5 effortless ways to grow your savings

Key takeaways

• Automating savings through regular transfers, current account pots and round-up features can help build a savings habit with minimal effort.

• Budgeting tools and money management apps can identify spare cash, track spending and move money into savings automatically.

• Bank schemes, multiple savings accounts and workplace Sharesave programmes can offer additional ways to grow money and potentially improve returns.

Many savers may find they're earning less interest than they were a year or two ago, particularly if their money is sitting in a low-paying account.

And if you’re struggling to put away any money at all, you may find yourself with no savings cushion to fall back on.

The good news is there are several ways you can grow your savings without any effort, and you won’t even realise you’re doing it.

1. Treat savings like a monthly bill

Don't think of savings as an optional benefit you can sort out later, otherwise you might be tempted to keep putting it off. If you're really serious about saving, you should be factoring it into your monthly budget as a necessity.

Treat additions to your savings like a monthly bill, setting up an automatic payment each month after payday into a separate savings account. This ensures your savings contributions don't get muddled up with your other monthly expenses.

According to the popular 50-30-20 budgeting framework, it's suggested that you allocate around 20% of your income towards savings, investing, and pension contributions, although the right amount will depend on your circumstances. This is a general a good goal to strive for if you're not sure what amount to start with.

But, if you don't feel comfortable saving this much, any amount is a good place to start.

Kara Gammell
Personal Finance & Insurance Expert

The power of consistency

Many young adults are already in a strong position to save more if they need to, with UK Savings Week 2026 research conducted by the Building Societies Association (BSA) revealing that 78% of 18 to 34-year-olds said they could put away extra money each month.

Building savings doesn’t have to mean setting aside large sums. Research shows that contributing routinely and consistently is what makes the difference.

In fact, people who save regularly, regardless of the amount, have more than 70% lower odds of falling into financial difficulty than non-savers. Even a modest savings buffer can boost financial resilience, which is why 60% of young adults say they have, or would like to have, cash savings in place before investing in other assets.

2. Set up a savings 'pot' in your current account

With app-based baking, you can set up different savings 'pots' to separate money within your current account from your available balance. Pots can be used to protect funds you intend to save, helping you organise your budget and keep track of spending.

Pots are different from a traditional savings account. They are usually linked to your current account and are primarily designed to help you separate and organise your money, preventing you from accidentally spending money you've saved.

You can set up multiple pots per current account, allowing you to put money aside for different reasons, like days out, one-off purchases, bills and so on. With your banking app, you can easily move money in and out of these pots when you need it.

Some digital banks like Monzo and Starling also have a feature where card payments are automatically rounded up to the nearest pound and spare change is moved into a pot. This can be an easy way to automate your savings and add a little to your savings each day.

However, if your intention is to save long-term, the best thing to do is to regularly move money out of any savings pots into a proper savings account where it can generate interest.

3. Financial management apps

Depending on the area you struggle the most when it comes to saving, there are plenty of apps to choose from to help you manage and keep track of your finances.

One such app is Plum, an AI-powered app that uses Open Banking to securely link to your existing current account, so you don't have to manually explain your spending in the app. 

Depending on the settings you choose, Plum can analyse your spending patterns and automatically move money into savings. You can choose to be cautious or ambitious with your savings, depending how much you’d like to save.

Other apps such as Emma, Moneybox and Chip also offer features designed to help people budget, track spending, or build savings.

When using any of these apps, however, be aware that they may charge monthly subscription and certain features may come at an added cost.

4. Check your bank’s services

Some of the mainstream banks offer services to help you save more easily.

If your current and savings accounts are with Lloyds Bank, you can sign up to Save the Change. Every time you spend on your debit card, Lloyds will round up the amount to the nearest pound and transfer the difference into your Lloyds saving account.

Likewise, TSB offers the same service called Save the Pennies if you hold a current and savings account with the bank.

When you're deciding which bank to choose, keep these useful features in mind and make the most of these benefits to make saving easier and simpler.

Kara Gammell
Personal Finance & Insurance Expert

There are benefits to having more than one savings account

If you’re comfortable managing more than one savings account, it can pay to take advantage of the different benefits banks offer. One provider may help you build your savings through features such as automatic round-ups or regular deposits, while another could offer a more competitive interest rate.

The challenge is that keeping track of multiple accounts can quickly become complicated.

Savings by MoneySuperMarket can make it easier to see and manage your savings in one place, without the hassle of juggling extra logins or repeatedly filling in application forms. This can help savers compare accounts, review available rates, and open new accounts more easily, making it simpler to manage their savings.

5. Save as you earn

If the company you work for has shares listed on a recognised stock exchange, it might offer a Sharesave, or Save As you Earn (SAYE) scheme, through which you can buy shares in the company at a discounted price. You can save up to £500 a month over a three or five-year term.

Once the term is up, you can take what you've saved or use the money you've saved to buy shares in the company buy shares at a price set at the start of the scheme, which may be offered at a discount to the market value at that time.

This can be an accessible way to start investing through your employer, although investment returns are not guaranteed.

Keep in mind the value of your investment and the income derived from it can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you originally invested.