To be surprised that since I installed 'loose change' round-up app, I've saved...

[FaderInvader]

£449 since November?! Hoping this might help others who are rubbish with saving money.

I downloaded an app that rounds-up my debit card and direct debit transactions to the nearest pound and it invests it into a Stocks and Shares ISA.

I'm crap at saving, so the fact that I can't access it readily means it's built up to £449. With a £19.61 / 4.5% return.

I've also set up regular small savings with my local credit union. Which means I can take out loans if needed at 1% per month, charged on the remaining balance only. I took out a small loan for my dad's car repairs and when he paid it back the interest was minimal and no early repayment charges.

Apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, but I went 41 years until I found out about these options. Just wanted to share them. ☺️

I quit moneybox after my investments went consistently down down down for about 6 months continuously. I didn't lose a lot of money but it was annoying to have say £70 become £67 month after month. I was on the lowest risk level (scaredy cat).

That was quick.

I got:

Thank you so much for taking the time to contact us. Just so you’re aware, we have logged your feedback to be reviewed by the relevant team. We’re always looking for ways to improve the experience for all our members and we rely on feedback like yours. You may not hear back from us directly, but rest assured this will be investigated.
I hope you have a lovely week.

That was the beginning of the email then they went on to say they have no plans to make this feature available but assured me they would pass my feedback on. Then hoped I have a lovely week, signed by Philip

That was all of the mail I got, I feel short changed (hahahaha).

I do this to overpay my morgage. Every evening I transfer money to my mortgage so my available balance is rounded down to the nearest ten pound. Eg if my balance was £563.45 I would transfer £3.45 to my morgage.
I also like how it looks neat every night.

@MyDcAreMarvel I love this idea. I'm totally going to start doing this. How much had it helped your remaining balance and term?

Thanks for the updates on people saying they've set similar things up as a result of reading this.

As I say, I'm truly crap at managing my money and saving. So this has helped me a lot.

@FaderInvader I need some tips on how to stop spending now

@FaderInvader it averages out at approx £150 a month . I just put my info into a morgage calculator and if I stick with this I will reduce the term from 25 years to 16 and save £11,647 in interest.

HariboLectar Thank you, good idea! I've just been done it

The pp talking about risk and investments going down are showing they don't really understand how it works. It is completely understandable as seeing investments go down is a scary prospect and also some people will have been burnt by things like the endowments scandal, but I really wish this kind of thing was explained at school or something. Financial education is so important.

For a start stocks and shares should be a medium to long term investment, they are for money you won't need for a while, rather than for your holiday next year or an emergency fund. Anything invested in the stock market should be for a minimum of 5 years, longer if you are making regular payments rather than a lump sum. It is something you should forget about and really only review once a year, looking at it every month will cause more worry than is needed.

Also saving on a regular basis rather than a lump sum means you benefit when the market goes down as you buy the units at a lower price and so get more for your money, this means you get more of a gain when the market eventually goes back up (known as pound cost averaging). This is another reason to make sure the money is left alone for a minimum of five years, to give the investment a chance to grow.

People focus on the risks of investments but always forget about the risk of inflation, if you put your money in a savings account that pays 1% (which is not unusual these days) but inflation is 3% (the target amount) then you are actually losing 1.5% a year will mean that the real value of your savings will go down by 2% a year. Over 10 years you would be able to buy 22% LESS with your money than at the start, even though the actual figures would have gone up.

In order to beat inflation over the long term people need to look for something other than cash based savings.

The fear of investment risk causes people to make poor choices over the long term, they do things like put their pensions in "safe" funds that barely keep up with inflation because they are scared of volatility, when really over 20+ years they should welcome the volatility and only look to move it into something more stable when they are closer to retirement.

I have a credit union account. They have never asked me how much money I have coming in or where it comes from.

I know my local CU would not turn you down for a loan because of high income, but CUs who have more applicants than loans available might have their own rules.

Does Santander not do nothing like this?

I take it you work in finance, Magenta82? That was a great help, in understanding how it works. Thank you.

The pp talking about risk and investments going down are showing they don't really understand how it works.

I know how investment works, don't be so patronising. I just thought Moneybox was crap.

you are actually losing 1.5% a year

oops sorry I meant 2% a year (changed the example after looking up at a few instant access savings accounts)

I'm glad it helped S1naidSucks it was only a few basics, but it is something that a lot of people have never been shown.

I used to be a financial adviser but now work in a finance adjacent role. Much less stress, but I do miss helping people understand how it all works and working with them to come up with a plan that will improve their situations.

I am sorry to anyone who found my post patronising, that wasn't my intention.

I wasn't aiming at you @Halloumimuffin but at a rather patronising previous post that "explained" stocks and shares.

No problem @Magenta82 - I was being crabby

I will also suggest it! Just set up the Chip app. Its looks good., we shall see.

MummytoCSJH I hope you find it useful, like I've said, I've barely noticed the money leaving my account and you can put a stop on it so that when you hit a certain limit it won't take any more say when you're on your last £100.

If anyone wants a referral to get the interest for a year, I'm happy to share my code, it benefits both parties. But also if you regard that as spam, please feel free to report/ignore. Just thought I'd offer it if anyone else was going to set up a Chip account

I have the Chip app which is great, I saved £200 really quickly and then had to use it as an emergency but I was glad I had it. I’ve paused it this week but will restart at the start of July.

I have my bank's phone app and every week I "skim" my account - transfer the odds and sods into a linked seperate savings account making my main account balance a nice round number - the nearest £5 or £10 depending on time of the month. The savings have mounted up quite quickly and I don't miss the odds & sods.

I do this but by logging into my account everynight and sweep the change into my savings. It soon mounts up?