Researchers have found the flu virus can live up to three days on paper money. Is that enough information to make you want to give up carrying paper money? Who needs a wallet and all that change? It costs more to make a coin mow than it is worth. In fact 90% of all transactions are not using paper money anymore. At least for rich people.

The waitress, the bellhop, the bartender the homeless guy, the stripper, the babysitter, well they all would still like to have a few bucks just given to them. Have you ever smelled money? It stinks and you really don’t know where it has been. See for yourself. Gather up your cash put it in a bag open that bag after a week and you can faint. Imagine the germs.

There is new technology out there that the girl scouts figured out in how to transact money that most stores haven’t caught on to yet. Those kids are making transactions with their smart phone. They don’t need no giant cash register. So, can paper money become a relic of a by gone era? Most banking and paychecks are being direct deposited directly into an account. Foe some, they never even get to see the money they earn.

These days you only need cash for the tooth fairy. Face it, money is simply a series of digits on your computer screen or written in a paper statement. There will be a time when physical money will cease to exist. The beginning of the end for paper money began with the invention of plastic transactions. Yes your various types of credit and debit cards you are swiping daily even for the purchase of a candy bar.

Credit cards were invented about 50 years ago and soon everyone will be swiping their own cards on their smart phones. Think about it , taxi’s, parking meters, tolls things you used to need cash for have switched to the option of card swiping now. In the near future cash will not be here. We could probably get rid of those bucks already.

Author David Wolman writes in his book “The End of Money” just why we don’t need cash anymore. Cash has become too costly to manage. It is really expensive to move it, store it, secure it , inspect it, shred it, redesign it, resupply it and it is an endless process. Make all banks coffee shops already. Where is my phone? Is it charged?

Cash is also the currency of crime. Bank robberies, drug dealers, bribes all use currency. So many merchants have switched to simply having a I Pad and you have a smart phone and a new App called Card Case. Essentially a digital wallet for you. You can register and create a virtual tab right on your phone of your favorite merchants. Now you don’t even need a wallet or a credit card you don’t even have to pull out your phone.

Instead, your photo pops up on the merchants I Pad they type in the transaction amount and the money is deducted from the bank account of your choosing. If you need to pay for something remotely say for that little girl’s cookies; there is a company that invented ”Square” a gizmo that clips into the top of your phone where you can swipe any card and plus or minus transactions right into your I Pad or phone. Hey no more coin belt on the Ice Cream Man. Wow he is gone too.

Can my bank account still be safe with all the transactions going in and out? Well, every transaction has your photo next to your name for instant verification that it is you using that card. And it is not just “Square” that is doing commerce this way. Everyone from Apple to Google to Visa and most major banks like Citibank, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are looking to change the way we pay.

So, the number of mobile money transactions are increasing. Pay Pal went from $140 Million dollars they processed in 2009 to $750 Million dollars in 2010 to $4 Billion dollars in 2011 and expect to see $7 Billion in transactions this year. Pay Pal believes that digital wallets are the future of shopping.

No cash necessary anymore; just a mobile device that can combine all your credit and checking accounts along with coupons and other offers. Yeah, try it out and donate to my blog you just read. Now your kid can’t forget to take his lunch money to school. Just swipe the phone kids. Yes, times have changed with no change involved.