How This Alternative Bank Helped Me Finally Start Saving

When I got my first full-time, decently paid job (at the ripe old age of 29), I thought that things would be different. No more cobbling together rent with whatever freelance cheques had miraculously come in. No more end-of-the-month panic. Now that I had a steady salary, I figured, I could finally save for the future. 

Who knew that the hardest part of saving would be knowing what I was spending? I was suddenly blessed with a regular paycheck, sure, but my chequing account kept draining before I could save any of it, and I honestly had no idea where it all went.

It’s easy to get anxious about something you don’t understand (it’s why I gave up on Westworld), but I learned the hard way that trying to track every single purchase myself was a recipe for burnout. Four months into my new job—and countless abandoned Excel spreadsheets later—I’d saved $350. Not exactly an emergency fund. 

So I signed up for KOHO, a Canadian fintech service that promises to simplify the mysterious world of personal finance. KOHO has two components: it’s both a physical, pre-paid card that you can use to make purchases anywhere that accepts VISA, and a digital app that makes tracking your purchases and saving money as automatic as your monthly Netflix subscription. And it’s all free. Yes, actually free. 

KOHO is a super-simple saving system once you know the basics. Here’s a quick and easy guide to getting started with KOHO and getting control over your money once and for all.