What if you could boost your investment balance without even noticing?
Or get in a better financial position without having to change any of your habits?
What if you could turn a guilty habit into a secret weapon?
Here’s a new way to think about investing, and how you could boost your investment balance by hundreds of dollars without even noticing.
In this guide:
- How to start investing with your daily coffee habit
- Turn your Uber rides into investment opportunities
- Rainy day investing: A beginner's guide
- Payday investing: How to invest when you get paid
- Round-up investing: Start with your spare change
1. How to start investing with your daily coffee habit
What if, each time you Googled “Coffee shops near me”, you ended up with a delicious latte and a boost to your investment account?
If you’re anything like the average Spaceship-per, you see coffee as a need, not a want.
You buy a coffee a day, and it costs you about $5 per cup.
So here’s something.
Your daily grind could energise your investment balance, as well as your daily grind! (See what we did there?)
That’s because each time you buy a coffee, you could:
- Transfer a specific amount into your savings or investment account while you’re waiting for it,
- Make a mental note to review your statement and add the deposit later on, or
- Do absolutely nothing, because you’ve already set up a Spaceship Voyager Boost.
Investing an extra $1 each time you buy a coffee could add up to hundreds of dollars a year,
...and thanks to the magic of long-term investing, it could turn into anything.
2. Turn your Uber rides into investment opportunities
Wish you could make money from Uber without having to be a driver or delivery rider?
We’ve got a way.
You can use Uber journeys as a trigger to invest your money.
It’s already costing you.
If you search for an Uber cost estimate, you might find that (on average) a 15 minute Uber journey in Sydney costs $26.
A return Uber trip in Sydney? That’s about $50.
Sometimes Uber's unavoidable, when it’s a special event, a rainy day, or there’s no safer alternative.
If you utilise the service just once a month, you might find yourself spending hundreds of dollars on rideshare each year.
So could you make money from it, too?
Each time you take an Uber, you could:
- Deposit money into your savings or investment account while you’re en route
- Add the deposit when you’re reviewing your spending later on
- Do nothing, because you’ve already set up a Spaceship Voyager Boost for your Uber trips.
Investing an extra $1 each time you take an Uber could add an extra $20 or more each year, depending on your habits.
3. Rainy day investing: A beginner's guide
Find yourself typing “what to do on a rainy day” into Google?
Here’s something you may not have considered.
You can use a rainy day as a trigger to save or invest your money.
For example: if you have to cancel plans because it’s too rainy out, you can redirect the money you’ve saved into your savings or investment accounts.
Spaceship Voyager customer? You can make it automatic by setting up an automatic investment each time it rains in your suburb.
Hint: It rains a surprising amount.
According to WeatherZone, in Melbourne alone there are an average of 150 rainy days per year.
So if you’re from Melbourne and you invest $1 each time it rains, it could add up to an easy $150 extra to your portfolio you might not even notice, but will add up quickly.
4. Payday investing: How to invest when you get paid
If you’re trying to get into a better place financially, you might decide to set up a money saving challenge.
But, if you ask us, here’s an even better idea:
Challenge yourself to invest some money whenever you get paid.
Unless you’ve optimised your finances already, you might be forgetting to pay yourself first.
It’s when you prioritise adding to your savings or investments as soon as you get paid, before you even do anything else.
(Don’t ignore any bills with due dates, though.)
It’s making sure you’re taking care of future you, as well as present you.
And here’s a twist.
You can turbocharge this method by deciding you’ll invest a specific amount of money once you get paid above a certain sum.
Then when you get tax returns, birthday money, a work bonus, or just your usual payslip – you can direct some of it to your future self.
You won’t even have to think about it.
Spaceship Voyager customer? You can set up a Boost that gets triggered each time you receive a deposit larger than an amount of your choosing. We call it a Payday Boost.
5. Round-up investing: Start with your spare change
Last but not least.
You may have heard of round up investing. Or spare change investing.
There are a bunch of names for it.
Essentially, thanks to the magic of technology...
You can set up rules to round up, to the nearest whole dollar, each digital transaction you make and deposit the difference in your savings or investment accounts.
Your bank might have this feature. But good news! If you’re a Spaceship Voyager customer, your investing app has it, too.
What could it be worth?
The average Aussie makes 23 card purchases each month, according to Jacaranda Finance.
Let’s guess you round up each purchase by 25c, it could invest almost $70 extra – and we’re confident you’d barely notice.
The bottom line
Sometimes it feels like you can’t leave the house without it costing you $50.
But at the end of the day, we still have power to make our spending work for us.
When you invest extra in your future, it won’t always build your wealth in a straight line.
As with all investments, it is important to consider the risks and consider seeking financial advice.
As markets go up and down, so too will the value of your investment.
But we’re big believers that long-term investing can help you live the life you want to live.
Here’s a recap:
The 5 everyday moments that can become investment opportunities with Spaceship:
☕️ Daily Coffee
- Average cost: $5 per cup
- Potential investment: $1 per coffee
- Could add hundreds to your portfolio yearly
🚗 Uber Rides
- Average Sydney trip: $26
- Return journey: Around $50
- Invest $1 per ride = $20+ extra per year
🌧️ Rainy Days
- Melbourne averages 150 rainy days yearly
- Invest $1 per rainy day
- Could add $150 to your portfolio annually
💰 Paydays
- Trigger: Any deposit above your set amount
- Examples: Salary, tax returns, bonuses
- Potential: $20+ invested monthly
🔄 Round-Ups
- Average: 23 card purchases monthly
- Round up each purchase by 25¢
- Potential: $70 extra invested yearly
Ready to start investing, or boost your investment balance?
It just takes three steps.
- Open the Spaceship app
- Set up a Spaceship Voyager Boost
- Let your daily routine do the rest!
One or more of the Spaceship Voyager portfolios invests in Uber at the time of writing. Please refer to the Spaceship app or our website for more information on what each portfolio invests in.
The information in this article is prepared by Spaceship Capital Limited (ABN 67 621 011 649, AFSL 501605). It is general in nature as it has been prepared without taking account of your objectives, financial situation or needs.
