For better or worse (probably worse), credit cards are a major part of our financial world now. Cash is becoming less and less convenient to use every year, and debit cards continue to lack the same level of fraud protection that credit cards enjoy.
This isn't coincidence either. Jesse attended a "payments trends" conference in 2019, where the main topic was how to make payments easier, to remove as much friction as possible from the process of buying things. Why? Simply put, when you spend more money, more often, payment vendors make more money.
The problem is, you can't win the credit card game. Not only do payment vendors make money when you spend, the banks that underwrite credit card debt know (because they have studied human behavior) that when you swipe a credit card, you tend to spend more money. Credit card points and rewards are carefully designed to entice you to spend more money, because banks know that you will likely carry higher debt levels with a credit card.
So if you can't win the game, maybe the solution is just to opt out.
Sign up for a free 34-day trial of YNAB at www.youneedabudget.com
Also, go to https://www.youneedabudget.com/bootcamp/ to sign up for the YNAB Debt Bootcamp!
Invest In Preparedness, Not Prediction
A Quote from F.W. Boreham
Ask Jesse: Selling a Rental Property, Buying a Car, and Pausing Retirement to Save?
Giving the Old Bird to Money
It Has Nothing, and Everything, to Do with Spending
You Didn't Quit. To Every Season...
Building Habits: Four of Them, Actually
BONUS: Goodbye Mint, Hello YNAB
Joy Is a Three
It's You All the Way Down
Ask Jesse: Airlines are Banks, Better Money Habits, and Fast Talking
Ask Jesse: Credit Card Rebels, Banks, and Emergency Funds
Guilty on All Counts
Shift Your Spending Into High Gear
Ask Jesse: ...And Done!
Ask Jesse: We're Getting There People!
Ask Jesse: Still Catching Up
Ask Jesse: Catching Up
An Experiment Made Permanent
When Expenses Rise: Ben Rolls With the Punches
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