Millennials are using this strategy to save money

Millennials love all things digital, but apparently not when it comes to spending money. It’s easy to buy things online with credit cards or pay back friends for happy hour beers with Venmo, but young Americans still prefer to transact in cold hard cash.

Seventy-one percent of millennials leave credit cards at home before they go shopping to keep from spending too much money, according to a new study from Cardtronics. They also keep cash on hand regularly, with 67 percent reporting they use dollar bills for purchases. Younger people also prefer to settle debts with friends and family using cash, rather than digital payment methods or checks (remember checks?).

The habit can help people spend less, because taking actual dollar bills out of your wallet makes it easy to realize you have spent the money. Charging things on a credit card makes purchases less tangible, making it easier to buy more expensive things. Cash doesn’t make you totally immune, however: It is the primary payment method for impulse purchases, with 75 percent of yes-I-needed-that-J. Crew blazer purchases coming right out of the wallet.

Security concerns are the prevailing reason people of all ages use cash. Ninety-three percent of people think paying with Jackson instead of Visa helps them avoid hackers, who can steal credit card and bank account information online. In 2014, an estimated 17.6 million people were victims of identity theft, with two-thirds of victims reporting a financial loss.

People tend to use cash for smaller purchases and for things from brick-and-mortar stores like groceries and prescriptions. At the grocery store, 43 percent of people pay in cash and in pharmacies 42 percent of people do.

This story was originally published October 19, 2016 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Millennials are using this strategy to save money."