True, money is a means to doing things. Things like paying for an unexpected extended hospitalization. Or a new refrigerator when the old one dies. Or a new

True, money is a means to doing things. Things like paying for an unexpected extended hospitalization. Or a new refrigerator when the old one dies. Or a new roof when a tornado plays peekaboo with your attic. Or a new vehicle when someone slams into your old one. Or for that matter, putting food on the table when you're 79 years old and really don't want to do the whole 9-to-5 thing anymore. While it's true that you can pay for most of those things with a credit card and make monthly payments, may I be so presumptuous as to point out that if you made those monthly payments before you incurred the charges--i.e., put the money into a savings account, even one earning only a quarter of a percent in interest--then when you pay the bill, you pay only 100% of the charges. If you wait until after you incur the charges, and make payments on your credit card, you're going to pay 120% or more of the charges. Saving money with a near-nil interest rate may be a huge waste of money, but not saving it, and having to pay finance charges when high-ticket items need to be paid for is an even huger waste.