Saving money by limiting spending and giving up certain immediate pleasures is undoubtedly one of the least evolved basic human behaviors in millennia! Of course, if this saving is entrusted to a financial establishment or a company that replaces it or uses it directly, it becomes a financial investment or an investment. But even so, this does not change the act of saving itself, which is essentially an effort (the price of a resignation), a balance (the remainder of an income), and a reserve (a lump sum that can be used in different cases). ) . Nothing more banal. However, this psychology could soon change and the savings would find other ways to be considered and used.
In recent years, “savings coaches” have appeared. Digital apps that help you better manage your savings and often your budget. However, some of these new tools are already overturning one of the basic rules that we have just exposed. Plum, for example, with her “Money Maximiser”, has introduced the principle of systematically saving all your income (in different media of your choice) and withdrawing it, based on an automatic estimate, which is necessary for current expenses.
Saving is no longer the exception, what remains once our expenses have been made becomes the rule: income is saved immediately, in the form of different types of interest-bearing deposits, which the application recommends, and expenses are reduced.
The effort is thus identical: it is a question of being able to save (but no longer set aside) the money, but the effect is no longer exactly the same. Savings are no longer what you should think about in the course of your spending, but spending tends to reduce savings that have already been accumulated. Psychologically, the reason for necessity of certain expenses is no longer exactly the same.
Manage your budget based on your savings
However, if the expenses have such an impact on an immediately saved income, not everyone has the same deadlines or the same need. It is therefore necessary to design specialized savings accounts by destination (nearby or very distant expenses, simple projects, etc.), with varied remuneration and the higher the longer the money is left in the accounts (due to the incentive effect). This is what Zopa, a crowdfunding pioneer and now a fully-fledged bank in the UK, successfully delivers. Gone are the days of global reserve savings, the big piggy bank, which one day we will be able to dispose of without really knowing what it will be used for. Since all income tends to be saved, it is no longer a question of setting aside a little or more. It is from the savings that the management of your budget is foreseen.
It is up to everyone to customize their different savings accounts according to their own goals. In short, it is a digital version of the “economic envelopes” that have made a comeback with the crisis, especially on TikTok. But it is not just about distributing sums. Savings are paid. The money is available at any time without penalties or commissions. But we can promote certain envelopes, which will generate a higher remuneration, on the condition of accepting a variable notice of withdrawal of funds. The formula combines: peace of mind in terms of the availability of funds, flexibility based on savings objectives and a notice restriction that encourages effort, accompanied by a reward in terms of remuneration.
Only, if the act of saving thus becomes inseparable from different projections, it is necessary to go much further: it is necessary to save before buying, that is, to buy much more widely in the future. The idea is currently taking hold in Asia, Malaysia or India, with new players like Multipl, for example. He found a name: “Save now, buy later,” as opposed to split payment (“Buy now, pay later”). We place an order and save until the final purchase. As interesting in times of low interest rates as in times of inflation, the formula avoids the risk of non-payment of the installment payment, dispenses with the first payment and allows you to benefit from bonuses, similar to remuneration.
Responding to the double concern of saving as a precaution and securing the future, Multipl is an online sales platform but in the long term. If you want to buy a property, you contact the seller and start saving to pay for it. These savings are placed in a public savings account or entrusted directly to the seller. In both cases, you benefit from significant reductions and the guarantee that the property will actually sell at this price. Multipl does not charge any commission and the money saved remains available at all times. Multipl is paid by sellers, which allows them to increase their business volume and extend credit without further worries about collections and unpaid invoices.
Automated and assisted savings
Appeared in France with the Adva project three years ago, the idea did not interest anyone. However, a young French film still in the process of launching, PennyPet, has taken the interesting initiative of extending it to the case of pets, with a formula that combines all the shocks to which savings are currently subjected.
We regularly feed a dedicated account based on an assisted estimate of future veterinary expenses. This provides discounts on routine care and an emergency fund for major unexpected expenses. This is quite reminiscent of ancient China, where you paid your doctor while you were healthy and to keep you healthy, while you didn’t pay for his services if you were sick. With such a formula, savings are added to the budget, the purchase in installments, the insurance and finally the subscription. It must also be “affinity”, that is to say incidental, therefore automated and assisted.
In short, always strictly opposed, saving and spending are becoming more and more inseparable. It is a convulsion in progress of which we undoubtedly still perceive only the premises.
Source: BFM TV
