Chequebooks bad; online banking good

I don’t know how to balance my chequebook.

In fact, I don’t even have a chequebook.

Nor do I know anyone my age that does have a chequebook. And if they did have one, they wouldn’t know how to balance it either.

Is this lack of chequebooks a sign of my generation’s fiscal irresponsibility? Or is it merely a sign that technology has taken over the world of money? Like many people I know, I do the majority of my banking online. Every few weeks I look at both my bank accounts from the comfort of my own home and one of two things happen: A) I smile and let out a little sigh of relief when I realize I have enough money to cover my credit card bill or B) I freak out when I realize I don’t have as much moola as I previously thought.

Am I giving you the impression that I am irresponsible with money? Don’t worry; you are not alone if you believe Generation Y (anyone born from the mid 1980’s to the early 1990’s) is incapable of handling their own money responsibly. You may even be right. A study for St. George’s bank in Australia showed one in four Generation Y-ers do not budget or save their money, as noted recently in the Edmonton Journal. Maybe this study shows that my generation doesn’t bother to think about their long-term financial well-being.

However, it’s likely the study did not take into account that Generation Y-ers think about money in a different way than their parents and grandparents. We don’t need a balanced chequebook to tell us how much money we have in the bank. We are capable of being constantly aware of our financial situation because of a genius, environmentally-friendly invention called online banking. While older generations seem to fear any technological advancement in banking such as ATMs, debit cards and online bank statements, Generation Y has learned to embrace the idea of no longer being a slave to an ugly, cumbersome chequebook.

Online banking has made chequebooks unnecessary, if not completely obsolete. For one thing, I have enough crap to carry around in my purse; I don’t need anything else cluttering up my handbag. Online banking is also more convenient. As a writer, I spend approximately one-half of my time at my desk, starting at a computer. Other people in Gen Y do this too but most of them have no such excuse for spending half their time hunched over a laptop. Still, between laptops and Smartphones, most of my generation has easy access to the internet at all times, which makes online banking a breeze. And most banks have their websites set up to make customers jump through a series of online hoops to access their accounts.

Another reason Gen Y prefers online banking is that checking your account online is not only faster than going to the bank, it allows us to avoid all human contact while dealing with our money. It’s not that we don’t enjoy the company of the bank teller and every other person sneezing and coughing in the bank line-up, it’s just that we enjoy our own company more. We’re busy people. Besides, staying at home to bank online is much more pleasant than getting a H1N1 flu shot, I imagine.

But the best reason for using the online banking system that every major bank offers is that online banking is more environmentally-friendly. Anyone who sets up an online bank account can check their balance and do transactions online. This eliminates the millions (if not billions) of little paper receipts that are given out not only at the bank teller but also after every ATM transaction. Some banks also allow customers to sign up for e-statements, meaning that they won’t receive a huge, bulking paper statement in a thick envelope every month. Banking online is a small but easy step in reducing the amount of paper we waste every day.

Generation Y’s refusal to bend to old conventions, such as owning and balancing a chequebook, is not just another thing we do in an attempt not to grow up to be our parents; our lack of chequebook prowess is also a way for Gen Y to fight the continuation of Gen X’s horrific complacency with unnecessary paper waste. This does not mean we are burying our heads in the proverbial sand when it comes to our financial situation; it means we are taking small steps towards saving our planet. Join us, won’t you?