Deep Thought of the Day

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1. pandora says:

   November 25, 2008 at 7:58 am

   My Grandparents never trusted banks. In fact, after my Grandfather died we would find money he stashed, and, like you Nemski, I didn’t understand.

   I understand now. Not that I’m hiding money, but I do think keeping cash on hand is not a bad idea.

2. Unstable Isotope says:

   November 25, 2008 at 8:19 am

   I understood why, but I didn’t really feel the same thing. They still had it much, much worse in the Great Depression. When banks collapsed, people lost all their money – there was no FDIC. I can certainly understand why you would trust your mattress more than your bank under those circumstances.

   The thing I had trouble relating to with my Depression-era grandparents was that they never through anything out. I don’t know how many butter tubs my grandmother had around the house. That was also a remnant of the lean times but in the throw-away culture I grew up in it was an inconvenience.

3. Unstable Isotope says:

   November 25, 2008 at 8:20 am

   I barely use cash anymore. I only carry around $100 max. Money is just computer bits to me. I hardly even write checks.

4. xstryker says:

   November 25, 2008 at 8:27 am

   UI, I carry even less, unless I’m going on a trip. I usually carry less than $20. Generally the only checks I write go to friends and family.

   This is because all my money is in the bank, which is FDIC insured. Not worried about it.

   What really worries me is my parents’ retirement funds.

5. pandora says:

   November 25, 2008 at 8:27 am

   Another thing I remember about this generation is that they never used credit cards. They paid in cash. If they didn’t have the cash, then they didn’t buy. The words “we can’t afford it” were spoken often. Not necessarily a bad thing.

6. Unstable Isotope says:

   November 25, 2008 at 8:58 am

   Pandora,

   I’m definitely moving to debit-only. I’m trying to buy Christmas gifts without using my credit card. I’m not in financial trouble but I’m very worried about the economic conditions and I want to be in good shape should either my husband or I loses our job.

7. Dana says:

   November 25, 2008 at 9:03 am

   An elderly Vietnamese immigrant I knew back when I lived in Virginia didn’t trust banks; considering his homeland, I guess you can’t blame him! He worked very hard, every day, when he came to the United States, and by the late 1990s had put his daughter through college, bought a house and cars, etc, and paid cash for everything.

   One day in 1998, someone broke into his house and got away with something like $85,000 in cash. Keeping the money at home wasn’t such a good choice.

8. Dana says:

   November 25, 2008 at 9:13 am

   Mrs Isotope: I don’t even have a credit card in my wallet; I keep a VISA debit card, and that’s perfectly fine for all transactions.

   And I’ll put in some praise for PNC Bank here. When we were moving to Jim Thorpe, Mrs Pico went up to the town about three weeks before the closing, to take care of business like bank accounts, utilities, etc. There was a branch of the Jim Thorpe National Bank just a block from our new house, so we decided that we’d move our accounts there (from Wilmington Trust).

   When she opened the account, she said that they treated her like she was trying to rob the place or something, but we needed to get the accounts opened, so she did it anyway.

   The three weeks passed, and we moved in, and we still didn’t have our new debit cards yet. Another week passed, and finally I called and asked what was up, and they said that they were waiting to see if our transactions were legit before issuing the debit cards, but the cards were “in the mail.”

   I was pissed, but didn’t do anything. Then, when we got our next statement, we saw that they had charged us a $1 fee every time we used the debit card!

   Well, that was enough for me. At the time I worked in Conshohocken, and I went down to a PNC branch close to the plant and opened an account. The people were courteous, and when the account manager told me about an account that had no fees if I kept a $4,000 minimum balance between checking and savings, I told her that yes, we’d like that account, but I couldn’t keep $4,000 in there for a few weeks, while I finished up all of the transactions between JTNB and a few still left with Wilmington Trust. No problem, she said, and she waived the requirement for two months.

   In short, the small town bank treated us like feces, while the big, multi-state corporation treated us well, and I’ve never had a problem with PNC Bank.

9. Duffy says:

   November 25, 2008 at 9:45 am

   What’s a “life savings”?

10. Unstable Isotope says:

    November 25, 2008 at 10:15 am

    Yes, Dana there are very good reasons not to keep a lot of cash in your house. Banks are still safer. FDIC insurance is still a life-saver.

    One thing, though. I’ve read a lot of stories of how it is very difficult to get and keep a bank account when you’re poor and/or have bad credit.