Still skeptical about a cashless society?
A cashless society is an economic concept wherein financial transactions take place digitally. Going cashless may seem like a strange concept at first, but times are changing, and adapting to these types of changes can only help us.
The pandemic has unexpectedly sped up our transition to a cashless society with the exchange of physical money being frowned upon for safety reasons. During the pandemic, most businesses and individuals have adopted the practice of transacting online through online banks or digital wallets.
While it’s early in the process, it’s best to start learning about this trend and how it contributes positively to society moving forward. To help you out with this transition, here are some of the advantages of a cashless society:
Improves risk management
The pandemic has raised concern regarding the safety of transacting with cash, making cashless transactions ideal right now to lessen the risk of transmitting the COVID-19 virus. Through this, society will experience and understand how a cashless society is something we might want to consider moving forward.
Aside from the pandemic, carrying money has caused all of us a little inconvenience at some point in our lives. Whether it be carrying a ton of coins in our pockets or losing our wallets with money that we never got back. By using online banking or digital wallets, it would be much safer to walk around with because if these items get lost, they can easily be deactivated. Furthermore, cell phones can always be blocked, but if physical money is stolen, it’s gone without a trace and there’s no way to get it back.
Convenient transactions
Going cashless would make transactions much easier to get done. Also as a result of the pandemic, several businesses in Manila now accept online payments, whether it be through bank transfers or other apps such as GCash and PayMaya. This is done quickly and easily by entering contact details in the app. With this, it is easy for the customer and the store to transact the exact amount of money. These all contribute to hasty transactions which eventually lead to good customer satisfaction.
With online transactions, anything is possible. Modern-day technology has given us access to stores or services from all around the world and this is also a result of a cashless society. Without the need to withdraw and physically exchange money for an item, it could be done instantly from wherever you are with a simple touch of the phone.
Accurately track expenses
Some may assume that going cashless would result in higher expenses because you don’t see your funds depleting resulting in over-spending. But, on the contrary, transacting online could help you keep track of your spending easily, and, most importantly, accurately.
When you exchange physical money, a physical receipt is given to show the exact amount due and all the money involved in the transaction, including the change. Just like actual cash, once it’s lost, it’s hard to be accurate when recording your monthly expenses. For cashless transactions, a record of all transactions is kept digitally, making it accurate and accessible at all times. As a result, going cashless could help with budgeting by examining spending patterns and properly setting financial priorities.
Expand your financial portfolio
In a cashless society, we rely on devices and cards to hold our money. Technology has given us the ability to access our accounts in real-time. Other than transferring money, we could use these apps to work on improving our financial portfolios without the hassle of going to different banks or institutions.
When it comes to investing, diversification is crucial to increase the odds of successful investment as markets are unpredictable. Through apps such as GCash and Binance, you can invest your money in different things, from bonds to cryptocurrencies, and create your own investment strategy. Stock markets are also becoming accessible through technology, which shows that people believe in technology.
These changes to society could be far down the line, but it’s never too early to learn. Technology has made the impossible possible and it seems more and more likely that the economy will revolve around digital transactions in the future. It is important that we keep an open mind and take advantage of these technologies as these could help make our lives a little bit easier in different aspects.