Anyone's parents do this with their money instead of a bank?

[GON]

Anyone else ever seen this with their parents?

Many years ago, I would frequent a restaurant in Fayetteville, NC run by a Korean immigrant. This man worked really hard and didn't believe in banks. He hid his hard-earned money all over his apartment. One day while he was at work at his restaurant his apartment caught on fire. Felt really bad for the guy.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

My parents and grandmothers (grandfathers all passed before I was born) all believed in banks, even before my Dad became an Army Finance Officer. He helped implement the original voluntary Army direct deposit program. Grandmothers lived in somewhat dicey neighborhoods, so a bank and a checkbook was always safer than cash. One grandmother rented out sleeping rooms and apartments, so she seldom kept cash very long at her house. She also walked by at least two banks on the way to her place of employment, making the safety of a bank an easy decision.

No one mentioned losing any money deposited in banks during the depression, so I assume no one lost money due to bank runs, etc at that time.

 

[Drifter]

Fire proof safe/box might have prevented the loss. I keep a stash on hand.

 

[tom slick]

The Money is in the Banana Stand!

 

[dubber09]

High values - precious metals, never cash, cash value always depreciates.

 

[walterjay]

I remember one customer in particular who lived in the woods. I finished a job for him. Handing him the bill he disappeared into the woods for about 10 minutes. He came back with somewhat damp cash that smelled of earth. I guess he kept his money buried out back.

 

[GON]

My parents and grandmothers (grandfathers all passed before I was born) all believed in banks, even before my Dad became an Army Finance Officer. He helped implement the original voluntary Army direct deposit program. Grandmothers lived in somewhat dicey neighborhoods, so a bank and a checkbook was always safer than cash. One grandmother rented out sleeping rooms and apartments, so she seldom kept cash very long at her house. She also walked by at least two banks on the way to her place of employment, making the safety of a bank an easy decision.

No one mentioned losing any money deposited in banks during the depression, so I assume no one lost money due to bank runs, etc at that time.

I have and am currently working in a country that the government does not constitutionally guarantee bank deposits. The banks in some of these nations may be guaranteed by insurance, but risk may be present.

With the devaluation of the dollar- keeping cash at home is a losing proposition today. In the last century also a losing proposition, but not as bad as we are experiencing today- when tracked against real estate prices.

Interesting opinion piece from Jack McPherrin and Justin Haskins:

Is a system that would sacrifice the wealth of individual investors to protect financial institutions worth protecting?​

"" When the financial system is operating normally, customers are rarely impacted by these arrangements, which is why most people don’t know about them. But if there is a financial crash similar to the one that occurred in 2008 or larger, it could trigger a widespread confiscation of wealth, unlike anything America has ever seen before.

The reason this is possible is because under the UCC, protected creditors to investment intermediaries, such as large banks, are given priority to the securities held on behalf of customers by intermediaries, such as a stockbroker. Examples of a securities intermediary include Fidelity and Merrill Lynch.""
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/you...ancial-crash-unless-others-follow-states-lead

 

[Wrenchturner44]

Ok, true story supposedly as told to me by a close friend of mine. His brother worked for a Chicago contractor while in high school and early college years. Contractor retired and sold his business in Chicago. Time frame was late 80's or so. He moved to Florida with his wife and bought a small motel .......yes motel, not hotel. The couple lived on the property and served mainly one-night stay guests.

Nightly rate was substantially discounted to those patrons whom paid in cash.

My friend's brother went to see this fellow while he had a layover in city nearby. There had been a weather delay due to reoccurring storms so the whole area had received a lot of rain. My friend arrived at the motel property in question and was greeted by his wife. She advised my friend that the property owner was in another area of the motel property that had a partial sub basement or storage area and to go there to meet the owner. He walked across the property to the area and entered the door to this location. He found the owner hanging up 10s, 20s, 50s, and 100s on paper clips that had been previously stored in shoeboxes that were now all water logged. He had multiple, multiple strings hanging from the floor joists with lots of wet currency hanging from them.

Apparently he did not use a bank to deposit his currency.

Sidebar; FYI.....regarding data of the unbanked U.S. population

https://usafacts.org/articles/who-is-unbanked-in-the-us/

 

[GON]

Ok, true story supposedly as told to me by a close friend of mine. His brother worked for a Chicago contractor while in high school and early college years. Contractor retired and sold his business in Chicago. Time frame was late 80's or so. He moved to Florida with his wife and bought a small motel .......yes motel, not hotel. The couple lived on the property and served mainly one-night stay guests.

Nightly rate was substantially discounted to those patrons whom paid in cash.

My friend's brother went to see this fellow while he had a layover in city nearby. There had been a weather delay due to reoccurring storms so the whole area had received a lot of rain. My friend arrived at the motel property in question and was greeted by his wife. She advised my friend that the property owner was in another area of the motel property that had a partial sub basement or storage area and to go there to meet the owner. He walked across the property to the area and entered the door to this location. He found the owner hanging up 10s, 20s, 50s, and 100s on paper clips that had been previously stored in shoeboxes that were now all water logged. He had multiple, multiple strings hanging from the floor joists with lots of wet currency hanging from them.

Apparently he did not use a bank to deposit his currency.

Sidebar; FYI.....regarding data of the unbanked U.S. population

https://usafacts.org/articles/who-is-unbanked-in-the-us/

Thanks for sharing the story. I wonder if this is more common than thought? I suspect the devaluation of the dollar makes the cash hording practice a bad value proposition.

Over the past century, a handful of nations have cancelled their currency to "get even" with cash hoarders that have bypassed taxes, and other reasons such as currency printing.

 

[GON]

Sidebar; FYI.....regarding data of the unbanked U.S. population

https://usafacts.org/articles/who-is-unbanked-in-the-us/

I suspect with credit cards and banks be essentially required to conduct the vast majority of transactions in the U.S. today, those without a bank and credit card pay a lopsided premium for prepaid debit cards, money orders, etc. Last century, this was not the case.

The fees consumers often pay associated with secured credit cards are almost always multiples paid by consumers with unsecured credit cards. Never made sense to me........

 

[Wrenchturner44]

Thanks for sharing the story. I wonder if this is more common than thought? I suspect the devaluation of the dollar makes the cash hording practice a bad value proposition.

Over the past century, a handful of nations have cancelled their currency to "get even" with cash hoarders that have bypassed taxes, and other reasons such as currency printing.

GON, I agree with you 100%. Personally I operate mostly at the other end of the spectrum with no cash, as I am sure many people do in this day of age.

 

[CKN]

GON, I agree with you 100%. Personally I operate mostly at the other end of the spectrum with no cash, as I am sure many people do in this day of age.

I'm looking at a $900.00plus rebate on my Costco credit card. Why would I bother with cash? Play the game to win.....

 

[John105]

We went to one of our favorite restaurants today across the river, who takes only cash. I need to ask my 10 y.o. to stay silent because he's at that age where the wait staff will take an order from him, and he goes for the $57 dish on the menu. But I had to ask my wife, do you have cash I'm just not sure what I have. Check was $105 and yes I had the $130 needed in my wallet and then some, so I was good. But just in case. I don't usually deal with cash and I have no idea what's in my wallet. I just know that 2 years ago I had about $1,000 in it. Only because someone paid me $700 in cash. I don't like cash because it's easily lost, and it's usually not accounted for electronically.

What I do find annoying? Is the lack of 99.999% access to our accounts online. They're down for maintenance often, and I'd estimate about 85% uptime.

 

[GON]

We went to one of our favorite restaurants today across the river, who takes only cash. I need to ask my 10 y.o. to stay silent because he's at that age where the wait staff will take an order from him, and he goes for the $57 dish on the menu. But I had to ask my wife, do you have cash I'm just not sure what I have. Check was $105 and yes I had the $130 needed in my wallet and then some, so I was good. But just in case. I don't usually deal with cash and I have no idea what's in my wallet. I just know that 2 years ago I had about $1,000 in it. Only because someone paid me $700 in cash. I don't like cash because it's easily lost, and it's usually not accounted for electronically.

What I do find annoying? Is the lack of 99.999% access to our accounts online. They're down for maintenance often, and I'd estimate about 85% uptime.

David Portney assessment is that a pizza place that only accepts cash is often an outstanding pizza place.

 

[Chris142]

No. They kept $$ in a bank.My dad was forced into early retirement by the company he worked for for decades . He panicked and invested $250k .... All his life savings. ... Eggs all in 1 basket and immediately lost all of it.

 

[wwillson]

Anyone else ever seen this with their parents?

My parents traded their money for dirt. Good Iowa agricultural dirt.

 

[GON]

No. They kept $$ in a bank.My dad was forced into early retirement by the company he worked for for decades . He panicked and invested $250k .... All his life savings. ... Eggs all in 1 basket and immediately lost all of it.

Sorry, that happened to your dad. I think that happens more than is often discussed.

I read this article yesterday:

‘I have no money’: Thousands of Americans see their savings vanish in Synapse fintech crisis​

• Thousands of Americans will receive little or nothing from savings accounts that were locked during the collapse of fintech middleman Synapse.
• Customers believed the accounts were backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
• CNBC spoke to a dozen customers caught in the predicament, people who have lost sums ranging from $7,000 to well over $200,000.
• While there’s not yet a full tally of those left shortchanged, at fintech Yotta alone, 13,725 customers say they are being offered a combined $11.8 million despite putting in $64.9 million in deposits.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/22/syn...ds-of-americans-see-their-savings-vanish.html