You’ve done it. You’ve built up a little cushion in your bank account — $1,000! It feels good, right? Those days of checking your account balance in a panic are behind you.
Congrats! You’re on the right path. Now it’s time to think about some longer-term goals. What do you want to accomplish next with your money? Do you need to save more? Do you want to buy a home someday? Invest?
What’s the next step to take? What are some specific things you can do to elevate your finances?
We’ve got some ideas for you:
1. You Can Become a Real Estate Investor for as Little as $10
Take a look at some of the world’s wealthiest people. What do they have in common? Many invest in large private real estate deals. And here’s the thing: There’s no reason you can’t, too — for as little as $10.
An investment called the Fundrise Flagship Fund lets you get started in the world of real estate by giving you access to a low-cost, diversified portfolio of private real estate. The best part? You don’t have to be the landlord. The Flagship Fund does all the heavy lifting.
With an initial investment as low as $10, your money will be invested in the Fund, which already owns more than $1 billion worth of real estate around the country, from apartment complexes to the thriving housing rental market to larger last-mile e-commerce logistics centers.
Want to invest more? Many investors choose to invest $1,000 or more. This is a Fund that can fit any type of investor’s needs. Once invested, you can track your performance from your phone and watch as properties are acquired, improved, and operated. As properties generate cash flow, you could earn money through quarterly dividend payments. And over time, you could earn money off the potential appreciation of the properties.
So if you want to get started in the world of real-estate investing, it takes just a few minutes to sign up and create an account with the Fundrise Flagship Fund.
This is a paid advertisem*nt. Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fundrise Income Real Estate Fund before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund’s prospectus. Read them carefully before investing.
2. Cancel Your Car Insurance
Here’s the thing: your current car insurance company is probably overcharging you. But don’t waste your time hopping around to different insurance companies looking for a better deal.
Use a website called EverQuote to see all your options at once.
EverQuote is the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US, so you’ll get the top options from more than 175 different carriers handed right to you.
Take a couple of minutes to answer some questions about yourself and your driving record. With this information, EverQuote will be able to give you the top recommendations for car insurance. In just a few minutes, you could save up to $610 a year.
3. Stop Overpaying at Amazon
Wouldn’t it be nice if you got an alert when you’re shopping online at Amazon and are about to overpay?
That’s exactly what this free service does.
Just add it to your browser for free, and before you check out, it’ll check other websites to see if your item is available for cheaper. Let’s say you’re shopping for a new smart vacuum, and you assume you’ve found the best price. Here’s when you’ll get a pop up letting you know if that exact vacuum is available elsewhere for cheaper. If there are any available coupon codes, they’ll also automatically be applied to your order.
In the last year, this has saved people $800 million.
You can get started in just a few clicks to see if you’re overpaying online.
4. Earn $500/Month by Reviewing Games and Products You Love
This is the new normal. Everything just costs more now, so that means we have to find ways to earn more.
But there’s a way you can mix work with play and earn an extra $500 a month while doing it.
All you need to do is register on a website called Kashkick with your phone or computer. Kashkick will then show you all sorts of money-making tasks you can do to pad your bank account.
You’ll earn various dollar amounts for answering survey questions, playing games, watching videos and reviewing things — you pick which opportunities you want.
You can get your money quickly and securely, and you don’t need to earn a lot before you can collect it. You can cash out via PayPal with as little as $10 in earnings.
Ready to give yourself a raise? Sign up for Kashkick and start earning money whenever you have a little free time.
5. Earn Up to $100 this Month By Answering Survey Questions About the News — It’s Anonymous
The news is a heated subject these days. It’s hard not to have an opinion on it.
Good news: A website called YouGov America will pay you up to $100 or more this month just to answer survey questions about politics, the economy and other hot news topics.
Plus, it’s totally anonymous, so no one will judge you for that hot take.
When you take a quick survey (some are less than three minutes), you’ll earn points you can exchange for up to $100 in cash or gift cards to places like Walmart and Amazon. Plus, Penny Hoarder readers will get an extra 500 points for registering, and another 1,000 points after completing their first survey.
It takes just a few minutes to sign up and take your first survey — and you’ll get your points immediately.
6. Stop Paying Your Credit Card Company
If you have credit card debt, you know. The anxiety, the interest rates, the fear you’re never going to escape…
And the truth is, your credit card company doesn’t really care. It’s just getting rich by ripping you off with high interest rates — some up to 36%. But a website called AmOne wants to help.
If you owe your credit card companies $100,000 or less, AmOne will match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every single one of your balances.
The benefit? You’ll be left with one bill to pay each month. And because personal loans have lower interest rates (AmOne rates start at 6.40% APR), you’ll get out of debt that much faster. Plus: No credit card payment this month.
You don’t need a perfect credit score to get a loan — and comparing your options won’t affect your score at all. Plus, AmOne keeps your information confidential and secure, which is probably why after 20 years in business, it still has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
It takes less than a minute and just 10 questions to see what loans you qualify for — you don’t even need to enter your Social Security number. You do need to give AmOne a real phone number in order to qualify, but don’t worry — they won’t spam you with phone calls.
*Based on creditworthiness. Average credit card interest rate is 24.72% as of 8/14/23, according to Forbes Advisor’s weekly credit card rates report.
