What I’ve learned from my first year with Raiz
The 3 savings methods (and one sneaky pseudo-feature) that helped me save for the first time in my life.
I’ll be honest – I’m not known as much of a saver. I don’t usually have a lot left over at the end of the month and my parents have had to bail me out a few times over the years (especially at rego time 😒). And while I’ve always wanted to be able to save, be more savvy with my finances and learn how investing works – it’s always sat out of reach in the too-hard-basket.
Admittedly, before I joined Raiz I had little to no experience (or let’s be honest, interest) in investing but realistically couldn’t market an app that I hadn’t used first hand. Fast forward to July 2022 and I had a balance of over $3,500 – chump change to many, but to me this was my first time achieving a savings goal as well as my first foray into investing.
I’d surprised myself and was genuinely impressed with how well Raiz fit into my life. Even if being on the payroll does mar my credibility, this is my honest review of how Raiz is working for me!
The Round-ups feature
Round-ups are at the core of the Raiz saving system. Every single time I use my card to pay for something, the change from that transaction gets rounded up to the nearest dollar and is invested in my portfolio (a scary word in the beginning but really isn’t that complex when you get into it). Roughly a third of my overall savings for the year were made up of round-ups. Everything from tapping on to the light rail, espresso martinis, my gym membership and kebabs has helped me save in the background of life without a second thought.
Setting up a recurring investment
Shortly after signing up, I set up a savings goal with automatic weekly investments coming out of my bank account. The amount fluctuated between $20-$100 per week depending on what I could afford at the time but nonetheless I reached my goal. Like round-ups, having this set up to trigger automatically took out the need for me to put in any regular effort and I usually didn’t even notice the money coming out.
Taking advantage of Raiz Rewards
Raiz Rewards is criminally underrated if you ask me. Most of us shop online multiple times a month – my question to everyone is why wouldn’t you want cashback if you’re going to buy something either way? Keeping an eye out for sales, featured brands and paid surveys all added up, with Raiz Rewards accounting for $169 of my overall savings!
Not having cash on demand
This is a slightly controversial one since it’s not technically a “feature” of Raiz. Because your money isn’t just sitting in a savings account and has been invested in the stock market, it takes 3-5 days for withdrawals to be processed. This means that unlike my usual bank savings account, I can’t dip into it on a night out when funds are low, or I feel the need for an extravagant (and likely regrettable) impulse buy. Being forced to sleep on it often results in not following through with the withdrawal, and I’m proud to say I didn’t pull any of my money out until I hit my savings goal.
Everyone’s goals and circumstances are different and what worked for me may not necessarily work for you. Dividends, investment performance and referrals also contributed to my savings, although most of my progress was made through the methods I’ve detailed in this post. Like the old saying goes “a year from now you’ll wish you started today”.
To see the Raiz Invest fees, click here. To see if Raiz is suitable for you, please read the PDS.
– Written by Katie Mazzoni
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