There are certainly risks, but these are to vendors I consider to be reliable, e.g. doctors ... and they're really expecting checks (many more "vendors" directl

There are certainly risks, but these are to vendors I consider to be reliable, e.g. doctors ... and they're really expecting checks (many more "vendors" directly draw from one of my checking accounts). I also have more trust in my banks than Knuth seems to have ... and I indeed keep a fairly low amount of cash in those checking accounts.