Plum App Review: Is It Any Good {2024 Guide}
If you are someone who struggles to save or wants an easier way to build their savings pot then this Plum app review is for you!
With life being so busy – work, kids, housework, life admin, kids again – it’s no wonder keeping an eye on our finances can take a bit of a back seat.
Plum is a money app that uses AI technology to analyse your spending (after connecting to your bank account) and then sets aside what you can afford to save.
It will automatically put that money away into one of your Plum app pockets – more on those shortly.
But the app does a lot more than that. With different options for savings and also investing, this is a handy app that can really help you build up a savings pot.
You may also like: How to save £10k
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Plum app quick verdict
I’ve been using the Plum app for four months now and love the look of the app as well as how user-friendly it is, once I got the hang of navigating all the different features.
There are lots of ways to automate your savings – you can combine different ones or stick with your favourite – and different places where you can put your money.
There are options to let Plum calculate how much you can afford to set aside, options to round-up your transactions and deposit the difference, set the amount you want to transfer on payday and more.
You can choose to keep saving in your Plum pockets, or use the platform to invest in a stocks and shares ISA or general investment account (always remember your capital is at risk if you invest). It also offers a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP).
Download and get started with Plum now – get £5 cashback with my exclusive offer!
Pros
- Automates savings so you don’t need to think about it.
- View all your spending and banking in one place.
- Free version of the app has lots of options, including investing your money.
- Interest can be earned in one of your Plum pockets*.
*Interest pockets are provided by Investec Bank Plc.
Cons
- Lots going on in the app – can be hard to get used to for new users.
- Higher interest rates in paid-only version.
What is Plum?
Plum is a money saving and investing app that automates your regular savings, and can use its AI algorithm to calculate how much you can afford to set aside.
Under the free version of the app you can utilise the AI algorithm to automate your deposits, or pick from some other options to tailor how much you want to set aside each week/month.
Money is placed into “pockets” in the app – the free version gives you a primary Plum pocket with instant access but no interest, and an “interest” pocket. That currently offers 3.51% with the free version of the app, the paid-for version unlocks a higher interest rate (more on that shortly).
There are three paid-for tiers that unlock additional features, options for investments, and higher interest rate for your Plum interest pocket.
Fees apply on certain activities in the app – namely investing in funds and the Plum SIPP – which is what you will see when investing on any platform. However the fees are competitive when compared with other similar investing apps on the market such as Chip.
Key features of Plum Basic (free version)
- Get £5 cashback when you sign up with my exclusive offer. You’ll need to have a minimum of 1p held in a primary pocket, interest pocket, Plum Card pocket or investment account for at least 90 days. Full Ts&Cs here.
- Connect your bank accounts. Get an overview of your finances by connecting bank accounts and credit cards to Plum.
- Automated deposits using Plum’s AI algorithm round-ups.
- Saving pockets. After opening your Plum account you’ll have a primary pocket, and you can also open another “Interest” pocket. You can earn 3.51% interest with your one interest pocket.
- FSCS protection. Funds in the interest pocket are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme).
- Unlimited and instant withdrawals from your primary pocket. Withdrawals from the interest pocket can be withdrawn the same working day by 3pm. No limit on withdrawals.
- Round-ups. App will look at your transactions from the last week, round up to the nearest £1 and deposit the difference.
- Weekly Depositor. Set aside an amount every week.
- Payday savings. Decide to deposit a set amount every month.
- Adjustable moods. When using the AI algorithm to calculate your saving you can set how ambitious you’re feeling with saving, from Shy (50% less deposits) to Beast (75% more deposits)!
- Invest. Choose from more than 1,200 company stocks and invest starting from £1.
Features of Plum Pro (£2.99 a month)
With Plum Pro you get all of the features listed above with Plum Basic, plus these features too.
- Better interest rate. Up to 3.72% in your interest pocket.
- Additional pockets. You can open up to 15 customisable pockets, so you can split your savings (ie split your holiday cash from your house deposit fund).
- Cool savings challenges. Gamified deposits include the 52-week saving challenge (to save £1,378 in a year) or rainy days rule, where money is set aside when it’s forecast to rain where you live.
- Goals. Assign targets to your extra pockets to help you reach your savings goals.
Features of Plum Ultra (£4.99 a month)
You will get all of the features in Basic and Plum Pro, plus these extras if you get Plum Ultra.
- Plum Card. Get your own Plum debit card so you can spend out of your Plum account.
- 1p challenge. Save £667 per year with this fun savings challenge.
- Naughty rule. A set amount of money is set aside into your savings automatically when you shop somewhere you would rather avoid!
- Money maximiser. A budgeting tool powered by AI that calculates the money you have to spend until payday and keeps you on track with your budget.
Features of Plum Premium (£9.99 per month)
You get all of the features listed above plus these too:
- Invest. Choose from 3000 stocks to invest in as well as 22 managed funds. Invest daily, weekly or monthly.
- Higher interest rate. Earn 4.21% on your savings.
How does Plum work?
You connect your bank accounts and credit cards (Plum works with most major UK banks) to the app and it provides you with a complete overview of your finances. What bills are going out, what you’re spending on and what’s coming in.
It uses that info to figure out what you could afford to set aside each month.
For those who are unsure about the AI-tech’s decision-making on how much they can afford to deposit, you can set your mood level for saving to adjust it lower or higher.
Alternatively you can set exactly how much you want to set aside on payday, or choose one of the app’s other automated options.
There are three paid-for tiers that unlock further options for savings which are great because they include popular challenges such as the 1p challenge, but will automate it for you!
If you want you can also invest in up to 3000 stocks and 22 funds, as well as open a SIPP through Plum.
It’s great if you’re a beginner to investing as you can get started with just £1 – remember with investing that your capital is at risk. Stocks can go up or down.
Plum enables you to manage different savings pots in one place.
For example you may have some money in your interest pocket – or several pockets if using the paid-for app – that’s going towards a specific thing like a new car. Then you may have money in investments – stocks and/or funds.
Don’t want to use the investment element of the app? You don’t have to.
If all you want is an app to automate some regular savings for you, helping you figure out what you can actually afford, then you can use the free version of the app and let it do the hard work for you.
Plum investments
When it comes to investing with Plum there are a maximum of 3000 stocks and 22 funds to choose from – depending on which paid-for tier you’re using.
With Plum basic (the free option) there are 1200 company stocks to choose from – you’ll find some recognisable names such as Apple and Netflix.
Investment funds are part of the paid-for tiers of the app. An investment fund is where groups of investments, such as stocks and bonds, are combined together.
They’re usually combined by theme, for example socially responsible companies or by country.
Remember whenever you invest your capital is at risk, because the value of your investment can go up or down over time.
When investing you can use a general investment account or a stock and shares ISA (don’t forget you can only pay into one ISA at a time, so double check whether you already have one first).
Is Plum safe?
Yes Plum is a safe app to place your money. It supports face or fingerprint recognition to unlock the app, as well as 256-bit TLS encryption to keep the app safe.
The money in your primary Plum pocket is kept as e-money. This money is safeguarded so if anything were to happen to Plum, your money should be returned to you.
The money in your “interest” pocket is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) so is as safe as a high street bank.
Is Plum any good?
The app has a range of features and options that will help you, including an AI-powered auto-deposit that calculates how much you can afford to put away each month.
Using the free option you can regularly save money automatically to the interest pocket (currently offering 3.51%).
My only issues with it are that initially it takes a bit of getting used to navigating around the various areas of the app.
And then of course 3.51% on the savings pocket isn’t the best interest rate you can get for your cash right now.
But I think it’s perfect for people who struggle to save on a regular basis, plus for those wanting to invest the investing platform is very easy to use.
Plum reviews
What do other users say about Plum? The app has a 4.2-star rating on Trustpilot.
The most common remark in negative comments is about not being able to get hold of customer support.
Plum review
I definitely recommend downloading the Plum app and seeing whether this money app can help you to save.
It’s got a really good range of options in the free version, plus some cool additional options in the paid-for levels of the app for saving, and more favourable investment options.
I love the round-up option, which rounds up my transactions to the nearest £1 and then transfers the spare change to my Plum pocket.
The key selling point of Plum is having a ton of information and options for automated saving at your fingertips. Set it up, and let Plum do the work for you.
I especially love the different gamified savings challenges such as the 52 week challenge and other options like round-ups.
These types of savings challenges have become huge thanks to TikTok, but unlike the cash envelope stuffing that many TikTokers demonstrate, Plum is doing it all for you without you having to make any withdrawals.
Just hook it up to your bank account, or accounts, and let Plum set the money aside without you having to lift a finger.
And with instant withdrawals from the primary pocket, you know you can get to your money when you need it.
I check in on my Plum account once a week or so to see how my pot is growing and if there’s anything I feel like changing.
I’m currently using the free version and placing all of my savings into my one Plum interest pocket. At the moment I’m using this as a place to save for Christmas – one of my biggest one-off expenses of the year.
If you fancy investing them Plum has competitive fees and the platform is very easy to navigate.
Capital at risk if you invest.
Sign up to Plum here and get £5 cashback (Ts&Cs apply.
