The best of the Vivid blog

When I started the Vivid Blog about half a year ago, I didn’t really know what I wanted it to be. Sure, I wanted it to have all the elements of a good company blog: informative, entertaining, with the occasional reminder of how great our product is. Speaking of, if you want to put food on my table, consider joining Vivid today, and I’ll be able to justify my job for another day. 

In the six months since we started, we’ve written nearly 100 posts about everything, from saving to investing to memes. We wanted to collect some of our favourites here, in case you missed them the first time around. 

Budgeting and Saving

‍

How do I finally get good at saving? ‍

This article was one of our first to explain the very basics of saving. It introduces concepts like the 50/30/20 rule, and how to grow your savings. Like any fundamental article, it’s timeless — I still sometimes go back to it to remind myself of the advice in it. 

Use the jar method to save money fast‍

When I tell people about Vivid (and trust me, I spend way too much time promoting the app to my friends and family), they often ask me “but why do I NEED 15 pockets?” My answer usually revolves around the jar method — the simple psychological idea that you can trick yourself into saving more money by dividing it up into spending categories. It’s worked for me!

Why you should have a pocket for wasting money‍

I have to come clean here — this idea actually comes from my parents. They started doing this thing where they’d give themselves an allowance every month that could be spent on anything, no questions asked. Surprisingly, when I started doing the same, I noticed I was saving more money. It all has to do with the shame we feel when we spend money on something frivolous. Eliminating that shame can go a long way to making saving easier. 

Investing

‍

What’s better, investing or saving?

Spoiler alert: the answer to that question is both, and I reveal that pretty early on in the post. But it hits at an anxiety I think a lot of people who don’t invest have: why shouldn’t I just save my money? That way, I don’t have to worry about losing it, right? This post was meant to be an introduction to why investing is still important, even if you are a good saver. 

Should I invest in Nike?

We’ve written dozens of articles in the format of “should I invest in X?” It’s our way of introducing certain well-known companies to you. Pablo, who has written a lot of these, is particularly good at explaining a company’s business model very simply. While I chose our Nike article for this list, I would encourage you to go through all the primers we’ve written. 

What is a cyclical stock?

“Is now a good time to get into investing?” is a question I hear almost every day. When I try to answer it, I inevitably get lost trying to explain concepts like market cycles. It’s way too much to do in a casual conversation. But as an article, it works brilliantly. Paula, who wrote this one, has done a fantastic job explaining this opaque concept in a way everyone can understand. 

‍

Crypto

‍

What are cryptocurrencies

Let’s be real: cryptocurrencies are incredibly hard to understand. And the people who usually explain them to you are horrible at it. Thankfully we’re here to help. This explainer covers the real, no-experience-needed basics of crypto. 

Owning vs. investing in crypto

Once you finish the basics of cryptocurrencies above, you might get the desire to try investing in them. At that point, you’ll have one obvious question: do I need to own crypto to invest in it? Are there any downsides to not owning crypto? Once again, we have all your answers. 

What is blockchain, beside cryptocurrencies?

Now we’re getting to the advanced stuff. If you finished our primer on crypto, and read through what investing vs. owning crypto means, you might start wondering about the technology underneath it all. Crypto enthusiasts constantly talk about things like smart contracts and decentralized processing. But what does it all mean?