Making Savings fun: How Pots solved what traditional fixed deposits couldn't.
Role: VP of Design at Jupiter.money | Collaborated with Product and Engineering.
Summary
Many people struggle to determine exactly how much to save because there is no single "one-size-fits-all" number, and personal financial circumstances vary greatly. A popular framework suggests allocating 50% of take-home pay to needs, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings and debt repayment.
Jupiter.Money being a new age digital bank designed for millennials and GenZ, we were interested in that 30% bucket of savings for wants.
Jupiter’s Pots help you save easily for goals with flexible sub-accounts, no lock-ins, and 2.5% interest—making financial planning simple and stress-free.
Culture, behaviour and research echoed
These were not just financial principles but survival mantras passed down through generations in India. Our parents grew up in an India that was finding its feet economically. For them, savings weren’t aspirational; they were existential.
To understand modern saving behaviour, we ran a comprehensive research study for one week.
Finding 1: Goals have replaced fear
Traditional mindset (our parents): “Save because you don’t know what tomorrow brings. Life is uncertain.”
Modern mindset (our users): “Save because I want to afford the life I’m designing. My goals are certain.”
From our interviews:
76% of respondents saved with a specific goal in mind (travel, gadgets, weddings, courses)
Only 18% saved “for emergencies” as their primary driver
82% found traditional Fixed Deposits “too rigid” for modern lifestyle needs
Finding 2: Fixed Deposits felt like financial jail
“It feels like my money is locked away. I can’t touch it even if I really need it.” — Priya, 28, Marketing Manager
“FDs are what my dad does. I need something new, easy and flexible.” — Arjun, 25, Software Engineer
Finding 3: Savings didn’t feel like progress or achievement (From Telegram)
64% admitted they “felt guilty” when dipping into savings
71% said saving “doesn’t feel rewarding until years later”
89% wanted visual progress tracking for their goals
Finding 4: Multiple goals = mental chaos (External agency)
Average user juggled 3-4 simultaneous financial goals (emergency fund, vacation, gadget upgrade, course fees)
68% used “mental accounting” (imaginary divisions of one savings account)
52% forgot which money was allocated to which goal
41% ended up spending goal-money accidentally
Problems with savings (fixed deposits) in traditional banks
Finding 1: Way too many fields. Ironically, most of the information asked is already available with your bank but the bank still requires you to fill form after form. Why? Cause protocol. Painful.
Finding 2: An alien language. The bank forms are filled with a galaxy of confusing jargon, which, let’s be honest, a regular human has no clue about — “Interest payment mode, maturity instructions, principle to be credited to which account, which apple pie you ate yesterday?”
Finding 3: Lock-Ins. Bank FDs and RDs come with a minimum investment timeframe. As a generation raised on swiping endlessly on platforms such as Tinder and Instagram, we are petrified of any sort of commitment. What we seek is freedom.
Introducing Pots
A Pot is a space (think of it as a sub-account) in your Jupiter account in which you can park your money away from your main balance. What’s the point you ask?
It’s designed to help you save — you can make a Pot for any goal such as your travel fund, your phone upgrade kitty etc. You can deposit & withdraw anytime. You earn 2.5% interest rate annually.
These Pot categories are selected after conducting extensive user research. In our research we found that around 80%+ users wish to save but don’t really have a purpose for saving. And this confusion of “save for what?” ultimately leads to the million-dollar question of “how much to save?”.
Testing Pots concept
Through conversations with our community we realized that when customers are served with the right context and ideas, the possibilities are limitless. As your new-age banking partner, we are as concerned about your small, everyday dreams as we are about your big, once-in-a-lifetime ones.
So, with Pots, gifting your parents a trip to Coorg on their anniversary can earn you valuable brownie points. Paying off your 2 wheeler loan by putting money aside in a Pot can help you make informed decisions for the future. Saving money for a rainy day in the “Emergency” Pot can help you throw a party at the drop of a hat. And for your colorful imagination, we even have custom Pots — for the goals that are uniquely yours. You can literally create a Pot and save for every expense.
User’s loved it. They even asked to lock pots (which was surprising and contrary to their expectations) But thats was mainly to build a habit and brag in the close friend circle.
How does it work?
Step 1: Create a Pot anytime by simply picking a category and assigning it a name. And voila! Your Pot is created
Step 2: To deposit money in your Pot, first you will have to complete a full video verification (FKYC). This will internally create a sub-account and will give you tools to play with your Pot.
Step 3: Once your verification is done, you can add and withdraw money from your Pot anytime.
Step 4: Create a goal. This is the most important step that will empower you to achieve your goals. Once a goal amount is set, we will keep nudging you to save at regular intervals. Keep depositing religiously and boy, soon your dreams will be fulfilled.
Apart from creating a Pot, we constantly display the balance in your Pot and remind you to add money or set a goal. All of this comes together in your “Money tab”
Creating a Pot
A bit about the design language of Pots
We have been working on Pots since the very inception of Jupiter. Like any design process, we brainstormed on various visual references. A quick view of how the visualisation of Pots evolved -
The final Pot representation has some nerdy stuff behind it’s construction. The tiny details help us in motion design and in repurposing the same assets at various places across the app and outside it.
Users loved it and asking for more
Well as they say in the startup world, this is just an MVP — the tip of the iceberg. We are working on some really cool stuff — creating more Pot categories such as Crypto, Gold, Tax Saving, Mutual Funds and more. All this with auto-recurring deposits. Stay tuned for the saving challenge game this season! We promise to help you save better.
Team collaboration
The design team not just worked with engineering to design a seamless and delightful experience but also helped product managers. We at Jupiter had to scope and negotiate terms with underlying financial institutions. The biggest blocker was, each Pot meant a new account number. We wanted to abstract that complexity from the end user. The design team championed user first approach and made the required trade-offs to deliver a more modern, friendly and memorable experience.
Our Pots pod is the coolest pod in Jupiter. We are constantly tinkering with ideas to help people save and are speaking with users everyday to solve their problems.
Key learnings
Innovation was about hiding systemic financial complexity and presenting a humane experience.
The most meaningful work happened while negotiating constraints across teams.
Visual storytelling helps align stakeholders faster than documents. Prototypes helps.
Tightly scoped research helps more than volume of research
Craft is not only in pixels and flows but in how you work with people and build shared belief.
We are super excited to bring you Pots. Download the Jupiter app, complete your full verification and start your journey of financial freedom by saving in Pots.