Hoarding cash in a cashless society

Australians have been hoarding cash, particularly through the first year of Covid-19, despite forecasts that we will be a 98% cashless society by 2024. Even if this prediction from global payments giant FIS comes to pass, some 540,000 Australians will still prefer to use cash. You may recall a flurry of news stories on this topic in March. The research commented on the effect of a de facto ban on cash during the first year…

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No interest at all

Though the headline might put you off, we must ask: why are interest rates dropping, who does it affect and where will it all end? Few people would be unaware that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) dropped the official cash rate to 1.50% on August 2, the lowest rate since records have been kept. The supposed reason is to stimulate the economy (that is, to encourage spending and borrowing). It is theoretically OK to…

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