Saving for major life events can be straightforward. You earn the money, stash it away, and it’s there when you need it. If you’re saving for something big like retirement, a home down payment, a new car, or college tuition, you’ll probably have a dedicated savings account for those goals.
That system might work well to have your money ready for those major milestones, but what about the smaller purchases along the way? There are a lot more types of purchases for which you may save up in advance. Almost all of us have a mix of short and long-term savings goals.
At Milli, we’ve introduced a simpler way to save for those purchases along the journey of life, whatever they may be for you. We call them Jars. With a Jar, you can save up for and track multiple goals simultaneously by bucketing funds within the same account.
What is a Milli Jar?
With a Jar, you can save for a specific item, experience, or goal without having to create a separate new savings account. You can earmark the money for something specific rather than letting it all sit in a big general pool of savings. This is super helpful so that you don’t have to go through the process of creating a new account for each individual goal you have.
With Jars, you can get in front of upcoming expenses easily. If you have a Jar for a specific purchase, you don’t need to take the money from your general savings or spend a big portion of your latest paycheck when big expenses pop up.
And, when you’re doing your taxes and reporting the interest you earned from your savings, you’ll just have one form to report – not multiple!
Features of Milli’s Jars
Let’s dig in to the specific functionality of this section of the Milli app. Here are some key things to know:
- Each account can have up to five customizable Jars
- You can set an end date
- You can set a target amount
- If you set a target amount and end date for your Jar, Milli will calculate how much you need to add on a recurring basis to meet that sum
- You can choose from icons or upload a custom photo to visually mark for what you’re saving
- You can create savings rules, like spending round-ups, to automatically add money
- You can even title the Jar with an emoji
All the funds are still in the same account, but visually seeing each Jar’s progress on the Milli app and treating them as separate items goes a long way toward making progress.
How people use Milli’s Jars
So how can you use Milli’s Jars? In a lot of different ways! Some people like to use them for ongoing expenses. Others like to use them for short-term budgeting for events with a specific date.
For example, let’s say Mike is looking for an easy way to save up for a few specific expenses in the future. He wants to save for a new roof which he should replace in five years, and estimates will cost him $10,000. He also wants a new camera for his hobby as a photographer, has his eye on one that will run him $800, and he wants it in 10 months before a planned trip. He also has an aging car and wants to create a dedicated fund for expenses like repairs and eventual replacement, but doesn’t have a specific timeline or cost, so he will add money as he has extra room in his budget.
Mike’s Jars would look like this:
Roof Jar: $10,000 target amount, end date 5 years – $166 per month
Camera Jar: $800 target amount, end date 10 months – $80 per month
Auto Jar: No target amount, ongoing – $20-$200 per month, as budget allows
But, how do people actually use Jars? We asked the Milli team how they have used them and what they like about the experience:
Evan Stohlmann, Lead Developer, says “I like to use a Jar for my recurring bills. The benefit of this is that my money is working for me as much as possible while it is in my account. Utilizing distributed direct deposit, or Set and Forget rules, I ensure every two weeks my bills Jar is topped up and funded for the upcoming payments all while taking advantage of our industry leading interest rate combined with our daily compounding configuration. This also makes it very easy to see if my bills are consistent every month with our statements. Mortgage payments aren’t getting any smaller and while those payments sit in there for up to a month it’s important for me to ensure it’s gaining every penny of interest possible.”
Hope Dorman, Content Marketing Manager, says, “Since I am at the age of my life where I am attending a lot of weddings, I have a Jar dedicated to wedding-related travel and gifts. I love having a specific place I can save up for these larger and irregularly timed upcoming purchases. Now I can look forward to the weddings instead of feeling stressed about how I’ll cover my cost to attend, because I’ve already got the funds set aside, and it doesn’t feel like I’m cutting into my other long-term savings goals.”
Conclusion
If you like to save up for purchases in advance, we hear you – and that’s why we built Jars. Whether you want to have a dedicated place to save for recurring expenses or want some prompting to regularly put money away for a specific event in the future, a Jar can help. We’re here to fill that gap between making a unique savings account for each purchase or just taking from a general fund and having to keep track yourself.
At Milli, we’re all about making banking simpler. That’s why our products, like Jars, are loaded with features, so you can build a banking experience that works for you.
If you haven’t already, download the Milli app on the App Store or Google Play, and set up your first Jar to start working toward your next savings goal!
Keep reading on the Milli blog
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5 Ways to Save Money and Live More Sustainably – Simultaneously
