Banking Follow-up

Late last year I looked into various banking options. I’ve been with Barclays since they gave out free mobile phones to students in the 1990s and I’ve never been able to manage my money. Wondering whether there were better options, I checked and found Starling and Monzo. I wrote about their differences a few months ago, but ultimately switched to Starling for my business account.

6 months on, how is it going? Amazingly well. I’m managing money like never before with the Spaces feature. Any time an invoice is paid I can quickly send 20% to my Tax space and 10% to my computer savings space. In just 6 months I managed to save up for a £3,000 MacBook Pro. A year ago I had no idea how I was going to find that sort of money to get a new computer. Previously I would pop it on a credit card and fight to pay it off.

This is a life-changing experience. I know people would say that it’s the obvious way to buy things, but the mental overhead for a neurodivergent person is huge. Barclays would have required me to open an entirely new account with everything that entails. Starling, I make a new Space in minutes and I’m done.

I plan to switch my personal account over at some point but I became stuck. Starling does not offer a savings account and I have a small savings pot. Monzo does. However, do I want 2 apps or is it better to have everything in one? It might make sense to have 2 so I can quickly know whether the notification is related to business or personal finances. It is more to manage though. Which is why I’m stuck in a classic autistic can’t see the wood for the trees conundrum.

One day, I’ll make a decision. I did with my business account and that’s been great… hasn’t it? I just wrote this post about how great it’s been so it must be. Except… About a month ago I found a secret third option I never even knew to consider called Mettle. It has the same features as Starling with one bonus, FreeAgent integration. FreeAgent is the online accounting software that I’ve been using for 15 years. If I had switched to Mettle, not Starling I could save £150/yr and have better integration between my banking and accounting. Doh! Maybe another day because it took me months to update my bank details with some finance departments.

Any neurodivergent person should look into Monzo, Starling or Mettle for their work or personal finances. I highly recommend it.