I Have a Chequebook Somewhere

Somewhere in a drawer

I have a chequebook somewhere.

I'm just not exactly sure where.

It used to live in the top drawer of my desk.

Now it's probably buried in a filing cabinet, packed inside a moving box, or tucked into the back of a closet.

The last cheque I clearly remember writing wasn't to pay anyone.

I wrote one word across the front.

"VOID."

The bank needed it so my pay could be deposited automatically.

That may have been the last useful thing my chequebook ever did.

I never decided to stop

There wasn't a final cheque.

There wasn't a moment when I announced I was finished with them.

My pay began arriving by direct deposit.

Bills moved to automatic withdrawal.

Friends started asking for e-transfers.

The chequebook stayed in the drawer a little longer each time.

Eventually, I stopped opening the drawer.

Nothing was wrong with it

The chequebook didn't fail.

It didn't become useless overnight.

Something easier gradually took its place.

That made me wonder how many financial habits stay with us for the opposite reason.

Not because they still work well.

Because nothing has forced us to reconsider them.

The habits we stop questioning

It is easy to leave money sitting in a chequing account because that is where it has always been.

It is easy to avoid investing because it once seemed complicated.

It is easy to renew the same insurance, bank account, or financial product without checking whether it still fits.

None of those choices begin as obvious mistakes.

They simply become familiar.

Familiar is not the same as useful

I don't think every new financial product deserves attention.

Some deserve to disappear as quickly as they arrived.

But familiarity is not proof that something still makes sense.

Every so often, I try to ask myself one question.

"If I were starting from scratch today, would I still do it this way?"

The drawer

I'll probably find that old chequebook someday.

I doubt I'll throw it away.

Not because I expect to use it again.

Every now and then I think about that drawer.

Not because of what's inside it.

Because it makes me wonder what else in my financial life I've stopped opening.