Tax-free savings for your child with Stash

Stash is an app for your phone that allows you to put little bits of money into a tax-free saving that is easy to use and there are no administration fees.

We live in an environment where most people are cash-strapped, many are living month-to-month. Most South Africans don’t have good saving or investment habits and many of us wouldn’t know where to start. The world of finance and investing is so complicated that it might seem intimidating in the beginning. This is why so many people put it off.

Stash is a free app that you can download and start saving immediately with little bits of money as and when you can.

Have you ever thought that you could invest R10 or R20 whenever you feel like it? What about 10c at a time? Do you know that if you saved 10c today and then 20c tomorrow and increased your savings by 10c every day for a year you would have saved R6 679.50!

With Stash you can. It is really fun and easy to use, and you don’t need to understand any confusing jargon.

Stash is underwritten by Liberty, one of South Africa’s largest insurers. The money that you put into a Stash account can be invested in a Cash + (Plus) investment portfolio with a guaranteed 3.5% interest, or in the Top 40 shares in South Africa (that’s about as technical as it gets). You can control where you invest your money at any time. You can also cash out your money at any time and Stash will pay it into your bank account.

You can set up the app to Stash money when it is sunny, when you reach your fitness goals, or at any point when you feel like giving your savings a boost.

When you open a Stash account for your child, it is a wonderful opportunity to teach him/her the importance and benefits of saving. The app shows your money in real-time, so you can open up the app and show your child how their money has grown. It is a wonderful tool to start teaching your child healthy money habits and the benefits of compound interest. When your child becomes 18-years-old, the Stash account becomes theirs and they can use their investment to pay for higher education, start a business, travel or leave it to continue to grow.

Important to know:

• Tax-free savings are limited to R36 000 per year and R500 000 over your (or your child’s) lifetime. This is the limit of how much money you can put into the account.
• There is no limit to how much you can earn from that money. Your investment can grow for as long as you leave it in.
• When you withdraw your money you will not pay tax (provided it is within the limits mentioned above).

In an interview with Morning Live Glenn Grimley explains how Stash for kids works.

Find out more about Stash on their website here.

Download Stash for Android.

Download Stash for iOS (Apple).

Download Stash for Harmony / Huawei