At least not in Sweden. All over the #debtfreecommunity Instagram tags I see the phrase ‘Cash is King.’ This stems from Dave Ramsey when he tells those following his baby steps to ditch credit and debit cards and only use cash. Especially since holding cash makes you feel more attached to your money and you are less likely to spend it.
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This is true, whenever I had a large bill I would try my hardest not to spend it. It does make the nonphysical physical when holding it, as opposed to just seeing numbers on a computer screen.
Everything can be paid with a tap, swipe or a Swish.
However, many places are doing away with using cash. For instance, in Sweden, many restaurants, shops, even banks do not have or take cash. It is sometimes more of a hassle to have cash than anything else. I have also noticed that at the grocery store (when I had cash), I had to pay a little more than if I had paid with my debit card. I am not sure if it is some sort of a discount or it just happened to be because of the items I was buying.
Sweden is fast becoming the first cashless society, everything can be paid with a tap, swipe, or a Swish. Swish is an app that connects all Swedish banks, all you need to do is type in someone’s phone number and you can pay them that way.
It has come full circle. Sweden was the first country in Europe to produce banknotes in 1661, and now it is the first to do away with them. This Scandinavian country is quite well known for embracing new technologies, so we will just have to see what is next for the world of money.