Easy Investing Tools You Can Start Using NOW to Save More Money!
Disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post. I am writing from my own experience.
Over the last few years, there has been an increase in automatic savings accounts, thanks to the rapid growth of mobile fintech apps. These tools allow you to save money in small or large increments, depending on your preference and financial know-how. The advantages of these apps are that they let you save automatically and are quite useful to those looking to accomplish specific goals such as taking a vacation, starting your investment portfolio, or paying for a wedding, etc.
While I haven’t used every savings app, I have had personal experience with some of them for quite a bit now. Rize, Digit, and Twine are the ones with which I’m most familiar, and they all have their bright spots as well as downsides, depending on your savings needs. This post is to help you see the benefits in those apps, and hopefully assist you in making a decision to embrace one of them so you can be a savings rockstar.
Let’s face it, if you cannot learn the discipline of saving, it will be near impossible to invest in your future. Without further ado let’s dive in.
Rize
Rize is an easy-to-use savings tool with a great interface.
A few years ago, I was trying to get my wife into the habit of saving, regardless of how little it was, and discovered Rize. (Ssssh — don’t tell her as I’m putting her business out there.) Anyway, we signed up and the process was very simple and easy. The interface was very user-friendly with exciting and appealing colors to keep one engaged in the process. After signing up, you link a bank account you want to make withdrawals from and set a monthly limit. Rize moves money from your checking account to your Rize account based on an interval you set up, say bi-weekly, and allocates that money to your savings and investment needs. Within your Rize account, you can split your incoming money into savings buckets, as many as you deem necessary. You can set up categories like “emergency fund”, “vacation”, and “investment” to name a few. Each category has a target savings goal, target date, monthly commitment, and savings method. This is useful when it comes to evaluating and monitoring your goals. The money that is put in your Rize savings account earns a 1.43% APY, which is higher than the national average.
If you choose to invest some of this money, this process is the same as the savings, you set your goals and your money is allocated into stocks and bonds which primarily invest in an ETF (a group of stocks, commodities and bonds rather than individual stocks). With regards to cost, it cost nothing to save with Rize, although they ask or suggest a minimal donation of $1 if you love the app but it is not mandatory. If you choose to invest, they will do so for you in exchange for $2/month or 0.25% of your invested assets annually, which is not bad at all. Overall, I love the app and how simplified it has made automatic savings and investments.
On the Cimifly Money scale of 1–5, I’d give it a 4.
Digit
Digit is a strong competitor for Rize.
I started using Digit about five years ago and absolutely loved it until they started charging a minimal fee to help me save my money (as of this post I no longer use them). Right now, that fee is about $2.99 a month, and personally, based on how many improvements that app has made on its features it’s not so bad. I just still personally don’t feel the need to pay to save money regardless of how small that amount is.
However, don’t let my little rant or opinion deter you: I still think it’s a solid option. So, let’s look at the facts and see if it is suitable for your needs. When I started using Digit, it was to save money directly from my checking account to my Digit account based on my income and spending habits. If you need to deposit or withdraw from the app, you could do so using the app’s text message feature which I thought was very convenient. I found the process of shifting small amounts of money to my Digit account intriguing and it was a convenient way for me to save up for smaller purchases or wish-list items.
Since the inclusion of a fee, the features of the app are a lot better, and Digit now certainly has a lot to offer to compete with the likes of Rize. It also offers savings categories, and you can design your savings goals with specific things in mind, such as paying off credit card debt (which it does for you automatically by sending a payment to your credit card once the savings goal is met) or building a nest egg for retirement. Based on your chosen goal, it provides an intuitive timeline for achieving them. A neat feature that it also has that makes the monthly fee worth it is it protects your bank account from overdrafts by notifying you when your account balance is low. Your money in your Digit account will earn you 1% interest annually and depending on how much you save can offset their monthly fee. Overall, the app has some very neat features and I think it is perfectly suited for smaller more specific goals.
On the Cimifly Money scale of 1–5, I’d give it a 3.8.
Twine
Twine allows you to save with a friend or partner.
I haven’t yet sufficiently adopted this app just yet, but it has some awesome features that differentiate it from the others which I’ll get into soon. Like both Digit and Rize, you connect a checking account and set up your goals, and can have as many savings goals/ categories as you wish. Like Rize, it allows you to invest, but like Acorns, it lets you customize your investment portfolio based on recommendations such as moderate or aggressive investing. For example, a moderate portfolio is 90% bonds and 10% stocks, and an aggressive portfolio is 30% stocks and 70% bonds. What sets it apart from most apps is that it was built for two. Couples, partners, and friends with a common goal can use it. This feature, in my opinion, almost gives it a 5 on the Cimifly Money Ratings. You and your significant other can match your savings and investment goals within the app, which I think is an AHA-Mazing feature. Now, don’t dwell on the investment features much, as there are better apps out there for investing, so let’s focus on the savings and see the investing piece as icing on the cake. Savings with Twine will earn you a 1.05% APY which is far lower than Rize and even Digit. Also, know that while the savings account is free, the investment account requires a $100 minimum deposit. And it adds a charge of 25 cents per month for every $500 — an 0.6% annual rate.
On the Cimifly Money scale of 1–5, I’d give it a 4.2.
Online Savings Accounts
If you still are not convinced about the fintech apps, there is still hope for you. You can always get an online savings bank account and utilize the benefits of having some of the highest annual savings rates in the country, as well as not having to worry about banking fees that traditional banks charge. I won’t go too deep into these, but I’ll list some of the reasons that should hopefully entice you to open an account with them and hopefully set up automatic savings with them as well on a monthly basis.
○ Online savings account
○ 0.40% APY
○ No minimum deposit to open account
○ Some branch locations on the east coast
○ Online banking savings account
○ .40% APY
○ No minimum deposit to open account
○ Online banking savings account
○ 0.50% APY
○ No minimum deposit to open account
I’ve written about all of these options and have mentioned Acorns a few times. While I consider it to be similar to these savings apps, I would classify it as an investment app, so therefore I haven’t included it in the savings category and will dedicate an entire article to it. As it is the last man standing on my phone for a lot of reasons, I’ll be more than happy to share soon, so stay tuned.
Keep in mind that annual interest rates fluctuate based on economic factors, and while currently, the rates are nothing to write home about, such accounts are excellent to help you begin to meet your savings goals.
Hopefully, this was useful enough to get you the necessary information to get started. Please feel free to subscribe to my newsletter for many more articles like this. And if you have any questions? Send them to me — happy to help.
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