$ Strategies: Credit Card Hygiene

Recently, I had the rare experience of losing my credit card after a visit to a certain colored box for a movie. This is the second time I've ever lost a card. Unlike the first, its absence eluded me. The bank called after someone turned it in at the branch, only a few hundred yards from this colored box. To my relief, the last charge was the movie. They invited me to retrieve the card. I declined.

I told the banker to destroy it. I would order another. Why? My father taught me to avoid even minor threats. Sure it's unlikely that whomever found my card copied the sixteen-digit account number and three-digit card number. Doesn't matter; I'll never have to know because I ordered a new card with a new set of digits. What's the benefit of retrieving the card? Convenience. The cost? Theft. What's the cost of getting a new card? Inconvenience. The benefit? Security. I will say this just once because I could say it at every point: financial security is the ship that keeps us afloat in society; you cannot be too careful with the integrity of its hull.

A few ideas about plastic:

Don't sign. Instead of signing the back of your card, write the words 'see ID.' Once it's a habit, it doesn't take any more time to produce your ID with your card when making purchases but it makes it difficult for criminals to access your credit, should they find a card that has yet to be reported lost.

Pay down, not off. Instead of paying off the card with the smallest balance, pay the minimum on all your cards except the one with the highest interest rate. With that card, pay it off or as much as you can as soon as possible. Carry the largest balance on the card with the lowest interest rate. And it goes without saying, never miss a payment or pay late – it's too expensive.

Pair your cards. Pair your cards to your costs. For example, use one card for gas and groceries; one for online purchases and reservations; another for large acquisitions; etc. Resist the urge to have an 'emergency card' that lies dormant; credit agencies do not look favorably upon them. Personal fiances suffer when too many credit lines are open at any given time but it is good to have enough active lines to pair different cards with different expenses. This not only helps with budgeting and flexibility but fraud. Credit-card companies like to see predictable buying habits. When something unpredictable happens, they are easier to work with and often the first to spot the fraud.

Credit-cards are the common, daily oil of our financial machine – the engine of the ship. If we don't pay attention, the fluid becomes grimy, gritty, dirty, useless, and then potentially dangerous if the engine heats up and breaks down – bankruptcy. But if we take a few extra moments each day to be mindful of this important yet mundane aspect, we keep the oil clean and the engine running smooth, getting us where we want to go.

$ Strategies: A Conservative Foundation

My personal financial history isn't terribly interesting. Things are steady as she goes. So, what's the secret? How did I survive the Great Recession? To understand that, we must understand the other great financial crisis. The Great Depression began when my father was a boy. It shaped his manhood. His financial hygiene was as impeccable as his legal briefs. I cared for my father until he passed in his mid-eighties. Those hard decades for this country were carried into his last days. Example: when he couldn't finish dinner, he'd collect the leftovers into used napkins. He stuffed the bundle into his pockets. Later when I found the stash and asked about it, he couldn't remember doing it. He spent the innocence of his adolescence toiling in the dust of the Depression. Those wicked years manifested scares in old age – a powerful point of view he imprinted upon me. In his honor, I will share this hard-earned perspective, reshaped for today.

Money is the power that drives modern man. Without it, one does not last long. Nature did not equipped our species with the intrinsic tools to live more than a few nights alone in the wilderness. We require supplies, shelter, and tools. Only the most accommodating environments provide any chance. Of course, those places are filled with much more capable predators than a soft human. Even pray pose a threat; if the lion doesn't get you, the stampeding herd of water-buffalo will.

Humans are born to live together. We need each other. We don't need money to survive but we have collectively accepted it as the medium of our lives. Therefore, money matters and makes us happy – to a point, about seventy-thousand dollars a year for the average household. After that, the reasons for making more money become increasingly narcissistic. Example: the CEO of a Seattle company recently took a huge pay-cut and raised the minimum wage to this magic number. It is a bold move to maximize productivity, retention, and innovation. Only time will tell if it works.

Personally, I see money as a rudimentary system of enslavement that rapes the Earth and turns a cold shoulder to the ninety-nine percent. It corrupts and retards progress. It shapes our preferences and loyalties. It treats the average human as a selfish child and punishes us as if necessity equals petty greed. It places blinders on our future and distracts our ability to be present in the moment. But it is a fact of life that must be faced. Hating the system does little to change it or survive it.

Most do not make seventy-thousand a year. Many in this world make less than two dollars a day. This means most of us will be happier, healthier people if we learn to maximize the value of our resources. Outside of making more money, there are ways to make more out of the money we do have. This series of posts discusses my father's insights; make use of those that apply.