Money matters
A few quick money management tips
The average person in the UK has a longer relationship with their bank than they do with their spouse. This is not limited to the UK alone and I know people in the Netherlands who have been with a bank like ING (previously ‘Postbank’) for over 40 years. Hence, your personal finances are probably not the first that come to mind when talking about things that excite you. Given I love trying new services and products I have sent out a significant amount of ‘fintech spam’ to my inner (and sometimes outer) circles. I share this because there is an incentive involved for both sender/recipient and/or because I genuinely love using something and want to share it.
During my time in the UK, just over 7 years now, I’ve had 5 internet providers, 7 current accounts (not including any of the ones in the EU), 7 credit cards (3 active), 9 different savings accounts, and I have tried a wealth of other products and services.
Below is my list with recommendations of what services I particularly liked and which I sincerely believe have made my personal finances fully streamlined, in a straightforward manner.
1. A bank account
The retail banking landscape in the UK is dominated by a few large banking groups who have been raking in so much money that innovation never stood high on their agendas. Yet new players have been emerging since 2015. Although there are multiple challenger banks, all providing a great innovative product, my recommendation for a current account is; Monzo > You can open an account simply by downloading the app on Google Play or the Apple Store. They’ve been chosen as one of the best ethical current accounts and have wealth of features that high street banks just don’t have.
Examples are: fee free card payments when you are abroad at the inter-bank exchange rate, budgeting tools built into the app, splitting bills, getting paid with your own Monzo link (see image or click here to view page) coin jars (yes, old fashioned coin jars turned digital, a great way to save as you would in the past with actual coins), pots to manage money and a lot more. The account opening process only takes 10–15 minutes and the card will usually be with you in 2 working days (UK).
If you’re based elsewhere in Europe definitely check out N26, it is a great bank account (using this as my main Dutch current account).
If you are like me and enjoy using different accounts yet do not want to carry a lot of cards with you definitely check out the ‘all in one card’ app Curve.
2. Savings
When it comes to savings accounts in the UK, there are a plethora of options (both ISA and non-ISA). Depending on your appetite for risk consider what is, and what isn’t, FSCS protected as well as which accounts would entail your money being invested (which means you could get less out than you originally deposited, note that the below options are usually better for long term savings).
- Wisealpha: This fintech offers access to the normally very exclusive corporate bond market, they have several investment account options available including an Innovation Finance ISA (not FSCS protected). Depending on how long you are willing to lock your savings away it could earn you very lucrative interest rates, check it out by clicking here.
- Nutmeg: Nutmeg is what I believe to be one of the better ‘mass market wealth management’ apps, it has multiple types of savings products including a SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension) and a LISA (Lifetime ISA) as well as the more standard Stocks & Shares ISA.
- There are a wealth of other providers and options and I also currently still use an IFISA with EasyMoney.com (remember that you can only open one of the same type of ISA per tax year) and have tried numerous of others.*
- Finally, you will have likely heard of services like Moneybox that round up purchases (similar to Monzo’s coin jar) yet there is also an app that does this and stashes away extra cash from your account based on when it sees an opportunity to do so: Check out the AI powered Chip app’s website for more information.
3. Investing
So how about actually investing? I’m not talking about becoming a ‘day trader’ or any other Wolf of Wall Street nonsense. Simple, straightforward investing. Note that the below is my personal experience with investing in stocks and none of it should be taken as official investment advice (the same disclaimer goes for this entire post by the way).
Freetrade allows you to invest in stocks without paying fees, their revenue comes from the £1 instant trading fee (free trades go through at 4pm in bulk so they save on their own fees to stock exchanges) as well as their Investment ISA which currently is (management) fee free till July 2019.
Their article on the basic rules of investing in stocks is a great place to start if you are interested. My view is that I only invest tiny amounts in either shares that are at a trough in their share price graph and are priced below £3 (plus doing some basic research online as to what the company is, due diligence) or to invest in companies I love such as Twitter (only hold 1 share). Because I use the ‘spare cash rule’ I only have a small portfolio but I tend to add 1 or 2 companies each month investing between £10–20.
Sign up with my invite link now and we both get a free mystery share 👀💪
4. Credit
Although debt isn’t ideal please do not beat yourself up if you are indebted (and do not let it stop you from still using spare cash to deposit and/or invest small amounts in savings while you are).
There are great ‘credit hacks’ for when you are currently a bit lost as to what to do with, for example, going overdraft. First step if you are trying to get a grip on debt, sign up for Money Savings Expert’s free ‘Credit Club’, it gives you a complete overview of your Experian credit report (updated each month). This website makes money of referral fees, in other words, when you search for credit cards and click on the link it tracks this. It is great because it will give you a % acceptance rate based on your credit report. So if you are overdrawn each month it might be worth getting a credit card that has an interest free period (e.g. 24 months). Managed wisely it gives you breathing space.
If you are one of the lucky ones without debt, credit card wise I would definitely recommend signing up for the new JaJa credit card app. They are building a proper, no nonsense credit card service that keeps you in full control of your credit card spending.
5. International Transfers
A very short section, Transferwise, full stop.
(PS: simply check out their website, note that they already partner with banks such as Monzo, N26 and other challenger banks)
There are a wealth of other services that I could have included in this post, in terms of additional financial products to look into, such as Crypto related financial tools (e.g. Crypto.com’s Wallet App, an app that allows trading in cryptocurrencies and paying with crypto using a Visa card) or apps such as Revolut (which I also use). Yet depending on how simple you want to keep it Monzo is a great first step towards streamlining your personal finances and the above should give a short and quick starting guide to getting your personal finances in great shape or even better shape then these already are 😄
Please do like, share or get in touch if you’d like to discuss anything, always happy to chat on LinkedIn/Twitter. Feedback and/or additional tips are always welcome!
BONUS tip: Save on energy bills, digital and green way! If you use this referral link we both get £50 if you switch your energy over to Bulb. Now why would you? At first your energy bills might not come in for a while if you moved into your own flat, this usually happens as it is possible to receive ‘paper bills’ every 3 to 4 months from the ‘big, sluggish energy providers’ such as EDF. Bulb is a Finnish (yes, 🇫🇮) green energy startup that does not overcharge and acts highly transparently. I have switched to Bulb back in 2017 and am never looking back at any other provider.
*= Not necessarily by putting money in but simply to see how easy it is to sign up and reading into what the account is and what it would do with my money, do leave any other providers in the comments if you wanted to discuss whether or not to open an account with that particular service).
