I use cash when I make physical purchases at stores, and debit cards for online purchases. People think they are doing good with credit cards because of the cash back, but sooner or later they will forget or be unable to pay a bill on time, and then they'll end up paying more than what they get back, as well as start getting into debt which will be very hard to get out of. I have two debit cards that give me cash back for purchases, so I can remain debt free and get bonuses!
No, forgetting or unable to pay a bill doesn't happen to everybody, it hasn't happened to me in over 30 years. I check my credit card on line and pay on line directly from my bank account 2 or 3 times a month. I don't just pay the amount necessary to prevent interest charges, I pay the full amount, so I'm always ahead of the game.
I use the Discover card, and I use it for every possible purchase. Right now they have a special deal where you get 5% cash back for gasoline purchases, that gets me at least $10 a month cash back for fuel purchases for 3 months. In September I'll have to pay city taxes for my own rental property and one of my brother's rental properties that I manage. That city accepts the Discover card and the total taxes will be over $2000. Even at 1% cash back, that will add another $20 to my September reward. If I go on vacation, I charge everything, airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, meals, gasoline and all other purchases. I use that card for everything, appliances, electronics, furniture, groceries, I even tried to use it to help pay for cars, but they wouldn't accept a credit card for a car purchase. There have been months (not very many) when I made over $100 on cash back bonuses. Of course it makes it easier if you have a comfortable limit on your card, Discover allows me a limit of $12,700, my Visa allows me a limit of $12,000, but I only use my Visa when there are purchases that don't accept Discover.
You're one of the rare ones for sure. You obviously have a comfortable income, if you're not actually wealthy, so it's probably easier for you to stay on top of things. But for a lot of people, who live in less affluent circumstances, having a credit card is the beginning of a downward spiral. Actually if you listen to Dave Ramsey's show, he can tell a ton of stories about people getting into crushing debt even with large incomes.
You're making a few presumptous assumptions, it's not a matter of wealth, it's a matter of life-style choices.
No, I'm not wealthy, absolutely not, if I were wealthy, I wouldn't be on this site for a few extra bucks. As I said in another posting, I retired at age 57, live off of my military retirement pay (US Army), rental income from my second property and my wife has a part time job, even though I made it clear to her that she didn't need to work. My income is maybe average, probably even modest, however, I don't have any rental payments, mortgage payments, own two cars without any car payments, and have no other debts. I don't know who Dave Ramsey is because I don't use any TV service provider, I get my news on the internet, TV here in the US drove me crazy anyway because there's 18 minutes of TV and 12 minutes of commercials. I don't have a phone, I use Magic Jack, I don't need a cell phone. We, myself and my wife, only use our clothes dryer in emergencies, we hang up our clothes to dry. We usually don't use our dishwasher, we wash by hand. We only use our air conditioner when it gets really uncomfortable, this year I could hear our neighbor's air conditioners on for over a month before we started using ours. My electical bill is 1/4 to 1/2 of what my neighbors pay and my water bill is about half, and, yes, we shower every day. Guess what kind of financial attitude allowed me to pay off 2 mortages and pay cash for 2 cars that put me in this financial position in the first place? I really never found it that hard to do, even with a modest income.
You might not have any idea of how little money you need on a monthly basis when you have no home, car or debt payments. I suppose my wife and I are unusual, I know we're unusual for the US. She's European and I've lived over there for many, many years. People over there are just more frugal than people in the US, although I find the life-style much more comfortable in Europe than it is here in the US. As far as I'm concerned you people just waste money over here, you make the wrong financial choices and then you cry about your debts. However, in spite of a modest income, we're able to save at least $1000 a month, some months we can set aside over $2000.