买咖啡，给交通卡充值，你的日常生活还是用现金交易吗？无接触式付款已经不再新奇，手机支付也习以为常，甚至用你的手指支付技术也已进入大众消费支付领域。

 

How do you pay for your coffee? Is it with change? I use my tap-and-go card. I don't even need to enter my PIN number or a signature to authorise payment. It's quicker and everybody in the queue is happy.

 

Contactless payments are gaining popularity. Those concerned about security will be pleased to know that the amount of money you can spend in one go is limited – in the UK it's currently £30. But if the card is used a few times in a row, a PIN number will be needed. If a thief gets hold of your card and goes on a spending spree, your bank covers you against fraud. Whereas, if someone steals your banknotes, that's your bad luck!

 

For those who are always forgetting where they put their cards, there's a new solution: wearable tech: clothing and accessories that have integrated electronic technology. Kenneth Cukier, an economist¹ and technology expert, says: "You can simply take any wireless² card and the chip from it that your bank might issue you with, and you can put it in a coat. When you want to make a payment just wave your arm in front of the terminal and leave the coffee shop with your latte. This is intended for people who don't want to take their card out of their wallet, use their phone or their watch."

 

Good, isn't it? And new ways of spending money are not stopping there. The future is all about biometrics. Very convenient if you are at the beach or a festival – there's a new system in development which will make it possible to read the unique maps of veins³ under the surface of your finger, and use them to authenticate⁴ payments – or prove that it's you making the payments. You just need to remember which finger you registered with.

 

So spending money is becoming easier all the time. And the temptation to buy more stuff increases. But it's worth bearing in mind that earning the money in the first place will still require the same effort. Back to work then!

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