There are various applications that turn the smartphone into a versatile tool for savings and investments. Let’s find out some of the best together.
On Android and iOS smartphones, you can find many applications related to Fintech, perfect for interfacing with the world of the economy at any time, in an easy and intuitive way and with relatively low costs.
Even if the Fintech sector is still quite young, it does not seem risky to say that it seems destined to revolutionize an entire sector, because it is able to intercept, on the one hand, the discontent and distrust of "traditional" banks and financial institutions, and from other than satisfying the now widespread habit (and not only among Millennials) of solving any problem in a few clicks.
Let’s find out together some of the best apps to move around this world.
Currency payments
Among these apps, one of the most interesting is Wise. Not only is it one of the most downloaded in this sector, but it is also one of the most innovative and accessible, as evidenced by the many positive reviews on Google Play and the App Store. The app in question uses the real exchange rate to help a wide range of users receive, send and spend money safely and conveniently.
The app was born out of the frustration of Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann. The first, a Skype employee, worked in Estonia, paid in euros although residing in London. The second, a financial consultant, on the other hand, worked in London and was paid in pounds, with a loan in euros for his home in Estonia. How can this be resolved? Easy: by exchanging the established amount every month, without having to pay bank commissions. The same principle that is at the basis of Wise: just activate an online account, you will get local bank details (pound sterling, euro, US dollar, Australian dollar).
It is now possible to manage and deposit money in more than 40 different currencies and send it to more than 50 countries. For the conversion of money, Wise charges a small fee that is visible right away. The amount depends on the currencies involved and the mid-market exchange rate is guaranteed. Sending money from the Wise account to another bank account in the same currency incurs a small fee. The account is available with the Wise Mastercard debit card.
Immediate payments
For those who do not want to go around with too much cash in their pockets but do not even want to bear the costs of a credit card and for those who use their smartphone without problems: this is the field of action of cashless payments and the apps that support them. Satispay is designed for this kind of people, to make micropayments via mobile phone quickly, easily and securely. In a nutshell, Satispay is a sort of WhatsApp with which, instead of sending messages or photos, you can send money, or to your contacts or to affiliated shops, where you actually make a digital payment. It is also possible to top up the phone. Satispay is both a consumer and business service and, very importantly, it is an independent payment network in which Satispay is the sole intermediary of the transaction: this is why it guarantees totally free services to the private user and at competitive prices for merchants.
Insurance on demand
Yolo is an application created by the 100% Italian startup by the same name Insurtech, founded in 2017 and also active as a completely and exclusively digital insurance intermediary. Yolo offers on-demand micro-policies in the goods, people, health and travel sectors under its own brand, but managed by others. In fact, it is like a supermarket with private label products: it sells them under its own label, but behind the scenes there are more structured insurance companies. To date, it has entered into agreements with Chubb and Reale Mutua, Allianz, Net Insurance and AXA. To access Yolo’s online services, simply register on the portal, the costs vary from service to service, from the number of people or goods insured, from the time of validity of the policy.
Investments
MoneyFarm
A capital available, clear ideas on how to invest it and no desire to bear the costs of intermediation or to rely on a bank? The answer lies in the robo-advisors, a new generation of virtual financial consultants who use mathematical algorithms to create customized solutions with a drastic reduction in costs. Founded in 2011, in Italy, MoneyFarm was awarded in London as best investment platform in the twenty-first edition of the YourMoney.com Awards. It requires no minimum investment, opening or transaction cost or ancillary cost. Consultancy costs range from 0.3 to 1% based on how much you invest, while the average costs of the funds are equal to 0.30%. The service is based on the assumption that a winning investment strategy is based on diversification: geographic, temporal, between stocks. Moneyfarm offers six portfolios of ETFs, diversified to meet different investor profiles and objectives: from pure capital protection to the search for greater returns.
Savings
Gimme5
Let’s forget the piggy bank, in the Fintech world there is also room for microsaving. Gimme5, launched by AcomeA SGR, an asset management company independent of banking groups, has a little pig as its logo, but it runs, because it is the app that "sets your savings in motion". Gimme 5 is, in fact, a digital piggy bank that allows you to invest your savings in mutual funds managed by professionals. The funds are associated with objectives set by the user, who will choose whether to bet on prudent, moderate or aggressive assets. The investment can be made by bank transfer, RID/SDD, MyBank and Sofort/Klarna both when the user wants and automatically, on a monthly basis: all in a few taps and with sums starting from only 5 euros. Costs? Zero activation costs, zero fixed costs for the account and only 1 euro of cost for the reimbursement of investments made. There are management fees to pay for investment-related activities, but they are much cheaper than those found in traditional offerings.
Oval Money is also an autosaving app and, at the same time, an account aggregator. Oval Money has in fact developed a platform that allows you to accumulate savings automatically, based on your habits and preferences. This app allows anyone to track individual transactions (either by account or by card), effectively providing an accurate account of their spending habits, allowing them to accumulate savings, moved from the account to a digital piggy bank, guaranteed and personal. There are 3 types of Steps with which to fill the piggy bank: rounding (accumulating the change of the rest of the daily expenses), fixed amount or percentage each time you spend in a certain category, or even provisions based on social habits (putting aside for example € 0.50 every time it is published on the Facebook wall). The minimum amount of savings to accumulate? £1 or €1, depending on the currency in which you opened the digital piggy bank. Zero costs: opening an Oval Money account is totally free, there are no commissions for depositing and withdrawing savings or for synchronizing transactions.
Loans
Younited Credit
If the need is that of a loan, technology does not miss its contribution: an example is Younited Credit, online credit marketplace based on the model of the "Digital Credit Platform", the consumer platform that generated more loans in the last 12 months, with 77.2 million euro, as also reported by the Entrepreneurship & Finance Observatory - 3rd Italian Report on CrowdInvesting.
Younited Credit technology allows you to borrow directly from the professional investing community (individuals, companies, insurers, foundations, pension funds, etc.). The loan is fast (immediate preliminary response, final response within 24 hours, fast liquidation of funds), fair (100% of interest is paid to professional investors and the remuneration of Younited Credit is a commission taken upon delivery of the funded funds), convenient (fixed rate, no hidden costs, no revolving credit, continuous updating on the progress of the practice, same installment for the entire duration of the loan starting from 48 euros).
Online payments in installments
Soisy
Born in 2015 as a P2P Lenging platform, that is the loan between private individuals disbursed through the internet, Soisy today offers a lending marketplace that allows online installment payments in affiliated e-commerce where purchases are financed by private investors.
Here there are more advantageous conditions than traditional sources of loans: for investors, expected gross returns of 5 to 8% without guarantee and the possibility of freeing themselves at any time; for applicants the possibility of buying a very expensive product by diluting the payment in installments, benefiting from easy conditions and without the risk of dealing with hidden quibbles or additional expenses. Furthermore, the interest rate is customized based on one’s creditworthiness.
Soisy also guarantees fast times: about 1 minute for the quote, response in 3 minutes and acceptance of the request in a maximum of 24 hours. For investors, on the other hand, there is no lack of transparency and security, given that Soisy complies with the safety standards required by law. To protect investors’ money, the company provides a mechanism called Return Guarantee: a real "piggy bank" to which all lenders can contribute by giving up a small part of their earnings, which intervenes to cover the insolvency cases.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2022-10-28 18:38:02.
Original title: Fintech: ecco le App che ti migliorano la vita
