Digital Wallets: Mobile Payment Methods Take Place Of Wallets

The wallet may very well be heading toward extinction.

Though this news may be unwelcome to people like Seinfeld's George Costanza -- whose "exploding wallet" hoarded everything from foreign currencies to expired coupons -- millennials are hot for new technologies that take the place of cash and plastic.

In fact, more than half of 18 to 24-year-olds are inclined to test out new high tech payment tools, according to a new survey by American Express.

New "contactless payment" methods are paving the way for smartphones to eventually replace wallets. We can now use smartphones to buy our morning lattes and take cash payments from our friends. Google entered the mobile payment space last year with its aptly named Google Wallet, which aims to make the traditional wallet obsolete.

But are digital payment methods for everyone?

The folks at American Express shared a great infographic with us, which breaks us down into three categories based on our preferred spending methods and analyzes our likelihood to adapt mobile payment methods.

What does your wallet say about you and how you'll be paying for stuff in the very near future?

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Comments

[JBS]

11:05 AM on 03/30/2012

Every time I open mine, it doesn't say anything ... it just breaks down into tears.

[dinafiorela]

11:54 AM on 03/27/2012

In fact, more than half of 18 to 24-year-olds are inclined to test out new high tech payment tools, according to a new survey by American Express. ww.peruadventuretrek.com

[zenju2]

04:34 AM on 03/27/2012

My actual wallet was a gift from 1981 that has served me admirably for decades. I'm not a disposable type of person. I'll pay with whatever's convenient and reasonably safe. Usually I go online or with debit card.

[SoCalOC]

01:14 AM on 03/27/2012

My wallet is in bad shape.

[kedikatt]

12:58 AM on 03/27/2012

The non cash methods of payment all include some company making money off the action of you spending your money. Sweet deal for them.
You recommend a prepaid card for the Budget Boss? Those things have a ton of fees.
And we all chip in for every credit card purchase, even if we never use one.
Companies are making many billions every year to let us spend our money. Then some more by selling the tracking information of what you bought, when and where.
The convenience is far more theirs than ours. Free money is always convenient.

[oceanofconsciousness]

01:16 AM on 03/27/2012

spam

[Mitchell Horton]

12:44 AM on 03/27/2012

Worthless article.

The "research" is clearly skewed to their preconceived notions about market types, because I know plenty of people who don't buy new things not because they're security conscious or cheap, but because it seems exotic or pointless.

[wewin]

12:23 AM on 03/27/2012

I would rather discuss what my

C
O
C
K

says about me!

[twain307]

12:22 AM on 03/27/2012

You gotta carry picture ID/drivers license Insurance card (if you're lucky). I can't see having the two inch thick leather behemoth of yore, but don't think I'll ever not use one.

[spytheweb]

12:04 AM on 03/27/2012

People who never leave the US are the ones who won't need wallets. But you still have to carry some sort  of ID. How can you prove who you are? What if someone says they are you? How do you prove otherwise?

[mxfw9999]

07:12 PM on 04/02/2012

The new healthcare has a requirement for a chip in it 2029

[GrantS]

11:54 PM on 03/26/2012

It seems to me that all the methods allow for easy spending. Was this article prepared by Wall St?

[elicourey]

11:27 PM on 03/26/2012

i've never owned a wallet, i just wrap a couple bills around my cards and use a paper clip to hold them together. it works great.

[spytheweb]

12:05 AM on 03/27/2012

When you travel do you use paperbags instead of suitcases?

[elicourey]

06:50 AM on 03/27/2012

haha, how did you know?

[snewell]

10:27 PM on 03/26/2012

STUPID AD FOR AMERICAN EXPRESS!!!!!!!

[czs5056]

10:09 PM on 03/26/2012

cash is good. how else can I split a bill for takeout?

[LastAngryWoman]

10:08 PM on 03/26/2012

Uh oh.
I don't even own a wallet.
And if that makes you think I'm perpetually broke, you would be 100 percent correct.