It was supposed to be the epic family road trip of a lifetime, but suddenly it looked doomed.
It was a holiday weekend.
Long story short, there wasoneplace that hadonevan available for rent.
Nelson pictured with her sister Arwyn Nelson and her nieces while walking on the Highland Bridge in Denver, Colorado. Daniel Brenner for The Penny Hoarder
But it was going to cost $2,200.
I guess we cant go on our trip, Nelsons family was saying at the time.
Wait a second, she said.
Let me see what I have inDigit.
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Problem solved: She had $2,400 in her account with Digit, an automated savings app.
I took that money, rented the van, and we went on our 10-country tour, Nelson recalled.
They call it a rainy day fund, and that was a rainy day.
Fast-forward to today: She has more than $25,000 saved in her Digit account.
Not even a little bit, said Nelson, who works in cybersecurity.
My credit score was crap.
My husband at the time was very bad with money and was managing money awfully.
At one point, a hailstorm damaged their roof, and their insurance wouldnt pay for it.
Nelson had to borrow $10,000 from a co-worker and pay it back over time.
At that point, I realized I was very lucky to have a friend to loan me the money.
I had no idea how to save, she said.
I had no idea how to actually go about doing that in a way that would work for me.
In early 2015, she read about Digit online.
She said she thought to herself, You know what?
I have zero savings.
Ill try it out.
Then it withdraws small amounts into her FDIC-insured digital savings account.
You dont notice the money missing.
I think its great.
I dont have to worry about it.
[Digit] just figures it out.
These days, Digit typically pulls between 6% and 9% of her salary each month.
I like that it isnt a set number.
Its figures adjust to your current income and spending, so it fluctuates based on that, Nelson said.
Digit is free for your first 30 days and costs $2.99 a month after that.
Additionally, savers will receive a 1% bonus every three months.
That was the first time it actually made a big difference, Nelson said.
After her European triumph, Nelson set her sights on another bold quest: New kitchen countertops.
She created a goal called Kitchen in the Digit app and set it for $3,000.
Nelson further evolved her thinking on this topic: At first I thought, Maybe just countertops.
New goal: Top-to-bottom kitchen renovation.
It needs it badly.
The tile is falling off the counters.
After saving toward her Kitchen goal from 2015 to 2018, she had $25,174.31 insavings withDigit.
My magic number in my head is $30,000, she said.
That should handle [the kitchen renovation] unless another rainy day comes along.
Thats why its there, to save the day.
Mike Brassfield ([email protected]) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
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