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A generation or so ago, the path to financial freedom was pretty direct for most. You found a job and saved for a home and a rainy day. When it was time to retire, you collected from a pension and enjoyed your remaining twilight years. Over time, things have drifted away from womb-to-tomb employment and gotten a lot more complicated. Today’s Americans have to be much more proactive with their finances. In this day and age, saving isn’t enough. Make sure your money is working as hard as you work for it.

There are a lot of concerns for the future. Buying a home. Sending kids to college. Making sure that your current career will be around to see you to retirement. People are living longer, so their retirement money has to go farther. Many high costs associated with medical care aren’t covered by Medicare, such as many prescriptions and long-term care. Pensions are no longer viable option for most Americans, and Social Security, a program that was never intended to replace income, no longer provides the level of security people need for their future. There’s a lot to prepare for.

Due to these concerns on the path to financial independence, people need to be mindful of their money. Even the most conservative Americans need to do more than contribute to a standard savings account, which can’t keep up with the rate of inflation. Investing your money will grow it exponentially faster than simply saving due to the power of compound interest. Yet, preparing for the future can be very emotional work. Today’s retirement planning relies far more on the decisions made by an individual rather than a company or organization, which can be a lot of pressure. Fears of not having enough money, a very common concern, can cloud decisions and can prompt people to react rather than plan. This is why an objective third party is necessary. Financial advisors can see past the emotions and help you plan your path to your financial freedom.

In this day and age, there are real and unique concerns that can derail you from the path to your financial independence. Trilogy Financial is here to help you establish your goals and invest your money to help get you where you want to go. It is our mission to ensure that every American, from Main Street to Wall Street, has access to great planning and the tools to establish their financial independence.

Do you remember Veruca Salt, the spoiled rich girl from the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? You know, the girl who yells at her father, “I want it now!” And her clueless, abiding father would get her whatever she wanted, which consequently did more harm than good.

Well, we all have one of those fathers. Not the one that we buy a Father’s Day card for every year, but one that we carry in our wallet. One that typically says yes to whatever we want to buy, regardless of how that may spoil our budget, or worse, our credit score. It’s called a credit card.

Please understand, I am not calling you spoiled or demanding. However, in this instantaneous age, it’s very easy to spend impulsively or unconsciously. How many of us have gone to Target to purchase one or two items and ended up walking out with a full cart? How many of us have passed some idle time perusing one of our favorite online vendors, one who may even have our credit card information stored in their system? We may have had no intention to buy when we got on the site, but when we spot a good “deal,” it only takes a few quick clicks to make it ours.

You see, it happens a lot more often than you think. Study after study has shown that people will spend more money when they use credit cards than when they use cash, sometimes as much as twice the average cost for the same item1. Not only does the method of payment affect the quantity, it can also affect quality, with consumers willing to purchase unhealthy or unnecessary items when paying with a credit card as opposed to cash2.

The convenience of clicking or swiping to purchase, rather than handing over tangible cash, has spurred on overspending and racked up national credit card debt to $905 billion3. The truth of the matter is that we have lost sight of the fact that credit cards are essentially a thirty-day loan, which is becoming more and more apparent with the younger generations. Based on Experian’s Millennial Credit and Finance Survey Report Part II, 58 percent of millennial credit card holders polled in 2015 had maxed out a credit card, been charged a late fee, had an increase in the interest rate on a credit card, had a credit card declined or had defaulted on a credit card payment4. Financial behaviors like these can wreak a lot of havoc on a young person’s credit score and financial future. Such a small, seemingly innocent looking piece of plastic can do a lot of damage.

Now I am in no way advocating a credit-free lifestyle. Not only are credit cards a convenient way to build up your credit score, but many cards offer rewards programs where users can earn discounts, airline mileage and cash back. Most importantly, though, there are an increasing amount of vendors that no longer accept cash. This is not simply limited to online purchases. Have you ever tried leaving an airport parking lot or paying to access a toll road with cash? In most places, it is nearly impossible.

What I am saying is we need to start being a bit more mindful with our money, a bit more critical of how we spend. I mentioned the perks of credit cards rewards programs earlier. How many of us, though, have actually stopped to determine how much those perks really cost once you start adding up interest and impulse purchases? If switching over to cash purchases helps us become a bit more mindful with our money, then so be it.

Before you end up with a pile of debt and regret.

1. https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/credit-cards-make-you-spend-more/

2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-behind-behavior/201607/does-it-matter-whether-you-pay-cash-or-credit-card

3. https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/average-credit-card-debt-household/

4. https://www.slideshare.net/Experian_US/experian-millennial-credit-finance-survey-report-part-ii