Challenge
Lack of savings
A recent survey from the government’s Money & Pensions Service (MaPS) highlighted that 9 million people across the UK have no savings, while another five million have less than £100 put aside to help them weather a financial emergency or manage increases in the cost of living.
Solution
Savings apps
Savings apps are simple to use and can help encourage people to develop a savings habit. This can be done by using ‘round-up’ apps that save spare change from regular spending, such as a coffee or supermarket shop, rounding it up to the nearest pound, then moving the money to an interest-bearing savings account.
Apps can also calculate what you can afford to save each week, or month (you choose the amount and frequency), or even on one-off occasions. They then move the money from a current account to a savings account, with the potential to earn interest too.
Our research showed that consumers thought their ability to save effectively was enhanced by using these apps – and it helped some adults to start to put away regular savings for the first time.
They also liked the convenient way in which their app could enable regular saving for them in the background, particularly when it provided them with an unexpected boost in savings, however small.
