I am not a good saver. Mike is, and he gets a regular paycheck which makes regular savings easier. But I am loathsome at it. When we were raising kids, much of the money I made went to buying clothing, food, and the myriad of other things that come with the schooling years. It always seemed like there was an expense that needed urgent attention in the moment.
LIving simply like this costs much money.
The rule of ‘pay yourself first’ is not that easy for an in-the-moment person like me. I always paid my bills first, took care of kids second, bought supplies for whatever hobby I was focused on third, then if there was something left over…well actually that never happened to be honest. I realize that this is an undisciplined way to live so don’t even bother to tell me. I’m already taking out my hearing aids so I don’t actually even hear you. Now that the kids have been replaced by the boat, it’s still hard.
Beautiful, but costly.
I am always just amazed at how good Mike is at saving money from every paycheck, but to be fair, working for a mindless corporation comes with some benefits such as having automatic withdrawals and deposits. Even to get that kind of convenience, though, I would never have survived the corporate world because my bullshit detector is always set to ‘stun’.
Well the digital world has finally caught up with people like me. I discovered this fantastic application for my phone: Digit. Their motto is “Save Money, Without Thinking About It”. Are you kidding? Sign me up! But wait, is it safe? How does this thing work?
Money Money Money!
I explored their website and found that all funds up to $250,000 are FDIC insured. OK, well that’s the same as a big bank so that’s fabulous. I’m unlikely to save that amount without spending some of it anyhow. Also it’s free, which it should be since it’s actually acting as an online bank, which means they are holding my money for me until I want it. They get to use my money just like the banks do. That’s a fair trade for this amount of convenience. You do not earn interest, but when was the last time you really earned interest on a bank account? Who cares?
So how does this work? It’s actually pretty slick. You connect Digit to your checking account and their program analyzes your spending and deposit patterns by checking your account for activity every few days. Then it begins moving small amounts that you will not even miss into your Digit savings account. If that sounds stealthy, well, it is. But the beauty of this is the amount of communication you receive from Digit, and this is what I really love about the usability of this application.
Every single morning I get a text from Digit telling me my checking account balance. I LOVE that. I don’t have to remember to check myself, I don’t have to log in to my account. I just get this nice text. All communication is done via text. When they move money over to my Digit account, I get a text. If I want more information, there are commands I can text back, such as ‘balance’ or ‘recent’ to see recent transactions. No dealing with ‘press 1 for English’, ‘2 for someone from India who says his name is Ken’, ‘0 for us to hang up on you’.
So for instance, last week Digit saved $9.72 for me. That’s not very much, and I didn’t even notice it, which is part of the beauty of this system. They texted me to let me know they had saved money for me, then if I wanted to save more I could text them back and tell Digit how much more I’d like to save. I can also log onto the website and see a complete history of all transactions. It I want to make a withdrawal, a simple text command is all it takes to transfer money into my checking account.
Lucky bandits. They have access to Digit in their youth!
I’m pretty impressed with this application. Actually, I love it. So far I have saved about $125 that I would definitely not have saved otherwise. I’ve been using it for a little over a month. That’s not very much yet, but it will buy muchos fish tacos down in Mexico.
My only regret is that this is a new thing, and I would love to have had something like this 20 years ago. If you are working on beefing up your sailing kitty and want to try Digit, here’s a link you can use to sign up. If you do sign up, please consider using the link here. Full disclosure: I get 5$ if you use my link. If you sign up, you will get your own link to use with your friends and family. Then you, too, can buy fish tacos.
“My bullshit detector is always set to stun” – Funny!! Such is life in corporate la-la land.
I hear Mike’s stories and I wonder how he keeps his mouth shut. Truly. I do.
I love your discovery of this great way to save money painlessly. I might sign up at some future time after I get finances sorted. Great idea!
Just glad to have you as a regular reader, Joanne!
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You might want to consider looking at a banking system that allows you to withdraw money in Mexico without a transaction fee. We have accounts with Charles Schwab, both investment and checking. While cruising in 2008-2015, we needed a system that would allow us automatic banking and bill pay, which CS does. The real beauty in banking through CS is that they do not have ATM machines. Consequently, when a CS customer uses an ATM, all transaction fees are covered by CS. This includes foreign transfer and conversion fees. Spending much time in Mexico without the benefit of being able to withdraw cash free of transaction fees (including pesky fees for converting currencies from dollars to pesos) can add up rapidly over several months time. Other banks have similar programs, but you have to ferret them out on your own. We’re just familiar with the offerings from CS and have been extremely grateful and a bit wealthier because of these benefits.
Hmmm, that is interesting. I have been wondering how much those ATM fees would end up costing us over the course of a couple of years. We use USAA. I will have to check out their policies on foreign transaction fees and ATMs. Good information. Thanks!
I’ve been looking for other ways to squirrel money away as well as I am a champion at impulse shopping. I don’t like giving anything the ability to come into my account and take my money away so these are the alternatives I’ve found. I’m a huge fan of BECU, I use it for everything (except car loans). You can set up automatic transfers thru BECU, too. They’ll transfer however much you want every single month into whatever account you want, even externally, even into their own interest savings accounts-regardless of who is depositing the paycheck. You can set up as many transfers as you want. Twin Star CU (Olympia) also has a time-limited savings account designed for saving up for specific things (limited to 3yr duration) that pays (yes, now, 2015) 1% (sad that this IS actually good). You choose the duration and how much you commit to depositing (up to $500/mo). It’s a bit of a hassle because they specifically prohibit automatic transfers, but the rate is worth it. We are using it to save up for travel in a couple years.
These are all good, but the require me to make decisions about how much I want to transfer. What I like about this app is that I basically do not have to think about it at all. I know that’s lazy, but it’s true. Plus, I get to know my balance every day. So far, I’m loving it. But whatever works, right?
I’m not sure I would trust anyone or any app with my checking account number. Who is responsible if they get hacked? Even credit card companies get hacked and look at their security! They might be FDIC insured but saying that and getting the money back are two different things. All sorts of alarms went off when I read this. Why not set up an automatic transfer at USAA to your savings account of $x per week. Much safer!!!!
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for the tip! I’m going to have to check this out.
Still using it, still loving it!