Robo-Mum: A Success Story
22nd March 2019
My mum would be the first to admit she is not a natural when it comes to computers and technology. However, she is always keen to learn and does her best to adapt to the ever-changing world.
With a little encouragement from me, Mum has been using technology to help manage her finances…with some really positive results.
Mum adopted internet banking quite a while ago and is now very comfortable moving money between accounts. This enables her to pay herself a ‘salary’ from her Santander savings account into her 1,2,3 current account, making sure to keep the current account topped up to £20,000 to take full advantage of the competitive interest rate. The regular payment she makes to the current account makes her feel as though she is receiving an income and this makes her feel better about spending what she needs.
In addition to this, she has also started to use a Monzo account over the last year. This account is for Mum’s ‘fun money’. She has a regular standing order set up to transfer an amount each month from her current account to Monzo. She can easily keep track of her expenditure on the Monzo app…and if there is anything left at the end of the month she sweeps this in a separate ‘pot’ on the Monzo app, which she calls her holiday fund.
Tying this together is the MoneyHub app that consolidates all her accounts in one place, enables her to categorise expenditure, and keep track of her overall cash balance.
This set-up has given Mum a much better awareness of her money and, without feeling she is being particularly frugal, has reduced her regular expenditure. This has meant that her savings are likely to last longer and make the (much discussed) downsize optional for many more years than originally feared.
Well done, Mum! 🙂