These websites won't be blocked by your employer's WiFi
The Internet. When I get those end of the week screen time metrics from Apple, it sure makes me feel like a piece of crap (especially when it says my time was down 10% and it is still enough to watch the majority of Titanic...and yes this accounts for swapping out the first VHS for the second. All of you who understood that are real ones).
Although we waste a hell of a lot of time on the Internet, there are some amazing things that have come from it as well. Personal finance tools at our fingertips being one of them. I actually wrote about Robo Advisors a couple months back if you want to take a look. A very common question I get from clients and friends is this: “what online finance tools or resources would you recommend?” Well for one, I’d recommend this newsletter (humble brag and hey since you’re reading this, kudos to you!). For this newsletter, I’m going to dive into some of the tools and resources I use and how they can benefit you (or maybe you’re already using them). Disclaimer - I have no financial relationship with any of these companies. Instead of giving you a huge laundry list of 20 resources, I’m going to give you 6 which I think can all benefit you. And I will break them down in terms of resources and services/tools.
Resources
NerdWallet: All my big Yelp people where you at? Before buying something or going somewhere or doing just about anything, our instinct is to check reviews. Seriously, imagine planning a trip or a date and just crossing your fingers you made the right choices. NerdWallet is my bible when it comes to reviews about financial products. Curious about opening a new rewards credit card? NerdWallet. Wondering what the best savings account is with the highest interest rate? NerdWallet. Feeling a bit fuzzy about the difference between stocks and bonds? NerdWallet. You get the point. For just about anything that involves a dollar sign, NerdWallet has insightful information with an unbiased perspective. They’ve also got great calculators for calculating things like paying off student loans (or refinancing), buying a home, and a 401k savings calculator.
A Wealth of Common Sense: Plain and simple, Ben is the man. Ever felt like you’ve read so much of someone’s work they feel like a friend talking to you when you read their writing? Hopefully that landed with you or you may think I’m a real freak. But seriously, Ben is full of great information and writes very clearly without much financial jargon (it can’t be avoided for some topics). Here are a couple tasters if you’re interested - This piece he did a few years back is great. (This one too). Also, the guy is a legend on Twitter posting funny stuff like this. His colleague Josh Brown is hilarious too - if you’re looking for good laughs and even better information, follow them both. Ben’s blog is full of fantastic reads and if you begin to read it regularly, you’ll find some striking similarities in how we think about personal finance and investing - Ben is a big inspiration as silly as that sounds (& I think he’s hilarious
FinViz: A nifty stock screener. Ever been curious about a stock? Or just curious about how the market is doing on a particular day? Check out this map and all of those pretty colors. Some days you’ll see lots of red. Some days you’ll see lots of green. Some days you’ll see both. But if you’re looking to get a quick temperature check on the stock market that day or just want to look wicked smart when coworkers look onto your screen, give it a shot.
Tools & Services
Mint: Arguably the best free budgeting tool available. And there’s a decent chance most of you have tried Mint before. It’s not creating a username and password that is difficult, it’s using the damn thing. And I get it, it can be tough (especially after a pricey weekend). No one runs to check their grade when they knew they bombed a test. But hear me out on this one. I don’t use Mint to criticize every dollar I spend. I use it to be self aware of where my money is going. Follow me on this - one of the toughest parts about losing weight is calculating food intake (pretend we lived in an alternative universe where food shipped to our doorstep wasn’t a thing and we actually had to *gasp* grocery shop). Counting calories is annoying and that work alone can be enough to make someone stop caring. But with Mint, the "calorie counting" is being done for us. That’s a very tedious step being done for us, for free. Now it’s about being aware of where money is being spent. To do this, I set a weekly 10 minute calendar event to check Mint. How hard is that? We do plenty of things once a week that require way more work than that. I’m telling you, add it you your calendar and you’ll stick to it more often.
Wealthfront: This is my personal favorite robo advisor (fancy way of saying automated investing service). Wealthfront does most of the legwork of investing for you in the background (asset allocation, portfolio rebalancing, tax loss harvesting) while you keep living your life. For anyone who wants to be be hands off when it comes to investing but still invest well, consider Wealthfront. They also have a cash account where you can earn 2.29%, financial planning tools, and a variety of different accounts which you can open. Another great option is Betterment, which has a virtually identical product offering and does not have a minimum account balance of $500. Both of these services are extremely valuable and allow for busy folks like yourself who don’t have time to research the stock market but still want to invest intelligently. ***I personally use Wealthfront for retirement accounts like a Roth and Traditional IRA. Management fees are 0.25%.
Acorns: the OG “invest the spare change” app. Acorns pioneered the “micro-investing” game where you link your credit/debit cards and bank account, and Acorns rounds each purchase up to the nearest whole dollar and invests the spare change into the stock market (a portfolio of index fund ETFs). When I explain Acorns to people, I say it is the best possible way to mindlessly invest. The round-ups feature alone won’t exactly make you rich though (Acorns users invest on average about $30 from round ups). However, I would highly suggest in addition to round-ups, adding a monthly recurring deposit that is comfortable for you. They’ve got a really slick interface and again it hardly even feels like you’re investing. Acorns also posts awesome content I read regularly. ***I use the Acorns Core Account which I explained above, and the only financial relationship I have is a referral bonus of $5 which you and I would both receive if you use this link. This referral bonus is available to all Acorns users and is not a part of any sort of particular agreement we have in place.
So there you have it! Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions about how I use each of these resources (especially Wealthfront and Acorns). With so much information and technology at our fingertips, it’s never been easier to invest well. However, because of the information firehose and plethora of financial platforms out there, analysis paralysis can set in and we decide to do nothing instead. Use me for any help you might need!