Many people think that they can’t afford to save money for the future because their bank account seems to run really dry before every pay day which I can definitely relate to! However this can mean that we never start to save money which can be dangerous as saving is a really healthy habit to get into that will protect you and your future.

There are loads of different ways to save money out there and a recent addition to the market are apps that track your spending habits and automatically save money when they know you can afford to. Keeping track of your personal finance through apps has been happening for several years with one of the most famous app based banking systems being Monzo. I have used several of these and the app that I use to save money and one which I really recommend is called Plum. 

Plum is an app which sits on your phone and is connected to your bank account to track your spending. It looks through your spending habits and gets an idea of when you usually have money coming in and out and makes little withdrawals every so often to save on your behalf. It has six levels of spending from normal which is the default, to shy (50% less savings), to beast mode (75% more). I usually have it on normal but I have recently updated to Eager (25% more) to save a little bit more at this time! You can also do manual withdrawals and tell plum to take money out of your bank account to save it. 

The money is kept in your plum wallet where it can stay until you choose to withdraw it! You can also use the Plum investment feature to automatically invest your money. I haven’t tried this feature yet but it may be something I talk about in the future! The great thing about this is, as Plum saves for you, you can invest some of it or maybe all of it and it will hopefully be worth more in the future when you withdraw it! Of course investments can go up as well as down and your capital is at risk when you invest so potentially you don’t want to invest everything you have. 

With investing you can also choose your risk levels based on your preferences, whether you like higher risk investments with bigger rewards or lower risk with higher likelihood of returns. 

Letting plum have access to your bank account can be a little scary at first until you understand it but all of your data is completely encrypted and your savings are never at risk so if Plum did go bankrupt at any point in the future, you would get all of your money back as they are licensed to hold your money as a Authorized Electronic Money provider. 

Plum also have a referral system so you can recommend your family and friends to the service if you enjoy it and you will get rewarded! You get a free £5 deposited into your plum wallet for every member you refer after they have registered and connected their bank account! That’s free money! You can withdraw these bonuses straight to your account or add it to your savings and keep growing that pot! 

If you want to try Plum today to grow your own savings then you can sign up here.