Navigating finances in your 30s can be a transformative period filled with important milestones and decisions. SoFi, a leading financial technology company, understands the unique needs of individuals in this stage of life. With its tailored suite of products and services, SoFi empowers 30-year-olds to make the most of their finances, providing benefits such as high APY savings, direct deposit perks, a robust investing platform, retirement accounts, and a commitment to their financial growth.
SoFi, short for Social Finance, is a leading financial technology company that offers a wide range of financial products and services. With a mission to help people achieve financial independence and success, SoFi combines technology, innovation, and a member-centric approach to deliver a comprehensive suite of offerings. From student loan refinancing and personal loans to mortgage solutions, investment accounts, banking services, and more, SoFi provides individuals with the tools and resources they need to simplify their finances, grow their wealth, and pursue their financial goals. Through its user-friendly platforms, competitive rates, educational resources, and commitment to fostering a strong community, SoFi has become a trusted partner for individuals seeking to take control of their financial well-being.
Why SoFi is the best bank for 30 year olds
High APY Savings: Accelerating Your Financial Progress For 30-year-olds looking to accelerate their financial progress, SoFi offers high APY savings accounts that outperform traditional banking options. By leveraging the power of compounding interest, individuals can watch their savings grow at an impressive rate. SoFi’s high APY ensures that every dollar saved works harder, helping 30-year-olds build a solid financial foundation for their future.
Direct Deposit Perks: Simplifying Financial Management Managing finances effectively becomes paramount in your 30s. SoFi recognizes this and provides direct deposit perks that streamline financial management. By setting up direct deposit with SoFi, 30-year-olds gain access to benefits like early paycheck deposits, enabling them to take charge of their finances and stay ahead of bills, investments, and savings goals. SoFi’s direct deposit perks make financial management a breeze, saving valuable time and effort.
Robust Investing Platform: Unlocking Your Investment Potential 30-year-olds often seek avenues to grow their wealth and secure their financial future. SoFi’s robust investing platform offers tailored solutions to unlock their investment potential. From active investing to automated portfolios, SoFi caters to various investment preferences. The platform’s user-friendly interface, educational resources, and access to financial advisors empower 30-year-olds to make informed investment decisions and maximize their returns.
Retirement Accounts: Building a Solid Future Planning for retirement becomes increasingly important in your 30s, and SoFi provides tailored retirement accounts to help 30-year-olds build a solid future. Traditional and Roth IRAs offered by SoFi allow individuals to invest for retirement with tax advantages. These accounts offer flexibility, transparency, and a diverse range of investment options, enabling 30-year-olds to lay the groundwork for a comfortable retirement.
Personal Loans and Mortgage Solutions: Accomplishing Life Goals As 30-year-olds navigate major life milestones, such as homeownership or funding higher education, SoFi offers personal loans and mortgage solutions tailored to their needs. SoFi’s competitive rates, flexible terms, and seamless application process make it an ideal choice for individuals in their 30s seeking financial assistance for accomplishing their goals. Whether it’s financing a graduate degree or purchasing a first home, SoFi supports 30-year-olds every step of the way.
Financial Education and Career Support: Nurturing Growth SoFi’s commitment to the growth of its members extends beyond banking services. The company provides a wealth of educational resources, career support, and networking opportunities. 30-year-olds can access financial literacy resources, attend member events, and connect with like-minded individuals, fostering personal and professional growth. SoFi’s holistic approach sets it apart as a bank that truly cares about the long-term success of its members.
For 30-year-olds seeking financial empowerment and a bank that understands their unique needs, SoFi is the ideal choice. With its high APY savings, direct deposit perks, robust investing platform, retirement accounts, tailored lending solutions, and commitment to personal and career growth, SoFi supports individuals in their journey toward financial success. Embrace the benefits of SoFi and embark on a path to financial prosperity as you navigate this transformative stage of life.
Wouldn’t it be cool to never have to worry about money again? Achieving financial independence to do what you want and not having to work sounds pretty good, right?
But who has the patience to be disciplined for 40 years? Why can’t you learn how to live a meaningful life today and fast track your way to financial independence?
I figured out a way. And it’s not what you may think. You see, you may think the only solution to achieving financial independence is making more money. Although that’s one way, it’s not the best way.
The quickest way is through simplifying. That’s right! The most effective way to reaching financial independence is by simplifying your life and adopting a minimalist lifestyle.
Here are ways you can get started on the path to financial independence, and you don’t have to wait 30+ years to start living the life of your dreams. You can start today.
Why is financial independence important?
The number one question you have to ask yourself if you’re going to start down this path is, why? If the reason why you want to reach financial independence isn’t clear in your mind, you’ll probably give up.
Most people are pursuing one or two common goals:
Becoming debt-free
Making more money
While these are reasonable goals, neither has become a significant focus in my life. Becoming debt-free would be nice, but it’s not my main goal. Becoming debt-free is ultimately a stepping stone to where I want to go, it’s not the end goal.
Don’t delay your happiness for the day you become debt-free or start making more money.
For me, my “why” is getting to the point where I no longer have to work for money. I want to get to the point where my passive income or interest on investments is enough to cover my living expenses, and I can spend my time doing what I love. I never plan to retire early. Once you retire, you stop progressing. I intend to keep working and helping as many people as I can, and if money happens to come because of that, great.
During my childhood, I didn’t get time with my dad. My mom was a single mom, and money was a constant stress. I want to provide the future for my wife and my children I never had. Ultimately, I want to design my perfect life, do what it takes to get there and find a way to enjoy the journey.
As a reminder to myself, I renamed my Wifi network name to WHYFI. That way, each time I connect to the internet, I’m reminding myself why I’m pursuing financial independence.
Why is it important for you?
What is the difference between financial freedom and financial independence?
A phrase I stopped using is financial freedom. When I was younger, I wanted to be financially free, but I had no idea what that meant. It was a vague goal with no real sense of direction of where I wanted to go.
That was until I understood what it meant to be financially independent.
Years ago, I was listening to a podcast. It was a relatively new podcast, and they were talking about this concept that was foreign to me.
I’d been interested in personal finance for years, how had I never heard of this concept of FI before?
Financial independence wasn’t arbitrary to me. It sounded attainable and actionable—a goal anyone could achieve. By definition, when you have 25x of your living expenses saved up, you’ve achieved financial independence. It made sense in my mind, but why 25 times?
What is the 4% rule?
The 4% rule tells you what percentage of your assets you could live on annually without running out of money. Withdrawing 4% of your portfolio not only preserves your principal balance but almost always results in growth.
Take a look at the chart below. Assuming you’re 40 years old and you officially become financially independent by saving $1,000,000. That means you could comfortably live on 40,000 per year without working ($1,000,000 x 0.04). By running a Monte Carlo analysis (1,000 tests), we see in nearly all cases your $1 million not only is preserved but grows. In many cases, over $5,000,000 during a 30-year time horizon.
What does this mean for you? If you can manage to save enough money, based on the research you’ll never have to work another day in your life if you don’t want to.
Understanding the 4% rule will help you know how much money you need to save. For example, if you spent $60,000 last year, you times the number by 25 ($60,000 x 25 = $1,500,000). The 4% rule states, to live off a $60,000 per year from your portfolio, you need to create a net worth of $1.5 million.
Achieving financial independence isn’t possible for many people. But the hardest part is the beginning. Once you start consistently saving money, compound interest starts to take over. Are you one of the few who has what it takes to reach financial independence?
Free Financial Independence Calculator
How long will it take you to reach financial independence? This calculator will tell you.
If you can’t see the entire calculator, press enter or tab to go to the next field.
Input your expenses as your net income (your monthly accumulation)
Inflation is assumed to be 2%
Age and gender are used to calculate a life expectancy
What is the savings rate?
People who are trying to reach financial independence talk about a savings rate. Some even brag their savings rate is 80 – 90%. What does that mean?
Your savings rate is a percentage of your income set aside for savings.
For example, If you earn $60,000 a year and find a way to save $10,000, your savings rate is 16.67%.
The amount of money you save will have a direct impact on when you’ll reach financial independence. This article called the Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement from Mr. Money Mustache sums it up pretty good.
Depending on your expenses, if you save 64% of your income you’ll become financially independent in 10.9 years.
If you saved 0% of your income, you’d never become financially independent. On the flip side, if you keep 100% of your income, you could retire today. We all know life isn’t that black and white, and we have to find a balance between YOLO and saving money.
The more money you’re able to save, the less time it takes to reach FI.
How do you calculate savings rate?
To calculate your savings rate, divide your savings by your income and you’ll get a percentage.
Annual Savings/Annual Income = Savings Rate
You can calculate this either with net income (after taxes) or gross income (before taxes). If you calculate your savings rate based on net income, it tends to be more accurate and, in most cases, is higher.
Of course, we would all like to have a higher savings rate. You can increase it in one of two ways
Simplify your life
Increase your income
I’d be lying if I said you don’t need a high income to increase your savings rate. But it’s not the only way. I argue that the most straight forward way to increase your income is to lower your expenses and keep more of the money you’re already making.
One isn’t better than the other, and I recommend focusing on both. To increase your income, focus on what skills you’re bringing to the table. If you’re struggling to make a high income, you don’t have a money problem; you have a skills problem.
Increase your skills and the money will follow.
A few suggestions are:
Contributing more to your current job and asking for a raise
Creating a side business around your passion
Asking to work overtime
Choose a few of the many ways to make a side income
If you’re new to this idea, you may be thinking, “is this is even possible?” Maybe you’re stuck at a dead-end job, not making near as much as you should be. Or you make good money, but controlling your spending has been an ongoing struggle.
Less than 1% of Americans get to enjoy a financially independent lifestyle. Of those that try achieving financial independence, less than 40% get there.
This isn’t an easy way to live.
However, it’s possible. And even if you achieving financial independence doesn’t happen, it’s worth pursuing. I’m an absolute believer anyone can achieve financial independence with the right discipline and systems.
Lastly, you have to maintain a longterm perspective.
“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.”
Tony Robbins
How much money is enough?
All of this leads me to my next point. Is it possible to get to the point where you have enough?
The world is always telling us we need more. More money, more comfort, more house, more cars, more, more, more.
This cycle repeats itself until you go most of your life never feeling like you’re satisfied.
Understand you are enough. Being self-aware to the point you feel like you’re enough is a big challenge. We all want to be more and do more, which is admirable.
I don’t feel like I’m good enough at times. But I have to take a step back and realize it’s ok not to be where I want to be. Instead of feeling down, I have to ask myself, how can I find joy in the journey?
I believe I will get to the point in my life where I’ve made enough and saved enough money to not only be financially independent but believe deep down I don’t need more.
The biggest challenge in life is getting to the point where enough is enough. Financial independence makes that possible. And it doesn’t have to be hundreds of millions of dollars to get there.
How much do I need to save to be financially independent?
This number is based entirely on your annual expenses. The more money you spend every year, the more money you’re going to have to save to reach FI.
For a single person spending $24,000 a year, they’d need to save up $600,000 to reach FI. On the flip side, if a couple is spending $200,000 a year, they’d need to save $5,000,000 to reach FI.
If the average household spends $50,000 a year, the number to reach is $1,250,000. But how long will it take you to get there?
As we mentioned above, the more you save, the quicker you get there. But let me touch on an important concept—compound interest. When your money is compounding, that’s when you’ll see the most growth.
Don’t think you have to save ALL $1.25 million in your bank account. The truth is you’ll end up saving a fraction of that, and compound interested will take care of the rest.
If you saved $1,750 a month for 20 years, you’d have had saved $420,000 of your dollars. But if your money were earning 10% interest the entire time you were saving, the value of your money would be $1,250,000. Thank you, compound interest!
The hardest part is always the beginning. Once you’ve built up a decent amount of savings, you’ll start to see your money make money and your savings will grow exponentially.
Can I live off the interest of a million dollars?
Of course! Assuming a safe withdrawal rate of 4%, you could withdraw up to $40,000 per year from your million dollar portfolio.
What about inflation? Won’t inflation eat away at your million dollars and eventually you’ll lose all of your principle?
No, the 4% rule we mentioned above, takes into consideration inflation. The biggest question is once you reach financial independence, how are you investing those dollars and can you confidently earn a rate of return higher than 4%.
Investing is where it all starts to get complicated, and because no one has the same situation, it may be a good idea to talk with a Registered Investment Advisor about what your best options are.
When young people learn about this concept, they get excited. I know when I first learned about it, it’s all I could think about for a while. I was fortunate to learn about this in my mid-twenties; I’ve got time to try and reach FI by the time I’m 40.
I’m in my late twenties and have made decent progress. I’m about 1/4 of the way there. And I understand the first few years are the hardest because it’s when you feel like you’re making the least progress.
But as I’ve been investing for years and own two properties, reaching financial independence is becoming a real possibility. Achieving financial independence by the time you’re 40 takes increasing your income and lowering your expenses. If you do those, it’s possible to retire 25 years earlier than most people, if you want to.
What is the meaning of simple living?
Now that you understand what financial independence is and can see it’s possible, I want to talk about a topic that doesn’t get talked about enough—pulling the second lever. The second lever is simple living.
If increasing your income is the first lever, which we all know is essential, how can we double our efforts by living a simple life?
Simple living can include a number of different voluntary practices to simplify your life. Things like reducing the amount of stuff you have, paying off debt, lowering your expenses, and increasing self-sufficiency.
You could come up with many examples, but I believe simple living means living your life’s purpose and removing anything else.
One of my favorite books that opened my eyes to what it means to live a simple life was Walden by Henry David Thoreau. He talks about only needing four things to be happy; food, water, clothing, and shelter. Most of us won’t live this way, but if you did, it would cut the time it takes to achieve financial independence.
How do I start living a simple life?
First, you need to understand what your life’s purpose is. What are you doing on earth, and what are you trying to accomplish? Understanding what your identity is will make it easier to cut out the fat in your life.
Second, it’s being intentional and organized every day. Being intentional with your mornings, your commute, your relationships, and your possessions. When you’re intentional, you focus on what matters most.
Is simple living the same things as minimalism? Yeah, pretty much. Depending on how you look at it. Even though I’m not the best at it, I consider myself a minimalist. You may not like the term, and thinking that way can cause extra stress or anxiety, which is why I like to refer to it as simple living.
Nevertheless, they’re similar, and if achieving financial independence is a focus, money, and minimalism have a lot in common.
A few places you can look to learn more about minimalism are The Minimalists and Mari Kondo. They both teach similar concepts when it comes to simplifying your life.
What do you do after achieving financial independence?
Suppose you’ve made it. You increased your income, and you simplified your life to the point where you’re financially independent. Congrats!
I know plenty of people who’ve gotten to this point. They work for years and years to get to reach FI, and when they finally do, it’s a bittersweet moment. They may not be as happy as they thought they’d be, and others are happy for a few months and weeks and then find themselves bored living a mini-retirement.
Achieving financial independence isn’t enough to make you happy and keep you positive. You have to live your purpose. If reaching some arbitrary number is your biggest goal, but you’re not living for a bigger cause, financial independence will feel lonely and boring.
What would your life look like after FI? For me, I don’t plan to stop working. Whether it’s woodworking, marketing, or financial coaching, I plan to help others. Helping others gets me excited. And if I happened to make money, great!
But I don’t plan to retire, sit around all day, and do nothing. I plan to keep working.
The bottom line is I want to live life on my terms, and I don’t want money to be a worry. Achieving financial independence is my way of getting there.
Conclusion
Achieving financial independence requires an insane amount of focus and discipline. But once you understand why you want to reach financial independence and apply the tools and life hacks to get you there, it’s possible.
I’m all for making more money. You do need a higher income to get where you want to go. But if you stack a high income on top of living a simple life, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish. You can design the type of life you want to live, and you don’t have to wait until you reach some number to start living.
In what ways are you achieving financial independence?
It covers everything from making quick side income to creating a long-term side hustle that could become your full-time job.
Making extra side income could change your life. I’ve explored dozens of ways to earn a second income on top of my day job, and it’s opened up so many doors. As a financial coach, I get the question all the time, “how can I make extra side income?“
I don’t promote anything I haven’t tried. Many of the side income 2020 sources below are affiliate links that help support my business, but I’m sharing these ideas because I want to help you in times where you want to make money, not because it’s the highest payout for me.
I suggest bookmarking this page and coming back. Everything is free to join.
If you have a friend or family member who would like to learn how to make side income, please share it with them!
Become an expert in one particular field and build up your career. If you’re struggling to make a second income, you don’t have a money problem; you have a skill problem.
You may feel like many of these ideas are a waste of time. But experiment and move on to another idea.
Especially in 2020 with the number of people who have lost their jobs and filed for unemployment, it’s more important now more than ever to focus on increasing your skills. A report put together by DollarSprout found that 1 in 4 side hustlers need extra money to make ends meet.
Table of Contents
Quick Money
Use Your Phone to Make Side Income
Use Your Car to Make Side Income
Work From Home
Anytime Work
Part-Time Work
Ways to Make Extra Income at Your Current Job
Quick Money
Many of these quick side income 2020 ideas have worked great for me, which you can complete from your phone. There’s more to learn and more earning potential with your phone, especially as smartphones get smarter.
I share with you how much I’ve made on many of these not to brag but to show you it’s possible to make money.
A Note About Privacy
Keep in mind what you‘re giving up when you sign up to get paid to do stuff online. Often if an app is free, it means you’re the product. I’m not ignorant of the fact that I’ve given up personal information to make side income online. Many people aren’t comfortable doing that.
The way I look at it is when it becomes a problem and starts impacting my personal and private life; then I will take action. I want to take advantage of the opportunities out there. Plus, Google and Facebook already know more about you than you know about yourself.
1. HOW TO EARN SIDE INCOME ONLINE WITH ONLINE SURVEYS
Many companies are willing to pay you to answer questions for them. Surveys aren’t going to produce any significant amount of money, but it’s quick and easy.
Survey Junkie – Earn points by completing surveys, which pay anywhere from $2 to $75 per completed survey. The longer the survey, the higher the pay. Even if you don’t qualify for a study, you’ll still get rewarded for trying.
Swagbucks – Rack up Swagbucks by shopping at your favorite retailers, completing online surveys, surfing the web, watching videos, playing games, signing up for offers, and more.
InboxDollars – Inbox dollars is a website/app you can join to earn extra money (although the money is more like pennies) because it takes forever to build up enough money to make a withdrawal. You can also get rewarded for watching videos online. You need a minimum of $30 to withdraw funds.
Persky – Perksy is a new mobile app launched in 2018 aimed toward millennials. It’s super easy to complete “stacks” for points, and they do a great job with the UI. At the time of this writing, it’s only available on iOS. Take advantage of the Perksy stack codes available right now!
Google Opinion Rewards – A mobile survey tool that rewards you with cash in your Google account (Android Users) every time you complete a brief survey. Payments are sent via PayPal if you use iOS.
Shopkick – If you aren’t using Shopkick, you should be! Shopkick allows you to earn points for various activities you turn into gift cards or cash. There are four main ways to earn points: walking into the store, scanning items, purchasing items, and uploading your receipt and a shopping portal.
Whenever we go to Walmart, for example, I might earn ten kicks for walking in. Then I earn hundreds of kicks scanning items we’re already walking past.
You don’t even need to go into the store, driving by slow will give you kicks!
Zap Surveys – Get rewarded for entering stores like CVS and Walmart. These rewards are available at most major retailers.
When a partner retailer or restaurant is running a promotion, and you’re nearby, Zap Surveys will send you a notification. If you open the app, you’ll get rewarded with up to $0.25. You can also earn money from surveys and checking in daily.
Checkpoints – This is similar to Zap Surveys. When you arrive at a store, it will send you a push notification, and is all you have to do is open it up, and it will reward you. You could be miles away from a store, and it will still give you 20 points. Cash-out via gift card.
Panel App – Earn points towards sweepstakes and gift cards for leaving the app running in the background. You can ramp up your rewards even more if you answer questions based on where you went.
Monkey Rewards – Similar to other paid survey apps that allow you to make money for taking surveys but with a twist, SurveyMonkey Rewards users earn credits that can be redeemed for either Amazon Gift Cards or donated to a charity – and they match donations!
Surveys On The Go – This is one of the easiest ways to earn quick money. Each day, I’ll have the opportunity to participate in surveys and most of the time I don’t qualify for them or they will take too long. But even if you don’t qualify they still give you $0.10 which is pretty good.
Ibotta – An easy-to-use cashback app with 100+ retailers, both in-store and online. Anywhere you go shopping, you’ll find cashback opportunities.
When you get home from your shopping trip, click the + icon and take a picture of your receipt, and you’ll quickly earn cashback. Get paid via Venmo, PayPal, or gift cards.
Receipt Hog – Upload your receipts from shopping to earn “coins,” which you can turn into cash rewards. It’s a simple process requiring a small amount of your time.
Unlike earning money completing surveys, using Receipt Hog is quick – a snap of a receipt, and that’s it! It takes seconds of your time. Get paid via PayPal, Visa, and Amazon gift cards.
You have to apply to Receipt Hog and they have a waiting list.
Receipt Pal – Similar to Receipt Hod, take a picture of your receipts and get rewarded. You can cash out with gift cards or through a Visa gift card. The first time I redeemed $25, it was a gift card to Restaurants.com. I’m $5.00 away from cashing out with another $25 Visa prepaid card.
CoinOut – A smartphone app available for Android and Apple users that gives you the ability to earn pocket change from a variety of receipts from everyday purchases you make.
Checkout 51 – Start earning cash while you grocery shop. Browse the list of grocery items posted and select which items you’re interested in buying. The list updates Thursday at midnight, and the grocery items on the list qualify for cashback until the following Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.
It’s harder to earn cashback than Ibotta but worth a shot.
Trunow – A money-saving app that not only finds you the lowest per-gallon gas prices near you, but it also gives you cashback on your gas purchases from partnered gas stations. Is all you have to do is upload a picture of your receipt after purchasing gas, and that’s it!
Coupons.com – Get printable coupons, link loyalty cards, and earn cashback on everyday purchases.
This one can be difficult to earn cashback because the amount of offers is limited. They may have deals where they give away free food, and they’ll reimburse the cost of the purchase. Last month, we got free eggs!
SavingStar – A free smartphone app (also available online) that helps you save money without clipping or printing coupons by giving you cashback on purchases you make.
Like other cashback rebate apps, you can submit pictures of your receipts or link your store loyalty card, and money is to your account.
Rakuten – This is my favorite cashback app (previously known as Ebates). It has gained popularity over the past few years. There are two ways I earn cashback:
Enabling the Google Chrome extension, and each time I go to check out on any partner’s website, it asks if I’d like to activate cashback. Then I don’t have to remember to go to the website; it’s always there.
The second way is using the Ebates app. Open the app and click through to your favorite stores, and when you purchase an item, cashback is added automatically.
Pei – Automatic cashback in Bitcoin or cash. This app is similar to others where you connect your debit/credit cards. When you purchase items at popular places like McDonald’s, CVS, Taco Bell, Walgreens, and Chick-Fil-A, you get automatically rewarded. This one is becoming my favorite to have on my phone.
Out of all the other apps, this one is probably the easiest because of the popular merchants they work with.
Drop – An intuitive and easy-to-use app that lets you earn gift cards for the money you’re already spending. Link up a card, and you’ll automatically get cashback when you spend money at certain brands such as Walmart, McDonald’s, etc.
The best part – when you spend money five times at a retail partner, you get the chance to play Snake for additional supercharge bonus points!
Dosh – A smartphone app that gives you cash back every time you make a purchase at participating outlets using your credit card.
If you link your credit card with the Dosh App for the first time, they’ll instantly add $5 cash to your Dosh Wallet. There’s no “unlocking” this bonus; you get it as soon as you link your card. And you can add additional cards for more cash.
RetailMeNot – Coupons, promo codes, gift cards, and a whole bunch of other incentives. Last year, they released the ability to link cashback offers. And I don’t spend much money, but so far I’ve earned cash back from a purchase I made at CVS.
Paribus – An easy way to put money back in your pocket. It’s an online service that tracks your online purchases for lower prices and requests a refund if it finds a lower price.
The more you buy stuff online, the more you’ll get back. Paribus even tracks orders from Amazon to see if they were delivered late. If it was, then you’re entitled to compensation from Amazon. Here’s the script they give you:
“Hello, me order #112-5044649-6629004 arrived later than promised. Could you please fix the issue through your shipping promise? Thank you very much.”
I tried it once and the next day Amazon had issued me a $5 gift card.
Earny – This is similar to Paribus; you’re giving Earny permission to track your purchases. You’ll get double the refund back if both apps pick up a purchase of a product that has dropped in price. Maybe you’ll be the lucky one! Get started connecting your credit card!
I hardly spend online which is probably the reason I haven’t earned cash back.
Honey– A Google Chrome Extension that will flash anytime you’re about to check out on most websites, and it will automatically find the best coupons and promo codes for your purchase with a single click. It gets added to your Honey account, and you can cash out when you reach $10.
Up to this point, each app I’ve listed by itself might be a waste of time. But, when you stack one on top of another, it starts to become more worth it. Making $5 on one app is nothing to be too excited about, but I’ve earned over $1,000 from the apps listed above.
Most of these apps have been introduced in the past couple of years. I believe we’re still early in making money from our smartphones and we’ll continue to see more and more opportunities as phones get smarter.
5. INVEST YOUR SPARE CHANGE
Acorns – This is a smartphone app that “rounds up” your spending to the nearest dollar and invests it. For example, buy a drink for $3.50, and $0.50 is added to your investment account.
You link a credit card and checking account, and Acorns does the rest. It makes investing painless because you’re spending only pennies at a time. You can also invest any amount of money you choose to monthly or at one time in low-cost Vanguard index funds.
Trim – Saving money on your bills will free up cash. “Trim isn’t an app, but rather an AI assistant that analyzes your financial transactions and finds ways to save you money. When Trim started in 2015, its core capability was finding and canceling unwanted subscriptions, and this is still what it’s best at.” – PC World
Varo – A new online bank I discovered because of its high-yield savings account. We’re earning 1.80% interest on our savings—100x higher APY than other banks.
They operate only through an app and are changing how we do mobile banking. They’re the first mobile-only bank to apply for a national bank charter and be approved. Take advantage of the Varo $75 referral bonus!
Raise – The best way to get rid of your unwanted gift cards and make extra money, with little effort. Raise is an online marketplace where you can sell your unwanted gift cards for cash at whatever price you choose and buy discounted gift cards to the places where you shop.
Lending Club – Peer-to-peer lending platforms are a great alternative to the stock market and still yield a decent return. You can participate in two ways:
Lend other people money and get a decent return
And act as the bank, which is pretty neat
And if you need a loan you can borrow one. It’s worked out for many people for over 10 years.
Lending Club is the world’s largest online credit marketplace connecting borrowers and investors. Worth looking into!
Digit – Automatically save your money so you don’t have to think about it. Designed to help you save small bits of money over time.
As with the Acorns app, you won’t get rich off the money you save with this service, but it does initiate that first step toward creating a savings habit and building wealth.
Achievement – This app connects to more than 20 other health and fitness apps (Fitbit, MyFitnessPal, Samsung Health, or Apple’s Health app). It tracks your healthy activities, including sleep, step, and nutrition data, and it rewards you with points.
You can convert your points to cash or donate them to a health-related charity you care about. You can also earn points and money for participating in health studies. Why not get paid to perform healthy activities?
Field Agent – Once you download the app, you can set it to check for jobs in your local area. These jobs vary, but for the most part, they involve doing inside the store activities. For example, I was at Walgreens, and I took three pictures of beverages, answered a couple of questions, and made $3.
When I’m at Costco shopping with my wife, I’ll wander off by myself and complete a job or two. They may ask you to buy items and they’ll reimburse you 100% of the cost. What’s better than free food?
Mobee – Pays you to complete missions near you. These missions consist of going to local stores and answering questions about the store. Every time you complete a task, you earn points that can be exchanged for gift cards.
Easy Shift – The Easy Shift App pays you for completing small, simple tasks. It gives you shifts you must complete within a specific time limit. The duties include going to local stores and taking pictures of whatever product requested.
These tasks are longer and more difficult than Field Agent and Mobee.
Gigwalk – If you sign up to be a Gigwalker and download the free app, you’ll get the opportunity to do little odd jobs, or “gigs.” These jobs might consist of taking pictures of different businesses, downloading and trying out different apps, and answering consumer research questions.
Spare5 – The Spare5 app pays you to complete small and manageable tasks from your smartphone. Use the time waiting in line, riding the train, or waiting for a friend to earn a bit of spare cash.
What I did was go to the park with my wife one day and take pictures of random objects. They’ve got a list of hundreds of ideas you could take a picture of.
Fundrise – You can buy individual shares of real estate property through a website like Fundrise. According to their site, investors can earn an average of 12% to 14% annually on their investment.
Robinhood – A free-investing app ideal for investors who want to trade stocks, options, exchange-traded funds, and cryptocurrency without paying commissions or fees. I signed up for Robinhood in 2016 and have been using it ever since.
Warning: it can be addicting! I try not to check it as much as I used to!
Vanguard – When it comes to investing for retirement with accounts such as a Roth IRA or a 401k, I recommend Vanguard because of their excellent customer service and low fees.
Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, changed investing for the average investor by creating the index fund. They don’t have the most user-friendly online interface, but it’s ok because you only need to set your money and forget it.
Stockpile – Stockpile is an app that offers gift cards which can be used for the purchase of both stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The gift cards can be purchased and redeemed on the Stockpile platform. It avoids the hassle of having to purchase a single stock.
Instead of giving gifts to my little sisters, the past couple of years I’ve given them fractional shares of Lululemon and Disney.
Wrapify – I haven’t done this, but I’ve heard of people making anywhere from $200 – $400 a month to wrap their entire car with advertisements. The more you drive, the more earning potential you have. So if you’re a rideshare driver, you could make additional side money with this. Another car advertisement company is ReferralCar. They’ll pay you to put an advertisement on your back window.
Uber – I’m sure you’ve heard of Uber before, and I don’t need to go into detail on what it is. Ridesharing has been the most popular side hustle over the past few years.
I haven’t driven for Uber and Lyft because the town I’m in is a college town and there are more drivers than people needing a ride and I’ve never felt like I’ve had time to do it. However, there are many people making a decent second income.
Lyft – Lyft is another great way to make extra money by using your car. New drivers who sign up with Lyft earn a $75 bonus after their first 50 rides. If you have weekend and evening availability, you could reach the bonus in a few short weeks. Sign up with Lyft to claim your $75 bonus!
GasBuddy – Enter to win cash when you report gas prices with GasBuddy. You can also use it to find the cheapest gas prices in town. When you pull up to a gas station to fill up or even when you’re driving past a gas station, report the gas prices and you can enter to win $100 of free gas.
I’ve never won the gift card but I also don’t spend much time reporting gas prices.
Rover – If you’ve considered becoming a dog sitter, you may have wondered where to find a steady supply of dog-sitting jobs. Maybe you’ve even thought of starting your own dog-sitting business – putting up flyers, or posting ads on Craigslist or your neighborhood bulletin. Each of those is good ways to get started, but this is another option for anyone considering a part-time or full-time job pet sitting.
VIPKid – VIPKid is an online teaching service. Teachers from North America teach students in China who are mostly between ages 5 and 12. The pay varies from $15-20 per hour.
Udemy – Udemy is a global marketplace for education. With its wide-ranging topics, Udemy has courses for both professional and personal development.
Anyone with a background in teaching or particular expertise can design and offer a course on Udemy. However, courses must have at least one to three hours of content.
As an instructor, you must create a curriculum, set course goals, and define your target students.
User Testing – This is a simple to use program. Business owners have their websites reviewed by you as an end-user. Record what you’re seeing, and they pay you for your time.
Tests take no longer than 20 min. Each test will pay $10.00.
Fiverr – Fiverr is an online marketplace offering tasks and services for as little as $5 per gig.
If making money on Fiverr is your goal, you’ll need to set up your free account and then complete your seller profile.
Then you can go in and create your gig. If you aren’t sure what to sell, spend time browsing the Fiverr catalog to see what’s out there and what service you can offer.
If you want a way to make a quick $500 this weekend, consider going through all over your unwanted stuff and having a garage sale. My wife and I made $600 before we moved to Texas.
You can also sell your unwanted stuff on places like LetGo and Decluttr.
23. FLIP STUFF ON FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE
Suppose I had to start over from scratch and had nothing to my name: no income, no furniture, nothing. The first place I’d look would be Facebook Marketplace. I’d go to the free section and turn around and sell the same item. I’d keep doing this until I’ve made enough money to move on to the next side hustle.
Is all you have to do is find free stuff, fix it, and sell it.
ANYTIME WORK
24. RENT OUT YOUR SPARE BEDROOM
Airbnb – Airbnb is an online community marketplace that connects people looking to rent their homes with people who are looking for accommodations. Why not list your extra bedroom and start making passive side income?
Instacart – Shoppers make money by shopping for groceries at local stores the company is partnered with and delivering those items to customer’s homes. The hours are flexible, and the orders come through Instacart’s shopper app. I delivered groceries a few times and made anywhere from $25 – $20 an hour.
You could also save time going to the grocery store and have groceries delivered to you while you work on another side gig at home.
Shipt – Shipt is a grocery delivery service. Target acquired it in 2017 for $550 Billion. If you’re interested in earning extra money in the sharing economy, Shipt could be an excellent way for you to make good money (about $25 per hour) on your schedule. I also delivered for Shipt a few times.
Care.com – Care.com is a one-stop site to find caregiving services for your family and home. You could walk dogs every day, be a housekeeper to tidy up homes once a week or watch kids regularly — all in one place.
Market Force – Marketforce is a mystery shopping company that most users are satisfied with.
Not a great way to make side income but you can be reimbursed for your meals.
The amount varies depending on what you’re doing. In most cases, you’ll visit a place of business and purchase food costing at least a certain amount of money as well as fill out a survey on how clean the restaurant was, how helpful the workers were, etc.
You’ll be reimbursed for what you bought and paid extra for taking the time to do the mystery shop. It’s not going to amount to a fortune and won’t cover all your bills, but it could be a source of extra money for you.
I’ve completed a few mystery shops at Five Guys. I was paid $6.00 and reimbursed for $12.75.
Appen – Appen is a data collection company that uses information (gathered from human interaction) to make machine learning programs act more “human-like.”
They do this through independent contractors (you) and employees who perform tasks online like speaking phrases into a microphone or having you evaluate social media and search engines.
Etsy – Etsy is an excellent tool for marketing and selling your creative works. My wife has always been the creative type. When she was in high school, she started selling handmade earrings and bags on Etsy.
A few years ago, she decided to start her online e-commerce business Cozy Cottontail and sell only on Etsy. She made over 500 sales in the first six months and then decided to create her online store with Shopify. So she sells on both!
Shopify – Shopify makes it easy for people who know nothing about programming, coding, and web development to startup and run their online store. They do this so entrepreneurs can focus on building the aspects of their business they excel at without having to worry too much about the technical stuff.
Running a business with Shopify has made everything so much easier. It can be expensive and hard to get your business off the ground, but I recommend it if you want to sell stuff online.
The Loan Signing System – I was listening to the Side Hustle Show podcast, and the episode was titled “How to Become a Loan Signing Agent and Earn $100 An Hour Part-Time.” At first, it didn’t sound easy. What did a loan signing agent even do? Before we moved to Texas, I wanted to find a new viable side hustle. I never spend money on courses, but this one felt like I could do. So I purchased the course and, within a month, did my first loan signing. I’ve since done 42, and it has been a fantastic side gig!
I’m a “Loan Signing Agent.” No, not a real estate agent, and I don’t give out bank loans. What I do is assist borrowers in filling out and signing their documents for loan officers. I then sign and notarize. The course is called the “Loan Signing System” by Mark Wills. Mark is an excellent teacher, and my upfront cost was $350, which I made back in the first month. I’ve learned a ton about the real estate industry, and I could see myself doing this for many years!
TaskRabbit – The site works as a middleman to let clients post the work they need help with that requires a handyman, cleaner, mover, etc. As a “Tasker,” you can use the site to find jobs, contact potential clients, and collect payment for your work (minus a 20% service fee).
Using the site, as opposed to working through an avenue like Craigslist, helps make sure you get paid for your work and reassures clients you are who you say you are and don’t have a criminal record.
Upwork – Upwork is an international freelance marketplace where independent business people hire and meet with freelancers for various web-based tasks.
You can work at Upwork if you possess the skills the website requires and can perform the service on your computer remotely. All you have to do is create an account, specify what service you provide, start looking for jobs, get hired, and get paid.
Individuals and businesses are willing to spend a few hundred dollars a year to have their taxes prepared. There are resources out there to learn tax preparation and all its complexities.
I became a VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistant) a few years ago and have helped many people prepare and submit their taxes to the IRS. It was part of my job, so I never charged my clients, but I could see myself offering this as a service.
My favorite activity to do is find used old furniture for free and turn around and flip it. There aren’t many places where you can find a free product and turn around and sell it for a significant profit!
Local rec leagues, whether it’s softball, flag football, soccer, etc. need people to officiate games. Working a game or two each weekend is a great way to make an extra side income.
I did this during my senior year of high school, and it was great because it was on Saturdays and at night on weekdays. I did this for two years as my main side hustle and would make $10-$12 a game.
Woodworking is a great skill to have. The better you are, the more you can get paid. I’ve been doing wood projects since high school, and to me, it’s therapeutic.
When I become financially independent, I can see myself spending a considerable amount of time on wood projects. There’s nothing quite like putting the final touches on furniture you built and putting it inside your home. And if I made money doing it, I wouldn’t complain.
Car detailing was my number one side hustle for years. I started detailing cars in high school while working at a car wash. I started my auto detailing business in 2014, which I ran for four years, all through college. It provided a high second income and the ability to set my schedule and rates.
It’s not the fanciest work, but believe me, so many people are willing to pay for a good car detail every year. You need a few thousand dollars to get all of the right equipment to have a successful business up and running in a short amount of time. I’d recommend anyone do this.
MAKE SIDE INCOME ONLINE
40. START A BLOG
Bluehost – This can be a pure side hustle, or it can turn big – it’s up to you. I’m a huge fan of blogging because I love writing and connecting with people. Everyone has a passion and a story to tell. Give blogging a try, and you never know what it could become.
Anchor – What if your writing isn’t all that great, but you’re a great conversationalist? If you have a topic you’re passionate about, why not start a podcast? As your audience grows, you can land sweet sponsorship deals.
Youtube – Your topic area can be anything. From pranksters filming their antics to chemistry professors sharing their how-to videos, anyone can make a side income job from YouTube.
Content is what drives web traffic. Websites are always pumping out fresh, new content for their readers, and they’re always looking for writers! If you aren’t quite ready to launch your blog yet, this might be an excellent option to see if writing is for you.
I started freelancing a few years ago, and it can be a great side income source, and the flexibility to work from wherever makes it all worth it.
44. MANAGE SOCIAL MEDIA
If you enjoy learning about social media and want to take your passion a step further and make an extra side income, social media management is a great option. If you’re good at it, it can open up doors for you down the road.
Every business nowadays needs social media manager.
45. BECOME A FACEBOOK ADS MANAGER
Facebook ads are invaluable to both online and brick and mortar business owners these days. You can bring in $1,000 or more of side income per month with a handful of Facebook ad clients.
If you’d like to take a course and learn the ins and outs of managing Facebook ads for businesses, you should check out the Facebook Side Hustle course that my friend Bobby has put together.
46. WRITE A BOOK
It doesn’t have to be a novel! Many popular ebooks are less than 50 pages. The Penny Hoarder has a great article that outlines How to Publish Your Ebook and Earn Money.
It requires upfront work, but once it’s written you can say you’ve written a book and after that, it’s passive side income.
47. CREATE A COURSE
If you’ve got expertise in a particular area, package up your knowledge into an online course and sell it. This has become a popular business model for online entrepreneurs over the past several years. The two big websites to sell online courses are Udemy and Teachable.
48. START A YARD MAINTENANCE BUSINESS
Depending on where you live, there can be a pretty strong demand for this type of service. If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, this is a great idea!
49. START A WINDOW CLEANING BUSINESS
It’s not glamorous work, but pretty much all brick and mortar businesses need it. Why couldn’t you do it?
50. DESIGN WEBSITES
Every business needs a website, and many are willing to pay a pretty penny to get it done right. I’ve designed multiple websites. I’m in no way an expert, but you could make a high side income specializing in website design.
51. BECOME A PERSONAL TRAINER
If you have specialized skills in any sport, there are opportunities out there for teaching others the fundamentals (and getting paid).
Who doesn’t want to be fitter and healthier? Becoming a personal trainer might bring in a high side income as you help people reach their goals.
52. BECOME A FINANCIAL COACH
AFCPE – I wanted to become a financial coach many years ago. So I took and passed the Accredited Financial Counselor exam. You don’t have to do this to coach people. It’s about connecting and building relationships with people. But for me, it lends credibility and shows people I’ve taken my profession seriously.
GigSalad – GigSalad is the largest and most diverse marketplace for booking bands, performers, speakers, and services for events, parties, and productions of all types and sizes. A great way to make side income if you want to be a performer.
Steady – Steady is here to help you look after your financial health. From matching you with job opportunities to make extra money. From providing you a side income tracker to monitoring your earnings, ensuring you have the benefits you need while you work.
Easier said than done, I know. But if you’re willing to go above and beyond and prove yourself to management, you can move up the ladder.
56. ASK FOR A RAISE
If you ask for a raise, what’s the worst that could happen? They say no. So why not give it a try?
57. WORK OVERTIME
I’m not a huge fan of trading your time for money, but the offer of working overtime is too good to pass up. Ask your boss if you can pick up extra hours each week.
CONCLUSION
Remember, if you’re struggling with how to earn side income, you don’t have a money problem you have a skill problem.
Many of these ideas are short term, while others could turn in to full-time jobs that require a skill. Focus on developing a skill or a talent stack, and the money will follow.
Focus on how you can add the most value to other people’s lives. If you focus on developing skills and adding value, you’re not going to struggle.
We all go through different phases of life, and at times, you need to make quick money.
I hope you’ve received value from this post on how to increase your side income streams!
I’ve been a long time user of the Achievement app since 2016. Every few months, I transfer $10 to my PayPal account for having the app downloaded and tracking my steps.
The Achievement app rewards you for healthy activities like steps, tracking your health, and completing health related surveys. It has over 15,000 reviews on the app store and over 3 million members getting paid for health actions.
Here’s what they have to say on their website:
“Backed by some of the top investors in Silicon Valley and driven by a social mission to help drive scientific research forward and make America healthier, we literally pay you cash (via direct deposit or PayPal) to do healthy things like walking, eating well, and even sleeping! We also provide any consumer with the opportunity to contribute to cutting edge health research.“
And here’s what one user had to say:
“My sister told me about it, and it seemed too good to be true at first. But when she said that she had already received $20, I signed up. It was so easy and a monetary motivation really encouraged me to get up and get moving.”- Estella
Why Should You Sign Up?
Here are 5 reasons you should sign up for the Achievement App today:
Get paid for healthy actions. I already mentioned this, and it should be the primary reason you sign up. Getting rewarded for making healthy decisions makes sense.
Connect other apps like Twitter and MyFitnessPal to earn more points. When you connect 1 of over 20 apps, you’ll earn points faster.
Redeem your points for cash or give to your favorite charities. You can receive cash, or if you want to make a more significant impact on the world, you can donate your points to a charity. Making healthy choices to help charities sounds like the right thing to do.
It’s one of the top health apps in the app store. Everyone’s doing it, and if you’re not using the app, you’re missing out.
Participate in research. You also have the opportunity to contribute to health research. I answer quick surveys about the coronavirus all the time. I also completed an in-depth study of my allergies and earned $50.
They will ask you for basic information to get started like your height, weight, phone number, email, birthday, and address. I believe you don’t have to give all of your information if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.
Once you’ve downloaded the app, you’ve created an account and connected it to Apple Health or Fitbit, the only thing you have to do is leave it on your phone running in the background.
Depending on how many steps per day you take, the faster you’ll be able to cash out. Literally that’s all there is to it.
Conclusion
I want to help you earn extra income in as many ways as possible. Signing up for the Achievement app is a straightforward life hack that can help you get ahead. Getting paid to make healthy choices makes sense, so why wouldn’t you sign up?
“59 percent of Millennials have set aside an average of $9,100 in an emergency fund, more than older generations (Gen X-ers have $8,700, while Boomers have $7,100).” (Fidelity.com)
“1 in 3 Americans can’t come up with $2,000 in case of an emergency” (YahooFinance.com)
What this study is talking about is 33% of Americans couldn’t come up with this amount of money without having to sell something or go into debt. Hopefully, this isn’t you!
“One-third of Americans would not be able to handle a $100 medical bill without going into debt.” (FoxBusiness.com)
These are probably the same folks that couldn’t come up with $2,000 if they had to. That’s a lot of people living on the edge of a financial crisis!
8. Amount of Debt at Death
“Americans are dying with an average of $62K of debt.” (FoxBusiness.com)
Hopefully, you don’t compare to this personal finance statistic because that would mean you’re dead. But because you’re reading this I’m going to assume you’re alive.
Think of how many Americans die each year. That’s a lot of unpaid debt that puts a lot of strain on close family members.
I’ve worked with retired individuals before and you’d be surprised to know how many of them are still carrying their student loans with them with no plans to pay them back.
How much debt would you leave behind if you passed away?
“Women view men as unattractive if they have a lot of debt. For men, physical appearance carries more weight, and debt doesn’t play a role.” (LendingTree.com)
Guys, it’s unattractive if you’re carrying a lot of debt. For the ladies, it’s ok as long as you’re good looking?
10. An Attractive Person Won’t Date Someone With Bad Credit
“40% of people who self-identify as very attractive wouldn’t date someone with bad credit; more than 60% wouldn’t walk down the aisle with them.” (LendingTree.com)
Going back to the fact that we place a high value on credit scores, it can be embarrassing if you’re dating someone and they find out that you have a low credit score!
“55% of couples combine their money, up 4% since last year.” (TD Ameritrade)
What do you guys think? Is it better to combine your finances with your significant other or keep them separate?
My wife and I have had our finances combined ever since we got married.
14. Coffee vs. Retirement
“27% of the millennials are spending more on coffee each month than saving for retirement.” (LendEDU)
When you learn about the latte factor, this can have a massive impact on your retirement!
15. Restaurants vs. Retirement
“49% of millennials were spending more on restaurants and dining out each month than they were saving for retirement.”
I’m not surprised to see this because eating out can get expensive!
And I get the mentality that a lot of millennials have, “why save my money for retirement when that’s so far away? Plus, I could go for a nice burger right now.”
16. Average Amount Millennials Save Per Month Toward Retirement
“Amongst millennial respondents that were saving for retirement, the average amount saved per month was $480.″
These were a few of the many personal finance statistics. And things are always changing, so it’s hard to know what is accurate.
If you’d like a better idea of how you stack up against your peers, download a personal finance app called Status Money. It will show you how you stack up to peers your age, even in your area, for things like net worth, debt, and savings.
Don’t forget, if you’re looking for an attractive mate, it’s essential to not only have a good credit score but avoid debt as well.
I hope these personal finance statistics inspire you to take some action!
Hi, I’m Scott. Welcome to my website! I’m an Accredited Financial Counselor, husband, and father. I love writing and learning about personal finance, fintech, simple living, and sharing my personal story. I hope you’ll join me on our journey to financial independence!
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