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Saving money on things you do each day

Saving money on things you do each day

On 21st of October I ran a Breakfast Club tutorial on ways to save money. While I’m not a financial advisor, I do know that all of the methods listed below saved or earned me money, to the point that I earn about £100 interest on every £1000 I save, I also earn money from little things I do, slight changes in routine.   Here is a brief overview of everything I discussed.   Banking   Monzo   Monzo is the UK’s most popular Fintech Bank, Monzo recently had some bad press, because its numbers grew over 2 million from January 1st 2019 and the infrastructure is not quite in place to cope effectively with fraudulent transactions and suspicious accounts, therefore freezing some accounts for long periods of time. However, if you operate an account in a non-questionable manner its highly unlikely, you’ll experience difficulty. Erratic behaviour or receiving or spending large sums of money out of the blue will come to the attention of any fraud or account security department at any bank.   Monzo is an app based bank, they offer savings and loan accounts, they also have little perks like bill pots, interest pots and the thing most move to Monzo for, Payday one day early. You can bank with Monzo by simply downloading the App from an app store on your mobile, you’ll need your passport or driving license and may need to record a short video. Monzo is great for using abroad, you pay no transaction fees when paying, which means you get to spend like a local, just remember to always pay in the countries currency and not change to GBP when paying or withdrawing cash.  Instant access savings pots earn about 1.15% interest. You can find out more on Monzo here: https://monzo.com/   Starling   The oldest of the Fintech banks, Starling was created by Anne Boden in the wake of the financial crisis 11 years ago. In 2018 Anne received an MBE for her services to the financial industry. Starling is a lot like Monzo but more established and stable. You earn 0.5% interest on all money held in your account up to £2000. Like Monzo its great to use overseas as you pay no exchange rates. It has little perks like pots for helping you save, it offers low interest overdrafts, has the tightest security of all the Fintech banks. Starling can be downloaded via app stores on mobiles and tablets, coming in 2020 you’ll be able to login also from a desktop. You can find out more abvout Starling here: https://www.starlingbank.com/ Natwest   One of the UK’s most trusted banking brands, Natwest has a variety of Reward accounts that start for as little as £3 a month, for that £3 you get 2% back on all your utility bills paid via direct debit, this includes TV, Phone, Broadband, Mobile Phone, Water, Electric, Gas and Council Tax, the average household will save between £36 to £48 per year. You can sign up online or pop in your local Natwest. https://personal.natwest.com/personal.html   Savings   Dozens   Dozens are not classified as a bank, more of a financial institution, its an account designed to help you to save. It has standard no interest accounts, a 5% interest savings bond and the opportunity to invest in a variety of stocks and shares packages. Each month a new set of bonds are released an investment of £100 per month will see an interest return of £60 per year.  Like Monzo and Starling there is an app for this. https://www.dozens.com/   Scottish Friendly   The best returns on an ISA at the moment is the Scottish Friendly ISA, where you can get a 2.5% interest rate on your money. You can save up to £20,000 per year and you can see your interest grow each month rather than wait a whole year. Don’t just sign up however, register through Top Cashback and you could earn an additional £65 (see Top Cashback below).   Moneybox   Moneybox rounds up your money and picks it up each Monday via direct debit. Round ups are the latest way to save and are a major component of Starling, Monzo and Dozens. However with Moneybox it takes your round-ups and invests them in stocks and shares. A round up is the difference between what you spend and the nearest pound. So for example is you spend £1.80 it will take 20p and invest it in stocks and shares. Moneybox allows you to pick risk between Low, Medium and High Risk. My recommendation is that you go medium risk, worse case scenario you get back what you put in (unless of course there is a market crash), however on 8 months of saving I’ve earned a 12% increase on what I’ve put in. Moneybox also have Lifetime ISA’s, Pensions and a 95 day access savings account with 1.65% interest rate. All interest is calculated on all accounts daily. If you’d like to join click here: https://go.onelink.me/5M0L?pid=share&c=GBLXTR   Marcus: By Goldman Sachs   Marcus is Martin Lewis’ favourite instant access savings account, you earn BETWEEN 1.4-1.5% interest in what you save. Its from a world renown brand normally only available to the wealthy. You can start saving from just £1.   To join click here: https://www.marcus.co.uk/uk/en?prd=os&chl=ps&schl=psb&cid=Brand_Core-Brand_Marcus_X_Exact&agp=Brand_Core-Brand_Marcus_Goldman-Sachs_X_Exact&kid=marcus%20goldman%20sachs&mtype=e&gclsrc=aw.ds   Saving and Spending   Curve   The Curve card is a Smart Card, it allows you to put all your cards under one roof, you can pick which card you want to use from the APP. It essentially works like the debit card version of Paypal, it’s a portal between your card issuer and who you spend with. The card is free, but ideally after a period of time you see the value to move to paying accounts that cost between £6.99 and £14.99 per month. During the first three months to help you transition Curve allow you to save 1% at several different retail venues. So £1 back in every £100 you spend. When you move to a paying account, you get to chose from 6 different retailers instead of £3, you also get Worldwide travel insurance, Airport Lounge access and Electronic Device insurance when away from your home. If you use Curve in conjunction with your Tesco Credit Card you can save 1% on your spend if you pay back your Tesco Credit Card before the bill comes in, so if you spend £800 you’ll get £8 back, with the enhanced compensation of a credit card protection. If you’re clever and save the money you spend on your credit card into a Monzo 1.15% savings pot until just before the bill is due you could earn an extra 80p interest. I pay £14.99 per month and earn back about £24-£28 per month. If you sign up for Curve using this link, you’ll earn £5 after you first use it, and I will earn the same (which I will split between St Francis Hospice and First Step in your name). To join Curve click this link:  https://www.curve.app/join#ANM3WWBE if asked for a referral code enter: ANM3WWBE     Top Cashback   This year I’ve saved £162.22 through using Top Cashback on every online transaction I’ve made. Top Cashback is a portal to saving online. Once you’ve registered on the site always remember to go to Top Cashback and search your online store, you will then get a percentage of your spend back, sometimes you get pennies sometimes you get pounds. You can shop for products, utilities, services and insurance. All of which will pay you a cashback offer for your spend or business.   Above I mentioned Scottish Friendly at the time of writing you could earn between £30 and £300 for signing up based on your monthly spend value.   In addition if you sign up to Top Cashback through this link I’ll give the £7.50 referral fee to St Francis Hospice and First Step.   https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/spencerhawken Shoppix   Every year we throw about £65 in the bin without even realising it! Actually that sounds a little dramatic, but its really very close to the truth. When we buy items we are given receipts, with Shoppix you can scan those receipts and turn them into cash. On the average month we receive between 200-300 receipts on our purchases, every coffee, meal, purchase (accept train and bus tickets) can earn you 25 or 30 points. Every 106 receipts you scan earns you £5. You can redeem this money in vouchers for either Amazon, Love2Shop (High street vouchers), iTunes, or Paypal. You can also receive money through short surveys and stand the opportunity to win more with Scratchcards awarded at least once per week.   To get Shoppix go to the app store on your phone.   Swagbucks   You can easily earn £1200 per year with Swagbucks doing surveys and other tasks in your free time. There are spend based reward, games and pay per click opportunities as well. I earn around £120 per month through Swagbucks when I’m at home watching TV, not only are you getting paid for your help your contributing to society with your views.   At the start surveys are hit and miss but as the programme gets to know you, you’ll earn more and more.   To join click here: https://www.swagbucks.com/lp-savings-button?cmp=695&cxid=swagbuttonref&rb=50993831&extRefCmp=1&extRb=50993831   Energy   Bulb   We are all concerned with the sustainability of the planet, Bulb use renewable energy and the chances are they’ll also save you money. My bills dropped from around £118 for Gas and Electricity to £59.65 after a move to Bulb in March this year. Bulb will happily by out your existing contract and have no contract length. They may not offer you a massive discount to start with, but almost everyone who uses them ends up seeing a reduction in costs.   But best of all as a friend referred me I received a £50 bonus from them, now factor that in, when calculating a change to Bulb you could potentially get a whole months free energy. . If anyone clicks my link I’ll donate the £50 referral fee to St Francis Hospice in your name. Click the link and start to save www.bulb.me/spencerh1486     Pensions   Pension Bee   Pension Bee is one of the best loved of the modern pension schemes, because its clear and transparent how and where your money is coming from. You can transfer all your old pensions into one pot, or start a new one. It allows you to look at what your earning and what you need to earn in order to achieve your goals for the future. Every £5 you contribute to your pension the government will give an additional £1.25. You can add minimal amounts or add big lumps sums, you can also specify recipients for your pension should you not reach pensionable age. Pension Bee helps you to plan things like early retirement, by giving you projections based on interest and time, it’s the clearest way to save for the future I know of.   If you click the link, you and I will get a £50 bonus in our pension pot, I’ll donate my £50 to First Step in your name if you sign up.   Thanks for reading and enjoy saving that little bit more.

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