What’s in Your Wallet? Probably 22 Dollars.

Do you carry cash?  Business Week says there's $1.2 Trillion in cash in circulation right now, but it sure seems like no one ever has much.  Let's see if we're in the norm.

I had $16 in my wallet last week, but that fluttered away when I needed to tip my manicurist.  Now I'm back down to $0 in cash, and that's actually where I like it.  For some reason I think of cash as free money and I can spend away, and withdrawing from my bank account with a debit card is more painful, like it sucks out something that should be saved instead.  I guess it's a good mind game?  Maybe I'm just nuts.

The average person carries $22 in cash, and one in five people will carry $100 or more. Only five percent those that carry $100 or more have an actual $100 bill.

Guess which bill is the most common to carry?  It's the $20.  The one that everyone always pays with at cash-only functions, and that poor gal that's making change always runs out of $1's and $5's.

So, what do you use cash for?  Movie tickets?  Pizza?  Low-priced items at the store?

Rather than how much cash we have in our wallets, maybe a more interesting question would be how long it stays in there?  It is the weekend after all.  We'll probably be a little lighter in the wallet by Monday.