Savings app launches new feature to help Brits save up to £2,078 in one year | Personal Finance | Finance

Smart money app Plum has launched a new feature to help users boost their savings by hundreds of pounds this summer. Each time the app receives data confirming it’s sunny in a user’s registered location, Plum will automatically set aside money for those who have activated the ‘Sunny Day’ rule.

The new automation has been inspired by its popular Rainy Day app rule, which sets aside a particular amount of money each time it rains. Nivedhitha Selvam, senior product manager of automations at Plum, said: “Saving can often feel like an uphill struggle, especially at the moment, with cost of living challenges including rising utility bills, housing payments and council tax costs.

“That’s why many of our users find automation helpful when it comes to meeting their savings goals, so they don’t have to actively do it themselves. Our new Sunny Day Rule is brilliant for people who feel like they’re behind on saving and want to make their finances brighter.”

Plum is not a bank. It’s an app that helps users manage their money. It doesn’t hold cash like a traditional bank. Instead, it works with regulated financial institutions to store or invest it in products, such as Cash ISAs, Stocks and Shares ISAs, and easy access savings “pockets”.

With Plum’s new feature, users who turn on the ‘Summer’s Here’ sunny day automation could save around £519 in a year, based on last year’s total of 103 sunny days.

Based on this, if a user turned on the highest savings mode, ‘Blazing Hot,’ they could save around £2,078 in just one year.

The five modes offered by the Sunny Day Rule include:

• Shady Spot – Sets aside £1 when activated
• Sunny Side Up – Sets aside £2 when activated
• Summer’s Here – Sets aside £5 when activated
• Beach Day – Sets aside £10 when activated
• Blazing Hot – Sets aside £20 when activated.

According to Plum, its automated savings rules are “at the heart of the app,” which more than two million people have onboarded to help them invest, save, and manage their spending.

The app offers a range of other “rules” in addition to the default rule, which sets aside money based on people’s incomings and outgoings.

For example, the Naughty Rule, when triggered, sets aside a specific amount every time someone shops at retailers they’ve marked as guilty pleasures. The 1p challenge sets aside a penny more every day to help people save up to £667 per year, while the 52-week challenge automatically sets aside £1 per week, which compounds over time to £1,378 in a year.

Mr Selvam added: “Over the course of a few months, you’d be shocked at just how much you can save by setting a little money aside, but frequently thanks to this new automation.”