FINANCE
Digital wallets and bank cards might appear to be the modern way to pay, but physical money is making a comeback among young adults
GENERATION Z IS EMBRACING cash, despite digital money being the primary way of spending, saving and investing in 21st century life.
Some 69 percent of Gen Zers (born between 1997 and 2012) in the U.S. and U.K. were using cash more than they did in 2022, found a 2023 study by HarrisPoll on behalf of Credit-Karma—and nearly a quarter (23 percent) are using it for the majority of their purchases.
The research checks out with the trend of keeping large amounts of cash at home rather than putting it in a bank account, checking or savings, which can be seen on social media. Using cash instead of card or online transactions has become increasingly popular on TikTok, with myriad accounts explaining how to do “cash stuffing.”
The budgeting hack involves withdrawing money from your bank—often in large amounts, such as an entire month’s paycheck—and sorting it into envelopes or another system to keep at home. This way, budgeters have “buckets” of money for certain expenditures, such as eating out, clothes, holidays and so on.
“The idea is that once the money is gone from that envelope, you can no longer spend money on that bucket,” Rod Griffin, senior director of consumer education and advocacy for Experian, told Newsweek.
While experts agree that the trend isn’t new, it seems to have surged in popularity with the social media generation.
The TikTok page for Monets Money, which has 1.3 million likes and almost 70,000 followers, has dozens of videos on how to do cash stuffing, explainers on what you need to know about the trend and how to budget your monthly paycheck.
Another account, CDN Girl Cash Stuffer, demonstrates similar tactics for storing your cash and has in excess of 220,000 followers, with one of her cash-stuffing tutorials reaching 8.9 million views since April 2023.
Cash Stuffing—Good or Bad?
Experts are divided on the benefits of the technique, with some raising concerns about the safety of the practice, while others say it can be an effective way to budget. Others point out that it can result from longstanding distrust of banks in certain ethnic communities.
“It seems as though they’ve started to become ‘smarter’ and realize that having easy access to spend isn’t what it’s made out to be,” Christian Maldonado, founder & CEO at Finsult said of “zoomers.” “Being able to just tap your phone for payment is showing Gen Z how their sporadic and mindless spending can spin out of control and affect their way of living,” he told Newsweek. “Cash is giving them a way to physically not only see their money but also tangibly appreciate it more, since it’s not on a screen, for example.”
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