Investment App – Stash by Liberty has proven to be a major hit amongst young South Africans – with an impressive 12 000 users since this year’s Android launch in April.
“We are very proud that more than 60% of Stashers are under the age of 35. Getting the younger generation to invest is a challenge because young people are so focused on work, family and socialising that they often neglect this essential financial imperative, that’s why Stash has kept it simple. We’ve loved how quickly people have caught on to Stash. More than a third of Stashers join through friends and more than 3 000 people have pre-registered for Stash for Apple on stash.co.za,” said Juan Labuschagne, Head of Development at Stash.
Stash is an app that simply rounds up transactions when you swipe your bank card and invests the digital spare change in South Africa’s top 40 companies. In just 49 seconds, you sign up, link your debit, credit or cheque card to the app, and get R50 free to kick-start your investment journey. Each time you spend on your card, the app rounds up the amount spent to the nearest R10 and stashes the digital spare change into your investment account.
Labuschagne says, “When it comes to investing, getting started is the hardest part. I can remember the homework I had to do to make sense of where I was putting my money. It seemed like too much work and I kept putting it off. Investing should be as easy as tweeting – that’s the goal of Stash.”
“All this spare change accumulates without interfering with your day-to-day life. Stash checks your daily bank balance and never transfers more than you can afford, so you don’t have to worry about going into overdraft. Before you know it you’ll have a significant Stash balance. Your Stash grows as fast as South Africa’s biggest companies do because your spare change is invested in South Africa’s top 100 listed companies,” says Labuschagne.
An additional benefit of Stash is that you don’t pay any tax on the cash that is stashed. You can invest up to R33,000 a year, up to R500,000 over your lifetime, into your tax-free investment. These limits go across ALL your tax free savings accounts you may have. You are not taxed on the growth of your money, not penalised when you cash out and can put in or withdraw money whenever you like.Stash now works with all of South Africa’s major banks too. The most recent addition is Capitec – the second biggest bank in South Africa. “If you bank with Capitec and tried to sign up, now you can get a Stash,” says Labuschagne.
“Stash is an SA first. We went back to the drawing board to design an app-based investment that works for those who find investing intimidating. It puts the power of the stock market on your smart phone, and you can access your money whenever you need it.”
The average Stash user saves R175 every month; approximately R2 100 invested every year.
Get the app on the Google Play Store.
Visit www.Stash.co.za and pre-register for Apple’s iOS.
On 15 October, the only app to invest your spare change will be available on Apple’s iOS.