Over the last couple of years, the initial six people involved in bringing Squirrelled to life - , a teacher, a technology expert, one of the guys who developed Nectar, an online retail expert, a financial analyst and a digital operations specialist - sat down together to work out a way to help parents with the ever growing cost of education.
With sixteen children (aged between 3 and 33), and one grandchild between us, we worked out that between us, we’d helped them through 574 terms of nursery, primary school, secondary school and, in some cases, college or uni, or apprenticeships. 158 years of World Book Days, school shoes outgrown just days after being purchased, school buses, meals and milk; demands for school trip deposits just after 3 of your 4 children had birthdays in the same week (our online retail expert is not quite so good at timing family planning!). The worry for your children as they think about the now humongous Uni fees, and the very depressing calculation that it would be (financially at least) more worthwhile to stay under the £25,375 p.a. threshold and therefore not have to pay off any of the now interest-bearing student debt for that period isn’t the way to promote ambition.
One of us has a two-year-old grandson – and it was his birth, in July 2020, that was the impetus for us all to work out a way to harness the ‘free money’ that retailers give customers as a reward for their loyalty, to create an education fund for their children.
A fund that could be used as needed – some in an ‘In Case of Emergency’ virtual piggy – or indeed, squirrel – bank; and the rest split between and ISA and a JISA. In 16 years, if his parents and their team of four grandparents each spend £1845 a year, they would have a pt of over £8000 of ‘free’ money* . If the same team each add £75 per year through round-ups, top-ups, referrals, and other incentives we will be adding, the amount would reach a whopping £2,000!
The inspiration for the name Squirrelled came from the brilliant squirrel (the red one, by the way, not the more pesky grey). Squirrels are well known for – well, squirreling away. They store the nuts and seeds they gather for winter, and they usually place them in 3 or 4 different places. Some for now, some for later, some for the depths of the winter. They’re smart, Squirrels, but their long-term memory isn’t great. So often they will forget one of the places in which they’ve buried their treasure. But then it turns - later on - into an acorn. With the Squirrelled app and website, though, you will never forget. You’ll be able to see exactly where your money is, which hiding place, and how it’s growing.
We believe that education is the single greatest gift you can give a child – other than love. It is, however, unlike love, expensive. On average, each family in the UK will spend over £20,000 during the time their child is at primary and secondary school, on uniform, shoes, books, school lunches, travel. Imagine being able to call on sums to help you pay that, to form a savings cushion, just by living your daily life. We knew we could do it, so we set out to build ‘Squirrelled’.
What you see today is just a simple version of what it will become. Right now, we can offer you cashback from hundreds of retailers (more are joining every day). You can also invite your family and friends to join your team, to help you raise as much as possible. You’ll find full details and tips on how to grow your team here
*Here’s how we’ve calculated this figure. We’ve taken the average annual spend per person in the UK via credit or debit cards, and, based on the ‘free’ cashback we know this will generate, added a compound growth rate of 5%, which is the average stock market return. Of course, this cannot be guaranteed, and the value of your ‘free money can go down as well as up.