Life Pro Tips

I use 2 online savings sites.

One is Acorns, which connects to your bank account and takes the roundup amounts when you buy something and puts it into an account. For example, if you buy something that’s $2.79, it puts the roundup $.11 in your account, then invests that money to help it grow. You can choose whether your investment is safe and produces low relatively safe returns, moderate risk/return, or high risk that can produce high return or can lose money. I have mine set to moderate, and I get decent returns.

The other used to be called Digit, but now it’s called Oportun. You connect it to your bank account, and it monitors your spending. It takes some out and puts it in savings based on how much you have in your account and how much it thinks you can spare. The thing I like is that it all happens in the background, and I don’t have to do anything. It just saves money for me. Right after I get paid it takes larger chunks than at the end of the month when it might only take a few cents.

If I need my money back, Acorns takes about a week because they have to sell off my stocks and then transfer the money back to my bank account. Oportun usually has any money I withdraw back in my bank account on the next business day. Both of them are FDIC insured.