Ways that boomers show their age: wearing sensible shoes; relying on reading glasses; and paying for a cup of coffee with cash.
There’s a growing generation gap when it comes to using plastic for purchases under $5, a survey out by CreditCards.com reveals. More than half of Millennials are likely to whip out a card for a pack of gum or a newspaper, while 77 percent of people older than 50 still dig out cash.
“I think those people mostly use cash because that’s the way we’ve always done it,” says Matt Schulz, senior industry analyst for CreditCards.com. “But Millennials have grown up doing things like going to school and using a prepaid card to pay for lunch. For a lot of younger folks, cash is just something that they don’t carry around.”
Schulz sees the trend of plastic replacing cash picking up steam as Millennials and the presumably even more tech-savvy generation after them grow older. The switch to plastic is picking up for a few reasons:
Technology has made paying with cards just as fast as paying with cash.
Rewards programs have made charging attractive.
The plastic cards young people are reaching for at cash registers these days are overwhelmingly debit. Those ages 18 to 29 favor debit over credit by a ratio of almost 3 to 1, the survey of 983 credit cardholders showed.
That pro-debit preference is something that Schulz sees changing in the future, due to consumer protections and the rewards offered by credit cards.
“As those folks get a little more secure financially, get a little more money in their pockets, they’ll start to switch,” he says.
While debt-shy people can be more comfortable with debit over credit cards, they may be overlooking some of the downsides.
“I don’t know that they’re fully aware of the risk,” Schulz says. “In this time of worry about data breaches, if your debit card information gets stolen, you are at risk of losing real money, money you might need to make a car payment or pay the rent.”
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