Dear Readers,
A brief article on the evolution of technology, money and its effects on us.
Our regular monthly article “Points to Ponder” will follow shortly. Happy reading.
New wonderful technologies and the battle to take your money off you, new and easy ways of spending it, and the future of money itself ….
I was intrigued by Edward Ho’s (thanks Ed) link to an article discussing “Amex wants your phone to be your wallet”. I made a brief comment on LinkedIn on 15/08 (http://tinyurl.com/mb9sdot)
A few more thoughts came to my mind;
The ‘wave’ and ‘pass’ of your plastic (our Credit & Debit Cards) is now passé
There is now talk of ‘plastic’ itself becoming extinct.
‘Biometrics’ is the new buzzword
Will Iphone5 have fingerprint readers?
Are other phone makers far behind this path, if not ahead?
Your watch, ring, any other ‘accessory’ will do, why just your phone?
We are talking about MONEY here, our ‘Hard Earned’, ‘After Tax’ leftover bits we call ‘Net Income or Salary’.
As we have said in earlier articles (August 2012 Blog – “What is Money”), thousands of years ago there was barter system of exchange (I have surplus cows, you have surplus grain, let us exchange). Over time, barter evolved into a more efficient system where gold & silver become the standard of exchange – The Currency.
Economies evolved from communities, to villages, to towns, to cities, to kingdoms ……Time and distance complicated trade and commerce and eventually political power started to dominate economic power. Rulers, Kings, Emperors and eventually Governments monopolised the creation, administration, supply and control of Money.
This is money by ‘Fiat’, and it soon evolved into ‘Paper Money’ – Currency denominated mostly in paper notes, which we call paper money.
Money, and its sibling, Credit then transferred into electronic ‘Bits & Bytes’, parking itself in ‘ether’ (thin Air) – It can now have no physical form (not even paper) – And unimaginable amounts, Trillions, (how many zeroes in a trillion, anyone?) moves around the globe every hour of every day …..
Money is now ‘Bits & Bytes’, electronic information, embedded into pieces of plastic cards (our Credit & Debit Cards), which are used, and money transacted, by being authenticated (verified) in various forms – Signature, PIN, Wave, Pass, etc.
This is our money, our means of exchange to buy and trade – to essentially survive and prosper – transforming itself from a physical form (first Commodities, then Gold & Silver, then Paper) to electronic ‘blips’ in ether……
We have some contrarian thoughts to share with you;
Many of us are already drowning in debt (spend first, pay later).
The temptation to ‘Have, Possess, Buy, Own’ stuff (things, toys – call it what you want) is inescapable, right in your face, everywhere we go.
The means of exchange (pay money, get goods or services) is becoming almost unconscious.
What damage can this do to our ‘Cash Flows’ and ‘Balance Sheets’?
What about Security, Misuse, Privacy, Fraud, mistaken identity, Disputes, etc.?
Looking at the Macro picture, what effect can these developments have on our ‘already creaking and jaded’ national and global banking systems?
What about long term viability, integrity, feasibility of our current concept of ‘Fiat’ money?
And the ‘monopoly & control’ of money by our governments?
Are we seeing new forms of ‘Money’ emerging?
Will they emerge from ‘We the People’, ‘Private Enterprise’ and the ‘Free Market’?
Will they be allowed to compete with current ‘Fiat’ money systems in place?
A lot of ideas to think about. Let me throw the field open to you. What are your thoughts on all of this?
What is your experience?
Come, join the discussion, and share your ideas & experiences …….
I look forward to your opinion, counter argument, response, constructive criticism, feedback, etc.
Hari
harionmoney 