Introduce a new budgeting screen
This will probably need more than one post. But let’s start with the basics: there is a whole bunch of stuff in the app that doesn’t really integrate well with each other or (in many cases) doesn’t really have a permanent home in the app. For example, we have budgeting (which you get to from the Summary screen) and salary sorter and end-of-period sweeps that only appear in certain circumstances and which need manual intervention.
The first step is to put all of these these things together in one place. I realise that the Accounts screen might be doing a bit of heavy lifting in these mocks, but I think that’s the best place to bring these things together. Maybe something a little like this:
Before we get to the detail, a quick (important) aside about the Accounts screen:
Like a few things in the app, the accounts screen seems (to me, at least) to be a little inconsistent in its approach. It boils down to the “Your Account” section, which is relevant to only one of the accounts of the screen - the Monzo current account. It would make more sense, and be intellectually consistent, to move those options to somehow be on the main feed screen, leaving the Accounts screen to cover things that are global. To return to the previous suggestion, making it a tab in its own right (or even the ‘Home’ screen) would clarify that hierarchy.
That said, here’s a brief explanation of the mock. Because it’s on the accounts screen, I’m assuming that everything that sits under the buttons would apply to all the accounts hooked into the app.
In order:
- I’ve renamed the section from ‘Your Account’ to ‘Make a plan for your money’ (h/t to @BritishLibrary)
- Create a pot and Earn Interest… are the current options in the app. I’m envisaging that you could create pots for external accounts, too (you might see £2000 in HSBC app, but that’s logically divided in Monzo so you can see what you’ve earmarked it for).
- Set your payday: does what it says on the tin. It replaces the functionality currently in Summary in an easy to locate place. More powerful options under this, please - including logic to integrate with Get Paid Early (i.e. if you’re paid the last day of the month, it’s actually the day before the last day of the month with Get Paid Early…)
- Create a budget brings into one place the existing budgeting functionality lodged in Summary.
- Savings Sweep creates a home for the (hidden) function to move any leftover money in your account into a pot once you’ve been paid. I’d envisage you being able to set this up in advance, it becoming automatic and (for paid for customers) the ability to sweep to an external account.
- Salary Sorter again, this is a home for something that already exists. And again, I’d envisage this being automatic, with options to set up what payments it applies to (account it comes from, value, time etc). Like savings sweep, it should also work to external accounts (for paid customers).
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Recurring and future transactions may or may not actually belong here. I think it’s probably a short-cut to something that should live on the feed - and would lead to something like this idea. It’s a biggie, so I’ll probably come back to this
- Finally a home for Get Paid Early. I’m envisaging an option for paid customers to receive their money automatically the day before - no more pull downs.
Does it feel right to get the Accounts screen to do the heavy lifting here? Anything missing? Superfluous?
Keen as ever for thoughts!