3 small habits to save up easily
The World Bank predicts in its “World Economic Outlook”1 predicts a continued slowdown in global economic growth. Want to boost your interest income? Here are 3 easy and practical money-saving habits that your wallet will thank you for later!
1. Separate spending and savings accounts
Create two separate bank accounts: a savings account and a day-to-day expenses account. You can set up an automatic transfer from your payroll account to your savings account every month. A fixed amount, such as 10% of your income, is a good amount to consider. To ensure you don't dip into your savings, it’s a good idea to keep the savings account card at home.
By automating the process, you no longer have to worry about manually setting aside a fixed amount of money or forgetting to save! This will help you stay on track with your savings.
➡️ Create your Savings Pot, somewhere to save, not spend.
2. Build passive income
Passive income is revenue generated with little or no active participation. As the saying goes, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Passive income is generated by spending time and capital on different assets to produce returns. Among several options in the market, time deposit stands out as a lower-risk option that requires less capital and is less affected by the macroeconomic environment or market performance. It also allows you to get an estimated interest income.
➡️ Create your Savings Pot and complete four monthly challenges to get up to a 4% p.a. savings rate with flexibility and no minimum deposit requirement.
3. Set feasible and specific savings goals
Goal-Free Living author Stephen Shapiro pointed out that only 8% of people are able to achieve their set goals for the new year2. This means that over 90% of people fail to accomplish theirs. The reason for this is that most goals are not accompanied by specific plans, action steps, and vision blueprints!
To increase your chances of achieving your goals, think of saving money as if you’re playing a video game! Instead of directly challenging the boss level, focus on completing each level to build a sense of accomplishment. This method will help you become more motivated to continue pushing yourself. To begin with, when setting goals to save money, start by taking small and achievable steps. One way is to reduce the number of times you eat out each week. Small, consistent changes can lead to significant financial progress.
In addition, you can visualise the savings goals you want to achieve. An experiment by behavioural economics professors Dilip Soman and Amar Cheema3 showed that people who posted a photo of their target on their savings envelope saved up to 20% more than those who did not!
➡️ Personalise your Savings Pot and stay motivated!
Let’s say you have a savings goal of booking a flight to see the camels in North Africa. You can post a picture of camels in the Sahara Desert at sunset on your savings pot. This will help you visualise your goal instead of just looking at a bunch of numbers, making what seemed like a painful process more motivated and enjoyable to save money and filled with anticipation.
As the Year of the Dragon begins, ZA Bank introduces Savings Pot, a tool to help you adopt the three habits mentioned above!
What is Savings Pot?
Savings Pot is your exclusive savings sub-account in ZA Bank, which is a simple way to put money aside and set it apart from your expenses. You can deposit or withdraw money instantly, no minimum deposit requirement and get up to a 4% savings rate.
How can I earn up to a 4% p.a. savings rate4?
Create your Savings Pot now to enjoy +0.39% p.a.. Get +3.6% p.a. more by completing all four monthly challenges! With the 0.01% p.a. savings basic interest rate5, you can earn up to 4% p.a. in total6!
Earn 1.4% p.a. by transferring HKD 20,000 cumulatively through Easy Deposit.
Earn 1.2% p.a. by using your ZA Card to complete no less than HKD 3,000 of eligible transactions in total.
Earn 0.5% p.a. by exchanging currency in any currency with a total sell-out amount of HKD 20,000 (equiv.)
Earn 0.5% p.a. by completing 2 QR code bill payments or credit card repayment transactions of no less than HKD 100 each.
1. Source: World Economic Outlook. (2024, January 29). IMF.
2. Source: Shapiro, S. M. (2010, December 3). Goal-Free Living. John Wiley & Sons.
4. Your Savings Pot interest rate includes the basic interest rate + reward rate.
5. The basic interest rate means an HKD savings basic interest rate of 0.01%. The basic interest rate will be adjusted from time to time, and the latest interest rate information can be found on the ZA Bank official website bank.za.group.
6. The reward interest rate applies to a Savings Pot balance of HKD 500,000 or below, which is valid from the day of completing the challenge to the last day of the month. View details in the Terms and Conditions.