How To Make 2020 The Year You Hit Your Financial Goals

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2019 has been a doozy of a year. Its important that in 2020 you focus on ‘You’ and the things that you’d like to do. We all have things we’d like to achieve and very often, we put these aside to focus on others – children, family, friends and parents. It feels great to help others but it is very important that you remember to help yourself.

Whether you want a holiday, a new tv, to replace your car  or even to get the deposit for your own place, Chip can help you to reach your goals.

What is YOUR goal?

I know that in 2020 I will need a new computer. My trusty 2012 Macbook is really starting to feel its age and the battery life has gone from ‘hours’ to what feels like ‘minutes’! Unfortunately Macbooks are an expensive purchase when made upfront. I got this originally for £1000 and expect its replacement to be much the same price, if not more. One of the great things about Chip is that you can set you goal and track your progress against it without having to do any of the hard work of monitoring your bank account and trying to work out how much you can afford to stash away.

How does Chip work?

Chip uses the Open Banking platform to analyse over 180 million transactions and cross-references this against your personal profile to calculate how much you should put aside. This isn’t just a case of ‘rounding up the pennies’ as the average amount is about £20, so you know that this can be a realistic way of actually achieving your goals. All of this is done automatically by the Chip AI and in such a way that you don’t actually notice the money leaving your account, you just notice you are a bit closer to reaching your goal. Importantly the Chip AI will never make your account overdrawn and you get notification of the transfer before it happens so there is always time to stop it if you don’t want it going through at that time.

With Chip you are also able to make manual transfers whenever you feel like it. This is great if you get a bonus from work or receive some extra cash for your birthday or Christmas. The Chip AI will keep doing its thing and this extra cash will get you another step closer to that holiday you are looking forward to.

What Happens To My Money?

The money taken from your bank account and a deposit is made into a Chip account in your name. Its yours. You can withdraw your money at any time. Any request to withdraw received before 5pm on a working day will see your cash back in your standard bank account the same day. If you make the request after 5pm or at the weekend then it will be back with you the next working day.

Is Chip Safe?

They use bank level 128-bit encryption. If you want to know how secure that is, google ‘how to crack 128 bit encryption’ and the top result tells it all (current top result before someone from the future complains!). With a ‘brute force’ attack (where it keeps trying new codes until it hits the right one) it would take a billion billion years. Chip also only uses your two accounts. Firstly, it uses your standard bank account, and secondly, it stores your money in a Chip account in your name. The transfer is made from your bank account to your Chip account and when you withdraw its from your Chip account to your bank account.

What Accounts Can Link to Chip?

All the major High Street banks can fully connect with Chip – Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, RBS, Halifax, Lloyds, Nationwide, Co-operative Bank First Direct, , TSB, Metro Bank and Santander. If you have an account with Revolut, Monzo, Starling or one of the new ‘Challenger’ banks then you can  still connect you bank card and Chip will be able to start building towards your goals but won’t be able to be ‘fully connected’ just yet – but do watch this space!

Chip – Award Winners

Chip deservedly won the ‘Best Personal Finance App 2019’ at the British Bank Awards. They have also won ‘Best new innovation in consumer savings or wealth journey using account aggregation’ at the FDATA Awards. This shows how the industry is appreciating the technology and developments that Chip are making.

You can also read about Chip on the Guardian, BBC, and TechCrunch.

The Reverend’s Tip

If you sign up to Chip via this link then you will grab yourself an extra £10 to help you reach your goal. This £10 will be activated once you’ve completed 2 auto-saves and will then be credited within 30 days.

The Reverend’s Final Thought

Its hard to work out how you can reach your goals and an app like Chip seems to fit the solution perfectly. You set the target and you monitor it to make sure you remain on target. Sure, life can get in the way, but you remain in control and so can stop, start, add and continue however you see fit. For added peace of mind everything is always in your name.

Start 2020 how you mean to go on – set a goal and use Chip to help you get that holiday, replace your car or, like me, replace my ancient Macbook. If you find it doesn’t work for you then you can transfer everything, including your bonus £10, back into your standard bank account. However, if you find it DOES work for you then you can enjoy your trip abroad, your new set of wheels or even finally get the keys to your own place.