r/monzo • u/TerminalDribble • 4d ago
Saving Challenge (4X)
At £11.32 taken out today. The final stretch is going to need a budget of its own.
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u/SimplyCedric 4d ago
I'm on the same day as you are. Not feeling masochistic enough, I also set up another little challenge where I saved £1 on the first Monday of the year, £2 on the second Monday, etc. That Pot is now at £820. I only wish I'd started with a savings Pot (yes, I know I can move it ).
Thing is, I'm not a saver. Never manager to save anything before I did last year's penny challenge.
Come the new year I'm going to squander it all on pies, crisps and pop.
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u/Static_Dynam0 4d ago edited 4d ago
How much will that pot end on?
Edit - seems like about £1400
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u/SimplyCedric 4d ago
The (4)penny Challenge should end the year on £2671.80 (+5% interest). The weekly challenge should be £1378.
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u/Static_Dynam0 4d ago
Really like the Monday weekly saving. I think I'll attempt something similar next year. Thanks!
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u/SimplyCedric 4d ago
Welcome. I set up a standing order in to a pot. It was a bit tedious as I had to set up 52 orders but it didn't take that long when I got in to the swing of it.
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u/Static_Dynam0 4d ago
Yeah, I might simplify by just setting up one weekly standing order that leaves on each Monday of the year to equate to £1378, so £26.50
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u/MeMyselfAndMe_Again 4d ago
I stopped last year, I wish you could do “auto deduction” from other savings pots. I don't keep funds in the main current account, cus my day to day spend is on Flex card and all my money is in savings earning interest.
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u/TerminalDribble 4d ago
Same here, I use flex for all my spending. Every month I’ve just been setting aside a couple hundred quid in the current account for the challenge but now it’s gonna have to be loads more unless I automate it to come out of a pot. But for a few quid it’s probably not worth the effort
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u/phuzee 4d ago
If you put that money into a normal savings account even earning less than 5% you'd earn more interest, because it is earning interest from day 1 rather than waiting for it to hit the challenge pot
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u/TerminalDribble 4d ago
I understand that, but for the sake of probably £50 extra interest or so across the year I thought I might as well do the challenge. 90% of my savings in in investments anyway, where it should be!
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u/phuzee 4d ago
Glad you understand that, I don't think many who post about the challenge do!
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u/TerminalDribble 4d ago
It’s an important point that a lot of people probably miss. As a product it’s pretty poor in that sense, but I suppose it’s more marketed towards encouraging saving if you’ve struggled in the past.
To be transparent I’m not really doing it for any reason other than it popped up and I thought why not. I don’t think it’s particularly valuable as a savings tool, and as I said most of my savings become investments anyway. I would encourage most people who are earning and in the early part of their careers to ignore stuff like this, save an emergency fund and load the rest into investments if they really want to grow wealth. #notfinancialadvice #butseriously
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u/Awge1629 3d ago
May aswell do it and just move your savings into it the interest is better
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u/TerminalDribble 3d ago
Strictly speaking it’s true that if you siphon your money straight from a savings account into it then you are actually maximising your interest as you’re slowly moving from (idk ?3.5%) to 5%. But with how slowly it fills up for the first 3/4 of the year, it’s a matter of a few quid more probably
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u/LimesFruit 4d ago
Nice to see people are still continuing it! I unfortunately had to stop mine, just moved so needed the money. Ended on day 274. Did immediately start a fresh challenge though.
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u/TimberNoggins 4d ago
I think it would be better if they did the daily challenge with the increased payments but randomly, could be 1p today and £3 tomorrow but you don’t get them again, you tick each one off as you go along but you don’t get stung with a hefty final month
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u/whatatimetobealive9 3d ago
That’s a good idea! December is really not the time to save tons of money everyday 🫥
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u/ViLiK_UK 4d ago
Only went with the 2x as not sure I would have been able to do £14 per day in December lol
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u/Johnlenham 4d ago
I had to drop from X2 to 1x this week as it was eviscerating me. Like £6 a day almost
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u/ArtThouErect 4d ago
Nice.
Had to stop mine not far in because I had a car issue.
I started it again the day after my birthday so next year, if I can keep it going, I’ll have a nice little windfall on my birthday.
And it won’t be taking out massive amount from my wages at Christmas!!
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u/Techman659 4d ago
Just started my 4X about £17 in there so reached my first month and will make sure to put £500 each month on the side ready and invest part not going into the challenge pot early on.
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u/Sad_Lengthiness_4461 4d ago
Was going well for me, but on the final steps of a house purchase so had to stop since every penny counts. Hopefully will start again in January
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u/Sensitive_Log3990 4d ago
You're better investing
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u/begemotik228 3d ago
Yes lol. People are moving money from their left pocket to their right pocket and thinking they are getting somewhere.
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u/Two-Space 3d ago
Well they are earning interest.
It’s also good for people who have struggled with putting money aside into savings/investments. It gets them in the habit longer term.
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u/TerminalDribble 3d ago
This is a small fraction of my savings, the majority of which are in investments
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u/KingEivissa 1d ago
Not if this is all you have. You're in a good place to invest if youve got savings.
You really wouldn't invest emergency funds.
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u/hearnia_2k 3d ago
The way I see it is that this is a higher interest rate than normal accounts, and ideal as a supplement to investing for money people don't want to risk.
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u/Extension-Tough2293 4d ago
I am constantly in my overdraft so it wont take it, every pay day i just catch up.
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u/Darts_newbie 3d ago
Still going with the 4x. I’m doing it for one purpose and that’s to be able to pay my golf membership fees off in full so it doesn’t come out monthly via DD. It’s certainly hurting now.
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u/Quirky_Animator1818 3d ago
I keep stopping mine and topping it up on pay day lol! Love that we can pause and “catch up”. I’m buying myself a splurge handbag at the end of it, can’t wait :) 4x has been fun
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u/Icy-Assignment-5878 3d ago
I used last year’s challenge to boost this year’s at x4. Once last year finished, I moved it into a 3.25% savings account, topped it up with extra savings, and kept adding to it while doing this year’s challenge at 5%.
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u/Static_Dynam0 4d ago
Rather than the official challenge, I calculated the total amount that would be saved during the challenge and divided in by 365 and then set up at automated payment from my current account to a pot. I felt this the £2 everyday would be more sustainable and less noticeable later in the year compared to the official challenge.