Faculty, Arches

Sun Young Ahn, Nat S. and Marian W. Rogers Professor of Business and Leadership, says consumers need to be smart when opening their digital wallets.

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

Ahn investigated how 20,000 consumers pay their bills—especially those who used digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay—and how that correlated to their overall financial health. Her team found that those who use mobile payment methods were more likely to have excess credit usage and trouble managing money. It might be that people with less financial savvy are turning to payment apps to help improve their situation—but another explanation for the findings could be that technology makes it a little too easy to spend. Says Ahn: “Mobile payments are even less tangible than a credit card.”

Sun Young Ahn

Assistant Professor Sun Young Ahn researches consumer behavior and decision-making, retailing, and consumer well-being. She teaches courses in marketing principles and research, consumer behavior, and sustainability marketing.

FAST AND EASY

Mobile payments are designed to be instantaneous, which makes it easy to forget where the money is coming from. “Be aware of the possibility of overspending,” Ahn advises. “There is no break time in the transaction process to think, Do I really need this purchase?”

SET A LIMIT

With interest rates climbing, it’s never been more important to keep tabs on the credit cards linked to payment apps. Ahn suggests setting a budget or spending limit for your digital wallet and signing up for text alerts if that amount is reached.

PROCEED WITH CAUTION

There’s a generation gap with those embracing financial technology and, not surprisingly, it’s mostly younger consumers adopting digital wallets. But the pandemic brought on a surge of mobile payment services and changed how consumers of all ages behave: The new normal now includes contactless grocery shopping, for instance, and ordering takeout with a couple of taps on a smartphone. But, regardless if you’re a millennial or baby boomer, Ahn advises taking the time to learn the new technology— and the safeguards. “As more consumers adopt mobile payments,” she says, “more scammers will follow.”

Related Stories
Black and white image of a monkey

Campus

If Monkeys Could Talk

Late one evening in a Thompson Hall classroom, roughly a dozen students gathered to hear Puget Sound psychology professor Erin Colbert-White give a…
Drawing of four different people's headshots

Faculty

Home School

Despite the obstacles to teaching and learning while under COVID-19 quarantine orders, the Puget Sound faculty displayed agile and creative adaptability in the crisis. Some…
Seth Weinberger

Faculty

From Proud Boys to Plato

I am a scholar of international security. For most of my life, I’ve been focused on threats like nuclear annihilation and “Great Power war”—conflict with China or Russia…
Ben Tromly

Faculty

Ask the Expert: Ben Tromly

Professor of Russian and European History Ben Tromly helps to make sense of the ongoing conflict.   …
PacRim students in March 2015 stumbled onto an Ngrupuk parade in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. The parades feature huge ogoh-ogoh statues, ”made with papier-mâché and lots of paint,“ says faculty member Gareth Barkin, who was on the trip.

Alumni

PacRim at 50

Straight from the Dalai Lama One of my three greatest, most life-defining moments happened while in Dharamshala,…
Prof. Courtney Thatcher stands at the chalkboard during a class

Faculty

A Close Look at Redistricting

In 2019, as the federal government began preparations for the 2020 U.S. Census, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Courtney Thatcher was doing a lot of…
Thompson Hall in vibrant yellow, pink, and blue.

Faculty

Parting Thoughts

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE COURSE TO TEACH? I’ve loved teaching the senior-level quantum mechanics course. At this stage of the game, students have enough math skills and…
A city illuminated at night

Faculty

Beyond Evita

One evening last June, philosophy professor Ariela Tubert and Hispanic studies associate professor Brendan Lanctot led their class along the narrow, labyrinthian paths of…
drawings

Community

Something in the Water

Beneath our streets lies a data network so powerful it can pinpoint the emergence of a new synthetic drug, inform disaster response to crises such as wildfires and flooding,…
drawings

Community

Something in the Water

Beneath our streets lies a data network so powerful it can pinpoint the emergence of a new synthetic drug, inform disaster response to crises such as wildfires and flooding,…