MoneyBoxApp

lildoonbuggy

bowlhead99 wrote: »

That's good to hear you are realising that your wages / salary give you enough income that you can afford to pull some money out of your current account each month and stick it in longer term savings or investment. Sometimes people do need that nudge of proving that they can do without the money before they can 'commit' to putting it away on an ongoing basis.

Of course, now you know that you can transfer cash into some sort of investment account and pretty much afford the £20/ wk - or whatever your run-rate has been to get about £500 invested since March - then you could just be putting that into any number of 'normal' ISA investment accounts. Loads of providers offer £25-a-month plus direct debits and don't require a monthly £1 fee.

It's only been 25 hours since your previous post so not too long to forget about it. But if you're absent-minded you can change your thread subscription settings via user control panel (edit options, default thread subscription mode) with an option to get an email notfication of any updates to that thread. After replying on thousands of threads, I dont have it turned on by default

Thanks for the advice, definitely still dabbling with my cash investments but i guess the bonus about this is its ticking along in the background whilst I do that. Out of interest, what are these other accounts you speak of? I already have 2 Nationwide saver accounts, but have not tried ISAs. I do know moneybox now have an 8sa feature though.

Great tip on the thread subscriptions! Will keep that in mind in future

cloud_dog

lildoonbuggy, I have nothing against these types of apps per se, I find them expensive and I don't believe they aid a person to set goals and to strive to achieve those goals. It's a bit like someone saving money at the end of the month, if they have any left. It won't work. To save/invest you need to consciously commit to it.

If this works for you then fine but as Jibeddy pointed out after a short period of time you have evidence of what you can do without each month and could simply set up a savings or investment scheme far more cheaply.

You espouse the transparency of it all but, even you have to admit you were economical with the truth in your original post. I just find it all a little contradictory.

In fact you have identified that using the app as intended is not getting you where you want to be due to the very small amounts involved:

lildoonbuggy wrote:

At first I was only generating around £3 a week to invest, so I increased the roundups to the nearest £ plus an extra £. I also have an additional direct debit in place for £15 a week - this has gradually built up from £2 a week since July. As I grow confidence, I keep increasing the direct debit. I hope to move to £20 a week soon.

So, you've gone through the learning curve, have a far better understanding, and have figured out the solution of what you want and can afford to invest, and you will soon be 'investing' £80 per month (quite a reasonable sum for novice investor).

So, the question becomes... Why wouldn't you choose the most cost effective way to achieve your goals?

As an example you could use your £80pm and invest it via Cavendish and not only would you not pay the £1 per month charge you would pay an annual platform charge of only 0.25% (45% less than with Moneybox; 0.45%).

It is for these factual reasons, and not any 'fake reasons', that you may find people disbelieving of the value of these types of services.

Zanderman

lildoonbuggy wrote: »

Whoa, forgot about this post but can see I have spooked some! (If any admins are listening - when do we get an app with notifications? )

Some time ago - you just have to 'subscribe' to the thread.

(edit - I see bowlhead beat me to it, some time ago!)

Malthusian

MoneyBox: "Our app is unique because you can save small amounts via rounding up change and not notice it going out of your account."

Me: "But if you put pennies into an investment you get pennies out. And if you are saving say £15 a month (one transaction a day x 50p average) the fees are eye-gougingly expensive, equivalent to 13% per annum in the first year."

MoneyBox: "Ah, but there's nothing to stop you saving an amount that actually matters via Direct Debit, which would also make the £1 fee more reasonable."

Me: "So the unique selling point of the app is completely pointless, and you might as well set up a Direct Debit with a platform that doesn't offer change rounding and is an order of magnitude cheaper."

MoneyBox: "Look at our app! It's shiny shiny."

eskbanker

Malthusian wrote: »

Me: "But if you put pennies into an investment you get pennies out...."

Unless you invest in cryptocurrencies of course, in which case your pennies will become £millions, according to some enthusiasts on here

lildoonbuggy

cloud_dog wrote: »

lildoonbuggy, I have nothing against these types of apps per se, I find them expensive and I don't believe they aid a person to set goals and to strive to achieve those goals. It's a bit like someone saving money at the end of the month, if they have any left. It won't work. To save/invest you need to consciously commit to it.

If this works for you then fine but as Jibeddy pointed out after a short period of time you have evidence of what you can do without each month and could simply set up a savings or investment scheme far more cheaply.

You espouse the transparency of it all but, even you have to admit you were economical with the truth in your original post. I just find it all a little contradictory.

In fact you have identified that using the app as intended is not getting you where you want to be due to the very small amounts involved:



So, you've gone through the learning curve, have a far better understanding, and have figured out the solution of what you want and can afford to invest, and you will soon be 'investing' £80 per month (quite a reasonable sum for novice investor).

So, the question becomes... Why wouldn't you choose the most cost effective way to achieve your goals?

As an example you could use your £80pm and invest it via Cavendish and not only would you not pay the £1 per month charge you would pay an annual platform charge of only 0.25% (45% less than with Moneybox; 0.45%).

It is for these factual reasons, and not any 'fake reasons', that you may find people disbelieving of the value of these types of services.

Well there's a lot I disagree with here but I'll spare people the boredom of it. At the end of the day, you are reading into it what you want, and others will do the same. That is the point of consumer choice - I may think your predilection for smart TVs and led light strips is a waste of money, but at the end of the day it's all relative. In terms of other investment funds, that will work for some but I prefer having an app that links with my accounts and is easy and enjoyable to access. For that reason Cavendish is not suitable for my needs. Also, I don't think circa £12 per year is an unreasonable to spend a year - in fact i will gladly throw it their way for the value I get back. So whilst I appreciate your expertise with investing, I also think you shouldnt completely write off the merits of a product simply because it doesn't suit you. Like they say, it's about the journey not just the destination.

AWPTheo

Wow, had a busy week so hadn't checked back in here besides to update my diary - lots going on!

As a person, I struggle with spending money too freely and so it seemed like a good alternative way to save - saving the pennies from transactions (I set it to round up to the nearest £) and also give me a little reality check on how often I am using my card. Definitely after 3 months when the trial ends, I will consider saving elsewhere.

I know Lloyds bank operate a similar saving change scheme on their current accounts, but unfortunately thanks to poor credit I'm unable to get more than a foundation bank account Might be worth looking into if this style of savings would suit any of you, as I imagine there are no/less fees? Would need to research.

cloud_dog

lildoonbuggy wrote: »

Well there's a lot I disagree with here but I'll spare people the boredom of it

No, no, no.... you go for it. I believe this is a discussion forum so feel free.

lildoonbuggy wrote: »

At the end of the day, you are reading into it what you want, and others will do the same. That is the point of consumer choice - I may think your predilection for smart TVs and led light strips is a waste of money, but at the end of the day it's all relative.

Eh?

lildoonbuggy wrote: »

In terms of other investment funds, that will work for some but I prefer having an app that links with my accounts and is easy and enjoyable to access. For that reason Cavendish is not suitable for my needs.

Ah, yes. The form over function argument. Got me there. Your probably right pretty things are sooo much cooler than functional

lildoonbuggy wrote: »

Also, I don't think circa £12 per year is an unreasonable to spend a year

But again, you are being disingenuous with the facts. You are Donald Trump, I claim my £10. For someone who revels in the transparency of things you've completely forgotten that the AMC/platform charge is almost twice as much as Cavendish (as an example), sooo not just £12 eh.

lildoonbuggy wrote: »

- in fact i will gladly throw it their way for the value I get back.

Ah yes, the pretty stuff.

lildoonbuggy wrote: »

So whilst I appreciate your expertise with investing, I also think you shouldnt completely write off the merits of a product simply because it doesn't suit you. Like they say, it's about the journey not just the destination.

I didn't. I simply pointed out something that you yourself have identified, within a very short period of time, namely that once you understand you do have disposable income of X per month you can use that more effectively by investing.

The whole point is that once you've figured it out; however you may get there, there are better options and you should utilise those better options to improve your own well being (financially).

I come back to....Now you've figured that out (other than finding something pretty and shiny)... Why wouldn't you choose the most cost effective way to achieve your goals?