Cash on hand

[jsharmon7]

I was wondering what people considered an acceptable amount of cash to keep on hand at home. Before people fall over themselves to yell about OpSec, this is meant to be purely hypothetical. What would you recommend to a stranger kinda thing.

I try to keep cash around, but my savings account pays 5.10% right now. It becomes a trade-off of throwing money away by keeping too much around versus how much I’d need in an emergency. Also, what kind of emergency? Let’s say a cyber attack shuts down the banking systems, how long would that last?

Right now I’m thinking somewhere around $500 - $1k would get you buy for food and necessities for a short time until systems come back online. If something major happens, it might be a good long while before you get money out of the bank again, but that seems hard to predict.

Thoughts?

 

[Cameramonkey]

I think that amount sounds reasonable.

One other thing to consider. I'd make 1/2 to 2/3 of it in small bills. Because if you need to buy some small items, your seller may not have change. Are you willing to pay $20 for the extra flashlight batteries your neighbor told you he'd only charge you $5 for? (just for illustrative purposes. Dont start with the "aktually..." comments)

Ten hundreds packs really small. But isnt very practical.

 

[snorko]

Also some crispy singles for vending machines.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Also some crispy singles for vending machines.

And strippers!

 

[spencer rifle]

$3-5000. But use it fast (unless a power/internet outage/cyber attack is the cause). It's only a matter of time, in a long-term situation, that the real value of fiat money is realized, and it becomes so much tinder/toilet paper.

Until recently there wasn't much of tradeoff/loss due to interest rates. A third of a percent in our account was not a great motivator to keep money there. More troublesome now.

 

[Magyars]

I've always heard/read its a good idea to keep a months worth of expenses on hand.

 

[firecadet613]

I think that amount sounds reasonable.

One other thing to consider. I'd make 1/2 to 2/3 of it in small bills. Because if you need to buy some small items, your seller may not have change. Are you willing to pay $20 for the extra flashlight batteries your neighbor told you he'd only charge you $5 for? (just for illustrative purposes. Dont start with the "aktually..." comments)

Ten hundreds packs really small. But isnt very practical.

Great call out!

We have kids in school and they often need a few bucks here and there for different things at school. I ended up getting a bunch of 1s, 5s, and 10s just for this purpose. It's much easier to send in some cash vs constantly writing a check for such a small amount. But, once I did that, they haven't really needed much cash.

As to the OPs question, I charge everything and don't often use cash in my day to day, but IMO your foolish if you don't keep some cash on hand. Never know when you'll see something that suits your fancy in the classifieds or while browsing FB.

If I were making a recommendation to someone, it'd be more than you have in your post. But, it depends on what that person can stick in an envelope and not miss. IMO that's a few grand. Even at 5%, that's not much interest you'd be missing out on.

 

[Bugzilla]

Along with paper money which isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, other barter items, coinage or silver in small weights.

 

[jsharmon7]

Great call out!

We have kids in school and they often need a few bucks here and there for different things at school. I ended up getting a bunch of 1s, 5s, and 10s just for this purpose. It's much easier to send in some cash vs constantly writing a check for such a small amount. But, once I did that, they haven't really needed much cash.

As to the OPs question, I charge everything and don't often use cash in my day to day, but IMO your foolish if you don't keep some cash on hand. Never know when you'll see something that suits your fancy in the classifieds or while browsing FB.

If I were making a recommendation to someone, it'd be more than you have in your post. But, it depends on what that person can stick in an envelope and not miss. IMO that's a few grand. Even at 5%, that's not much interest you'd be missing out on.

Very good points. The interest is the crux of the issue for me. Every $1k is about $51 in interest per year. Not a huge amount, until you’re talking $5k. At that point I’m tossing $250 a year out the window. Obviously the insurance/peace of mind of having $5k in cash at home has value, so I’m trying to decide how much value. I may up my initial thoughts and add the smaller bills.

Thanks for the responses so far.

 

[spencer rifle]

Here's where junk silver has use. It's widely recognized, known silver content, relatively sturdy, and' if nothing else, can assist with water purification.

 

[firecadet613]

Very good points. The interest is the crux of the issue for me. Every $1k is about $51 in interest per year. Not a huge amount, until you’re talking $5k. At that point I’m tossing $250 a year out the window. Obviously the insurance/peace of mind of having $5k in cash at home has value, so I’m trying to decide how much value. I may up my initial thoughts and add the smaller bills.

Thanks for the responses so far.

Even with that, if you've got an extra few grand of cash on hand at home, the $250ish in interest you'd miss out on, likely won't make a lick of difference to you in the long run.

 

[Bugzilla]

Even with that, if you've got an extra few grand of cash on hand at home, the $250ish in interest you'd miss out on, likely won't make a lick of difference to you in the long run.

Especially if SHTF, your money in the bank will not be accessible or will magically disappear.

 

[Magyars]

As the saying goes, "if you don't hold it, you don't own it"

 

[armalitesheepdog]

2k in 10s 20s and 1s

 

[tim87tr]

Especially if SHTF, your money in the bank will not be accessible or will magically disappear.

The last few years has made realize why my grandparents didn't trust the banks. Repaying national debt is mathematically impossible, so it's inflate or die. Well at least the fiat currency will die slower.

As the saying goes, "if you don't hold it, you don't own it"

I concur and endorse this message

 

[foszoe]

I recommend 1-2k at home. $500 in wallet or on person. Then I recommend $100 in each vehicle.

When I go below 1K at the house, I refill back to 2k.
Every payday, I replenish back to $500 in wallet.

In younger days, it was simple, put 1K aside and never think about it. But then as you get older, you find you may browse the INGO classifieds, see something at a garage sale, estate sale, auction etc, and having the cash gives you the freedom to take advantage of that "good deal".

Some people are afraid to carry $500 b/c fear of loss or theft etc. Just separate it. put < 100 in a wallet or whatever for the theft scenario.

It comes in handy.

Wife and I went to Chicago for visits to NW University hospital. While there, several restaurants around gave cash discounts.

I am cheap enough that when someone asks me cash or card? I ALWAYS ask what discount do I get for cash? If it isn't the 2,3,5,6% you get back on your card, then you have the freedom to decide what to do.

At one Irish pub in downtown Chicago, I got the check. We ate outside so I didn't see their cash/card policy so when they brought the check, it had a card surcharge on it. So I asked about it when the waiter came back around and he told me about the policy so I took the card back and put down 2 $20 bills. The check was $22 or something like that. About 5 min later he came back by and asked me if I had intended to leave the rest as a tip. Not for a single Guinness and an appetizer! Disappears for another 5 minutes then shows up to tell me they don't typically keep cash on hand and could not make change. Well, i burst out laughing. I always talk about hating big cities and had not been looking forward to making trips to Chicago, several of them, for health matters. Well it was a beautiful day, right around 5 pm, and I couldn't stop laughing I told him, wait a min, you charge me extra for a card if I don't pay cash, then if I pay cash, you can't make change? I was like is this the "Chicago way?" Anyway, next level came out said that is a common practice around Chicago but if I tell a restaurant I was not going to pay it they take it off. Well I didn't try out that scenario, I just paid cash everywhere else that was like that. It wasn't just downtown either, in Palo Alto or whatever suburb, a diner we ate at had the same policy.

So thats just a long winded example of it being a good practice to carry cash, even when travelling. No telling when the ATM system will be down, the gas station you stop at in the middle of no where and you are on E, or whatever scenario you dream up, having that $100 in the vehicle, and some cash on your person, will save your bacon. It certainly doesn't have to be an end of the world barter system to have practical purpose.

Also, as far as I know, a debit card, counts as cash too, but you are still dependent on networks being up. Love's Truck Stop pay at the pump with a debit card, gets you the cash price.

 

[firecadet613]

Meant to put this in my earlier post...



Even searched for it and saved it to my phone. Doh!

 

[BigRed]

Some cash
Some ammo
Some tobacco
Some whiskey

 

[Magyars]

Seems like the current outage is a good indication that we all need some cash on hand.....as well as other supplies

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Some cash
Some ammo
Some tobacco
Some whiskey

I've tried to keep all those items well-stocked at my place, but it's that last one that I always find myself running low on.