How Digital Advice can help you save money and make your financial goals a reality

Traditional financial advice is often out of reach if you don’t have at least £50k - £100k in savings already. And even if you do have a decent savings pot, it can be hard to know who to turn to when you need some help.

Luckily, there's a new kid on the financial advice block - Digital Advice! These new, mostly online services offer a cheaper alternative if you just want some help with sorting out your pension, opening an ISA for your children, or anything that doesn't require specialist advice.

Read on to find out how Digital Advice can help you save and manage your money to achieve your financial goals.

What is Digital Advice?

You're not alone if you've never heard of it! So what is Digital Advice? It's essentially a hybrid of traditional, in-person financial advice and the digital, Do-It-Yourself option. These new and largely online services can give you advice on a huge variety of money matters - from retirement planning to budgeting to starting out with investing - and use high-tech computer algorithms to crunch your numbers. The result? You get step-by-step guidance on how to manage your finances in a matter of minutes!

But don't be fooled by the name - it's not always 100% online! In fact, many Digital Advice services have actual, real human beings on hand to help you along the way. These professional financial advisers can be involved as much or as little as you want. So whether you want to sort your money out without having to change out of your pyjamas, or you're looking for some face-to-face support with a more complicated query, Digital Advice offers you the best of both worlds.

And what's more, it's often significantly cheaper than the traditional advice route! It makes for an increasingly popular method of getting advice on managing your money and could give you the nudge you need to achieve your financial goals.

Digital Advice for saving money: What are the advantages?

So what makes Digital Advice a great way to help you save? Here are a few of the ways it could help you with your money:

• Get holistic help and guidance from the comfort of your own home

• Leaves the hard work to the experts so you can get on with your life

• Find out if you're saving enough to meet your goals - and what to do if you aren't

• The option to speak to a real financial adviser if you want

• Simple, straightforward to use and quick solutions to your questions

• Cheaper alternative to traditional, in-person advice

How has Digital Advice helped people like me with saving?

Let's take a look at how Digital Advice has helped real people to save and manage their money.

Michael and Elizabeth decided to move their savings from a traditional adviser to Netwealth to benefit from its lower overall costs and modern technology.

Like most parents, Michael and Elizabeth were in what is known as the ‘wealth accumulation’ phase, trying to save enough money to support themselves in retirement while also ensuring there is enough left over for their children.

Elizabeth had an investment background and was already aware of the difference lower costs can make, so Netwealth's low fees seemed like the perfect fit.

Together, Michael and Elizabeth worked with Netwealth's advisers to set up their own taxable accounts, as well as SIPPs, and have even added their children to their Netwealth Network - meaning the whole family gets access to the lowest all-in fee of 0.65%.

Their eldest child now has an ISA portfolio with Netwealth, while the younger ones have bare trusts in their parents' name.

We are very aware of the difference lower costs can make in overall financial returns. However, we were keen to ensure that we would also have access to more traditional aspects of wealth management, such as formal financial advice and more complex structures such as Trusts. Our decision to move to Netwealth is benefiting not just us, but also our children, with no compromise on excellence.

Elizabeth57 years old

Can Digital Advice help me save?

Netwealth's Digital Advice service could be a good fit for you if:

• You're 40 or over and have at least £50,000 in savings

• You'd like a mixture of face-to-face and Zoom meetings

• You'd like to invest with family members or friends to benefit from reduced fees

• You want to get on track with your pension and family savings

• You'd like to work out what you need to save regularly

• You want expert guidance so you can invest with confidence

• You want the flexibility of Digital Advice with the option of traditional advice if you need it later on

You can read our full review of Netwealth's Digital Advice service here.

If you're retiring within a year and have a smaller savings pot (minimum £10,000), try Destination Retirement.

Compare Digital Advice services

Interested in Digital Advice but not sure where to go? We're here to help. Head over to our Digital Advice compare table to see the Digital Advice services on the market, how we (and their customers) rate them, and what we think each one could help you with the most.

Not sure if Digital Advice is right for you?

Digital Advice can help you sort out many money matters, but you may be wondering if your needs are better suited to traditional, in-person financial advice.

Traditional advice may be better suited to you if...

• You’re looking for bespoke advice, such as for inheritance tax or estate planning

• You want to meet with the same adviser face-to-face, rather than online

• You have other complex money matters to consider, such as complicated pensions

If you've decided that traditional financial advice is the better option for you, check out our professional advisers to see who can help!