I came across this video and found it very useful. It highlighted a point that I am concerned about when it comes to my nephews and how they will manage their money. My oldest nephew in particular as he is nearly 16 and will soon need to look at banking. I imagine he will never have paper money, he will never have to hold a lot of money and hand it over to pay for something. I reckon this will cause him to be bad with money as it will just be 1s and 0s. I also don’t doubt that he will enter the banking world using something like Monzo, starling, n26 etc and it will just feel like another app/ game on his phone.
This is where I hope Monzo will step and and help him to manage his money in a digital age where all money seems a bit fake.
I am hopeful that things like spending trackers will evolve over time to become useful.
I’ve never understood this. A lot of people seem to think it, though. Frequently when people use contactless they’ll say: ‘Oh it’s too easy to spend money like that’ as if they would have not spent it if they had to pay by cash. I guess I agree that it is a lot more convenient to pay for things now - maybe that seems like it encourages people to spend more than they would if they had a pocket of change? Who knows, I’ve not read up on any data/insight into it. I do know that for me I’m far more aware of how much money I have with app/online banking and Monzo even if it is just a number on a screen. The simple fact that being able to see an instantly updated balance with ease is a huge improvement over depending on an ATM. I was terrible with money when I used cash all the time: I’d end up with piles of change, only have a vague idea of my balance, have way too much money than was necessary in my current account etc.
You also mention that managing money will possibly end up like another app/game. Weirdly, I kinda consider the ease of use apps like Monzo provide a sort of game-like way to save. I have auto-transfers to pots, a Stocks and Shares ISA with Moneybox and I’ve managed to save over £400 this year with the IFTTT 1p savings challenge - all things I’d never done before I switched to Monzo.
At the end of the day it’s still going to heavily rely on personal responsibility.
Isn’t this the point of pocket money and paper rounds? Learning to save or even learning that borrowing from your parents is really stealing from yourself in the future.
I always felt that with cash I would spend it as soon as I had it but with the accurate view of my accounts that I can get almost instantaneously on my phone I find that I’m more considerate with my spending.