Saving Money On Things You Do Each Day, And How Fintechs Might Change Your Life
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 about 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#ANM3WWB
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 https://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.
http://refer.pensionbee.com/mQfzNrW
Thanks for reading and enjoy saving that little bit more.
Spencer Hawken
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