Comment by gblargg
15 days ago
With cash: you must have the money when you make the purchase.
With card: you can set the cash aside at the time of purchase to pay when the card bill is due.
How does the card give you less flexibility or make it harder to pay for?
With cash you can't overcommit - you can only spend what you have - with card you can. If you are poor, overcommitting is very tempting as otherwise you will be going without things you need/want. But that temptation leads to debt.
True, cash is good if you lack discipline. For such a person, more flexibility leads to less because they misuse it in a way that reduces flexibility. It's a footgun for these people.