Many of us, especially the younger generations, rely so heavily on cashless payment options. Even though they are convenient, such payment methods are actually very disruptive to your finances. Without control and discipline, you can end up with tons of debts and interests.

To save yourself from these inconveniences, try to avoid using your cards as much as possible. Here are some of the benefits of paying with cash to convince you.

1. Cash feels more real

Earlier this year, author Gretchen Rubin asked her social media followers about which payment method feels more real to them. Their responses revealed that people generally feel a deeper connection with cash purchases.

Research from Avni M. Shah, assistant marketing professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough, supports this theory. Similar to how casinos trade in your cash for chips at the table, hiding your balance behind a card psychologically devalues your bank balance.

By using cash, you’ll be more aware of where your money is going and how much money you have left. Cash brings transparency to your finances. It pulls you out of the vicious cycle of making purchases and paying interests.

2. Cash encourages smart spending

Cash purchases can make you pay more attention to what you’re buying. Because you’ll be paying with your hard-earned cash, you’re likely to spend more time weighing prices, warranties and other features.

Paying with your card, on the other hand, can result in impulse buying. You can even end up purchasing items you don’t really need.

See Also: Thoreau’s Guide to Living More by Spending Less 

3. There’s no fee for cash payment

Credit cards have interests and companies usually charge additional fees for purchases. Some businesses even pass on merchant card processing fees to consumers.

Over time, your credit card payments can build up and strain your finances. If you end up missing a payment, you’ll lose even more in fees. In case you fail to address your dues right away, you could end up in court with a case filed against you.

4. Cash purchases mean more

Paying items with cash increases your emotional attachment to your purchases. For example, if you don’t have enough money to afford a PS4, you’ll have to save up for it. This makes the PS4 more valuable to you.

When you use a credit card, however, you’ll feel instantly gratified. Soon, you’ll be focused on buying something else.

See Also: 7 Common Money Mistakes to Avoid (And their easy Solution)

5. You can’t spend cash you don’t have

One of the biggest drivers of consumer debt is people spending money they don’t have. In fact, overspending was a major contributing factor in the 2008 mortgage bubble collapse.

A lot of people make purchases today and just worry about paying for them later. This is a toxic and unsustainable way to live.

Using a card hinders our ability to save, lowers our net worth, and can lead to crippling debts.

By paying with cash, you’ll have a visual representation of how much money you actually have. It’ll help you start living within your means which is a beautiful thing.

These are the benefits of paying with cash that convinced me to avoid card transactions. If you’re still not fully convinced, it’s probably high time to rethink your financial strategy.

 

The post 5 Reasons You’ll Be Glad You Made Your Purchase With Cash appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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With their influence, it’s probably a good idea to start writing for millennials, especially if you’re trying to make a name or even sales. They’re the world’s largest generation and they spend about $200 billion on goods and services every year.

To help you out, here are some ideas you can start with.

Focus on adding value to your reader

Your blog should concentrate on your readers and not you. Every word you put out there should focus on them.

Before you start writing for millennials, it’s a good idea to talk to one of them first. If you can’t personally talk to one, find a way to know what most of them are struggling with and how you’ll be able to help solve their problems.

With more than 80 million millennials using the Internet, you surely won’t have a hard time generating great content.

Here are three tips you can use:

• Information

People like learning new things and the same goes for millennials. If you want to get their attention, you have to write something that will add more value to what they already know.

• Sources

To build you credibility, it’s a good idea if you can add case studies, researches and statistics to support your claim. If you want to motivate them to take action, you have to inspire them with hard facts.

• Entertainment

Although you’re providing information and value to your readers,  it doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice entertainment. Millennials like being amused so make sure you write in a very interesting way.

See Also: How To Find The Best Topic For Your Blog 

Write concisely

Millennials are smart people. If you write in a way that underestimates their intelligence, you’re not likely to get their attention.

Instead of using too much words to explain something, write in a concise manner. They like reading contents that are brief and straight to the point.

Make your blog posts scannable

The Internet is full of information. With so many great contents, it can be quite hard to stand above the rest.

A great tip you can use is to make your post scannable.

Research suggests that only 16 percent of web users actually read web content word by word. The remaining 79 percent just scan web pages.

When creating your web post, try to keep these things in mind:

• Write subheads

Subheads break your content into sections and make them easier to digest. Your readers should be able to get the gist of your story just by scanning through your subheads.

• Write short paragraphs

Single paragraphs are scannable. Always write one at the end of every subhead in your article to make it easy for your readers to scan, read, and digest.

Neil Patel is a skilled writer of single, scannable paragraphs. You’ll frequently find his posts written in such manner.

Below is one example of how he writes his posts:

Article headline: The Proven Method to Ranking on the First Page of Google For Any Long-tail Keyword

Subheading: 5. Market your new article like crazy

“Now that you’ve written your article, it’s time to market the living crap out of it. Putting it on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is a given, but there is a lot more to it than that.

What really matters is telling the right people about it.

Reach out to influencers to see if they’d be willing to link to your content; create a YouTube audio version of your content with a link back to the article in the description; or even create a podcast with a summary of your article.

Use every possible avenue to get your article in front of as many eyes as possible.

The more times your article is seen, shared, and commented on, the better your odds of higher ranking on Google.”

• Write in bullet points

Like subheads, bullet points break ideas as well. They make your points easy to decipher and your blog posts a lot more scannable. They’re great in targeting those online scanners.

Will these tips make your blog post go viral?

Don’t feel bad, but they might not. There are many factors that can make a content go viral.

The ones listed in this article are just parts of those factors. However, applying them to your post can surely put you ahead of other people who are planning on writing for millennials.

See Also: 5 Proven Strategies That Can Massively Increase Blog Traffic 

 

The post How to Write a Blog Post That Millennials Will Read appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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