Pots

pots or jars

maybe pockets or tins

‘Pots’ have been discussed so many times here that it’s (sadly) put me off the name completely.

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Great to know this is rolling! I think for a first version as long a I can put money into a pot knowing it won’t be withdrawn from if my card hits £0 then that’s a start. Not sure what will be too much development to begin with?

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The ability to share pots is probably what I’d like to see the most

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Ideally for me it would be a way of ear marking / protecting money for DDs that go out later that month, I’d much prefer a card payment declined whilst buying beer in a pub than my phone DD bounce.

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I definitely prefer to have a bucket of cash, over a pot of cash.

I liked ‘vaults’ though, there was some nice wording to be used around this word (“lock the vault” makes sense, “lock the pot” not so much):

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roll on “vaults” so i can stop using competitor’s “goals”

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I see it working something like this…

I’d like to be able to setup a Bills Pot :honey_pot:

Each month, my Bills Pot will be filled with enough to cover my bills
(this can be done manually, or automatically by Monzo learning my monthly bills) :sunglasses:

(Maybe, we could also have Pot Targets, that siphon off funds into each pot until the Pot Target is reached each month, or again is done manually)

Each time a payment is made or collected, and has been previously tagged as Bills, the Bills Pot will be reduced by that amount

If i have money in my Bills Pot, and no money in my main account, any transactions that are not Bills will be declined due to insufficient funds

If i have money in my main Account, and no money in my Bills Pot, the payment will still be taken from my main account

If needed, I can transfer money back out of the Bills Pot, which is then available to spend

In this example i have focused on Bill as I’m sure this is somthing that everyone can relate to, hiowever, the exact same principles can apply to anything, from saving for a holiday, to ring fence funds to be invested in an ISA or integrated with MoneyFarm, Nutmeg etc etc

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A Pot sounds like something an old lady pees in she too ill to walk to the outhouse at the end of her garden…
Vaults or Folders would be better names

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+1 for vaults from me :moneybag::pound::closed_lock_with_key:

with the ability to have closed and open vaults

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Separating money that will be required for recurring payments from the rest of my money (and if this could be automated and rolling that would be amazing)

Being able to share pots with other Monzo users would also be an incredibly useful feature.

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So here is my thoughts on this.
I don’t think any of the above option really work, because each one for me serves a specific purpose:

Envelops/Folders: Are usually for known amounts that you pay monthly, like bills and subscriptions. You put the money in the envelop, label it and don’t touch it until it is paid on due time.
the envelop is also private.

Pots/Jars: Are for money that you put on a side but that you can easily access. For example to put spare change in or to save for a holiday or for that gadget that you really want but you do not need.
In case of emergency, in case you need to fix the car for example, you can take money from the pot, but not from the envelop as you should pay the energy bill too.
Also a pot can be shared and multiple people can contribute in a pot.

Vault/Safe: Are for larger amounts of money that you need to put on a side but shouldn’t access only in case of a zombie outbreak. Like a Savings Account, or saving for a bigger expense like baying a house.
The vault is definitely private.

So I think the option above are more like Types of accounts rather than what the actual thing should be named.
In that case a more generic name like Accounts, or Funds with different type will work better.

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This is how I would imagine it to be too. I currently use a spreadsheet that works out my actual ‘disposible income’ after all my bills have been paid (it’s gotten quite a beast actually).

It would be great if Monzo moved that automatically and all the bills were then paid from that account. Saves the hassle of me using multiple bank and saving accounts to do this. :sunglasses:

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Maybe there is a simpler way to solve the bill problem. Instead of manually creating a new pot for bils, Monzo can see what direct debits are setup and simply ring-fence/ear-mark the money the money for the direct debits until the end of the month. It also decreases your available balance by the same amount. That way you don’t need to set up anything.

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My desire for Pots (or whichever name is chosen!) is so that I can put buy some money eg for Car Insurance. I tend to pay an annual premium as it is cheaper than paying monthly. However obviously it is great to be able to save up the money a month at a time and have it there waiting in time for renewal. I do this for a handful of accounts at the moment, but can see lots of potential in the other ideas discussed (ringfencing money for DD payments etc).

Really looking forward to seeing this implemented!

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Yes I was the same for car insurance and servicing, pay annually to avoid the additional premium for paying monthly, and save 1/12 every month.

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@valerio

For me pots would also be about management of monthly saving towards certain annual goals.

In my case, these are things like car costs, optician costs, Christmas, insurance and probably a couple of others. Some would say it’s classic envelope budgeting.

At the minute I have a savings account I use for this and the content of that account is tracked in a phone app so I know how much of the money in there belongs in which category.

The one unusual one is my daughters iPhone. I took the money from that account to pay for it then effectively created a negative or ‘loan’ category in there which I’m slowly paying back into.

If I can do all of that with pots (including negative balances) then you’ve solved a problem I’ve been working around in various inefficient ways for probably 20 years.

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Vaults is very cool! :sunglasses:

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What’s essential for me is “splitting” or “ear marking” the money.

At the beginning of each month I move money allocated for fuel to another account (essential for me), my spending allowance to another account (previously Monzo prepaid), savings to their respective accounts (ISA, LISA OnePenny Challenge) and leave my bills in my main account after paying any CCs that are not DDs.

For example. I would currently allocate my spend allowance at the beginning of the month, and if that pot empties I manually top it up (always budget a buffer). I find limiting that to be really useful. and also separating “play” money from my fuel allocation. so split spending pots would be nice. (even if manually dictating/changing the pot is required)

DDs could be earmarked and calculated from your monthly pay date (ie 25-25th or 15-15th of the month) so if you have £700 in DDs, you cannot touch £700. (my only bill that fluctuates is o2 so a minimum ear mark would work for me.)

The only thing I pay manually each month is rent (SO to parents) and Santander CC as the amount required fluctuates too much so even a manual payments pot would be lovely.

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On top of helping with annual or irregular bills, this feature would be a huge help in impulse saving for me, for things that are less than essential or future goals.

I hope it is implemented soon!