#they make a cool new item and list it at some exorbitant price and then give it a time limit before it never comes back

[forgetful-storyteller]

Okay but. What is tgcs long term goal. Because I'm really starting to think they don't have one,, everything they do seems to be building them up to a point where no one wants to play sky anymore?? Everything they do feels like massive self sabotage? It just feels too stupid on their part for it to be a coincidence and yet. It probably is. And sky is going to keep succeeding as a game because no matter what happens and no matter what they do, people only talk about it for a few days and then go back to playing like normal. It's like they know that no one will actually do anything to stop them,, they know no amount of people will stop playing "just because" of whatever the reason of the week is. They can just keep getting worse and worse and worse

[yerawizardjulia]

Too Rich for a McNugget (Wolfstar)

A university student enters an antique shop in a panic. How do you buy a wedding gift for a cousin you hate? 

Sirius wouldn’t have looked twice at the dusty shop if he wasn’t stupidly, desperately late. The high street itself was laughing at him and he was uncomfortably aware of the scrubby guy on the bench that had definitely seen him walk past the same shop window three times in a desperate attempt to see anything other than tea towels and obnoxiously cheerful decorated mugs with ‘World’s best dad’ printed on the sides in Comic Sans. His fingers were slippery in anxious sweat as he pressed the home button on his phone, his iPhone six, another reason his presence would be scorned at this godforsaken gathering. The smudgy screen blinked into life and displayed, seemingly smugly after Sirius’ growing resentment towards the device, 12:42.

Twenty fucking minutes. If he didn’t show up with a gift he might as well not show up at all, an option he would have embraced wholeheartedly if his mother hadn’t pincered him into a corner at their last, regularly depressing routine coffee catch up and told him the deeds to his inheritance were under considerable threat if he did not attend. He wouldn’t have minded, but being twenty grand in debt to an English degree in a rented apartment with black mould creeping onto the ceiling made him reconsider his options.

Fucking Narcissa.

He wouldn’t have been looking forward to the wedding even if she wasn’t marrying a right wing, Eton-educated, ‘can’t control these blasted immigrants’ CEO of whateverthefuck that looked as though he’d never even touched an item of clothing that didn’t come from Armani. It was so typical of his cousin to find a man who deferred so minimally from their shared families’ frankly alarmingly consistent Tory heritage that Sirius had had to do some extensive Googling to confirm that Lucius Malfoy was not in fact, a not-so-distant relative.

A text buzzed in his hand, the little green notification welcome on the screen. At least it was an excuse to loiter outside this shop window for another minute or so without looking like a genuine psychopath.

‘Just get her a toaster or something idk.’

Sirius hadn’t really expected James’ solution to his predicament to be helpful, but his flatmate’s response nevertheless sent the hopeless feeling in his stomach a few inches lower. He had never expected for his future to be balanced on the purchase of a wedding gift, but he would almost prefer to sit his first-year exams, which he had taken with a hangover so severe it felt like he was going to vomit out of his eyeballs, all over again than have to look at this shop window for a second longer. He pictured sitting in a gutter in London, like the tramps that his mother refused to make eye contact with during their trips out during his childhood, drinking from a bottle wrapped in brown paper and thinking; if only I had gone with the luxury jam set. He had discarded the idea after noticing the Tesco’s Finest logo above the barcode, but it was beginning to look like his best option.

Another text. No, a call. Sirius shoved the phone back into his hoodie he was using to mask the aristocratic wedding attire beneath. Keepers of pretentious little shops such as the ones lining this dusty high street tended to bump their prices through the roof if they saw someone of his blood walk in. Old blood. Old money. It was unfair, really, because Sirius didn’t actually have any. If he did, he probably wouldn’t mind paying the exorbitant prices; James spent half his life agonising over how independent businesses were being suffocated by Amazon. But Sirius had nothing to his name until his dear grandparents decided to snuff it. The phone ceased buzzing waspishly in his pocket, and he decided he had better check who he was ignoring. 

Typical fucking Regulus. 

Probably the only human being under twenty that actually went out of his way to call people, rather than text. He would be there already, exchanging pleasantries in the foyer of the Malfoy’s third manor home. Checking to see whether the Black family disappointment was showing his face, or if he’d have to rely on his six predicted A* grades and brand new Porsche that probably cost more to insure than it did to buy to present himself as the golden child. He’d probably have a stupid little flower in his stupid little button hole. Being a cousin of the bride and a groomsman of the groom, Regulus had firmly nestled himself already into this hideous conjunction of families. He had a job lined up for him in Malfoy’s London branch. In six months, he’d probably have his own office.

Sirius had diluted his shampoo with water for the second time this morning.

He scowled and kicked a bottle cap along the pavement as he stumped, once again, down the row of shops. The circular metal projectile skittered across the tarmac and bounced off a door frame. He stopped, staring suddenly at the sign swinging on a pair of metal hooks like it was a medieval fucking tavern.

Fletcher’s Quality Gifts and Trinkets.

Somehow, inexplicably, Sirius’ eyes had slid over this shop four times as he’d panicked his way up and down this stretch of pavement. There was no window display, that was why. The door fit seamlessly between Bobbin’s Haberdashery and a derelict Cafe Nero. Sirius felt his phone buzz again and suppressed the urge to throw it into the path of the lazy, midday traffic crawling its way up the high street. He stared at the chipped paint and begged silently, to whatever entities may have been listening, that he would find something, anything to take to this fucking wedding.

The door jammed awkwardly on the floor as Sirius pushed it open. It made a juddering, dry squeak, scuffing on the splintery wood. Sirius winced, and half thought about just turning tail and walking out again, going back to pick up that cheap-as-shit jam set. Narcissa probably didn’t even eat jam. Was jam vegan?

He had to push his way in sideways, and as he did so, the door unstuck, swinging open and leaving him standing, pointlessly squashed back against the door frame. Sirius closed his eyes and wondered whether anything was going to go right today.

When he opened them, a guy was blinking at him from behind a checkout desk. A book was open on the surface before him and his long legs with too short trousers that showed a few inches of garishly coloured socks were rested upon the desk next to the till. He removed them hastily to the floor as Sirius stared.

“Sorry, the door- It gets stuck- you have to like-“ He mimed something that Sirius couldn’t even begin to relate to unsticking a door. “Sorry,” he finished, lamely. He bent over his book. Sirius peeled himself from the frame, not taking in the low beams that he would probably hit his head on or the items grouped together in nonsensical piles on the shelves and stacked on the floor.

This guy was gorgeous. He had an odd collection of features that were nothing special, when you looked at them individually- a nose that listed to the left, a thin top lip, a smattering of pigmentation on his cheeks that suggested acne that had been grown out of- but together... Sirius couldn’t stop staring at him. That tawny hair- fucking tawny, who am I, William pissing Wordsworth?- That sharp chin, those long fingers that teased the edge of the paper as he finished reading his page.

He was absolutely, fundamentally, not Sirius’ type. Any romantic entanglements he had had- and granted, it was not a long list (he and James had one sellotaped to the fridge)- involved men so deep in the closet they were practically choking on mothballs. They were footballers, mostly, insecure, ‘just experimenting’. Sirius didn’t know why his gaydar was sounding off so strongly. Was it the deeply uncool granddad jumper that somehow looked like it belonged in Men’s Vogue when draped over his long torso? Sirius was hardly modest about his own looks, but if he tried that jumper on he would look like the kid that forgot his P.E. kit. The same went for the not-skinny, not-baggy jeans that looked as though they were made for literally anyone other than him but somehow, looked really cool and why did Sirius love those hideous socks so much? Did they have pineapples on them? 

The guy, seemingly unaware of Sirius lurking behind the shelf closest to the door, propped the book up in his hands, and Sirius read the title- The Picture of Dorian Grey.

Well, there it is.

“IneedapresentforacousinIhatewho’smarryingaguythathasprobablynevereatenaMcDonald’schickennugget.” Sirius was hardly more aware of the words projectile vomiting from his mouth than he was of the way he was sidling towards the checkout desk with his hands wringing in front of him like he was expecting this guy to stand up and shout at him.

Brown eyes emerged from behind the finest work of Oscar Wilde, carrying a look of mild alarm.

“Because, he’s rich, not a vegetarian.” Sirius finished. His mouth seemed a long way behind his brain, but perhaps that was a good thing, because his brain was currently screaming FUCK ME and Sirius was not willing to be barred from any more establishments for hedonistic behaviour.

“A wedding present?” His voice was mild, like Sirius had just asked a perfectly normal question for a stranger to ask a shop employee.

“Uh, yeah.” Why was he blushing? He never blushed. He stepped back needlessly as the guy rose from behind the desk. He was tall. Proportionately tall, with long limbs and a long neck and long god knows what else. Sirius nearly fell to his knees in reverence when the guy cracked a smile that caused a dimple to poke in his cheek and exposed sharp canines that Sirius never considered worth noticing in anyone before but holy fuck he would be now.

“You know what, I think I’ve got something.” He was walking away down one of the dark-ish isles, stooping considerably to avoid the beams and Sirius was trailing after him, awkward and out of place and acting so drastically not like himself he wondered if he had sustained a concussion at some point. Maybe when he was forcing his way through that rude fucking door. The hair at the nape of this guy’s neck curled slightly like he was due a haircut. His trainers were really beat up and old, and Sirius was sure he could see one of the laces fraying and considered whether he should warn him he was about to trip.

“When is this wedding?” His voice was still mild and almost disconcertingly polite; he had stopped and was rummaging among a pile of objects on a shelf-seriously, how was anyone supposed to find anything in here?- and Sirius was still staring at his trailing shoelace.

“Well, sort of now.”

He stood up a bit straighter as the brown eyes widened, and he was looking at him, properly, for the first time and Jesus Christ, how were you supposed to stand normally? Where were your arms supposed to go? Eyebrows, light brown and shapeless and a bit sparse at the ends, furrowed and he let out a small huff of amusement. It was the politest expression of ‘this dude’s a complete disaster’ that Sirius had ever seen. “I’ve been putting it off,” he added needlessly. Something about the way this guy was now looking him up and down as if he could read his life story just from Sirius’ tailored trousers that he’d forgotten to get dry cleaned and his hoodie that was actually James’ and his shoes that looked expensive but were actually from TKMaxx was making him need to offer increasingly poor explanations for his shambles of a life. “I don’t want to go, but I have to, and I hate weddings anyway, but especially this one, and I-‘

The look of curious amusement on the guy’s face- god, Sirius really wanted to know his name- halted his rambling. “Sorry,” he mumbled, “I’m not normally this stressed.”

“That’s okay,” he replied, as if it was his job to tolerate a load of garbled nonsense from strangers, like he did it regularly, in fact, which made him wonder what kind of people actually came into this shop that you could barely tell existed. He was still rummaging through the shelves, Sirius was pretty sure a couple of things had fallen off the back and were now in the dark recesses of the between-shelf-and-wall space where things went to die. God, did anyone ever actually buy anything in here? He found it easier to control himself when the guy stopped x-raying him with his eyes, so he said “er, how long’s this shop been here?”

“Oh, I’ve only worked here six weeks. No idea, ages, probably.” He picked up a remarkably creepy porcelain figure of a shepherdess that was covered with so much dust that at first glance, Sirius thought it was some kind of radioactively-deformed elephant.

“I see what you mean,” said Sirius, staring at the figurine reproachfully. “How does anyone find anything in here?” The questions were not what he actually wanted to ask, which involved something along the lines of are you gay-are you single-are you safe from asbestos in this shop and do you think I’m a complete weirdo. He perked up when the guy let out another polite huff of laughter.

“Most customers have been coming in here for years,” he said, “I don’t see a lot of new people.” His eyes flickered to Sirius and back again and Sirius felt as if he was preparing to dive from a very large boat into a sea that was very cold.

“What’s your name?” Sirius asked, louder than he had meant to. He cringed inwardly and for the second time, considered legging it out of the door when he was once again regarded by a pair of searching brown eyes.

“Remus,” he said. Sirius could tell he was waiting for him to laugh. When he didn’t, because how the fuck could this man get any more attractive, and somehow the name Remus suited him down to his shredded laces, he turned to face him, as if in defiance.

“Hilarious, I know. Remus Lupin, which makes it even better.” Sirius’ resolve cracked at this.

“What?” He squawked, dragging his eyes over Remus again, because he looked like any novelist's wet dream and his name was Remus fucking Lupin... “Mine’s worse.” Sirius said, straightening again. Remus Lupin was rolling his eyes as if in grim acceptance of the barrage of snide jibes that had yet to tumble from Sirius’ mouth, but his eyebrows had disappeared into his hair at Sirius’ response and his arms were folded across his chest, which pulled the loose neck of his jumper down and exposed a few inches of pale sternum.

“I don’t believe you.”

Sirius grinned at this. He cleared his throat and pulled his hand out of the pouch/pocket/thing on the front of his hoodie which was definitely not a secure place for his phone, wallet and keys, and held it out.

“Sirius Black. Pleasure to meet you.” Remus’ mouth had fallen slightly open and a smile was touching at the corners of his lips as he took Sirius’ hand. Sirius was almost surprised that there was no jolt of electricity from all the built up static in his woollen jumper, but his skin was cool and his fingers were thin and twiggy and the knuckles were surprisingly big, and he didn’t drop it straight away, which made Sirius wonder if it was intentional, like a sort of gay signal, and then he remembered the Oscar Wilde book on the checkout desk and stopped trying to look for gay signals.

“Holy shit,” Remus spluttered. The profanity rolled masterfully from his lips; Sirius had never quite got the hang of swearing after his stuffy, conservative upbringing. Remus made it sound graceful.

“What a pair, eh?” said Sirius, and then cringed inwardly again because they weren’t a pair, they were complete strangers but somehow it felt like they’d known each other forever and fuck when did it get so hot in here? He looked at the shelves where Remus’ other hand still rested, and tried to ignore the eyes that were sliding up and down his body as Remus Lupin gave him what Sirius recognised as ‘the gay once-over.’ Dressed in the odd assortment of James’ secondary school football hoodie that had been surpassed by the frankly unnatural growth of James’ shoulders, pretentious shoes and crinkled dress trousers, Sirius was acutely aware that he was not looking his whole and considerable best. Christ, he might even look straight.

“There’s um-you said you might have something?” Sirius said, after another twenty five seconds in which Remus’ gaze had lingered on the rings Sirius had forgotten to take off (his mum would kill him if he turned up to a wedding looking like anything other than a Conservative Straight Man) and then drifted to his hair which was probably fried from all the sweating and running about and cheap shampoo. Remus blinked at these words, and whipped his head back to the shelves as if startled he had been caught in the act.

“Yes! Sorry, it’s-erm-can you hold this?” He plonked a cast iron sewing machine into Sirius’ arms who sagged beneath the weight, wheezing as he tried to lock his knees without Remus noticing. What the hell kind of Hulk body was hiding under that jumper? Eyes streaming, he balanced it on top of a pile of ancient National Geographic magazines and prayed it would not succumb to the inevitable force of gravity. Remus was deep into the recesses of the shelf, standing on tiptoe to reach the very back. His socks were visible again and Sirius could see now that they were not pineapples, but durians. Cute. His jumper was riding up as he stretched to whatever unknown artefacts lurked at the very rear and now it was Sirius’ turn to stare, because there was some pale midriff exposed above the waist of his jeans and he was skinny, but not skinny, kind of-lean? Was that the word? He had that vee of muscle above his hip and Sirius was suddenly struggling not to choke on his own tongue.

"Here it is!", came Remus' muffled voice, and Sirius took a step back hurriedly. He was pretty certain he had been gazing glassy eyed at the shop-keeper's navel where a delicate line of dark brown hair descended below his belt, and pinched his own wrist hard behind his back as Remus' head emerged, and he shook some cobwebs out of his curly hair. He was holding a small box, and Sirius’ first thought was that if something covered in that much dust came within eight feet of Narcissa, her immune system would likely spontaneously combust due to overexposure. People like her didn’t have immune systems, they just loaded themselves up with fucking multivitamins and avoided any establishments without at least two Michelin stars. 

“Sorry it’s a bit-“ Remus blew a cloud of dust off the top of the box, coughed, and wiped it off on the back of his jeans, muttering ‘need to stop smoking.’ 

Sirius almost went feral at the image of his lips pursed around a Marlboro, but managed to pull his face into a socially acceptable frame in time for Remus to pass the box to him. “What do you think?” 

Squatting in a bed of midnight blue velvet, sat a pair of silver napkin rings. They were ornate, and completely hideous. Sirius started to grin. He picked one up to examine it. It was decorated with a stag, and the other with a doe. It was likely the engraver had never seen these animals in the flesh, which would account for their mildly horrifying humanoid faces. 

“Perfect,” muttered Sirius, turning the ugly silver object over in his hand. It was heavy and looked antique, and Sirius knew it would fit right in with the future Mrs. Malfoy’s entirely tasteless kitchen decor. He looked up at Remus, disbelieving in the way he had absolutely nailed Sirius’ mission. “Absolutely bloody perfect.” 

Remus grinned back, a wondrous sight, his hands half in the pockets of his faded jeans. Sirius returned the napkin ring to its box, and then thought of something that made his smile falter. 

“Are these solid silver?” 

“Yep,” Remus said happily. “Nineteenth century antiques, I believe.” But Sirius was pushing the box back into his hands, shaking his head. 

“I can’t afford that, sorry I-“ 

“Five quid.” The box flew back into Sirius’ hands before he could blink. 

“Come again?”

The shopkeeper shrugged. “I’m the only person who knew they were there, and I doubt anyone else would want to bestow something that vile on a newly wedded couple.” 

Was this guy even real? Sirius couldn’t quite fathom what he had done to deserve this act of kindness, but he wasn’t about to turn it down. 

“Thank you,” he said, earnestly. Remus shrugged again, but the smile remained. He took Sirius back to the counter, where he took the box back from him and, while Sirius dug in his pocket for some change, produced some silvery wrapping paper and parcelled it. Sirius stole a surreptitious glance at him as he tied it off with a navy ribbon. His eyelashes were sandy like his eyebrows, but they were thick and almost touched his cheeks when his eyes were cast down on his work. 

Sirius was having a crisis. He had never asked for anyone’s number before, but the thought of walking out of this shop and never seeing this god-sent individual again was criminal. His mouth felt dry. What if he had misread this interaction completely, and Remus was just a friendly, helpful guy? He glanced at the book, now balanced on top of the till while Remus rang up, and took a breath. 

“Good book, that” he said, indicating The Picture of Dorian Grey awkwardly. Remus looked from him, to the book, and back again. While Sirius experienced a burning sensation in the base of his chest, Remus nodded non commitantly, and swept the stack of pound coins Sirius had placed on the desk into the till. He looked away, agonising, kicking himself internally at his own ineptness, as he pulled a receipt from the till and passed it and the neatly-wrapped box across the table. 

“All done.” 

“Thanks.” Sirius could feel his cheeks burning, and decided a clean getaway was well overdue. He had picked up the items and had half turned away when he heard- “I wrote my number on that receipt, you know.” 

The burning in his chest now felt like a slowly inflating balloon. He looked down at the smooth piece of paper and saw a number scribbled in biro on its surface. Eleven numbers. Definitely a phone number. He turned hastily back to Remus, who was- Sirius was pleased to see- also looking slightly bashful. 

“Thought my gaydar had malfunctioned for a minute there,” Sirius said. Remus laughed. 

“It was really great to meet you.” He said, placing his feet up on the desk again. 

“And you,” Sirius replied. Elated, he headed for the door before Remus could change his mind. He dreaded to think how late he was now, but he couldn’t think of a situation more worth a bollocking from his mother than this one. He had yanked the reluctant door open when- 

“Hey, Sirius?” 

“Yeah?” He looked over his shoulder. Remus was peering over the top of his book at him again. 

“Let me know how the wedding goes.” 

[icarusthebusinessman-blog1]

Best Refrigerators to Buy in 2020

On the off chance that the house is a family's universe, the cooler is the sun. Everything rotates around it, from morning meals to-go, solid snacks, and suppers around the table. That is the reason getting another cooler is somewhat of a serious deal. There are huge amounts of variables to consider — everything from design and measurements to completions and uncommon highlights. Obviously, there's no way to avoid the value: They're costly. However, on the off chance that you need a top pick from a solid brand that will stand consistent in your family's circle for a considerable length of time to come, you're in the ideal spot. click here

The Good Housekeeping Institute's Kitchen Appliances and Technology Lab assesses a wide range of kitchen machines yearly, from gas extents to blenders to toasters and past. We rate ice chests on their capacity to direct the best temperatures for basic food item list staples like lettuce, shop meat, and solidified nourishments. For each model, we score for consistency of temperatures from rack to retire in the fridge and cooler compartments, just as for temperature varieties in single regions after some time. We test ice chests' capacity to keep up dampness on both fridge racks and in crisper drawers. Likewise, we assess every fridge's convenience, including the support of the manual, the sort and usability of the controls and the solace of getting a handle on the entryway handles.

We score inside highlights remembering the kind of racks for the fridge cavity and on the entryways, the simplicity with which the cooler cabinet and bins could be opened, the nearness or nonattendance of crispers with stickiness controls and the nearness or nonappearance of a meat guardian or store cabinet with temperature controls. All eminent highlights including Wi-Fi availability were thought of yet not appraised.

Our top Lab pick is the GE Profile Series French-Door Refrigerator, complete with a Keurig K-Cup Brewing System. It scored most elevated on temperature support and consistency testing and wowed our Lab specialists with its shrewd structure highlights. It's additionally Wi-Fi empowered, so you can change settings, preheat water for espresso, and more with the downloadable application. Here's elite of the best fridges to purchase, as per testing:

Best Overall Refrigerator: GE Profile Series French-Door Refrigerator

Best Value Refrigerator: Maytag Wide French Door Refrigerator

Best Smudge-Proof Refrigerator: Kenmore Elite French Door

Best Door-in-Door Refrigerator: LG InstaView Door-in-Door

Best Counter-Depth Refrigerator: GE Café French-Door Refrigerator

Best Double Freezer Refrigerator: Miele PerfectCool Series

Best Side-by-Side Refrigerator: Whirlpool 36-Inch Side-by-Side Refrigerator

Best Top Freezer Refrigerator: Frigidaire Gallery 30-Inch Top Freezer Refrigerator

Best Bottom Freezer Refrigerator: LG 24.1-cu ft Bottom Freezer Refrigerator

Best Refrigerator for Families: Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator

Step by step instructions to locate the best cooler for you

When looking for another fridge on the web or in a store, these are the primary things you need to consider. When you make your pick, don't miss our Test Kitchen's definitive manual for sorting out your refrigerator.

Design: The enormous players are side-by-sides, top-coolers, and base coolers. Side-by-sides require less space for the ways to swing open, however you have to twist down to discover food at the base of the cooler and cooler. Base coolers (like French-entryway models) put the most-utilized compartment at eye level. Top-cooler refrigerators cost less however expect you to twist to get into the ice chest.

Measurements: Your ice chest ordinarily needs to fit between counter space, so you'll have to coordinate the width to the format of your kitchen. Fabricated ins and cupboard profundity models sit flush with counters and cupboards yet might be all the more exorbitant.

Completions: Stainless steel is the most famous on the grounds that it has a smooth yet-impartial look, yet some favor a white or dark ice chest (or the as of late mainstream dark hardened steel and even carbon fiber). Constructed ins regularly offer outside framing that coordinates your kitchen cupboards. Numerous advanced completions are unique mark safe. At the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show this year, we saw a great deal of adjustable examples, as well; a pattern to pay special mind to!

Highlights: Consider the racking and inside drawers to check whether they work for your family's dietary patterns. On the off chance that you like to store a couple of containers of wine in the refrigerator, ensure there's sufficient tallness and additionally flexible racking; on the off chance that you request pizza every now and again, you'll presumably need an ice chest that can fit the crate inside. A few refrigerators additionally offer dampness controls on crisper drawers, meat or shop drawers, and different highlights for keeping nourishments at the ideal stockpiling temp.

1

BEST OVERALL REFRIGERATOR

Arrangement French-Door Refrigerator

GE

GE PROFILE

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$3,529.00

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The GE Profile Series French-Door Refrigerator with a Keurig K-Cup Brewing System got good grades for temperature support and consistency. It additionally wowed our Kitchen Appliance Lab specialists with its savvy configuration highlights: You get a first in class ice chest, in addition to an underlying Keurig coffeemaker in the entryway. It's Wi-Fi empowered, so after you download the application you can modify settings, preheat water for espresso, and get alarms if the entryway is open. It works with Amazon Echo, as well.

More subtleties:

• Dimensions: 36 x 36 x 70 inches

• Available completions: record, dark record, tempered steel, dark pure

• Energy Star ensured

2

BEST VALUE REFRIGERATOR

Wide French Door Refrigerator

HOME DEPOT

MAYTAG

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$2,299.00

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For a strong refrigerator without a robust sticker price, this Maytag model is the one to beat. It has slide-out racks and an implicit water and ice allocator with channel. In our tests, cooler and cooler temps held consistent and entryway racks were sufficiently cool to securely store dairy (which is an off limits on most refrigerators). Lettuce endured five days in the crisper, yet the controls were somewhat precarious to change so keep the manual convenient.

More subtleties:

• Dimensions: 36 x 70 x 35 inches

• Available completions: unique mark safe hardened steel, white, dark

• Energy Star confirmed

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3

BEST SMUDGE-PROOF REFRIGERATOR

French Door Refrigerator

KENMORE

KENMORE ELITE

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Notwithstanding consistent temps, Kenmore Elite's French entryway fridge is the ruler of compartments. It conveys huge amounts of extra room, racks you can alter for tall things, and two plate in addition to a cabinet in the cooler. Valuable atmosphere controlled containers help expand the life of produce, meat, poultry, and fish (in the crisper cabinet, lettuce remained as fresh as the day it was bought for a strong week). We particularly love the smear confirmation dark treated steel outside — it'll oppose fingerprints for quite a long time!

More subtleties:

•Dimensions: 36 x 70 x 36 inches

• Available completions: tempered steel, dark treated steel

• Energy Star affirmed

4

BEST DOOR-IN-DOOR REFRIGERATOR

InstaView Door-in-Door Refrigerator

LG

LG

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$2,159.10

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You can rely upon the LG InstaView Refrigerator to work admirably of keeping your food new, yet what truly recognizes it is the extraordinary entryway in-entryway highlight: The simple access compartment lets you rapidly snatch a bite or drink without opening the full entryway. The InstaView innovation lets you thump on the window of the transparent way to make the inside lights please.

More subtleties:

• Dimensions: 32 x 70 x 36 inches

• Available completions: hardened steel, dark treated steel

• Energy Star confirmed

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5

BEST COUNTER-DEPTH REFRIGERATOR

Bistro French-Door Refrigerator

GE

GE

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$3,084.99

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GE's most recent line of fridges stands apart gratitude to its extra rich (and adaptable) plan. Select a matte white or dark outside, at that point pick between brushed bronze, copper, dark, or hardened steel handles.

This present model's counter-profundity, so it'll fit flush with your kitchen's cabinetry and you can coordinate the bar handles to your cupboard pulls. The French-entryway Café model has an inside water gadget and is Wi-Fi associated, as well.

More subtleties:

• Dimensions: 36 x 70 x 31 inches

• Available completions: matte white, matte dark

• Energy Star affirmed read more

[nowwhateinstein]

Land of Endless Sky: ch 2

Intro & Prologue Chapter 1

++++++ Chapter 2

General, I respectfully address you on the matter regarding my continued service under your command. Events have transpired which have caused me to question my fitness and willingness to serve in my current capacity as Captain of Company “K” Second Dragoons. I herewith tender my resignation of my commission, to take effect immediately and unconditionally.

Very respectfully, Fox William Mulder Capt. Co. “K” 2d Dragoons U.S.A. June 16th, 1856

++++++ FORT KEARNY NEBRASKA TERRITORY

The sun beat down oppressively as Mulder passed through the gates of Kearny’s stockade and into the small, dusty town that had grown up in the shadow of the fort. He pushed open the door to Frohike’s Fine Goods and Provisions and entered the blessed shade and coolness of the shop.

From behind the counter, the balding, diminutive proprietor looked up from a months-old, yellowed issue of Harper’s Weekly. He squinted at Mulder through half-moon eyeglasses. “That you, Captain Mulder?”

“Yes, but not for much longer, Melvin. In two days’ time, I’ll be plain old ‘Mulder.’”

“Had enough of the frontier life, have you?” Frohike asked teasingly. “Miss the luxuries of a soft feather bed and a woman to keep you warm at night?”

“If I did, I’d have married you years ago.” It was a well-known secret that Frohike’s personal quarters at the back of the store was furnished with every modern comfort and luxury - all of it financed by the exorbitant prices he charged unwitting emigrants and spendthrift soldiers.

Frohike rolled his eyes at Mulder’s good-natured ribbing.

“Truthfully, Melvin,” Mulder said, his tone becoming serious, “I resigned my commission.”

Frohike’s face turned grave. “I heard about Ash Hollow. Can’t say much about them who would slaughter women and children, Indian or not. You’re a good man, Mulder. I’m sorry to see you leave like this.”

“As am I,” Mulder said, smiling sadly at the man who had become the closest thing he had to a friend during his time at the fort. “I’m in need of provisions. And,” he said, remembering the state of his civilian clothes, “some new attire.” What spare clothes he did have were moth-eaten and too large for him; years of living off Army rations and bison had made him leaner than when he’d first arrived from the East.

“If there’s anything I enjoy more than your company, Mulder, it’s your money,” Frohike said, jumping from his perch behind the counter and walking over to the small selection of shirts and trousers.

“Heading back East, I assume? Take up the family business?”

“No,” Mulder said, trying banish the image of his father, and the disappointed look on his face when Mulder told him he was entering West Point to earn an Army commission. He’d wanted Mulder to practice law, like he had. But the war with Mexico had captured young Mulder’s imagination, and he entertained boyish daydreams of earning glory on the battlefield. So he’d applied to the United States Military Academy. Never did he imagine that glory could be so one-sided and bloody.

His pause earned an inquisitive look from Frohike.

“I’m headed west,” Mulder went on to explain. “Maybe California. Or New Mexico. Anywhere but here.”

“Well, you picked a hell of a time to leave,” Frohike said. “Most of the emigrant trains passed through here a month ago.”

As he spoke, a lone cart with a team of four oxen passed in front of the store window. “As I was saying,” Frohike said, watching them go by with a frown, “most of them. Those folks will be lucky to make Fort Bridger by the first big snow.”

“I can make good time just myself and Ghost. If I need to lay by at Bridger or some other outpost for the winter, so be it. I’m in no hurry to get there - wherever there is.”

He handed Frohike a list of his requests. The older man nodded approvingly as he scanned the items. “I’ll have everything ready for you by this time tomorrow.”

Frohike quickly held up a hand. “Just a moment,” he said, then reached behind the counter and produced a small, bulging burlap sack. “A parting gift,” he said as he handed it to Mulder. He looked inside, and smiled at the sight of sunflower seeds.

“My thanks, as always, Melvin,” he said, and shook the man’s hand fondly.

Mulder stepped outside into the oppressive June heat as a small woman in a bonnet arrived in front of the shop. He quickly moved to open the door for her.

“Thank you,” she said, glancing up at him as she passed. Intelligent blue eyes met his. Mud and dust clung to the hem of her pale green dress, and her shoes bore evidence of miles of travel. Despite her well-worn attire, he found her remarkably beautiful and strangely familiar, and had to make a conscious effort to avoid staring longer than was appropriate.

He touched his hat in greeting. “Ma’am.”

She nodded politely, then disappeared into Frohike’s. Must be from that lone wagon party, he thought, glancing up the street. Sure enough, the wagon stood in the shade of the livery stable. The oxen stood unharnessed, taking long draws from the water trough. Frohike was right, he thought - at this rate, they would be hard-pressed to catch up with the mass of wagon trains.

++++++

He set out at first light two days later on the dusty, wheel-rutted road that led westward. The sparse, overgrazed vegetation that surrounded the fort presently gave way to a lush, waving sea of waist-high prairie grass. Above him, swallows swooped and dove in the mid-morning sun in search of insects. Their intricate acrobatics and constant twittering provided a welcome diversion from the images of dead Sioux that plagued his dreams and lingered increasingly into his waking hours. He felt his heart grow lighter with every mile he put between him and the fort. He even started singing one of his favorite tunes:

“I'm lonesome since I crossed the hill And over the moor that's sedgy Such lonely thoughts my heart do fill Since parting with my Sally I seek for one as fair and gay But find none to remind me How sweet the hours I passed away With the girl I left behind me”

Ghost snorted in agitation at his rider’s crooning. Mulder laughed and patted his neck affectionately.

“You’re right, boy. I can’t carry a tune. And I don’t even have a girl.”

He did, once. He’d fallen for the beautiful Diana Fowley when he was a cadet at West Point. The war with Mexico had raised the prestige of the Army in the eyes of the nation, and it became fashionable for a woman to be seen on the arm of a dashing young cadet. But the war ended, and when it became clear that she’d have to trade the comfort of New York City for the privations of the frontier, Diana had called off the engagement. She’d only loved him for his uniform, he’d realized too late, and the attention it afforded her within New York society.

And so, with a broken heart and a feeling of having played the fool, Mulder accepted his commission as a Second Lieutenant with the Second Dragoons and set off for the borderlands of the newly formed Republic of Texas. The pain of Diana’s rejection had eased with the change of scenery and the passage of time. He soon realized that the frontier held more opportunities for a man to avail himself of a woman’s pleasures than were afforded a young man among the New York elite. The forts had their fair share of women with questionable morals who were ready to bed any soldier with coin, but his infrequent encounters with such women always left him feeling empty and miserable, and soon he’d stopped visiting brothels altogether.

But if one had to feel empty, the Plains were a fitting place in which to find oneself, he’d discovered as the years went on. In his early days with the regiment, he’d developed a reputation as a loner, often volunteering to go out on solo patrols for weeks at a time. He could ride for days without seeing another soul, and that suited him just fine. Promotion through the ranks had decreased his opportunity to roam, and he found the responsibilities of an officer dull and tiresome. Out among the vast grasslands and rolling hills, he had found solitude, not loneliness; solace instead of restlessness. Now that he was free of the constraints of Army life, he prayed that freedom would be enough to exorcise the demons of Ash Hollow.

After a hurried midday meal taken under the slight shade of an eroded hillside, Mulder set Ghost back on the trail. He’d glance down at the trail every now and again to try to decipher the signs of those who had passed before him. Newer wheel tracks and fresh ox dung told him that a wagon had passed by not long ago. Probably the same party that had stopped over at the fort a few days prior. What’s more, he noticed, leaning over in his saddle for a better look, riders - three, perhaps four - had also used the trail after the wagon. The tell-tale U-shaped prints told him that the riders were white; Indians didn’t shod their horses, instead switching out mounts so as not to tire or injure them.

After a few miles, he crested a hill. What he saw on the other side caused him to immediately drew up on the reins to bring Ghost to a halt. He jumped down and pulled Ghost back down the hill until he was out of sight, then drawing his revolver, slowly crawled back to the top.

At the foot of the hill on the other side stood the wagon he’d seen pass through the fort; its contents were scattered on the ground nearby. The four oxen, still yoked, lay dead. He could detect no movement, no other signs of life. Carefully, he made his way down the hill to cart, using the tall grass as cover until he reached the cart. Mulder noticed arrows scattered about the ground, but curiously, they all faced in different directions, as if someone had haphazardly tossed a quiverfull up in the air and let them fall. Even odder: the oxen had all been shot by a small caliber pistol - not the firearm of choice by Plains Tribes, who much preferred rifles.

It took him a moment to notice the two bodies amid the tall grass. A bald, older man lay beside a younger, pimple-faced boy. Both had been shot and both, he saw with a sickening twist in his stomach, had been scalped. Whoever had done the scalping had botched it on the older man; his scalp was still partially attached to his skull. With rising dread, he frantically looked about for the woman he knew belonged to the the party - the woman with whom he briefly exchanged courtesies outside of Frohike’s.

As if in reply, a woman’s scream shattered the expansive stillness of the prairie. Mulder drew his revolver and sprinted down a small ravine in the direction of the scream.

Two men stood close together, laughing and cheering as they watched a third man struggling with something on the ground. The men were shirtless, their faces and chests painted in red and black paint. At first, Mulder took them for Indians, then one of them spoke.

“Come here and hold her down,” the man on the ground yelled in English. “She’s a feisty one.”

Mulder stiffened at the familiar voice of Sergeant Krycek. He squinted at the other men; beneath the copious red and black face paint, he recognized Private Colton and Corporal Kersh. Like Krycek, the two men had a poor reputation among the Kearney detachment: he recalled Colton had once been confined to quarters on bread and water rations for a month for attempting to steal a milk cow from an emigrant family passing through the fort.

“As long as you leave some of her for me,” Colton answered with a leer. He bent down and grabbed the woman’s arms, pulling them roughly above her head. Krycek paused to unbutton his trousers, leaving just enough opportunity for the woman to deliver a well-placed kick to his face; he fell hard on his ass, raising a laugh from Colton and the other soldier.

“Bitch!” he said, spitting out a mouthful of blood and stumbling to his feet. “You’ll wish I killed you with your father and brother, before I’m done with you.”

Krycek had barely taken a step forward before Mulder fired. The sergeant’s stomach suddenly blossomed crimson, and he staggered backwards before dropping to the ground.

Colton let go of the woman and whirled to face Mulder, his gun drawn. Kersh managed to get a shot off at Mulder; he winced at the sudden, searing pain in his left arm.

Before Kersh could fire again, another shot rang out, and he collapsed. Colton, confused, glanced down at the corporal. That bought Mulder just enough time to take aim at Colton. He fired. The private fell on top of Kersh.

Mulder ran over to the woman. She lay shaking, gasping on the ground. In her hands was Krycek’s revolver. Smoke curled upwards from the barrel. He helped her to her feet. She stared, shocked, at the weapon, then at the men who lay dead at her feet.

Before either could speak, a groan caused Mulder to turn away. Krycek was still alive; his breathing came in ragged gasps as he lay on the ground nearby, grasping at his bleeding stomach. Mulder stood over him. Krycek’s eyes focused on him and widened in recognition.

“Please, Captain, have mercy,” he said weakly between bloody coughs. “Have mercy.”

He was a dead man - it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to blood loss. But a gunshot wound to the stomach was painful, and often resulted in a slow death; anger rose within Mulder at all of the needless suffering and death this man had inflicted. He wanted to walk away and leave Krycek to a prolonged, agonizing demise.

Instead, Mulder pointed his gun at the sergeant. “The only mercy you’ll get from me is a quick death,” he said, his voice iron-edged, as he cocked the hammer with his thumb. Krycek whimpered. The air reverberated with the sharp crack of his Colt.

He holstered his gun and walked back to where the woman stood. Wordlessly, he took the revolver from her. She swayed, as if about to faint. He put a hand out to steady her. “Easy does it, ma’am.”

She didn’t fall, but instead took his hand in a tight, vice-like grip. He squeezed back, causing her to look up at him. Her eyes registered shock, surprise - and fear.

“It’s alright, ma’am,” he said gently. “You’re safe.”

Her eyes focused on him as if truly seeing him for the first time. She took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. He felt her hand slip from his.

“I must bury my father and brother,” she said, composing herself. Her face, although tear-stained and smeared with dirt, was set with a firmness and resolve that surprised him.

“Allow me to pay my respects by assisting you,” he said.

She hesitated, as if unsure whether to trust him, but presently gave brief nod of assent. Without speaking, she turned and headed in the direction of the cart and her dead kin.

Mulder picked up the dead men’s weapons and followed. Behind them, the shirtless, painted bodies of the soldiers lay staring upwards at the expansive sky.

[captainmyhomeuniverse]

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How To Buy a Home Foreclosure At An Auction

For several years, I’ve been interested in getting into real estate investing. My internet businesses have done well enough for me to save up some cash that I can use to start looking at properties and getting my feet wet with some real estate investments.

I’ve been looking at purchasing some property in Tennessee recently as part of my plan to move my family from Utah to the Nashville area sometime this year. I’ve looking for a good deal on a home that we could buy and live in temporarily until it’s time for us to build something to live in long term. The plan is to keep the temporary housing as a long-term rental investment.

I decided to check out the foreclosure market to see if that might be an option for us. I searched Auction.com to see what they had listed. In a growing real estate market (which is the situation currently), the chances of finding an undervalued property are slim, because it’s usually easier for the owner of a home to unload the distressed property by selling it as opposed to letting it go through a foreclosure.

However, I happened upon a nice townhome in Thompson’s Station that looked like one my family could use to live in temporarily, giving us more time to get settled and build our dream home.

When I found out about this particular foreclosure auction, it was just a couple days away, but I decided last minute to attend it. By the time I’d done my due diligence on the property, I would have to buy a plane ticket to Nashville to travel to the auction the same day evening. Fortunately I had some JetBlue voucher codes from a Boy Scout fundraiser I’d attended several months prior, so travel costs wouldn’t be too exorbitant.

Buying a home through a foreclosure auction isn’t something you normally do on a whim, especially as a person who’s new to real estate investing, and who has never been to an auction with the intent to bid on something. (I did attend one in Utah more than a decade ago just to see how the process worked. At that time, I didn’t even have enough money to be a serious contender.)

With only one real business day left for me to do some due diligence on the property, I made a quick checklist of things I needed to know to mitigate the risk I was taking flying out to Nashville with the hope of purchasing this property in a 15-minute auction held on the steps of the Williamson County Judicial Center (the courthouse). After I made my own list, I consulted with two of my brothers, one a mortgage broker in Tennessee, the other an attorney with some real estate and foreclosure experience. Here is the checklist we came up with. The items on this list apply to the majority foreclosures. Hopefully you find them helpful if you’re planning to bid on a foreclosure auction.

Foreclosure Auction Due Diligence Checklist

Why is the home going foreclosure instead of being sold?

This question is likely the first logical question a person would ask in a growing real estate market, as the current one is. Normally, if a person or couple is having financial difficulties, and there is positive equity (or even break even) in their home, they will sell the home, pay off the mortgage, and use the leftover to tackle other financial issues while they scale back on their housing expenses.

In this situation, I was able to find out that this couple had filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. I used the PACER database (a national index for bankruptcy courts and  other information), to find the bankruptcy. A chapter 13 bankruptcy normally allows people to continue living in their home as long as they are not too far behind on their payments. In this case, some condition must have allowed the bank to force the property to be sold in attempt to recover the bank’s loan.

If the market is correcting (meaning it’s on the way down right now or a buyer’s market), houses going to foreclosure auctions are much more common, because homeowners are often “under water”, meaning they owe more on their homes than they’re worth. In that situation, they cannot just sell the home and pay off the mortgage from the proceeds of the sale.

What’s the condition of the home?

One thing that makes foreclosure auctions a bit of a mystery is the fact that, unlike a home that’s for sale by an owner or on the MLS, you typically can’t inspect the home except from the outside. Normally, in the home buying process, you make an offer for purchase after having taken a tour through the home. Then, before closing on the home, you would have obtained seller disclosures, a formal property inspection, and otherwise made yourself comfortable about the condition of the home. You can often do all of those things with little or no financial obligation.

The same is not true with most foreclosure auctions. You can only guess at the condition of the interior of the home. In the situation I faced with the townhome for sale in Tennessee, I looked up the street address of the home on Zillow, and I saw that it had been listed for sale within the past year. Zillow had marketing pictures posted that were taken to try to sell the home. I was impressed with the interior, including that it was clean, and the pictures and decor in the home looked like it was a nice family that was likely just experiencing financial difficulties that were causing them to lose their home.

My brother’s brother-in-law lived close to the area. I called him and asked him to drive by the home and give me an opinion of it based on what he could see from the exterior. Everything on the outside looked well taken care of, so that checklist item passed.

I also called the office number listed for the community. I talked to a real estate agent who represented the builder, who is still building homes in that community. She told me about the homeowner’s association, the community pool, playgrounds, and the general feel of the area. I was comfortable, without having been there in person, that it would be a good place for my family, and a good investment if I could get the property for a discount.

Are there tenants living in the property?

In a lot of foreclosure situations, there are people still living in the home. Once you buy the home at a foreclosure, it may become your responsibility to evict whoever is in the home, which may take some time and legal fees. Also, if there is an adverse situation in which the tenants might lose their cool and intentionally damage the property, that could reduce the value of the home after you’ve purchased it.

I looked up the Tennessee eviction laws, and they seemed reasonable to me, especially since I wouldn’t really need to use the home for several months.

My brother mentioned to me that the people who were being foreclosed upon might also have renters living in the property, and that there might be a rental agreement in place that I’d need to take into consideration.

Insurance: In order to minimize the risk of having angry tenants tear up a house after I’d purchased it, I checked with my insurance agent to see whether I could have the property insured against damage from the current occupants. He, a agent with State Farm, told me that it would cost (in Utah) about $300 per year, and that it would likely be a similar premium amount in Tennessee.

What condition is the the property’s title? Is it clean, or does it have liens? Is there a second mortgage?

These questions all have to deal with figuring out who has claim to the property to ensure that you’re not putting yourself at risk to having to satisfy debts and obligations outside of the foreclosure auction purchase price.

One of the most important questions I had with the property was whether there was a second mortgage on it that I’d be required to satisfy after purchasing the property at a foreclosure intended to satisfy the first mortgage. This is a common situation, one that new real estate investors much ensure they understand well enough to not get themselves into trouble.

I also wanted to know about any liens from the homeowner’s association, property taxes owed to the local taxing entities, any contractors who might not have been paid for work done, or anything else that could affect how much my overall obligation would be to get a clean title.

I called the same title company that had been involved with the previous sale of the property, and whose name was listed on the foreclosure auction notice in the local newspaper. The nice people there did a free title search for me, and sent me over a report that showed that there was no more than a few thousand dollars from back taxes and unpaid HOA dues. I was comfortable with that title situation.

Preparing for the Foreclosure Auction

Through a little bit of research, including checking Zillow to see how much the property sold for the previous year, and considering the current market, which has been softening nationwide as well as in that area, I estimated the home’s value to be somewhere between $300,000 and $310,000. To be conservative, I set my bidding limit at $230,000. I hoped that I would show up at the auction, and that I’d be the only there besides the personnel from Auction.com running the auction, and I could pick up the property for $70,000 or more under its market price.

To become more informed about the process, I called the Auction.com support team, and I was told that I needed to bring cashier’s checks with me that had a combined value of the maximum amount I was willing to bid. I was told that it’s common practice to bring two checks, one for the minimum bid amount, and another for the additional amount over that number that I was willing to bid. For me,that meant that I needed grabbed two cashier’s checks from my bank, one for the minimum bid price of $195,000, the other for $35,000. The two checks combined would take me up to my bid threshold.

If you win the bid for less than the amount your cashier’s checks are made out for, Auction.com will send you a refund of the difference, typically within two weeks after the auction takes place.

The Foreclosure Auction

When I arrived at the courthouse about 40 minutes prior to the start of the auction, I went inside to see whether anyone there knew anything about the auction. The two people I spoke with told me that the auction was not in any way connected with the happenings and offices at the courthouse, only that the auction (similar to sheriff’s auctions and other similar auctions) took place on the courthouse step, as is customary in many parts of the United States.

About 30 minutes prior to the start of the auction, I met two members of the Auction.com staff outside on the front steps of the courthouse. They were getting themselves set up to register bidders and run the auction.

I registered for the auction using the tablet held by one of the Auction.com staff. During registration, I had to enter my contact information and disclose the amount I had brought with me in cashier’s checks. I was then given a bidder number written on a rectangular piece of construction paper.

Over the next 10-15 minutes, more investors started to make their ways to the courthouse steps. By the time the auction started, there were at least 12 investors, many of whom looked like this wasn’t their first auction. By that time,I felt like I might need more money in order to stay up with this competition. I asked the auctioneers if it would be possible for me to go grab some cash from a nearby ATM. The answer was no, not once the auction has started. I was told by the Auction.com staff very clearly that once the auction ends, the money must be presented then and there with no delay. You’re not even allowed to go get the money out of your vehicle. It must be on your person during the auction, and presented to them immediately following the auction if you end up being the winning bidder. That policy, the told me, came from past situations where people bid on a property, then change their minds after leaving the presence of the auctioneers. That situation is obviously a difficult one for the auctioneer and the lender, who have made significant efforts to settle the defaulted loan at the designated auction time and place, so the policy is definitely understandable, although inconvenient.

After mentioning to them that this was the first foreclosure auction I’d attended as a potential bidder, I asked several questions of both the people who would be running the auction. I asked about the starting bid, wondering whether that was the amount the bank would allow the property to go for. I was told that the banks tend to have a much lower starting bid than the credit bid, which is the minimum the bank is willing to allow the property to be auctioned off for.

The male Auction.com staff employee told me he hadn’t noticed that a lower starting bid made any difference in the number of people who attended the auction or the ultimate auction price, and he told me that as soon as the first person makes a bid for the starting bid amount, the auctioneer intentionally jumps directly to the credit bid price.

To begin the auction, the female auctioneer read off a bunch of required legal statements, described an auction that had been scheduled to take place that day but had been postponed. She then described the property I was there after, and in a few short minutes, after the long legal description and fine print details were quickly disclosed in a blur, she started the bidding process.

Bidding started at $195,000, as was posted on the foreclosure auction notice. Then, once there was a bid in for that amount, she immediately jumped to $244,000, which I understood was the credit bid amount the bank had set, which was almost $50,000 above the starting bid, and $14,000 more than I had brought with me.

Within a minute of the auction starting, I was already out of the running, so I decided to just sit back and observe, using the entire experience as a learning opportunity, convinced that I could make a go and have fun buying distressed properties to turn into rentals or to flip, including in situations where I’d need to do some repairs before selling the home.

It appeared as if several of the men at the auction were regulars there. They chatted as if they were at least acquainted with each other, likely from attending these kinds of auctions. Some appeared to know each others’ bidding tactics. Although it started out with five or six people regularly shouting out their bids, once the price passed $260,000, there were only three bidders left. One of them watched as the other two bid up the property, one going in increments of $500 over the current bid, and the other choosing to up the bid by a couple thousand dollars each time. It appeared as if the larger jump was an intimidation tactic.

The house ultimately went for $280,100 to a guy who didn’t start bidding until the price had reached the $260,000 range.

The ultimate going price was far above the $230,000 threshold I’d set for myself. I wondered why someone would be willing to bid that close to the recently verified (through a purchase) value of the home while also taking risks regarding the home’s condition. Just before the auction began, there was an interestingly time news release about the Federal Reserve having raised interest rates, which would likely tend to lower the value of the home. Also, although the real estate market in the Franklin area of Tennessee has been really hot over the past several years, it has shown signs that it may be slowing there, as it is in many parts of the country due to several interest rate increases.

Unless there were things about the home that would give it more value than what I saw, the ultimate buyer of the townhome I went to bid on seemed to either be willing to operate on very small margins in the case of trying to flip the home, or he may have been trying to pick up a rental property to hold on to. For me, it seems safer to simply submit low purchase offers to homes that I’ve had a chance to do due diligence on.

Conclusions About Buying a Home at a Foreclosure Auction

Although I didn’t win the auction at which I was a participant, the experience was a good one. I plan to use that avenue for investing in properties in the future. I’m planning to do more research to find areas where the investor competition may not be so high, and I’ll identify areas where market conditions and other factors will allow me to find a good deal.

Also, I’ll likely be more aggressive about using foreclosure auctions to buy properties when I have more liquid funds available, and when the market is stagnant or receding.

The post How To Buy a Home Foreclosure At An Auction appeared first on The Handbook for Happiness, and Success, and Prosperity Prosperopedia.

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[canaryatlaw]

OKAY, so here’s last night’s post. Sorry for the delay, main computer is still out of commission for reasons that remain to be seen. 

Okay. So. Most of today was awesome, but we hit a bump at the end of the road which currently has me typing this on my phone instead of my laptop, but we’ll get to that. My alarm went off at 8:30, I had messages from Jess wanting to leave ASAP so I brushed my teeth and through my clothes on and was ready to go by 8:44 (I’m good like that). So she picked me up and we headed to the con center, we made our customary McDonald’s stop but the botched our order by putting milk in Jess’ coffee that she requested to be black, and gave me a bacon egg and cheese McGriddle (with the round egg) instead of my standard bacon egg and cheese biscuit (with the round egg). Side note, I don’t understand McGriddles. They’re not like, bad, they’re just kinda odd. I’m not sure how I feel about the mixture of flavors going on. Like I don’t normally eat pancakes with eggs and cheese on top, that’s just odd. But I still ate it of course because I didn’t care that much. We got to the con center and parked, then headed to the lobby where we met up with some friends who were there for the day. I was doing my new Lois Lane cosplay, Smallville inspired look specifically, since this was mostly going to be my Smallville day with the panel and getting selfies with Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum. Michael didn’t have any selfie times scheduled before the panel at 1 and Tom only had a short window with a line that was already way too long for him to get through, so for the morning I just tagged along to say hi to Matt Ryan while selfies and such we’re done. After that I didn’t really have anything else pressing to do being that I’ve seen pretty much the whole show floor numerous times by now, so I decided to stake out the panel room in order to try to get a good seat, an effort that was noble but ultimately failed by poor communication between the con staff members. When I went up to the room the panel preceding the Smallville one was just starting, and I asked a staff member if they were clearing the room between panels since cons do that sometimes, but he said no, they were just clearing the first three rows, so I said okay cool and grabbed a seat fairly close to the front on the left edge of the room. The panel was from the show Outlander which I know nothing about except that it’s something to do with Scotland, but the cast was fairly amusing so that was nice. I was mostly on my phone though using the time to find a certain item for my NJ cosplay I’m still keeping under wraps for the moment which should be the last thing I need in order to complete it. I also went through the Airbnb listings I’d saved for our NYCC trip and narrowed them down to a few choices similar in price which I would check later to see which had the best proximity. Since staying in Manhattan is damn near impossible and incredibly fucking expensive, pretty much all the listings were over the bridge and on the eastern edge of New Jersey, which would work well enough. The Outlander panel ended, and I made my move to get up front, and asked another staff member if there was some restriction on only VIPs getting the first few rows since I know cons do that sometimes but they had no indication that they were doing so, and he said no, they’re open to everybody. Okay, cool, I got a pretty good seat in the front row, but then came the VIPs and like.....I get that you paid an exorbitant amount of money to achieve your VIP status but like, they were being such assholes about it and were just standing there talking about how all of us lowly general admission people were gonna get kicked out and like, it was honestly so unnecessary it really pissed me off. At that point though I had already decided I wanted to ask a question, and the situation being what it was I knew if I left my seat to do so it would probably be stolen by somebody. Sure enough though, a staff member got onstage and was like “the first three rows are for VIPs only everyone else needs to move” and there were some hearty protests about how much they fucked up doing that and now all the other seats were taken and we’d have to go to the back, which is bullshit because I wouldn’t have been in the front to begin with if their worker hadn’t told me I could. Ugh, whatever, I didn’t have the energy to waste bitching at them, so I went and sat at the end of a row right next to where the microphone was for people to ask questions, and when people started lining up for that I was second in line so that worked. The panel was so fucking funny. Michael Rosenbaum, which I have to say looks sooooo much more attractive with hair, was fucking hilarious, he was running around the room with his mic and like getting in peoples faces and it was fucking hysterical. I did get to ask my question, which was basically asking if they would be up for returning to tv as their characters if the Smallville universe were to become one of the “earths” in the multiverse in the current dctv continuity. I was trying to be specific so they would know what I meant, but I think it came off a little too complex and they were both like....huh? Then started laughing and it was pretty funny. But they ultimately said that they would definitely be open to it, and if you send them a good script they’d make it happen, so that made me a bit happy to hear, even if I know the chances of it actually happening are very slim, because seriously since they introduced the multiverse in the Arrowverse I’ve been hoping they could tie in the Smallville universe as another earth (also potentially the movie universe which would be a great way to tie them together, but apparently none of the writers could think of that brilliant plan) so knowing that it’s at least possible made me happy to here. As soon as the question asking was over I booked it out of there and went down to Michael’s table to get the selfie. The line was relatively short and he came back fairly quickly, so I got up to him after not much waiting. I basically just said I was forever ruined for any other Lex Luthor because they would never be as good as him, and that I got into the show late and just always wanted them to join the Arrowverse even if I knew it probably was never going to happen, and he was basically just like “well, you know, it just might one of these days” which of course made me smile. Tom’s booth was right next to him, and had a significantly longer line. By the time I finished with Michael and got on Tom’s line, Tom hadn’t even show up yet  so it was a bit of a wait, but I got there eventually and he was pretty great and we got an awesome selfie together, basically saying he would definitely be open to returning which made me happy. I had met back up with Jess at that point and we were both ready to bail, so we headed outside (it was SOOO fucking hot today) and over to the restaurant to eat/validate our parking. So we ate and then headed home, I spent a few minutes putting some stuff away before taking my laptop and sitting on the couch to watch some Game of Thrones. I noticed my laptop wasn’t fully charged, which was weird because it had been on the charger overnight, but it made me thing maybe kitty had chewed the cord and broken it, but I really hoped that wasn’t the case so I just used it, and then when the battery was dying I plugged it in and sure enough, part of it was covered with bite marks and was not transmitting a charge. Fuck. I tried to come up with some way to make it work but I just couldn’t, so I hopped in an Uber headed to Best Buy which closed at 8, and it was currently like 7:35 so I knew I had to book it. When we got there at like 7:50 I ran right in and asked where the Mac chargers were, and while the guy was taking me to them I was like “also I’m really sorry for coming in ten minutes before the store closed” and he just kinda laughed and said at least I had a very simple request, not like wanting to see a bunch of appliances or something, so that made me feel better about it. The shitty part of all of this was Apple changed their charger port on the model computer I have now, but most of their accessories are sold as the old model. So I got what I thought would work and ubered home, only to find out he ends of the cable we’re not the right size and there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. UGH. I mean, it’s really not that big of a deal, I can swing by Apple tomorrow after my first interview and get a charger, the whole thing just made me feel very anxious and stressed which of course I did not appreciate. But I tried to get back to watch GoT, and I’ve now come across the Sansa getting married (the second time) plot and I’m just like man, this poor girl is constantly getting the short end of the stick. So I watched it for a bit before watching a few episodes of 30 Rock, and then getting ready for bed and getting here. It’s almost 1 am now and I have to wake up at 8 to get to my job interview way on the south side and I am very tired, so with all that said I will leave you here. Goodnight dolls. Hope your Monday doesn’t suck.

[joshuazev]

On hype:

Today I bought some post-it notes and a couple of composition notebooks from this staples styled sort of store in the hope of being able to have easily accessible methods of jotting down information or ideas in my head and transcribing them onto paper instead of my phone.  Along the road of getting those items I was reminded of the triviality and ridiculousness of modern money.  It felt absurd to me that I needed to buy notebooks and even more preposterous that I paid more than six dollars for post-it notes, the penalty for wanting to relieve my brain of some mental traffic.  These are all small variations of other examples, such as buying an expensive wallet.  The idea that one needs to purchase a wallet for a lot of money, when one of its primary uses is to hold the very money you’re spending is just one of those things that throws your mind into a loop.  Its in the same vein as buying expensive holders to hold documents or other things you might utilize to organize your materials.  It’s not exactly the same topic, but I’ve always felt a little strange and weird about getting one of those portable chargers to make sure that your smart phone doesn’t go out of battery.  Now I’m quite certain that I’m alone in this point of view, but that almost feels like cheating.  I kind of feel like I’m taking the purist take on this, but there is a sort of relief knowing that a battery will die at some point during the day and there is nothing you can do about it.  You kind of just have to be OK with it and try not to have a panic attack in the time it takes from when it dies to when it gets plugged into the wall for a few minutes and then restarts again.  That just feels normal to me.  

I went to Trader Joes today in downtown Brooklyn and I tried my very hardest not to get ahead of myself.  It can be hard, you know.  The designs on the packaging are always so nice.  Who ever is in charge of the presentation of TJ’s does an excellent job.  It made me think of how Trader Joes took off in this world.  I know that when I lived in Seattle it just became one of those main places my Mom would go to on the weekends.  I started frequenting it when I lived on campus in college and since moving to NYC, it’s been one of my favorite places to go and a great place to interact with an awesome staff and spark conversations with fellow line waiters.  72nd was the location I used to go to, but since moving I’ve started to go to the other one.  Grocery shopping is a problem.  Nowadays it’s so hard not to spend an exorbitant amount of money on food.  It’s just so easy.  One time I started with their smallest container and then realized it was getting too full, then went to their medium, and finally settled on their cart.  There always seems to be places to that store that go undiscovered and unnoticed.  My initial interactions used to be in only a few areas.  Then one day you find about the frozen food sections.  Then the next day you notice their extended vegetable section.  Then you start reading articles and get some good cooking fuel and creating juju so you have lists that you come to Trader Joes with and before you know it that debit card is swiping and letting go of things you had no intention of letting go.  I know that my relationship with food is still a tricky one.  I was making some super good scrambles recently.  They would take about 15-20 minutes, with all the chopping and the cooking and the mixing.  Yes, I know I’m a slow worker.  I’d finish the food in about a minute.  Something about the ratio just isn’t very fair to me and I’m not sure that merely slowing down while eating is enough to just erase the problem.  I have some restructuring to do.

I finished the season finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm today.  What a great refreshment to have the return of such a brilliant show.  I’m still in awe of how Larry David has been able to somehow duplicate some of the great things of Seinfeld in this newer (and older) updated and stripped down version.  I was constantly surprised as the season went on and there several brilliant episodes.  I gotta say though that this final episode—fifty minutes long as opposed to the usual thirty minutes or so—did not live up the high standard as the episodes that preceded it.  The premise wasn’t very strong, the jokes felt incredibly stale, and all in all it didn’t have that wonderful juice that keeps you invested in the episode.  I was very disappointed and if anything I came out of this season and this final viewing with a new appreciation for series and seasons that sustain that level of quality throughout.  I mean, it’s crazy to think that one bad episode can completely ruin the whole season.  Only in TV can a percentage of .900 (nine out of ten episodes were great!) be not good enough.  Maybe it was because it was the finale.  Maybe that’s what ruined it.  The more I think about it, the more I think that’s probably the case because if the episode happens in the middle or in the earlier part of the season then nobody really cares if the rest is good.  That being said, the first nine episodes almost ended up being a curse because it got us so hyped for a culminating button to a great product.  

My roommate and I are thinking of starting a social media page where we go to really hyped up restaurants in New York City and decide if it lives up to the hype or if we believe the hype is busted.  The name for our page would be hype busters.  It all started with our trip to a Vietnamese restaurant yesterday afternoon.  It was supposedly very well reviewed and I always trust my roommates recommendations.  When we got inside I noticed that there was a framed article with the logo “HYPEBEAST” right above it.  New York is the hype beast capital of the world.  A place where trends survive, hype thrives, and everything under the sun is capable of being fashionable one day and becoming defunct the next.  When I saw the logo I started to develop some cold feelings because I associate a bit of a negative connotation with what that brand brings to the table.  In my eyes, “HYPEBEAST” is more hype than substance and more presentation than quality.  It’s all attention grabbing, but the attention is rarely fully investigated.  In other words, it’s the traffic analogy.  A car accident happens on the road and everyone creates traffic taking seconds to look at the wreck.  Does that make sense?  My roommate was of the point of view that hype can actually be fun.  There is a cool energy to be around people that are as excited as you are to try something new.  I could see where he was coming from.  He pointed to “Morgenstern’s”, the popular ice cream place with exotic flavors that received more hype because Kanye West was seen eating there.  It definitely lived up to the hype according to my roommate.  I agreed.  It was pretty good.  The Vietnamese place ended up being really really strong and I could definitely see myself going back there despite being pricy.  Now, where we live in Crown Heights there are really really good places to get Caribbean food and a nice plate of jerk chicken and everything that comes with it.  In fact, we have a couple places within a block from our place that we enjoy very much.  Tonight, we went to a fancier Caribbean restaurant on a more crowded street—one that we had hyped up a bunch since moving.  We got there and were told that they were out of bok choy and plaintains.  Not having plantains kind of hurt me to the soul.  We sat down and ruled out drinks because they were on the expensive side.  Then we were told that they were out of Curry Goat and Oxtail.  Not exactly living up to the hype, thus far.  Then we were told that the meals didn’t come with anything and that you had to order the sides (rice and peas, plantains, cabbage, festival) and the sides were all four dollars or more.  We ended up still getting sides just for the sake of trying it out.  The festival was dry.  The coleslaw I got was one-note.  The rice and peas were basic.  My roommate and I agreed that this was all hype, indeed.  Peppa’s Jerk Chicken and Chris’ Restaurant were way better options and for considerably more affordable prices.  Not to mention that they included rice and peas and cabbage and plantains.  So, we left the restaurant having put on the receipt a capital letter “BUSTED” to let them know we didn’t appreciate their efforts.

It’s kind of crazy to think that we are in the month of December.  I know years go by quicker as you get older, but man has this year flown by.  Maybe you need a lot of bullshit to be going on in the world and in your own personal life for the world to carry on at such a breakneck speed or maybe…I don’t know.  I say this all the time, but its times like these when I wish the world of Harry Potter existed and I could borrow Hermione Granger’s time turner to stop its passage and do all the things I think about doing and hope to accomplish in 24 hours.  Then again, that’s not the only reason I wish the wizarding world of Harry Potter was real.  Its days like these when I wish that something as simple as a broomstick could be used to take off from the earth and fly in the sky.  Its days like these when I wish I owned a wand and a crazy ass pet like an owl to bring parcels from all over the world.  Days like these when I wish I could go to home for the holidays or stay at my wizarding school and relax for the winter to snow outside and trips to Hogsmeade to make a stop for some Butterbeer.  Yet, when I think about it, I realize that we do have a Voldemort figure who is very much alive and while I might not have magic I still have my imagination so stopping time, riding a broomstick, staying home for the holidays, and seeing the owl fly to my window to drop off a letter or some important information is really only a thought away.  

[heliosfinance]

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene

I’ve been coming across a LOT of great financial apps and services lately, so thought we’d do a round up of some of my favorites here – Cliffs Notes style :)

All of these apps/services below are either new-to-me, new in general, or up and coming and looking like they’re about to change up the game here… And believe me, I’m getting a greaaaaat handle on what’s going on in our blogging community as I’ve started scanning EVERY SINGLE BLOG POST our industry puts out EVERY SINGLE DAY! Roughly 200-250/day.

You can do the same, if you have hundreds of hours to spare ;) –> http://ift.tt/2pXksnE

Hope you find this helpful!

#1) Blooom — A way to automatically optimize and manage your 401(k)

This one’s my #1 favorite on the list because a) I could have used it a TON back in my employment years!! and b) Hardly anyone is doing this right now – but it affects millions and millions of people.

Ever wondered what the hell you’re doing with your 401(k) or 403(b)/401(a)/457 accounts? Then this is the company for you. For $10/mo Blooom will not only make sure you’re invested into the right – lower cost – funds for your situation, but also physically *manage it all* for you so you literally don’t have to do a thing anymore (though of course it’s always good to know what’s going on and stay in control).

You sign up once, get your free analysis of how your account is looking currently, and then either go away and continue managing it all yourself (accepting their recommendations or not) – OR – continue forward and let them do all the monitoring and heavy lifting for you from now on.

Everything is handled by certified financial advisors who you get direct access to (a nice perk in its own), and the best pat is that they can’t put you in any random or outside funds or upsell you on anything because there’s nothing to upsell you on! You’re limited to the funds that your employer has hand-picked for you to choose from, for better or for worse, so it’s just a matter of optimizing them in the best way for you.

If you’re already comfortable managing your 401(k) and don’t need any help, then Blooom isn’t for you. If you prefer to have someone else do it for you while keeping you in the loop, then I’d def. check them out.

You can learn more get your free analyzation here: Blooom.com ($10 flat rate per month)

#2. Chime – a simple online bank w/ built-in app features!

This is one of the first banks I’d check out if I wasn’t such a fanboy of USAA. Similar to Simple Bank who we’ve featured here before,  Chime gets how ridiculous Big Banks treat their customers and wants to make the banking process as easy and helpful as possible.

Without fees, without hidden costs, and definitely without headache.

What separates them from the other online banks though is their understanding of how much we LOVE our apps and features coming out left and right. Their vision is to have everything in one centrally located and connected place where you don’t need a bank plus 15 other apps to log into to get $hit done. You just have one – Chime (in their perfect world :)) – and you’re good.

They’re still a ways away from this, but they’ve already rolled out some of the more popular savings tricks from apps which is currently available to anyone with a Chime account. Here’s a list of some of their features:

Save When You Spend – Similar to Acorns and other “round up” applications, Chime will help you save more by rounding up all your transactions to the nearest dollar every time you buy something. They’ll then automatically transfer the difference right into savings for you.

Save When You Get Paid – You know how everyone tells you to “pay yourself first?” Well, this does exactly that. Activate this feature once, and then chime will automatically transfer 10% of every paycheck in the future right into your savings account before you even have a chance to spend it. Nice and simple (and smart).

Early Direct Deposit – This one I’ve never heard of before (?), but basically if you’re a member of Chime and your employer directly deposits your paychecks every payroll, you can sometimes see your money show up in your Chime account up to two days faster than normal. Again, never seen this before as I’ve been out of the 9-5 world for a while, but sounds kinda cool?

Pay Friends – Lastly, Chime makes it super easy to xfer money between friends with a click of some buttons.

You can find more info about Chime here: ChimeBank.com (FREE / BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00 bonus at sign up)

(They also have a pretty cool sister site where people can see how much they’re *really* spending in nonsense fees from the Big Banks out there: BankFeeFinder.com. Even if you’re not in the market for a new bank, I highly encourage you to run their analyzation anyways so you can see exactly what’s going on with your current bank! Some of them are good at hiding stuff! (I’m looking at you, Bank of America))

#3. Trim – a personal financial assistant that saves money for you

While not exactly an *app* (Trim works through text messaging and Facebook Messenger), they act in pretty much the same way. And particularly, to better help you save money.

They do this through four ways:

#1. Trim Financial Manager – Hook up your bank accounts once, and then Trim will analyze your transaction history and allow you to do a number of pretty slick things right there directly through them:

Cancel any unwanted subscriptions (and let you know what subscriptions you even have!)

Set spending alerts

Get balances

Find out how much you spent on Netflix/etc last month

And even fight fees automatically with your bank

#2. Trim Savings – Connect your Visa card to them through FB Messenger (must be a Visa, and must go through FB Messenger), and then get the following free perks:

Coupons that automatically get applied to your card

$1.00 on any grocery purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these)

$1.00 on any dining purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these too)

$10.00 on any movie purchase greater than $20.00 (you’ll only get 1 of these)

In total you can nab $40.00 of cash back, again – only through your Visa card.

#3. Trim Comcast Negotiator – Sign up through either FB Messenger or text message, then connect your Comcast bill and credit card you use to pay it with, and Trim will start negotiating it down on your behalf. If they succeed in saving you money, they take 25% of the savings for the first month only, and then you get to keep all the rest, and if they fail they don’t charge a thing. They say the average savings is between $5.00 and $50.00 every month – PRETTY COOL!!!

#4. Amazon Price Patrol – Lastly, Trim will monitor your Amazon transactions if you want them to, and then anytime they find a discrepancy in the price you paid vs the current price of an item, they’ll automatically go out and get you a refund for the difference. It’s very similar to Paribus if you remember our review of them the other year, but it’s also still in beta mode so may be a little wonky until they get it all streamlined. Still, another cool task to give to robots while we’re out enjoying our lives ;)

You can learn more about all these features here: AskTrim.com (FREE, except for the Comcast commission part)

#4. Stockpile — A way to buy fractional shares of stocks

I’m going to cheat with this one and share a pretty infographic instead of writing up a summary :) These guys have popped up almost every single day since starting our Blogger Feeds Tracker, so either they’re really great at marketing, or they’re starting to take off (or a little of both?)

Either way, here’s what they’re about below. The gifting option is my favorite! Much better to receive a gift of stock than another random tschotske or toy right?? Especially for kids?

Click here to learn more: StockPile.com (99 cents/trade, BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00)

And those are my 4 latest favorites in the fintech world!

More and more are coming out every day which is AWESOME (we need as much help as we can get!), so I’ll try and be better about doing more of these roundups around here. I wanted to do full in-depth reviews of all these guys, but it just wasn’t happening so hopefully this is enough for you to go on :)

Here’s a list of some of our past reviews over time too, in case you’ve missed any:

WealthSimple — A financial company that helps you build a portfolio of low-fee funds (ETFs), without charging you an exorbitant amount to do so. They’ll then manage it all for you, help you grow it, and offer advice along the way.  So pretty much a “robo-advisor”, just without any minimum balance requirements and set up to be as simple as possible. (Available in Canada too!)

brightpeak financial (FREE) — A division of Thrivent Federal Credit Union that rewards you for saving money into their “emergency savings account” (such a perfect name for an account, right?) Stash $50/mo into it for two years, and brightpeak will drop an additional $100 into it for you.

Clarity Money (FREE) — A new app that claims they’ll be killing Mint.com (hah!). Hook up your accounts with them once, and then Clarity will analyze all the data and make suggestions on how to better optimize and save your money. But rather than just telling or showing you what to do, you actually have the ability to *take action* there directly in the app – the major difference between them and most other fintech apps.

Self Lender — An alternative way to build credit back by saving. Their “credit builder account” offers a CD (certificate of deposit) that you *pay into* every month until the term is up, all the while recording your good payment history. It’s not free, but it could be a good option for anyone struggling hard w/ their credit right now.

Qoins (FREE) — Similar to Acorns, this app rounds up all your daily transactions to the nearest dollar, and then applies the difference straight to your debts. I don’t know why this is the first app that’s offered this over the years (??), but of course I’m loving it! Anything that gets you to take action is good, even if it’s just a handful of dollars each month!

Tip Yourself (FREE) — An app that allows you to transfer small dollar amounts from your checking account to a Tip Jar so you can reward yourself anytime, anywhere, whether it’s just $1.00 or a larger amount for something special! Been following these guys for over a year now and REALLY like what they’re doing. So easy and uncomplicated!

Debitize (FREE) — If you’ve ever wanted to mix the benefits of both credit cards and debit cards (credit cards for the rewards, and debit so the bill doesn’t rack up!), this is the tool for you. Debitize monitors your credit cards for new activity, and then automatically initiates a transfer out of your checking account into your Debitize account whenever you make a charge. When your credit card bill comes due, Debitize pays it for you – automatically and on time – with the funds from your Debitize account. So you still go about your business using credit cards as normal, but now without the fear of not having the $$$ in your account to pay for it at the end of the month.

Honey (FREE) — One of the easiest ways to save while shopping online. Download the browser extension once, and then at check out click the Honey button and it’ll automatically scour the internet for coupons, and apply each one of them to your cart until it finds the one with the most savings. Sometimes it’s $1.00, and others $10.00 (depending on what you’re buying), and in all cases it literally only takes like 15 seconds. I’d say it finds me something about 50% of the time.

Digit (Free for 100 days, then $2.99/mo) — My all-time favorite, despite them now charging $2.99/mo for it. Attach your bank accounts with them one, and then have their digital robots analyze your income/expenses and automatically transfer out a few dollars here and there that they know you won’t miss. They’re one of the pioneers in this automated savings game, and I believe in their vision so much that I actually joined their board of advisors! As of January of this year, BudgetsAreSexy readers who have signed up to them have saved $4,608,568.32 – pretty wild!

Acorns — My 2nd all-time favorite app, that rounds up all your transactions and drops the spare change into a diversified portfolio of funds for you. They’re one of the first apps to ever offer this, and in combination with Digit you’d have a helluva system already going in tandem :)

And then lastly, Personal Capital (FREE) — One of the PF world’s favorite fintech company which helps you visualize your entire financial picture all in one spot. Connect up your accounts one time, and then get immediate insight into your spending, income, investments, and our personal favorite – net worth. It’s a turbocharged Mint.com, only geared towards investing more so than budgeting.

So there you have it – 15 hot apps & services out there ;)

Meant to just stick to the top 4, but oh well haha…. Better chances that you find something new you like, eh? And to think how far we’ve come since this:

Happy $$$ growing!!

******** Needless to say, most of these apps/reviews above include affiliate links which means I’ll benefit financially if you end up signing up to any of them. As you know from over the years though, I only share companies I love and use myself, or those I think will greatly help others in different situations than I’m in (like the debt apps). In either case though, I never share anything just for the payout and do my best to provide value to y’all. Please let me know what you think whenever you sign up to any of them, or if you’d like me to check out other apps out there you find are powerful!

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B

[fesahaawit]

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene

I’ve been coming across a LOT of great financial apps and services lately, so thought we’d do a round up of some of my favorites here – Cliffs Notes style :)

All of these apps/services below are either new-to-me, new in general, or up and coming and looking like they’re about to change up the game here… And believe me, I’m getting a greaaaaat handle on what’s going on in our blogging community as I’ve started scanning EVERY SINGLE BLOG POST our industry puts out EVERY SINGLE DAY! Roughly 200-250/day.

You can do the same, if you have hundreds of hours to spare ;) –> http://ift.tt/2pXksnE

Hope you find this helpful!

#1) Blooom — A way to automatically optimize and manage your 401(k)

This one’s my #1 favorite on the list because a) I could have used it a TON back in my employment years!! and b) Hardly anyone is doing this right now – but it affects millions and millions of people.

Ever wondered what the hell you’re doing with your 401(k) or 403(b)/401(a)/457 accounts? Then this is the company for you. For $10/mo Blooom will not only make sure you’re invested into the right – lower cost – funds for your situation, but also physically *manage it all* for you so you literally don’t have to do a thing anymore (though of course it’s always good to know what’s going on and stay in control).

You sign up once, get your free analysis of how your account is looking currently, and then either go away and continue managing it all yourself (accepting their recommendations or not) – OR – continue forward and let them do all the monitoring and heavy lifting for you from now on.

Everything is handled by certified financial advisors who you get direct access to (a nice perk in its own), and the best pat is that they can’t put you in any random or outside funds or upsell you on anything because there’s nothing to upsell you on! You’re limited to the funds that your employer has hand-picked for you to choose from, for better or for worse, so it’s just a matter of optimizing them in the best way for you.

If you’re already comfortable managing your 401(k) and don’t need any help, then Blooom isn’t for you. If you prefer to have someone else do it for you while keeping you in the loop, then I’d def. check them out.

You can learn more get your free analyzation here: Blooom.com ($10 flat rate per month)

#2. Chime – a simple online bank w/ built-in app features!

This is one of the first banks I’d check out if I wasn’t such a fanboy of USAA. Similar to Simple Bank who we’ve featured here before,  Chime gets how ridiculous Big Banks treat their customers and wants to make the banking process as easy and helpful as possible.

Without fees, without hidden costs, and definitely without headache.

What separates them from the other online banks though is their understanding of how much we LOVE our apps and features coming out left and right. Their vision is to have everything in one centrally located and connected place where you don’t need a bank plus 15 other apps to log into to get $hit done. You just have one – Chime (in their perfect world :)) – and you’re good.

They’re still a ways away from this, but they’ve already rolled out some of the more popular savings tricks from apps which is currently available to anyone with a Chime account. Here’s a list of some of their features:

Save When You Spend – Similar to Acorns and other “round up” applications, Chime will help you save more by rounding up all your transactions to the nearest dollar every time you buy something. They’ll then automatically transfer the difference right into savings for you.

Save When You Get Paid – You know how everyone tells you to “pay yourself first?” Well, this does exactly that. Activate this feature once, and then chime will automatically transfer 10% of every paycheck in the future right into your savings account before you even have a chance to spend it. Nice and simple (and smart).

Early Direct Deposit – This one I’ve never heard of before (?), but basically if you’re a member of Chime and your employer directly deposits your paychecks every payroll, you can sometimes see your money show up in your Chime account up to two days faster than normal. Again, never seen this before as I’ve been out of the 9-5 world for a while, but sounds kinda cool?

Pay Friends – Lastly, Chime makes it super easy to xfer money between friends with a click of some buttons.

You can find more info about Chime here: ChimeBank.com (FREE / BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00 bonus at sign up)

(They also have a pretty cool sister site where people can see how much they’re *really* spending in nonsense fees the Big Banks out there: BankFeeFinder.com. Even if you’re not in the market for a new bank, I highly encourage you to run their analyzation anyways so you can see exactly what’s going on with your current bank! Some of them are good at hiding stuff! (I’m looking at you, Bank of America))

#3. Trim – a personal financial assistant that saves money for you

While not exactly an *app* (Trim works through text messaging and Facebook Messenger), they act in pretty much the same way. And particularly, to better help you save money.

They do this through four ways:

#1. Trim Financial Manager – Hook up your bank accounts once, and then Trim will analyze your transaction history and allow you to do a number of pretty slick things right there directly through them:

Cancel any unwanted subscriptions (and let you know what subscriptions you even have!)

Set spending alerts

Get balances

Find out how much you spent on Netflix/etc last month

And even fight fees automatically with your bank

#2. Trim Savings – Connect your Visa card to them through FB Messenger (must be a Visa, and must go through FB Messenger), and then get the following free perks:

Coupons that automatically get applied to your card

$1.00 on any grocery purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these)

$1.00 on any dining purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these too)

$10.00 on any movie purchase greater than $20.00 (you’ll only get 1 of these)

In total you can nab $40.00 of cash back, again – only through your Visa card.

#3. Trim Comcast Negotiator – Sign up through either FB Messenger or text message, then connect your Comcast bill and credit card you use to pay it with, and Trim will start negotiating it down on your behalf. If they succeed in saving you money, they take 25% of the savings for the first month only, and then you get to keep all the rest, and if they fail they don’t charge a thing. They say the average savings is between $5.00 and $50.00 every month – PRETTY COOL!!!

#4. Amazon Price Patrol – Lastly, Trim will monitor your Amazon transactions if you want them to, and then anytime they find a discrepancy in the price you paid vs the current price of an item, they’ll automatically go out and get you a refund for the difference. It’s very similar to Paribus if you remember our review of them the other year, but it’s also still in beta mode so may be a little wonky until they get it all streamlined. Still, another cool task to give to robots while we’re out living enjoying our lives ;)

You can learn more about all these features here: AskTrim.com (FREE, except for the Comcast commission part)

#4. Stockpile — A way to buy fractional shares of stocks

I’m going to cheat with this one and share a pretty infographic instead of writing up a summary :) These guys have popped up almost every single day since starting our Blogger Feeds Tracker, so either they’re really great at marketing, or they’re starting to take off (or a little of both?)

Either way, here’s what they’re about below. The gifting option is my favorite! Much better to receive a gift of stock than another random tschotske or toy right?? Especially for kids?

Click here to learn more: StockPile.com (99 cents/trade, BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00)

And those are my 4 latest favorites in the fintech world!

More and more are coming out every day which is AWESOME (we need as much help as we can get!), so I’ll try and be better about doing more of these roundups around here. I wanted to do full in-depth reviews of all these guys, but it just wasn’t happening so hopefully this is enough for you to go on :)

Here’s a list of some of our past reviews over time too, in case you’ve missed any:

WealthSimple — A financial company that helps you build a portfolio of low-fee funds (ETFs), without charging you an exorbitant amount to do so. They’ll then manage it all for you, help you grow it, and offer advice along the way.  So pretty much a “robo-advisor”, just without any minimum balance requirements and set up to be as simple as possible. (Available in Canada too!)

brightpeak financial (FREE) — A division of Thrivent Federal Credit Union that rewards you for saving money into their “emergency savings account” (such a perfect name for an account, right?) Stash $50/mo into it for two years, and brightpeak will drop an additional $100 into it for you.

Clarity Money (FREE) — A new app that claims they’ll be killing Mint.com (hah!). Hook up your accounts with them once, and then Clarity will analyze all the data and make suggestions on how to better optimize and save your money. But rather than just telling or showing you what to do, you actually have the ability to *take action* there directly in the app – the major difference between them and most other fintech apps.

Self Lender — An alternative way to build credit back by saving. Their “credit builder account” offers a CD (certificate of deposit) that you *pay into* every month until the term is up, all the while recording your good payment history. It’s not free, but it could be a good option for anyone struggling hard w/ their credit right now.

Qoins (FREE) — Similar to Acorns, this app rounds up all your daily transactions to the nearest dollar, and then applies the difference straight to your debts. I don’t know why this is the first app that’s offered this over the years (??), but of course I’m loving it! Anything that gets you to take action is good, even if it’s just a handful of dollars each month!

Tip Yourself (FREE) — An app that allows you to transfer small dollar amounts from your checking account to a Tip Jar so you can reward yourself anytime, anywhere, whether it’s just $1.00 or a larger amount for something special! Been following these guys for over a year now and REALLY like what they’re doing. So easy and uncomplicated!

Debitize (FREE) — If you’ve ever wanted to mix the benefits of both credit cards and debit cards (credit cards for the rewards, and debit so the bill doesn’t rack up!), this is the tool for you. Debitize monitors your credit cards for new activity, and then automatically initiates a transfer out of your checking account into your Debitize account whenever you make a charge. When your credit card bill comes due, Debitize pays it for you – automatically and on time – with the funds from your Debitize account. So you still go about your business using credit cards as normal, but now without the fear of not having the $$$ in your account to pay for it at the end of the month.

Honey (FREE) — One of the easiest ways to save while shopping online. Download the browser extension once, and then at check out click the Honey button and it’ll automatically scour the internet for coupons, and apply each one of them to your cart until it finds the one with the most savings. Sometimes it’s $1.00, and others $10.00 (depending on what you’re buying), and in all cases it literally only takes like 15 seconds. I’d say it finds me something about 50% of the time.

Digit (Free for 100 days, then $2.99/mo) — My all-time favorite, despite them now charging $2.99/mo for it. Attach your bank accounts with them one, and then have their digital robots analyze your income/expenses and automatically transfer out a few dollars here and there that they know you won’t miss. They’re one of the pioneers in this automated savings game, and I believe in their vision so much that I actually joined their board of advisors! As of January of this year, BudgetsAreSexy readers who have signed up to them have saved $4,608,568.32 – pretty wild!

Acorns — My 2nd all-time favorite app, that rounds up all your transactions and drops the spare change into a diversified portfolio of funds for you. They’re one of the first apps to ever offer this, and in combination with Digit you’d have a helluva system already going in tandem :)

And then lastly, Personal Capital (FREE) — One of the PF world’s favorite fintech company which helps you visualize your entire financial picture all in one spot. Connect up your accounts one time, and then get immediate insight into your spending, income, investments, and our personal favorite – net worth. It’s a turbocharged Mint.com, only geared towards investing more so than budgeting.

So there you have it – 15 hot apps & services out there ;)

Meant to just stick to the top 4, but oh well haha…. Better chances that you find something new you like, eh? And to think how far we’ve come since this:

Happy $$$ growing!!

******** Needless to say, most of these apps/reviews above include affiliate links which means I’ll benefit financially if you end up signing up to any of them. As you know from over the years though, I only sharecompanies I love and use myself, or those I think will greatly help others in different situations than I’m in (like the debt apps). In either case though, I never share anything just for the payout and do my best to provide value to y’all. Please let me know what you think whenever you sign up to any of them, or if you’d like me to check out other apps out there you find are powerful!

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

[heliosfinance]

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene

I’ve been coming across a LOT of great financial apps and services lately, so thought we’d do a round up of some of my favorites here – Cliffs Notes style :)

All of these apps/services below are either new-to-me, new in general, or up and coming and looking like they’re about to change up the game here… And believe me, I’m getting a greaaaaat handle on what’s going on in our blogging community as I’ve started scanning EVERY SINGLE BLOG POST our industry puts out EVERY SINGLE DAY! Roughly 200-250/day.

You can do the same, if you have hundreds of hours to spare ;) –> http://ift.tt/2pXksnE

Hope you find this helpful!

#1) Blooom — A way to automatically optimize and manage your 401(k)

This one’s my #1 favorite on the list because a) I could have used it a TON back in my employment years!! and b) Hardly anyone is doing this right now – but it affects millions and millions of people.

Ever wondered what the hell you’re doing with your 401(k) or 403(b)/401(a)/457 accounts? Then this is the company for you. For $10/mo Blooom will not only make sure you’re invested into the right – lower cost – funds for your situation, but also physically *manage it all* for you so you literally don’t have to do a thing anymore (though of course it’s always good to know what’s going on and stay in control).

You sign up once, get your free analysis of how your account is looking currently, and then either go away and continue managing it all yourself (accepting their recommendations or not) – OR – continue forward and let them do all the monitoring and heavy lifting for you from now on.

Everything is handled by certified financial advisors who you get direct access to (a nice perk in its own), and the best pat is that they can’t put you in any random or outside funds or upsell you on anything because there’s nothing to upsell you on! You’re limited to the funds that your employer has hand-picked for you to choose from, for better or for worse, so it’s just a matter of optimizing them in the best way for you.

If you’re already comfortable managing your 401(k) and don’t need any help, then Blooom isn’t for you. If you prefer to have someone else do it for you while keeping you in the loop, then I’d def. check them out.

You can learn more get your free analyzation here: Blooom.com ($10 flat rate per month)

#2. Chime – a simple online bank w/ built-in app features!

This is one of the first banks I’d check out if I wasn’t such a fanboy of USAA. Similar to Simple Bank who we’ve featured here before,  Chime gets how ridiculous Big Banks treat their customers and wants to make the banking process as easy and helpful as possible.

Without fees, without hidden costs, and definitely without headache.

What separates them from the other online banks though is their understanding of how much we LOVE our apps and features coming out left and right. Their vision is to have everything in one centrally located and connected place where you don’t need a bank plus 15 other apps to log into to get $hit done. You just have one – Chime (in their perfect world :)) – and you’re good.

They’re still a ways away from this, but they’ve already rolled out some of the more popular savings tricks from apps which is currently available to anyone with a Chime account. Here’s a list of some of their features:

Save When You Spend – Similar to Acorns and other “round up” applications, Chime will help you save more by rounding up all your transactions to the nearest dollar every time you buy something. They’ll then automatically transfer the difference right into savings for you.

Save When You Get Paid – You know how everyone tells you to “pay yourself first?” Well, this does exactly that. Activate this feature once, and then chime will automatically transfer 10% of every paycheck in the future right into your savings account before you even have a chance to spend it. Nice and simple (and smart).

Early Direct Deposit – This one I’ve never heard of before (?), but basically if you’re a member of Chime and your employer directly deposits your paychecks every payroll, you can sometimes see your money show up in your Chime account up to two days faster than normal. Again, never seen this before as I’ve been out of the 9-5 world for a while, but sounds kinda cool?

Pay Friends – Lastly, Chime makes it super easy to xfer money between friends with a click of some buttons.

You can find more info about Chime here: ChimeBank.com (FREE / BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00 bonus at sign up)

(They also have a pretty cool sister site where people can see how much they’re *really* spending in nonsense fees from the Big Banks out there: BankFeeFinder.com. Even if you’re not in the market for a new bank, I highly encourage you to run their analyzation anyways so you can see exactly what’s going on with your current bank! Some of them are good at hiding stuff! (I’m looking at you, Bank of America))

#3. Trim – a personal financial assistant that saves money for you

While not exactly an *app* (Trim works through text messaging and Facebook Messenger), they act in pretty much the same way. And particularly, to better help you save money.

They do this through four ways:

#1. Trim Financial Manager – Hook up your bank accounts once, and then Trim will analyze your transaction history and allow you to do a number of pretty slick things right there directly through them:

Cancel any unwanted subscriptions (and let you know what subscriptions you even have!)

Set spending alerts

Get balances

Find out how much you spent on Netflix/etc last month

And even fight fees automatically with your bank

#2. Trim Savings – Connect your Visa card to them through FB Messenger (must be a Visa, and must go through FB Messenger), and then get the following free perks:

Coupons that automatically get applied to your card

$1.00 on any grocery purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these)

$1.00 on any dining purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these too)

$10.00 on any movie purchase greater than $20.00 (you’ll only get 1 of these)

In total you can nab $40.00 of cash back, again – only through your Visa card.

#3. Trim Comcast Negotiator – Sign up through either FB Messenger or text message, then connect your Comcast bill and credit card you use to pay it with, and Trim will start negotiating it down on your behalf. If they succeed in saving you money, they take 25% of the savings for the first month only, and then you get to keep all the rest, and if they fail they don’t charge a thing. They say the average savings is between $5.00 and $50.00 every month – PRETTY COOL!!!

#4. Amazon Price Patrol – Lastly, Trim will monitor your Amazon transactions if you want them to, and then anytime they find a discrepancy in the price you paid vs the current price of an item, they’ll automatically go out and get you a refund for the difference. It’s very similar to Paribus if you remember our review of them the other year, but it’s also still in beta mode so may be a little wonky until they get it all streamlined. Still, another cool task to give to robots while we’re out enjoying our lives ;)

You can learn more about all these features here: AskTrim.com (FREE, except for the Comcast commission part)

#4. Stockpile — A way to buy fractional shares of stocks

I’m going to cheat with this one and share a pretty infographic instead of writing up a summary :) These guys have popped up almost every single day since starting our Blogger Feeds Tracker, so either they’re really great at marketing, or they’re starting to take off (or a little of both?)

Either way, here’s what they’re about below. The gifting option is my favorite! Much better to receive a gift of stock than another random tschotske or toy right?? Especially for kids?

Click here to learn more: StockPile.com (99 cents/trade, BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00)

And those are my 4 latest favorites in the fintech world!

More and more are coming out every day which is AWESOME (we need as much help as we can get!), so I’ll try and be better about doing more of these roundups around here. I wanted to do full in-depth reviews of all these guys, but it just wasn’t happening so hopefully this is enough for you to go on :)

Here’s a list of some of our past reviews over time too, in case you’ve missed any:

WealthSimple — A financial company that helps you build a portfolio of low-fee funds (ETFs), without charging you an exorbitant amount to do so. They’ll then manage it all for you, help you grow it, and offer advice along the way.  So pretty much a “robo-advisor”, just without any minimum balance requirements and set up to be as simple as possible. (Available in Canada too!)

brightpeak financial (FREE) — A division of Thrivent Federal Credit Union that rewards you for saving money into their “emergency savings account” (such a perfect name for an account, right?) Stash $50/mo into it for two years, and brightpeak will drop an additional $100 into it for you.

Clarity Money (FREE) — A new app that claims they’ll be killing Mint.com (hah!). Hook up your accounts with them once, and then Clarity will analyze all the data and make suggestions on how to better optimize and save your money. But rather than just telling or showing you what to do, you actually have the ability to *take action* there directly in the app – the major difference between them and most other fintech apps.

Self Lender — An alternative way to build credit back by saving. Their “credit builder account” offers a CD (certificate of deposit) that you *pay into* every month until the term is up, all the while recording your good payment history. It’s not free, but it could be a good option for anyone struggling hard w/ their credit right now.

Qoins (FREE) — Similar to Acorns, this app rounds up all your daily transactions to the nearest dollar, and then applies the difference straight to your debts. I don’t know why this is the first app that’s offered this over the years (??), but of course I’m loving it! Anything that gets you to take action is good, even if it’s just a handful of dollars each month!

Tip Yourself (FREE) — An app that allows you to transfer small dollar amounts from your checking account to a Tip Jar so you can reward yourself anytime, anywhere, whether it’s just $1.00 or a larger amount for something special! Been following these guys for over a year now and REALLY like what they’re doing. So easy and uncomplicated!

Debitize (FREE) — If you’ve ever wanted to mix the benefits of both credit cards and debit cards (credit cards for the rewards, and debit so the bill doesn’t rack up!), this is the tool for you. Debitize monitors your credit cards for new activity, and then automatically initiates a transfer out of your checking account into your Debitize account whenever you make a charge. When your credit card bill comes due, Debitize pays it for you – automatically and on time – with the funds from your Debitize account. So you still go about your business using credit cards as normal, but now without the fear of not having the $$$ in your account to pay for it at the end of the month.

Honey (FREE) — One of the easiest ways to save while shopping online. Download the browser extension once, and then at check out click the Honey button and it’ll automatically scour the internet for coupons, and apply each one of them to your cart until it finds the one with the most savings. Sometimes it’s $1.00, and others $10.00 (depending on what you’re buying), and in all cases it literally only takes like 15 seconds. I’d say it finds me something about 50% of the time.

Digit (Free for 100 days, then $2.99/mo) — My all-time favorite, despite them now charging $2.99/mo for it. Attach your bank accounts with them one, and then have their digital robots analyze your income/expenses and automatically transfer out a few dollars here and there that they know you won’t miss. They’re one of the pioneers in this automated savings game, and I believe in their vision so much that I actually joined their board of advisors! As of January of this year, BudgetsAreSexy readers who have signed up to them have saved $4,608,568.32 – pretty wild!

Acorns — My 2nd all-time favorite app, that rounds up all your transactions and drops the spare change into a diversified portfolio of funds for you. They’re one of the first apps to ever offer this, and in combination with Digit you’d have a helluva system already going in tandem :)

And then lastly, Personal Capital (FREE) — One of the PF world’s favorite fintech company which helps you visualize your entire financial picture all in one spot. Connect up your accounts one time, and then get immediate insight into your spending, income, investments, and our personal favorite – net worth. It’s a turbocharged Mint.com, only geared towards investing more so than budgeting.

So there you have it – 15 hot apps & services out there ;)

Meant to just stick to the top 4, but oh well haha…. Better chances that you find something new you like, eh? And to think how far we’ve come since this:

Happy $$$ growing!!

******** Needless to say, most of these apps/reviews above include affiliate links which means I’ll benefit financially if you end up signing up to any of them. As you know from over the years though, I only share companies I love and use myself, or those I think will greatly help others in different situations than I’m in (like the debt apps). In either case though, I never share anything just for the payout and do my best to provide value to y’all. Please let me know what you think whenever you sign up to any of them, or if you’d like me to check out other apps out there you find are powerful!

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B

[heliosfinance]

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene

I’ve been coming across a LOT of great financial apps and services lately, so thought we’d do a round up of some of my favorites here – Cliffs Notes style :)

All of these apps/services below are either new-to-me, new in general, or up and coming and looking like they’re about to change up the game here… And believe me, I’m getting a greaaaaat handle on what’s going on in our blogging community as I’ve started scanning EVERY SINGLE BLOG POST our industry puts out EVERY SINGLE DAY! Roughly 200-250/day.

You can do the same, if you have hundreds of hours to spare ;) –> http://ift.tt/2pXksnE

Hope you find this helpful!

#1) Blooom — A way to automatically optimize and manage your 401(k)

This one’s my #1 favorite on the list because a) I could have used it a TON back in my employment years!! and b) Hardly anyone is doing this right now – but it affects millions and millions of people.

Ever wondered what the hell you’re doing with your 401(k) or 403(b)/401(a)/457 accounts? Then this is the company for you. For $10/mo Blooom will not only make sure you’re invested into the right – lower cost – funds for your situation, but also physically *manage it all* for you so you literally don’t have to do a thing anymore (though of course it’s always good to know what’s going on and stay in control).

You sign up once, get your free analysis of how your account is looking currently, and then either go away and continue managing it all yourself (accepting their recommendations or not) – OR – continue forward and let them do all the monitoring and heavy lifting for you from now on.

Everything is handled by certified financial advisors who you get direct access to (a nice perk in its own), and the best pat is that they can’t put you in any random or outside funds or upsell you on anything because there’s nothing to upsell you on! You’re limited to the funds that your employer has hand-picked for you to choose from, for better or for worse, so it’s just a matter of optimizing them in the best way for you.

If you’re already comfortable managing your 401(k) and don’t need any help, then Blooom isn’t for you. If you prefer to have someone else do it for you while keeping you in the loop, then I’d def. check them out.

You can learn more get your free analyzation here: Blooom.com ($10 flat rate per month)

#2. Chime – a simple online bank w/ built-in app features!

This is one of the first banks I’d check out if I wasn’t such a fanboy of USAA. Similar to Simple Bank who we’ve featured here before,  Chime gets how ridiculous Big Banks treat their customers and wants to make the banking process as easy and helpful as possible.

Without fees, without hidden costs, and definitely without headache.

What separates them from the other online banks though is their understanding of how much we LOVE our apps and features coming out left and right. Their vision is to have everything in one centrally located and connected place where you don’t need a bank plus 15 other apps to log into to get $hit done. You just have one – Chime (in their perfect world :)) – and you’re good.

They’re still a ways away from this, but they’ve already rolled out some of the more popular savings tricks from apps which is currently available to anyone with a Chime account. Here’s a list of some of their features:

Save When You Spend – Similar to Acorns and other “round up” applications, Chime will help you save more by rounding up all your transactions to the nearest dollar every time you buy something. They’ll then automatically transfer the difference right into savings for you.

Save When You Get Paid – You know how everyone tells you to “pay yourself first?” Well, this does exactly that. Activate this feature once, and then chime will automatically transfer 10% of every paycheck in the future right into your savings account before you even have a chance to spend it. Nice and simple (and smart).

Early Direct Deposit – This one I’ve never heard of before (?), but basically if you’re a member of Chime and your employer directly deposits your paychecks every payroll, you can sometimes see your money show up in your Chime account up to two days faster than normal. Again, never seen this before as I’ve been out of the 9-5 world for a while, but sounds kinda cool?

Pay Friends – Lastly, Chime makes it super easy to xfer money between friends with a click of some buttons.

You can find more info about Chime here: ChimeBank.com (FREE / BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00 bonus at sign up)

(They also have a pretty cool sister site where people can see how much they’re *really* spending in nonsense fees from the Big Banks out there: BankFeeFinder.com. Even if you’re not in the market for a new bank, I highly encourage you to run their analyzation anyways so you can see exactly what’s going on with your current bank! Some of them are good at hiding stuff! (I’m looking at you, Bank of America))

#3. Trim – a personal financial assistant that saves money for you

While not exactly an *app* (Trim works through text messaging and Facebook Messenger), they act in pretty much the same way. And particularly, to better help you save money.

They do this through four ways:

#1. Trim Financial Manager – Hook up your bank accounts once, and then Trim will analyze your transaction history and allow you to do a number of pretty slick things right there directly through them:

Cancel any unwanted subscriptions (and let you know what subscriptions you even have!)

Set spending alerts

Get balances

Find out how much you spent on Netflix/etc last month

And even fight fees automatically with your bank

#2. Trim Savings – Connect your Visa card to them through FB Messenger (must be a Visa, and must go through FB Messenger), and then get the following free perks:

Coupons that automatically get applied to your card

$1.00 on any grocery purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these)

$1.00 on any dining purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these too)

$10.00 on any movie purchase greater than $20.00 (you’ll only get 1 of these)

In total you can nab $40.00 of cash back, again – only through your Visa card.

#3. Trim Comcast Negotiator – Sign up through either FB Messenger or text message, then connect your Comcast bill and credit card you use to pay it with, and Trim will start negotiating it down on your behalf. If they succeed in saving you money, they take 25% of the savings for the first month only, and then you get to keep all the rest, and if they fail they don’t charge a thing. They say the average savings is between $5.00 and $50.00 every month – PRETTY COOL!!!

#4. Amazon Price Patrol – Lastly, Trim will monitor your Amazon transactions if you want them to, and then anytime they find a discrepancy in the price you paid vs the current price of an item, they’ll automatically go out and get you a refund for the difference. It’s very similar to Paribus if you remember our review of them the other year, but it’s also still in beta mode so may be a little wonky until they get it all streamlined. Still, another cool task to give to robots while we’re out enjoying our lives ;)

You can learn more about all these features here: AskTrim.com (FREE, except for the Comcast commission part)

#4. Stockpile — A way to buy fractional shares of stocks

I’m going to cheat with this one and share a pretty infographic instead of writing up a summary :) These guys have popped up almost every single day since starting our Blogger Feeds Tracker, so either they’re really great at marketing, or they’re starting to take off (or a little of both?)

Either way, here’s what they’re about below. The gifting option is my favorite! Much better to receive a gift of stock than another random tschotske or toy right?? Especially for kids?

Click here to learn more: StockPile.com (99 cents/trade, BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00)

And those are my 4 latest favorites in the fintech world!

More and more are coming out every day which is AWESOME (we need as much help as we can get!), so I’ll try and be better about doing more of these roundups around here. I wanted to do full in-depth reviews of all these guys, but it just wasn’t happening so hopefully this is enough for you to go on :)

Here’s a list of some of our past reviews over time too, in case you’ve missed any:

WealthSimple — A financial company that helps you build a portfolio of low-fee funds (ETFs), without charging you an exorbitant amount to do so. They’ll then manage it all for you, help you grow it, and offer advice along the way.  So pretty much a “robo-advisor”, just without any minimum balance requirements and set up to be as simple as possible. (Available in Canada too!)

brightpeak financial (FREE) — A division of Thrivent Federal Credit Union that rewards you for saving money into their “emergency savings account” (such a perfect name for an account, right?) Stash $50/mo into it for two years, and brightpeak will drop an additional $100 into it for you.

Clarity Money (FREE) — A new app that claims they’ll be killing Mint.com (hah!). Hook up your accounts with them once, and then Clarity will analyze all the data and make suggestions on how to better optimize and save your money. But rather than just telling or showing you what to do, you actually have the ability to *take action* there directly in the app – the major difference between them and most other fintech apps.

Self Lender — An alternative way to build credit back by saving. Their “credit builder account” offers a CD (certificate of deposit) that you *pay into* every month until the term is up, all the while recording your good payment history. It’s not free, but it could be a good option for anyone struggling hard w/ their credit right now.

Qoins (FREE) — Similar to Acorns, this app rounds up all your daily transactions to the nearest dollar, and then applies the difference straight to your debts. I don’t know why this is the first app that’s offered this over the years (??), but of course I’m loving it! Anything that gets you to take action is good, even if it’s just a handful of dollars each month!

Tip Yourself (FREE) — An app that allows you to transfer small dollar amounts from your checking account to a Tip Jar so you can reward yourself anytime, anywhere, whether it’s just $1.00 or a larger amount for something special! Been following these guys for over a year now and REALLY like what they’re doing. So easy and uncomplicated!

Debitize (FREE) — If you’ve ever wanted to mix the benefits of both credit cards and debit cards (credit cards for the rewards, and debit so the bill doesn’t rack up!), this is the tool for you. Debitize monitors your credit cards for new activity, and then automatically initiates a transfer out of your checking account into your Debitize account whenever you make a charge. When your credit card bill comes due, Debitize pays it for you – automatically and on time – with the funds from your Debitize account. So you still go about your business using credit cards as normal, but now without the fear of not having the $$$ in your account to pay for it at the end of the month.

Honey (FREE) — One of the easiest ways to save while shopping online. Download the browser extension once, and then at check out click the Honey button and it’ll automatically scour the internet for coupons, and apply each one of them to your cart until it finds the one with the most savings. Sometimes it’s $1.00, and others $10.00 (depending on what you’re buying), and in all cases it literally only takes like 15 seconds. I’d say it finds me something about 50% of the time.

Digit (Free for 100 days, then $2.99/mo) — My all-time favorite, despite them now charging $2.99/mo for it. Attach your bank accounts with them one, and then have their digital robots analyze your income/expenses and automatically transfer out a few dollars here and there that they know you won’t miss. They’re one of the pioneers in this automated savings game, and I believe in their vision so much that I actually joined their board of advisors! As of January of this year, BudgetsAreSexy readers who have signed up to them have saved $4,608,568.32 – pretty wild!

Acorns — My 2nd all-time favorite app, that rounds up all your transactions and drops the spare change into a diversified portfolio of funds for you. They’re one of the first apps to ever offer this, and in combination with Digit you’d have a helluva system already going in tandem :)

And then lastly, Personal Capital (FREE) — One of the PF world’s favorite fintech company which helps you visualize your entire financial picture all in one spot. Connect up your accounts one time, and then get immediate insight into your spending, income, investments, and our personal favorite – net worth. It’s a turbocharged Mint.com, only geared towards investing more so than budgeting.

So there you have it – 15 hot apps & services out there ;)

Meant to just stick to the top 4, but oh well haha…. Better chances that you find something new you like, eh? And to think how far we’ve come since this:

Happy $$$ growing!!

******** Needless to say, most of these apps/reviews above include affiliate links which means I’ll benefit financially if you end up signing up to any of them. As you know from over the years though, I only share companies I love and use myself, or those I think will greatly help others in different situations than I’m in (like the debt apps). In either case though, I never share anything just for the payout and do my best to provide value to y’all. Please let me know what you think whenever you sign up to any of them, or if you’d like me to check out other apps out there you find are powerful!

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B

[fesahaawit]

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene

I’ve been coming across a LOT of great financial apps and services lately, so thought we’d do a round up of some of my favorites here – cliffs note style :)

All of these apps/services below are either new-to-me, new in general, or up and coming and looking like they’re about to change up the game here… And believe me, I’m getting a greaaaaat handle on what’s going on in our blogging community as I’ve started scanning EVERY SINGLE BLOG POST our industry puts out EVERY SINGLE DAY! Roughly 200-250/day.

You can do the same, if you have hundreds of hours to spare ;) –> http://ift.tt/2pXksnE

Hope you find this helpful!

#1) Bloom — A way to automatically optimize and manage your 401(k)

This one’s my #1 favorite on the list because a) I could have used it a TON back in my employment years!! and b) Hardly anyone is doing this right now – but it affects millions and millions of people.

Ever wondered what the hell you’re doing with your 401(k) or 403(b)/401(a)/457 accounts? Then this is the company for you. For $10/mo Blooom will not only make sure you’re invested into the right – lower cost – funds for your situation, but also physically *manage it all* for you so you literally don’t have to do a thing anymore (though of course it’s always good to know what’s going on and stay in control).

You sign up once, get your free analysis of how your account is looking currently, and then either go away and continue managing it all yourself (accepting their recommendations or not) – OR – continue forward and let them do all the monitoring and heavy lifting for you from now on.

Everything is handled by certified financial advisors who you get direct access to (a nice perk in its own), and they never make any changes without asking your permission first.

And the best part? They can’t put you in any random or outside funds or upsell you on anything because there’s nothing to upsell you on! You’re limited to the funds that your employer has hand-picked for you to choose from, for better or for worse, so it’s just a matter of optimizing them in the best way for you.

If you’re already comfortable managing your 401(k) and don’t need any help, then Blooom isn’t for you. If you prefer to have someone else do it for you while keeping you in the loop, then I’d def. check them out.

You can learn more get your free analyzation here: Blooom.com ($10 flat rate per month)

#2. Chime – a simple online bank w/ built-in app features!

This is one of the first banks I’d check out if I wasn’t such a fanboy of USAA. Similar to Simple Bank who we’ve featured here before,  Chime gets how ridiculous Big Banks treat their customers and wants to make the banking process as easy and helpful as possible.

Without fees, without hidden costs, and definitely without headache.

What separates them from the other online banks though is their understanding of how much we LOVE our apps and features coming out left and right. Their vision is to have everything in one centrally located and connected place where you don’t need a bank plus 15 other apps to log into to get $hit done. You just have one – Chime (in their perfect world :)) – and you’re good.

They’re still a ways away from this, but they’ve already rolled out some of the more popular savings tricks from apps which is currently available to anyone with a Chime account. Here’s a list of some of their features:

Save When You Spend – Similar to Acorns and other “round up” applications, Chime will help you save more by rounding up all your transactions to the nearest dollar every time you buy something. They’ll then automatically transfer the difference right into savings for you.

Save When You Get Paid – You know how everyone tells you to “pay yourself first?” Well, this does exactly that. Activate this feature once, and then chime will automatically transfer 10% of every paycheck in the future right into your savings account before you even have a chance to spend it. Nice and simple (and smart).

Early Direct Deposit – This one I’ve never heard of before (?), but basically if you’re a member of Chime and your employer directly deposits your paychecks every payroll, you can sometimes see your money show up in your Chime account up to two days faster than normal. Again, never seen this before as I’ve been out of the 9-5 world for a while, but sounds kinda cool?

Pay Friends – Lastly, Chime makes it super easy to xfer money between friends with a click of some buttons.

You can find more info about Chime here: ChimeBank.com (FREE / BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00 bonus at sign up)

(They also have a pretty cool sister site where people can see how much they’re *really* spending in nonsense fees the Big Banks out there: BankFeeFinder.com. Even if you’re not in the market for a new bank, I highly encourage you to run their analyzation anyways so you can see exactly what’s going on with your current bank! Some of them are good at hiding stuff! (I’m looking at you, Bank of America))

#3. Trim – a personal financial assistant that saves money for you

While not exactly an *app* (Trim works through text messaging and Facebook Messenger), they act in pretty much the same way. And particularly, to better help you save money.

They do this through four ways:

#1. Trim Financial Manager – Hook up your bank accounts once, and then Trim will analyze your transaction history and allow you to do a number of pretty slick things right there directly through them:

Cancel any unwanted subscriptions (and let you know what subscriptions you even have!)

Set spending alerts

Get balances

Find out how much you spent on Netflix/etc last month

And even fight fees automatically with your bank

#2. Trim Savings – Connect your Visa card to them through FB Messenger (must be a Visa, and must go through FB Messenger), and then get the following free perks:

Coupons that automatically get applied to your card

$1.00 on any grocery purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these)

$1.00 on any dining purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these too)

$10.00 on any movie purchase greater than $20.00 (you’ll only get 1 of these)

In total you can nab $40.00 of cash back, again – only through your Visa card.

#3. Trim Comcast Negotiator – Sign up through either FB Messenger or text message, then connect your Comcast bill and credit card you use to pay it with, and Trim will start negotiating it down on your behalf. If they succeed in saving you money, they take 25% of the savings for the first month only, and then you get to keep all the rest, and if they fail they don’t charge a thing. They say the average savings is between $5.00 and $50.00 every month – PRETTY COOL!!!

#4. Amazon Price Patrol – Lastly, Trim will monitor your Amazon transactions if you want them to, and then anytime they find a discrepancy in the price you paid vs the current price of an item, they’ll automatically go out and get you a refund for the difference. It’s very similar to Paribus if you remember our review of them the other year, but it’s also still in beta mode so may be a little wonky until they get it all streamlined. Still, another cool task to give to robots while we’re out living enjoying our lives ;)

You can learn more about all these features here: AskTrim.com (FREE, except for the Comcast commission part)

#4. Stockpile — A way to buy fractional shares of stocks

I’m going to cheat with this one and share a pretty infographic instead of writing up a summary :) These guys have popped up almost every single day since starting our Blogger Feeds Tracker, so either they’re really great at marketing, or they’re starting to take off (or a little of both?)

Either way, here’s what they’re about below. The gifting option is my favorite! Much better to receive a gift of stock than another random tschotske or toy right?? Especially for kids?

Click here to learn more: StockPile.com (99 cents/trade, BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00)

And those are my 4 latest favorites in the fintech world!

More and more are coming out every day which is AWESOME (we need as much help as we can get!), so I’ll try and be better about doing more of these roundups around here. I wanted to do full in-depth reviews of all these guys, but it just wasn’t happening so hopefully this is enough for you to go on :)

Here’s a list of some of our past reviews over time too, in case you’ve missed any:

WealthSimple — A financial company that helps you build a portfolio of low-fee funds (ETFs), without charging you an exorbitant amount to do so. They’ll then manage it all for you, help you grow it, and offer advice along the way.  So pretty much a “robo-advisor”, just without any minimum balance requirements and set up to be as simple as possible.

brightpeak financial (FREE) — A division of Thrivent Federal Credit Union that rewards you for saving money into their “emergency savings account” (such a perfect name for an account, right?) Stash $50/mo into it for two years, and brightpeak will drop an additional $100 into it for you.

Clarity Money (FREE) — A new app that claims they’ll be killing Mint.com (hah!). Hook up your accounts with them once, and then Clarity will analyze all the data and make suggestions on how to better optimize and save your money. But rather than just telling or showing you what to do, you actually have the ability to *take action* there directly in the app – the major difference between them and most other fintech apps.

Self Lender — An alternative way to build credit back by saving. Their “credit builder account” offers a CD (certificate of deposit) that you *pay into* every month until the term is up, all the while recording your good payment history. It’s not free, but it could be a good option for anyone struggling hard w/ their credit right now.

Qoins (FREE) — Similar to Acorns, this app rounds up all your daily transactions to the nearest dollar, and then applies the difference straight to your debts. I don’t know why this is the first app that’s offered this over the years (??), but of course I’m loving it! Anything that gets you to take action is good, even if it’s just a handful of dollars each month!

Tip Yourself (FREE) — An app that allows you to transfer small dollar amounts from your checking account to a Tip Jar so you can reward yourself anytime, anywhere, whether it’s just $1.00 or a larger amount for something special! Been following these guys for over a year now and REALLY like what they’re doing. So easy and uncomplicated!

Debitize (FREE) — If you’ve ever wanted to mix the benefits of both credit cards and debit cards (credit cards for the rewards, and debit so the bill doesn’t rack up!), this is the tool for you. Debitize monitors your credit cards for new activity, and then automatically initiates a transfer out of your checking account into your Debitize account whenever you make a charge. When your credit card bill comes due, Debitize pays it for you – automatically and on time – with the funds from your Debitize account. So you still go about your business using credit cards as normal, but now without the fear of not having the $$$ in your account to pay for it at the end of the month.

Honey (FREE) — One of the easiest ways to save while shopping online. Download the browser extension once, and then at check out click the Honey button and it’ll automatically scour the internet for coupons, and apply each one of them to your cart until it finds the one with the most savings. Sometimes it’s $1.00, and others $10.00 (depending on what you’re buying), and in all cases it literally only takes like 15 seconds. I’d say it finds me something about 50% of the time.

Digit (Free for 100 days, then $2.99/mo) — My all-time favorite, despite them now charging $2.99/mo for it. Attach your bank accounts with them one, and then have their digital robots analyze your income/expenses and automatically transfer out a few dollars here and there that they know you won’t miss. They’re one of the pioneers in this automated savings game, and I believe in their vision so much that I actually joined their board of advisors! As of January of this year, BudgetsAreSexy readers who have signed up to them have saved $4,608,568.32 – pretty wild!

Acorns — My 2nd all-time favorite app, that rounds up all your transactions and drops the spare change into a diversified portfolio of funds for you. They’re one of the first apps to ever offer this, and in combination with Digit you’d have a helluva system already going in tandem :)

And then lastly, Personal Capital (FREE) — One of the PF world’s favorite fintech company which helps you visualize your entire financial picture all in one spot. Connect up your accounts one time, and then get immediate insight into your spending, income, investments, and our personal favorite – net worth. It’s a turbocharged Mint.com, only geared towards investing more so than budgeting.

So there you have it – 15 hot apps & services out there ;)

Meant to just stick to the top 4, but oh well haha…. Better chances that you find something new you like, eh? And to think how far we’ve come since this:

Happy $$$ growing!!

******** Needless to say, most of these apps/reviews above include affiliate links which means I’ll benefit financially if you end up signing up to any of them. As you know from over the years though, I only sharecompanies I love and use myself, or those I think will greatly help others in different situations than I’m in (like the debt apps). In either case though, I never share anything just for the payout and do my best to provide value to y’all. Please let me know what you think whenever you sign up to any of them, or if you’d like me to check out other apps out there you find are powerful!

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene posted first on http://ift.tt/2lnwIdQ

[heliosfinance]

4 Hot New Financial Apps & Services On The Scene

I’ve been coming across a LOT of great financial apps and services lately, so thought we’d do a round up of some of my favorites here – cliffs note style :)

All of these apps/services below are either new-to-me, new in general, or up and coming and looking like they’re about to change up the game here… And believe me, I’m getting a greaaaaat handle on what’s going on in our blogging community as I’ve started scanning EVERY SINGLE BLOG POST our industry puts out EVERY SINGLE DAY! Roughly 200-250/day.

You can do the same, if you have hundreds of hours to spare ;) –> http://ift.tt/2pXksnE

Hope you find this helpful!

#1) Bloom — A way to automatically optimize and manage your 401(k)

This one’s my #1 favorite on the list because a) I could have used it a TON back in my employment years!! and b) Hardly anyone is doing this right now – but it affects millions and millions of people.

Ever wondered what the hell you’re doing with your 401(k) or 403(b)/401(a)/457 accounts? Then this is the company for you. For $10/mo Blooom will not only make sure you’re invested into the right – lower cost – funds for your situation, but also physically *manage it all* for you so you literally don’t have to do a thing anymore (though of course it’s always good to know what’s going on and stay in control).

You sign up once, get your free analysis of how your account is looking currently, and then either go away and continue managing it all yourself (accepting their recommendations or not) – OR – continue forward and let them do all the monitoring and heavy lifting for you from now on.

Everything is handled by certified financial advisors who you get direct access to (a nice perk in its own), and they never make any changes without asking your permission first.

And the best part? They can’t put you in any random or outside funds or upsell you on anything because there’s nothing to upsell you on! You’re limited to the funds that your employer has hand-picked for you to choose from, for better or for worse, so it’s just a matter of optimizing them in the best way for you.

If you’re already comfortable managing your 401(k) and don’t need any help, then Blooom isn’t for you. If you prefer to have someone else do it for you while keeping you in the loop, then I’d def. check them out.

You can learn more get your free analyzation here: Blooom.com ($10 flat rate per month)

#2. Chime – a simple online bank w/ built-in app features!

This is one of the first banks I’d check out if I wasn’t such a fanboy of USAA. Similar to Simple Bank who we’ve featured here before,  Chime gets how ridiculous Big Banks treat their customers and wants to make the banking process as easy and helpful as possible.

Without fees, without hidden costs, and definitely without headache.

What separates them from the other online banks though is their understanding of how much we LOVE our apps and features coming out left and right. Their vision is to have everything in one centrally located and connected place where you don’t need a bank plus 15 other apps to log into to get $hit done. You just have one – Chime (in their perfect world :)) – and you’re good.

They’re still a ways away from this, but they’ve already rolled out some of the more popular savings tricks from apps which is currently available to anyone with a Chime account. Here’s a list of some of their features:

Save When You Spend – Similar to Acorns and other “round up” applications, Chime will help you save more by rounding up all your transactions to the nearest dollar every time you buy something. They’ll then automatically transfer the difference right into savings for you.

Save When You Get Paid – You know how everyone tells you to “pay yourself first?” Well, this does exactly that. Activate this feature once, and then chime will automatically transfer 10% of every paycheck in the future right into your savings account before you even have a chance to spend it. Nice and simple (and smart).

Early Direct Deposit – This one I’ve never heard of before (?), but basically if you’re a member of Chime and your employer directly deposits your paychecks every payroll, you can sometimes see your money show up in your Chime account up to two days faster than normal. Again, never seen this before as I’ve been out of the 9-5 world for a while, but sounds kinda cool?

Pay Friends – Lastly, Chime makes it super easy to xfer money between friends with a click of some buttons.

You can find more info about Chime here: ChimeBank.com (FREE / BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00 bonus at sign up)

(They also have a pretty cool sister site where people can see how much they’re *really* spending in nonsense fees the Big Banks out there: BankFeeFinder.com. Even if you’re not in the market for a new bank, I highly encourage you to run their analyzation anyways so you can see exactly what’s going on with your current bank! Some of them are good at hiding stuff! (I’m looking at you, Bank of America))

#3. Trim – a personal financial assistant that saves money for you

While not exactly an *app* (Trim works through text messaging and Facebook Messenger), they act in pretty much the same way. And particularly, to better help you save money.

They do this through four ways:

#1. Trim Financial Manager – Hook up your bank accounts once, and then Trim will analyze your transaction history and allow you to do a number of pretty slick things right there directly through them:

Cancel any unwanted subscriptions (and let you know what subscriptions you even have!)

Set spending alerts

Get balances

Find out how much you spent on Netflix/etc last month

And even fight fees automatically with your bank

#2. Trim Savings – Connect your Visa card to them through FB Messenger (must be a Visa, and must go through FB Messenger), and then get the following free perks:

Coupons that automatically get applied to your card

$1.00 on any grocery purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these)

$1.00 on any dining purchase greater than $5.00 (you’ll get 10 of these too)

$10.00 on any movie purchase greater than $20.00 (you’ll only get 1 of these)

In total you can nab $40.00 of cash back, again – only through your Visa card.

#3. Trim Comcast Negotiator – Sign up through either FB Messenger or text message, then connect your Comcast bill and credit card you use to pay it with, and Trim will start negotiating it down on your behalf. If they succeed in saving you money, they take 25% of the savings for the first month only, and then you get to keep all the rest, and if they fail they don’t charge a thing. They say the average savings is between $5.00 and $50.00 every month – PRETTY COOL!!!

#4. Amazon Price Patrol – Lastly, Trim will monitor your Amazon transactions if you want them to, and then anytime they find a discrepancy in the price you paid vs the current price of an item, they’ll automatically go out and get you a refund for the difference. It’s very similar to Paribus if you remember our review of them the other year, but it’s also still in beta mode so may be a little wonky until they get it all streamlined. Still, another cool task to give to robots while we’re out living enjoying our lives ;)

You can learn more about all these features here: AskTrim.com (FREE, except for the Comcast commission part)

#4. Stockpile — A way to buy fractional shares of stocks

I’m going to cheat with this one and share a pretty infographic instead of writing up a summary :) These guys have popped up almost every single day since starting our Blogger Feeds Tracker, so either they’re really great at marketing, or they’re starting to take off (or a little of both?)

Either way, here’s what they’re about below. The gifting option is my favorite! Much better to receive a gift of stock than another random tschotske or toy right?? Especially for kids?

Click here to learn more: StockPile.com (99 cents/trade, BudgetsAreSexy readers get $5.00)

And those are my 4 latest favorites in the fintech world!

More and more are coming out every day which is AWESOME (we need as much help as we can get!), so I’ll try and be better about doing more of these roundups around here. I wanted to do full in-depth reviews of all these guys, but it just wasn’t happening so hopefully this is enough for you to go on :)

Here’s a list of some of our past reviews over time too, in case you’ve missed any:

WealthSimple — A financial company that helps you build a portfolio of low-fee funds (ETFs), without charging you an exorbitant amount to do so. They’ll then manage it all for you, help you grow it, and offer advice along the way.  So pretty much a “robo-advisor”, just without any minimum balance requirements and set up to be as simple as possible.

brightpeak financial (FREE) — A division of Thrivent Federal Credit Union that rewards you for saving money into their “emergency savings account” (such a perfect name for an account, right?) Stash $50/mo into it for two years, and brightpeak will drop an additional $100 into it for you.

Clarity Money (FREE) — A new app that claims they’ll be killing Mint.com (hah!). Hook up your accounts with them once, and then Clarity will analyze all the data and make suggestions on how to better optimize and save your money. But rather than just telling or showing you what to do, you actually have the ability to *take action* there directly in the app – the major difference between them and most other fintech apps.

Self Lender — An alternative way to build credit back by saving. Their “credit builder account” offers a CD (certificate of deposit) that you *pay into* every month until the term is up, all the while recording your good payment history. It’s not free, but it could be a good option for anyone struggling hard w/ their credit right now.

Qoins (FREE) — Similar to Acorns, this app rounds up all your daily transactions to the nearest dollar, and then applies the difference straight to your debts. I don’t know why this is the first app that’s offered this over the years (??), but of course I’m loving it! Anything that gets you to take action is good, even if it’s just a handful of dollars each month!

Tip Yourself (FREE) — An app that allows you to transfer small dollar amounts from your checking account to a Tip Jar so you can reward yourself anytime, anywhere, whether it’s just $1.00 or a larger amount for something special! Been following these guys for over a year now and REALLY like what they’re doing. So easy and uncomplicated!

Debitize (FREE) — If you’ve ever wanted to mix the benefits of both credit cards and debit cards (credit cards for the rewards, and debit so the bill doesn’t rack up!), this is the tool for you. Debitize monitors your credit cards for new activity, and then automatically initiates a transfer out of your checking account into your Debitize account whenever you make a charge. When your credit card bill comes due, Debitize pays it for you – automatically and on time – with the funds from your Debitize account. So you still go about your business using credit cards as normal, but now without the fear of not having the $$$ in your account to pay for it at the end of the month.

Honey (FREE) — One of the easiest ways to save while shopping online. Download the browser extension once, and then at check out click the Honey button and it’ll automatically scour the internet for coupons, and apply each one of them to your cart until it finds the one with the most savings. Sometimes it’s $1.00, and others $10.00 (depending on what you’re buying), and in all cases it literally only takes like 15 seconds. I’d say it finds me something about 50% of the time.

Digit (Free for 100 days, then $2.99/mo) — My all-time favorite, despite them now charging $2.99/mo for it. Attach your bank accounts with them one, and then have their digital robots analyze your income/expenses and automatically transfer out a few dollars here and there that they know you won’t miss. They’re one of the pioneers in this automated savings game, and I believe in their vision so much that I actually joined their board of advisors! As of January of this year, BudgetsAreSexy readers who have signed up to them have saved $4,608,568.32 – pretty wild!

Acorns — My 2nd all-time favorite app, that rounds up all your transactions and drops the spare change into a diversified portfolio of funds for you. They’re one of the first apps to ever offer this, and in combination with Digit you’d have a helluva system already going in tandem :)

And then lastly, Personal Capital (FREE) — One of the PF world’s favorite fintech company which helps you visualize your entire financial picture all in one spot. Connect up your accounts one time, and then get immediate insight into your spending, income, investments, and our personal favorite – net worth. It’s a turbocharged Mint.com, only geared towards investing more so than budgeting.

So there you have it – 15 hot apps & services out there ;)

Meant to just stick to the top 4, but oh well haha…. Better chances that you find something new you like, eh? And to think how far we’ve come since this:

Happy $$$ growing!!

******** Needless to say, most of these apps/reviews above include affiliate links which means I’ll benefit financially if you end up signing up to any of them. As you know from over the years though, I only sharecompanies I love and use myself, or those I think will greatly help others in different situations than I’m in (like the debt apps). In either case though, I never share anything just for the payout and do my best to provide value to y’all. Please let me know what you think whenever you sign up to any of them, or if you’d like me to check out other apps out there you find are powerful!

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