dental insurance and instead pay my dentist cash. Paying him cash means less paperwork, meaning more money his practice can pocket, which means a reduced price for me.

A lady I work with recently paid cash for a 2010 Ford Fusion. This lowered the price of the vehicle, while the idiot salesman tried to tell her she'd be better off financing at 4%.

Businesses like cash because electronic transactions cost ~2% of the purchase price. When making a major purchase (ie buying furniture or appliances) cash gives the buyer greater leverage.

Did this woman actually have the cash on hand to pay for the Fusion? I could see writing a check to pay for the car in full, but it seems irresponsible to actually carry around that much cash. Even if she came straight from the bank.

 

[Scout101]

Wow You're a financial trainwreck waiting to happen

Who logs plastic purchases anymore? Half the reason checks went out of favor is because they required so much writing.

I just take a look at my online transaction history every few days to make sure there's nothing unexpected. Seems to work.

Yeah, I don't see the problem either. You get detailed info of every log entry in the online system, they're tracking it for you. And as long as you log in and check occasionally, make sure they are correct, then you aren't doing anything differently than JP's little pettycash notebook, except someone else is logging it for you automatically.

How's that equate to "trainwreck" again? And my credit card company gives me 1-2% cash back on top of that, so free discount on everything, really.

Suppose you can negotiate a cash discount on certain larger purchases, but if you're any good at negotiating, you should be getting pretty close to the same deal anyway. Bought my truck at a couple hundred over invoice, minus incentives, got some of the dealer holdback tossed into it, and a couple free accessories on top of that. Not sure how cash would have moved that along much, other than having to walk in with almost $30k in a dufflebag. Financed the purchase, but can't really ding me for doing so at 0% interest. The money gets to sit in the bank and collect interest itself every month, so deduct another percent or so for the money I made on my money while waiting on payments.

Mid-range purchases, like electronics or appliances, you can usually do better than EITHER method by just finding deals online (yay, slickdeals!). Add in the cash-back on credit card, and you're in business. Not like you can negotiate a whole lot with retail stores, anyway. Best you can do is find a sale/coupon, or pricematch another store to work a deal...

 

[Franklin]

Suppose you can negotiate a cash discount on certain larger purchases, but if you're any good at negotiating, you should be getting pretty close to the same deal anyway. Bought my truck at a couple hundred over invoice, minus incentives, got some of the dealer holdback tossed into it, and a couple free accessories on top of that. Not sure how cash would have moved that along much, other than having to walk in with almost $30k in a dufflebag. Financed the purchase, but can't really ding me for doing so at 0% interest. The money gets to sit in the bank and collect interest itself every month, so deduct another percent or so for the money I made on my money while waiting on payments.

Yeah. If you can get a very low interest rate, or zero interest, I see no reason to pay cash.

Also, paying cash can actually result in getting a worse deal than financing. Dealerships make a lot of their money on financing, so they can afford to come down more on the price of the car up front if they know you're financing it. They also figure you'll add more extras if it's going onto the loan.
In a cash deal, the only chance they have to make money is on the sale, so they may be reticent to come down as far as they may otherwise on the price. They also fear you'll buy fewer extras. So cash may get you a bad deal.

I'd say if you can afford to pay cash up front, it might be better to negotiate a price based on financing it anyway, then just pay the car off at your first opportunity.

 

[RoJoHen]

It's been so long since I carried any bills I can't believe I even have a wallet anymore. So... $0.00

Really, what more do I need to carry around other than a debit card and driver's license? My wallet is obsolete, really, so (thanks to this thread) I'm parking it starting tonight

I still run into places that don't accept credit or debit cards, so cash comes in handy.

 

[Scout101]

Yeah. If you can get a very low interest rate, or zero interest, I see no reason to pay cash.

Also, paying cash can actually result in getting a worse deal than financing. Dealerships make a lot of their money on financing, so they can afford to come down more on the price of the car up front if they know you're financing it. They also figure you'll add more extras if it's going onto the loan.
In a cash deal, the only chance they have to make money is on the sale, so they may be reticent to come down as far as they may otherwise on the price. They also fear you'll buy fewer extras. So cash may get you a bad deal.

I'd say if you can afford to pay cash up front, it might be better to negotiate a price based on financing it anyway, then just pay the car off at your first opportunity.

Not sure how much difference it would end up making, but I could see that as possible, if you were using their finance company rather than coming in with your own loan check.

Either way, the whole process of "walking onto a lot, picking out a car, and then negotiating for it" is kinda dead in this day and age, IMO. With all of the resources online, it's impossible to NOT know what you should be paying for a car before you show up. You can go online and spec it out exactly how you want it, read reviews, compare models, read places like Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds to find out all the incentives and dealer holdback info, etc. you then can use dealer websites (or call the internet sales department) and get "best offer" quotes for the car the way you want it. Test drive it when you show up, but the deal should be basically good to go before you walk in.

In my case, i had the exact truck I wanted all spec'ed out and ready to go. Got 2-3 quotes on it, and then took the lowest of those to the dealer I wanted to buy it from, and told them they needed to beat it for me to buy from them. They did, plus worked in some free or at-cost add-ins for me. Not a difficult process, I was in the dealership for probably 30 minutes total, and compared to others on the owner forums, I got a rock-bottom deal on it. Not sure how you improve on that...

 

[RoJoHen]

^A lot of places these days have "no haggle" policies as well. The sticker price is the price you pay, no exceptions.

 

[John Picard]

^A lot of places these days have "no haggle" policies as well. The sticker price is the price you pay, no exceptions.

Bullshit. In a recession, any place that doesn't haggle is foolish. Geez, some of you are so caught up in this "it isn't done like that anymore" mentality Pull out some green and watch salesmen and sales managers jump.

 

[JiNX-01]

I don't generally carry much cash, tho' I might carry up to $200 depending on circumstances involving transactions where cash is the only option. Otherwise I prefer using a debit card.

 

[WillsBabe]

I don't know the most amount of money I would ever carry around. But I know I wouldn't feel comfortable knowing there was £100 in my purse. Generally speaking, I don't have more than £15 - £20 about my person.