To Las Vegas Or Monaco, ABBA Gets Vocal About Dislike Of Cash

You work all night, work all day, pay the bills you have to pay, but former ABBA member Björn Ulvaeus no longer thinks it’s too bad if you don’t have any pennies leftover.

Ulvaeus has gone on to a number of other high-profile gigs after the band’s breakup, including consulting for ABBA The Museum, composing hit musicals like “Mamma Mia!” and producing the Hollywood film of the same name. He is no stranger to the rich man’s life, with an estimated net worth of $120 million.

But, despite the real-world cash he and his band touted in hits like “Money, Money, Money,” the singer no longer sees any value in paper currency.

The 68-year-old star spoke to airline provider easyJet.com about his travel habits, current trends in the music industry and his relationship with the other former members of the Swedish supergroup. However, it was his comments about currency that caught our attention.

“I never travel without my credit cards and my passport,” Ulvaeus told the airline provider. “No cash, I don’t use that anymore – it’s hopelessly old-fashioned.”

Ulvaeus continued his disparaging remarks against paper currency, saying that “only burglars and Mafiosos need cash.” Like many of his fellow countrymen, Ulvaeus foresees that we’ll all be living in a cashless future soon enough.

News outlets like The Daily Mail have predicted that Sweden, the first country to introduce paper bank notes, will also be the first nation to continue their economy without them by embracing mobile wallets and other high-tech alternatives.

According to the U.K. news source, many Swiss busses no longer accept cash for tickets, and some interview subjects said they have even visited entire towns in the country that don’t accept cash. But is Ulvaeus as forward-thinking in this matter as his pop music skills were in the ’70s, or will his prediction be as embarrassing in retrospect as his band’s garish outfits?

For the moment, it seems that many shoppers are looking toward this type of future or already following Ulvaeus’ lead. A recent PayPal study indicated that 83 percent of respondents are willing to get rid of their wallets for good, and that they are eager for new platforms that allow them to realize this goal.