Technology has been moving at its own rapid speed for as long as we all can remember, and the Covid-19 pandemic made what seemed like a faraway future very present in the tech space. As we become more and more homebodies, technology has been improving in ensuring that we still get to live the ‘normal’ lives we lived before, whatever an altered version of that means. In this article, we will take a look at how technology has impacted finance, online banking and budgeting, and how apps and tech features can help you save not only money but time too – both equally important. Take a look.
Free To Get, Free To Use
In South Africa, a lot of bank account holders now rely on online banking apps to transact and manage their finances. This is because not only are apps easy to navigate, but they are free to use and also cut bank charges for customers. Some banking apps also have budgeting tools to help you save; plus, in some instances, you can save all the change you get when making card purchases and stash it in another piggy bank in your account for those rainy days. The downloading and using of apps is easy, and these days you don’t even need to visit your bank’s branch to activate your banking app, so give it a shot.
Save On Groceries And Household Items
Before the new normal, people were spoiled with options regarding grocery and essential shopping. Now that the need to go tech is much more paramount and immediate, there have been some developments in the way people shop online. For instance:
- You can shop groceries online and save your shopping cart on the groceries app for every time you shop.
- You may schedule deliveries to fit your schedule and shop all your essentials at one time to cut delivery costs.
- You can score online-only promotions from your favourite stores and save some more.
The new virtual shopping technology is also gaining traction in a lot of stores, where customers get to place items such as furniture virtually in their homes to see how they will fit before buying them without even leaving their homes. This eliminates store traffic and, in this new normal, saves lives.
Money Managing And Loans
We know that money has been a sensitive subject since the dawn of time and that the pandemic has made it slightly more stressful. However, financial service providers heard your cries and have developed ways to make personal finance and new technologies merge together for your convenience. It is now easy for people to apply for things such as home loans, student loans or vehicle finance because there are apps for you to do so. Take the WesBank app, for instance, which offers you a complete 360 experience that you would get on the website or at their offices. This is at your fingertips with all the features you know and love, making vehicle finance application and management a breeze for you.
More Tech, Less Paper
With the world moving into a full-on tech era, this means we are saving huge amounts of paper, and in turn, saving the planet. And if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we need to take care of our planet as much as we can. Lucky for you, financial service providers are also moving into this new tech era by offering online applications and assistance 24 hours a day, bot services that are easy to access, and various options on how you can manage your accounts online. You can do anything online now, from applying to tracking the application, and even tracking your instalments too.
There Are Saving Specific Apps, Too
While banking apps offer saving features, you can also invest in a saving and budgeting specific app that will help you manage your money at all times. It is recommended that we budget as much as we can and spend money wisely in order to always have it, even on rainy days. With budgeting and saving apps, you can choose to autosave when certain things happen, like choosing to stash change when you buy, or a specific amount of money be saved when things such as load shedding happen, and more. Have a look at apps such as Stash, 22Seven and Spending, which will help you save and budget better. You are the only person that knows your needs and wants, so employ the help of technology to reach all your finance goals.
In Closing
We are all aware of how technology has impacted the finance industry and are impressed with the ways in which people can make, spend and save money. The need to move to a digital world is dire, but the decision rests with you. A pro-tip: figure out what your finance needs are first. Are you planning on saving for something big, do you need finance for something big, or are you trying to manage your money better? Once you have that figured out, there are lists and lists of apps and technologies that will help you achieve all your financial goals. Good luck and enjoy the digital world.
