The Best Credit Card Is No Credit Card At All

Since spending and saving money is indistinguishable from your other online activities, it's worth the occasional detour to talk about it.

That's why we like to reference the Jean Shepard short story collection, In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash.

That title is also our philosophy when it comes to money.

When possible, you should make all of your financial transactions in cash.

Cash is important in a world where companies and governments want to erect barriers around your activity, using things like Digital Drivers Licenses (dDLs.)

What's great about cash is that someone can't just turn off your access to it.

Or make you verify your identity before you can use it.

Or use the information surrounding your financial purchase to potentially charge you more in the future.

Cash just is.

Like Darkseid.

So, here are three more things I believe to be true:

1. All because it's natural, doesn't mean it's good for you. Sugar, Caffeine, weed? All fun, but also bad without moderation. (In my case, marijuana helped get me through the pandemic. But I've cut way back on its use since then.)
2. Any time an insurance company denies your claim, you should absolutely appeal it. Most people don't. ProPublica has a great, free tool that you can use to appeal an insurance company's decision.
3. There's no such thing as good debt. All debt is bad. But. Don't feel shame for having debt. If you live in America, the game is rigged against you. Money also does not define success. Do not let how much or how little you have, or how much debt you have, define your life. Or how you perceive yourself.

You're doing the best you can while living through the Second Gilded Age.

Privacy Tip: Avoid All Credit Cards & Buy Now, Pay Later Scams

Buy Now, Pay Later arrangements, like credit cards are a scam. Full Stop.

Generally speaking, if you don't have the cash, don't buy it.

And if you're in a true emergency, and you're using Buy Now, Pay Later to pay for groceries? Yes. You should do what you need to do.

But.

If you're hurting that badly, and a lot of us are, it's important to exhaust all your other options first.

If that means going to the local Food Pantry? You can and should do that before doing a Buy Now, Pay Later arrangement.

Buy Now, Pay Later seem reasonable, until you miss a payment. Then they mess up your credit and hit you with fees.

Or if you find yourself constantly using these services, they can make you lose track of where your money is going each month.

This second part will be a little more controversial.

I don't think anyone should have a credit card.

There are few instances in life where someone is going to tell you no if you show up with a big bag filled with money.

But.

If you disagree — and that's ok if you do — here's what I suggest:

Get a secured Credit Card, which is funded with your own money, buy something for less than ten dollars, and then immediately pay it off.

Rinse and Repeat once a month.

If you want to use it for online transactions? Shield your credit card — and all other cards — using Privacy.com. We'll talk more about them in a future post.

Like a lot of the wellness people selling "natural" remedies, lots of financial people giving credit card advice also have something to sell you something.

Always be mindful of where your advice comes from.

And always read the fine print.

Lots of companies want to offer you perks, but (usually) the greater the credit card perks, the more you're going to pay in terms of fees and interest.

If you insist on having a "normal" credit card ...

My advice would be to go to your local credit union — We'll talk about why you should take your money out of the big commercial banks later — and see what the Credit Union is offering.

-BJ