You can still manage your money like a millionaire, even if you aren’t one yet! No, we’re not going to tell you how to buy thousands of shares of Apple stock. Or how to pick out the perfect yacht. Or how to buy a dress worthy of walking the red carpet at the Oscars.
These are simple money moves any normal, non-millionaire person can make today. Each tip can get you closer to achieving your big goals.
Take a look:
1. Get up to $500 in Free Stock
If you think you’re not rich enough to start investing, you’re not alone. But guess what? You really don’t need that much — and you can even get free stocks (worth up to $500!) if you know where to look.
Whether you’re got $5, $100 or $800 to spare, you can start investing with Robinhood.
Yeah, you’ve probably heard of Robinhood. Both investing beginners and pros love it because it doesn’t charge commission fees, and you can buy and sell stocks for free — no limits. Plus, it’s super easy to use.
What’s best? When you download the app and fund your account, Robinhood drops a share of free stock into your account. It’s random, though, so that stock could be worth anywhere from $5 to $500 — a nice boost to help you build your investments.
2. Leave Your Family up to $1 Million in Life Insurance (Rates Start at $5 per Month)
How would your family manage without your income if you were gone? How would they pay the bills? Send the kids through school? You don’t have to be a millionaire to leave your family $1 million, thanks to life insurance.
You’re probably thinking: I don’t have the time or money for that. But your application shouldn’t take more than about five minutes — and you could leave your family up to $1 million in life insurance with a company called Bestow. Policies start at just $5 a month.
You can change or cancel your plan at any time. Plus, the security of knowing your family is taken care of is priceless.
If you’re under the age of 54 and want to get a fast life insurance quote without a medical exam, pushy sales calls or even getting up from the couch, get a free quote from Bestow.
3. Have the Same Credit Score as a Millionaire — Without The Bank Account
Good news for us non-millionaires: Your credit score has nothing to do with your income. Yes, having more money might mean you don’t have to take out loans or buy groceries on credit. But, in reality, you and I could have the same credit score as, say, a certain someone who owns Amazon. Ours could be even better.
So if you’re looking to get your credit score back on track — or even if it is on track and you want to bump it up — try using a free website called Credit Sesame.
Within two minutes, you’ll get access to your credit score, any debt-carrying accounts and a handful of personalized tips to improve your score. You’ll even be able to spot any errors holding you back (one in five reports has an error).
James Cooper, of Atlanta, used Credit Sesame to raise his credit score nearly 300 points in six months.* “They showed me the ins and outs — how to dot the I’s and cross the T’s,” he said.
Getting your free credit score takes less than two minutes.
4. Ask This Website to Pay Your Credit Card Bill This Month
If you have credit card debt, you know. The anxiety, the interest rates, the fear you’re never going to escape …
If you owe your credit card companies $50,000 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 3.99% APR), you’ll get out of debt that much faster. Plus: No credit card payment this month.
AmOne won’t make you stand in line or call your bank, either. And if you’re worried you won’t qualify, it’s free to check online. It takes just two minutes, and it could help you pay off your debt years faster.
5. Use Your Entire Paycheck
No, we’re not talking about going to Whole Foods and buying out its fancy cheese supply (though that might be the first thing we’d do if we had $1 million). Instead, we’re talking about creating a zero-based budget, a budget that finds a place for your every dollar.
You’ll want to start by tracking a month of expenses. How much do you (or don’t you) have remaining? Then, consider your financial goals. Do you want to save money? Invest money? Pay off debt?
Work backward to cut your expenses until you can achieve that goal. It might take some patience, but it’ll pay off.
6. Grow Your Money Up to 11x Faster — Without Risking It
You’ve probably heard one of the best ways to grow your money is to stick it in the stock market and leave it there for, well, ever.
Maybe you’re just looking for a place to safely stash it away — but still earn money. Under your mattress or in a safe will get you nothing. And a typical savings account won’t do you much good (the FDIC reports that the average account earns just .09%).
But Aspiration lets you earn up to 5% cash back on your debit card spending and up to 11 times the average interest on the money you set aside to save.
Aspiration also shares part of its profit with non-profits, so you can stick up for your beliefs — without even having to write a check.
It takes just five minutes to sign up for a new debit card with the Aspiration Spend and Save account.
7. Grow Your Wealth By Learning From Others
One of the best ways to get your money in order? Learning from others! These could be the millionaires themselves, personal finance experts or real-life people who’ve had success.
Search the internet for blogs and websites, listen to podcasts and read books.
Here are a few of our favorite resources (ahem, besides, of course, the HerMoney podcast):
- “How to Money” podcast
- “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey
- “The Side Hustle Show” podcast
- “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki
- “The Money Nerds” podcast
- “The Richest Man in Babylon” by George Samuel
8. Turn Those Crumpled Receipts Into Cash
What do you usually do with your receipts? You check out, the cashier hands you a mile-long piece of paper, and you frantically stuff it to the bottom of a grocery bag. Pretty worthless.
But a free app called Fetch Rewards will turn them into cash. It partners with tons of brands to give you points for every grocery receipt you share. Then you can exchange them for Visa gift cards.
And it’s perfect for those of us who don’t want to put a ton of work into this. All you have to do is send Fetch a photo of your receipt, and it does everything for you. No scanning barcodes or searching for offers — and you can use it with any grocery receipt.
When you download the app, use the code PENNY to automatically earn 2,000 points when you scan your first receipt. Then start snapping photos of your recent receipts to see how many points you can earn without a single trip to the store!
Not so bad for a useless receipt, right?
9. Cut Your Car Insurance Payments
Millionaire or not, no one wants to overpay any of their bills. So when was the last time you shopped around for car insurance? Was it more than six months ago? If so, you’re probably overpaying …
But don’t worry. A company called The Zebra makes it super easy to compare car insurance prices in minutes.
Take Lourdes Robles-Velazquez, for example. The single mom was paying $205 a month to insure two Toyota Priuses — hers and her daughter’s. By shopping around, she shaved $80 off her monthly car insurance bill. That’s nearly $1,000 in savings per year.
Wondering how much you could save? Head over to The Zebra and get a free quote.
10. Invest in Real Estate (Even If You’re Not a Millionaire)
The stock market can be a scary place. Stock prices shoot up and down like a roller coaster ride, and who knows when the whole thing might crash?
It would be nice to diversify and invest some of your money in real estate, but don’t you have to be wealthy to do that?
Now you can invest like the 1% does, and all you need to get started is $500. Through the Fundrise Starter Portfolio, your money will be invested in portfolios of real estate around the United States.
You can see exactly which properties are included in your portfolios — like a set of townhomes in Snoqualmie, Washington, or an apartment building in Charlotte, North Carolina.
And you don’t have to be the landlord — Fundrise does all the heavy lifting.
As tenants pay their rent, you can earn money through quarterly dividend payments and potential appreciation of the property.
It’s a great way to get started in the world of investing — even if you don’t have $1 million. Yet.
This story originally ran on The Penny Hoarder.
* Like Cooper, 60% of Credit Sesame members see an increase in their credit score; 50% see at least a 10-point increase, and 20% see at least a 50-point increase after 180 days.
Credit Sesame does not guarantee any of these results, and some may even see a decrease in their credit score. Any score improvement is the result of many factors, including paying bills on time, keeping credit balances low, avoiding unnecessary inquiries, appropriate financial planning and developing better credit habits.
