A SAVVY saver has taken the phrase “if I had a pound every time it rains” very literally.
Dad-of-one Stuart Fearn, 54, has managed to pocket an extra £18,800 by saving cash every time it rains, creating a real-life rainy day fund.
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The community banking consultant, who lives in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, with wife Kirsty and 13-year-old daughter Ava, has saved tens of thousands of pounds through the banking app Plum since 2020.
The Plum app comes with various features – what it calls “rules” – and Stuart uses five of them on a regular basis.
His favourite feature, though, is the Rainy Days tool which automatically transfers cash into his savings every day that it rains.
What is the Plum app?
PLUM is an app that works out how much you can afford to save and then sets it aside for you.
There’s no fee or penalty for withdrawing your money, and savings stashed away with Plum are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which covers cash up to £85,000.
You can earn up to 2.7% AER in Plum’s easy-access interest account – but you could find better interest rates elsewhere.
There are four different options when you sign up for Plum, each unlocks various benefits and has a different price.
Here’s the full list of plans available:
Plum Basic (free) allows you to save automatically using the AI algorithm, with unlimited withdrawals and deposits. You can use some smart saving rules such as Round Ups and Pay Days, and money can earn interest of 3.51% AER.
You can also invest in “Plum Interest” (a money market fund offering a variable rate of 5.12% VAR) or invest with 1,200 US stocks.
Plum Pro (£2.99 a month) allows you to do all the above, plus invest in 17 diversified mutual funds via a Stocks & Shares ISA or GIA.
You can also access the 52-Week Challenge and Rainy Days rule and earn interest at 3.72% AER.
Plum Ultra (£4.99 a month) allows you to do all the above, plus a Plum debit card which can be loaded with cash for spending, more saving rules like the 1p challenge and Naughty Rule and a smart Spend Tracker to keep up with your spending habits.
Plum Premium (£9.99 a month) allows you to do all the above, plus gets the best interest rate (4.21% AER), discounts on investment in ‘Plum Interest’, access to 26 funds and 3,000 US stocks plus further smart investment features.
Stuart told The Sun: “The Rainy Days feature is my favourite – or at least most well-used – tool.
READ MORE ON SAVINGS
“I vary it based upon the seasons, from a rainy day £20 to a raining cats and dogs £10.”
The app links to a weather Application Programming Interface (API) and sets aside money automatically every day that it rains.
You can choose and edit the amount you want to save for every day that the weather forecast predicts rain.
In Stuart’s case, he puts away £10 every time it rains heavily and £20 when it’s a regular rainy day.
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Living in the North East of England, which saw an exceptionally wet 2023 with 172 rainy days in total, Stuart managed to save £3,440 in a year.
After using the app for four years, he has now saved up a whopping £18,800 through the Rainy Days feature alone.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the service relies on weather forecasts and not the actual weather, so it may not be 100% accurate.
Plus, it calculates according to the rainy days from the previous week, not the current one.
Of course, Stuart can’t predict the weather so he can’t know how much he will save in the following week, but he can make a rough estimate based on how much it has rained previously.
While Stuart puts away regularly, you can turn the feature off whenever you want – so if there’s a month of bad weather and you can’t afford to keep depositing cash, you can just pause it.
And of course, you don’t have to put as much as £20 away if you don’t have it spare – even a little can build up, particularly living with the UK‘s notorious weather.
Stuart said: “The reality is that however bad the weather, I can always transfer money back to my main account.”
What other rules does Stuart recommend?
Stuart is on the Plum Pro plan, which means he pays £2.99 a month for extra rules.
Among these are long-running saving challenges as well as tools used on a daily basis.
He said: “I use five of the rules currently and over the years have saved large amounts which have then been used on the house, for instance, as well as for paying for holidays and other key events.
“Over the years, I’ve saved more than £40,000 from all the different rules.”
Here are some more examples of tools Stuart has used and how much they’ve saved him.
52-week Challenge – £4,000
Stuart has saved £4,000 over the past four years by completing the 52-week challenge on and off.
The 52-week challenge works by getting participants to put aside £1 for the first week, £2 for the second, £3 for the third and so forth, until the end of the year.
Over the course of a year you would end up putting away £1,378 in total.
The challenge is a common one among the savvy savers community but does require a bit of legwork.
If you don’t use an app, as Stuart does, then you have to put the amount into your savings yourself every week.
Plum allows you to do this automatically and does the maths for you too.
Again, if you feel that you can’t afford to put the cash away each week then you can pause it at any time.
And, you can check out a calendar in the app which shows you how much money you’ll save each week in detail if you want to plan ahead.
Round Ups – £2,000
The round-up rule allows Plum to round up cash from purchases Stuart has made and pocket the extra money into his savings.
For example, if he bought something that cost £19.30, then Plum will round up to £20 and put 70p in savings.
It might not sound like much, but if you’re doing this with every transaction then it adds up.
That was the case for Stuart who has actually saved £2,000 just through the Round Ups feature over the past four years.
Weekly Depositor – £8,000
Over the past two and a half years, Stuart had saved £8,000 just using the Weekly Depositor feature.
This rule lets you arrange a balance transfer for a set amount each week.
It’s customisable, so you can specify exactly how much you want to contribute.
There are suggested options for deposits of £1, £2, £5, £10 or £20.
Alternatively, you can specify another amount of your choosing, if you prefer.
You can pause it at any time though and put as little or as much as you want based on your income.
Pay Days – £10,000
Every payday, Stuart’s Plum account will move over cash to his savings account.
This means that before he’s had a chance to spend it or to change his mind, he’s already put money in his bank.
The rule is completely customisable, so it doesn’t matter if you get paid weekly or monthly.
Plus you can choose how much you put away as well.
Over the course of five years, this tool has saved Stuart £10,000.
But again, it’s important you only save what you can, of course, don’t put too much away if you’re struggling to pay for essentials.
Why would you recommend a Plum account?
Stuart says the main thing to remember about Plum is you have complete control over your savings.
He said: “It really doesn’t matter how much you believe you can or can’t save.
“The app starts at as low as you wish, lets you test the water and find ways to create a savings habit.”
The savvy saver pointed out that he never used to be very good at saving cash.
He said: “I used to buy small collectables and saving day-to-day was a less likely habit.
“I changed jobs in the last year, made a decision to work in charity and my income altered.
Despite his job change, it doesn’t mean he has to stop saving, just adjusts what he saves and when.
“Plum makes this really easy, you also don’t need the Pro plan so again, cost doesn’t have to be a limiting factor,” he added.
Always having app access means you can keep a close track of your savings and that also helps encourage doing more, according to Stuart.
He said: “The automation of the rules really helps and you are always in control of how much, when and how you save.
“The flexibility of the whole app is great and something for everyone.”
What other money saving apps are there?
THERE are lots of other money apps that can help you to budget and save.
Most apps are free, but some may give you the option to upgrade your subscription.
Apps are a great way to start saving – but it’s important to make sure you don’t get sucked into paying for an app that isn’t helpful to you.
It’s definitely worth trying the free app first, and checking whether you can do what you need to without a cost, before being sucked into a monthly subscription.
Below, are several money-saving apps that work in a similar way to Plum.
Snoop
You can connect Snoop to your bank account and credit cards.
It gives you a personal robot to help you budget better and you’ll be notified about where you can make potential savings, such as by switching a utility provider.
You can also set up alerts so you don’t overspend.
Snoop can be downloaded for free onto your smartphone via the Apple or Google Play store.
Monzo
The online bank’s app gives a clear summary of your spending in different categories and rounds up outgoings to the nearest pound to set aside savings.
You can set up spending targets in categories, and a bill tracker flags if your direct debits are higher or lower than usual.
It can be downloaded from your phone’s app store for free.
Emma
Emma is another free app that can be downloaded from either the Apple or Google Play store.
You can see all your accounts in one place and track spending in dozens of different categories.
You can set your own budgets, work out how you can save and receive regular bill and spending updates.
It’s a good way to get a snapshot of your overall finances and how to manage these best.
Money Dashboard
Money Dashboard is a free app for your phone that gives you spending categories to make budgeting simpler.
They can be seen on your personal dashboard and include things like essential bills and food.
You can set budgets and see what’s left each month.
The app will also let you know if you’re spending more than you can afford.
Banking apps
It’s well worth checking the budgeting options in your banking app.
Bank apps can alert you to your spending, and they might round it up each day, which helps you keep a closer eye on your spending as you go along.
Some of them will divide your spending into categories, so you can see far more clearly where your money is going, and where you need to cut back.
The free Natwest app, for example, has a spending and budget tracker that categories your spending and lets you set a budget to help you keep track of your outgoings.
If you bank with Barclays, you can download the free app to get spending alters to help to you stay on top of your balance.
You can also add spending limits and add a cap on how much you can spend using contactless.
Meanwhile, a 40-year-old has managed to put aside £9,163.97 in five years with the help of a money-saving app.
Plus, another is saving £6.5k with “effortless” savings challenges.
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