I finally understood why my grandpa kept saying 'cash is king' after reading that article about the Silicon Valley Bank collapse

I was scrolling through some business news last week and saw this piece about how SVB had all this money tied up in long term bonds. It hit me that my grandpa, who ran a hardware store in Ohio for 40 years, always kept a bunch of cash in a safe at the shop. He'd say 'you can't pay your guys with promises.' I guess having liquid cash on hand really does matter when things go sideways. Has anyone else run into a situation where having cash saved your business?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_martinez1mo ago

Ha, grandpas really were onto something with that whole "mattress bank" strategy.

charlie_ellis1mo ago

@thomas_martinez no kidding, right? Had a landscaping biz in 2008 and kept a couple months of payroll in a lockbox. When clients started paying late, that cash kept us going while everyone else folded.

morgan.logan26d ago

Ah man, that lockbox move was pure genius! Having that cash buffer is the only reason I survived the slow payers back in '09, just make sure you're not sitting on so much that it's losing value to inflation.