Investor/Early Adopter & Monzo Plus

Going back to the original post, as an investor too (I put quite a bit in) and someone who has moved a considerable amount of money through monzo (house deposit has been sat with Monzo for ages), I’m disappointed there’s not a reduced fee or something for investors to access the plus account.

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Just curious why do you/ others do this? I don’t see the benefit vs just letting it convert automatically anyway are you really saving a lot or anything to make it beneficial?

I agree with both your posts although to be honest I also think they are going in the right direction with Plus rather than the usual perks banks offer/used to offer. I hope that they will add more features to the £5 version then possibly have add-ons in the future. If they went down the Travel Insurance route it would be a waste of money for most of us during the next 6 months/year.

For example, I went to Turkey last year and was able to buy currency at a much higher rate at one stage than was offered whilst I was there. I knew roughly what the baseline was and bought when it peaked.

I cant disagree with you. What i have noticed with other fintech banks is that people want certain things like metal cards or something different. I imagine Monzo needed to join in and offer ‘something different’ to keep in the game for a relatively low fee (not much more than a takeaway coffe). Whether the Plus features are enough I don’t know but its a start. Monzo do have a large customer base and do need to turn a profit so good luck to them. I really do wish them well.

It’s only there to highlight that I’ve been with Monzo from the very early days and supported them by 1. Using my account 2. Staying with them and 3. Investing in them. Many just want shiny new cards which they never use.

Seems a little hypocritical that you have been a user for many many years, have only ever used it as a spending account but chastise others for ‘wanting a shiny new card which they never use’, all whilst wanting a discount on the Monzo Plus subscription of just FIVE POUNDS.

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Whether we’re user number 123 or the Queen of England, they are going to make our money work for them in 2020 :dollar: :partying_face:

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I think you’re going a little off topic, I am not critical of the £5 I am stating that it would be nice for investors to receive a small discount for their investment. As to the shiny new card my point is that people ARE becoming vain with their cards as you will see on other forums with people desperate for metal cards. I have not chastised anyone nor am I being critical, I never use my cards these days it’s all done contactless so card design for many is immaterial.

You’re making out someone is being cheap for not paying £5 but you’re simply taking a one month cost there to make your point which is disingenuous. People pay subscriptions for all sorts of things these days, throwing another one on the pile adds up.

The obvious point is, someone who has helped fund monzo to support it from the start, doesn’t benefit from the perks that a new user can access for less money.

How does a new user access it for less money?

Sorry if I wasn’t clear.

A new user can sign up to monzo and pay the £5 a month subscription for the plus account.

Whereas for example, someone who has been with them for 5 years and potentially funded Monzo with a few thousand pounds in support but doesn’t feel the £5 charge is fair given that and so doesn’t sign up, experiences a more basic product despite having given Monzo much more money.

A new user therefore has a superior account for £5 having given nothing before.

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Nor should they.

Come profitability, maybe this should be ‘a thing’ as a reward for early investors but even then I’m dubious. Monzo spent a lot to allow the crowdfunding to happen at all - throwing more money after that in the form of discounted products feels excessive.

At the moment, however, those who invested to help Monzo grow really shouldn’t be looking to weaken that growth opportunity by chasing discounts. Let the business (and thus the investment) grow as quickly as it can since there will be far more to be gained from a profitable bank than 50p a month off a packaged account.

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Fair enough, it’s just my personal opinion.

I stuck 1k in at the last funding. I think the best approach for monzo would be to make the platform the best it can be to encourage new users to sign up. As I mentioned above I feel the plus account should only offer advantages that aren’t an enhancement to the function of it. I therefore won’t be signing up to the plus account as is as I don’t think supporting that approach is the best for Monzo in the long run.

I’m sure this will have been said earlier in the thread but the perk for the early investor is the opportunity for quite substantial capital gains (obviously also with the risk of a loss).

As far as I’m concerned Monzo did us a favour by enabling us to purchase early shares. There was zero need for it to open up funding rounds to regular users. It could have easily achieved its funding objectives via professional investors.

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That is true, and fair.

But it’s also the risk for the investor.

There’s no sign of me getting anything back for my 1k in the near future (which I accept). Chances of ever getting that 1k back - 50/50 maybe??

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Sure but the flip side of higher risk is higher potential reward in the form of capital gains. That’s just the nature of deciding to invest in a startup company.

Personally I don’t think we should feel entitled to reward in the form of product-related perks that weren’t promised at the time the investment was made.

Yeah I get you, and am sure you’re probably right, but that was my initial thought, and the OPs so there will be others out there that feel the same.

I still think this post above nails it and this isn’t the best approach.

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If those who paid for the original plus got 2 months free I’m sure that if Monzo offered something similar to Investors it would be a nice touch, maybe even beneficial to Monzo in the long run in encouraging people to move over to Monzo full time. I don’t know the answer but Curve, for example made me feel recognised as an early adopter than Monzo has. Just my thoughts, as I say I want Monzo to turn a profit one day and be able to run in the bank but more people need to use their accounts for this to happen.

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Maybe if you’d actually gone full Monzo :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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