Stability or growth: What is your Stash savings personality?

The economic pressures that many South Africans are facing has forced a degree of financial consciousness and an added desire to save for a rainy day.

Liberty's Stash app has seen a steady uptick in downloads with 120,000 new investors signing onto the app in the past twelve months, and over time, two savings personalities have started to emerge in the Stash community.

The savings personalities have been characterised by Stash's two investment portfolios, the Cash Plus and SA Top 40 Shares. Currently the more popular choice is the Cash Plus portfolio, which is used by a person considered as 'The Stable Stasher', who favours short-term stability and capital protection of their money over aggressive growth. This low-risk investment portfolio option aims to preserve the money you invest while generating consistent growth.

The SA Top 40 Shares portfolio is favoured by 'Growth Motivated Stashers', who are looking to place their money in a sensible long-term investment. This option channels your investment growth according to the FTSE/JSE ALSI40 index, maximising growth through the benefit of time, rising and falling according to the share prices of South Africa's Top 40 listed companies, including any dividends paid by those companies.

Glenn Grimley, Head of Stash at Liberty explains that Stashers switch from the Cash Plus portfolio to the higher risk, but higher growth, SA Top 40 Shares portfolio over time as they begin to understand their own risk-return profile better. He says, "the market dropped significantly at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 but had made a full recovery shortly thereafter and inflation-beating growth by the following year".

"Most people who start out with Stash choose to invest in the Cash Plus Portfolio because it is stable. But as they grow more confident with saving and investing, we see many starting to put more money in the SA Top 40 Shares Portfolio to explore the growth potential this offers."

Grimley adds that a lot of people choose to put money in both portfolios by using the app in order to match their personal appetite for risk - stability for one portion and potential high return for the other. Long-term analysis does show that the stock markets do out-perform cash investments and inflation if people remain invested through the dips and peaks.
"The reason why Stash is growing so fast is because it allows people to invest and save in a way that suits their lifestyle and habits without making things complicated or expensive. It's so simple that it takes less than 2 minutes to register Stash tax-free investment which is connected to your phone and your money is ready to grow."

So, whether you're a stable stasher or a growth motivated stasher, Stash offers a place where you can save and invest in a way that suits your personality and investment needs, concludes Grimley.