For the past 38 years I have had a checking account from which
I wrote checks – numbered slips of paper redeemable for dollars.
I have kept a check register for 37 and 5/8 of those years.
Yes, I feel kind of foolish.
One mitigating factor is that for the last 20 years I haven’t
calculated balances on the register, merely writing the check payee, amount,
date, and check number as a reminder where the money was spent.
Now I write maybe five checks a month if I’m lucky. I can
check the balance of the account on my phone. I can see a photo of the canceled
checks a day or two after they are cashed.
I finally feel justified in letting the check register go
the way of the video store.
Still, every time I write a check and don’t use the register,
I feel a pang of guilt or regret or something, like how did I ever live so long
to become the Old Guy who prattles on about the way things used to be.
I just paid my gutter cleaners with Venmo.
I use Apple Pay every chance I get because the effort to
take my credit card out of my wallet now feels like running a marathon.
My kids will never know an age without on-line banking.
Do traveler checks still exist?
Back in the day I had the experience of having a checkbook
stolen and checks forged – I lost that money. Now I have a wallet that
supposedly
blocks
RFID scanners trying to pick up my credit card numbers. I can’t get too
worked up about this, as if my card gets hacked the bank is liable for the
theft.
To sum things up, I’m pretty happy not to write so many
checks.
