5 Money Moves to Reduce Your Financial Stress From Day One

Countless job losses, high debts, low personal savings, and a lack of multiple income streams and financial awareness have brought personal finance to the front seat since the onset of the pandemic. While millions of households depended solely on the stimulus check payments to stay afloat amid the COVID-19 crisis, many broke into their egg nest and even resorted to early retirement settling for reduced government benefits.

On the other hand, the resilience in human nature in the face of adversity is evident from the fact that millions of Americans pursued side hustles, cut down on credit card bills and unwanted subscriptions, sought financial advice and knowledge, and carefully planned their monthly budgets by changing their lifestyles.

While these steps have helped many ride the sinusoidal market to some extent, there is still a long way to go before the effects of the pandemic completely fade away. As social distancing and the work-from-home culture became the new norm in the midst of financial upheavals, technology leaped ahead by many folds.

The rapid rise of ever-growing fintech companies now offers solutions to almost every personal finance problem you can think of. Here are 5 money moves that could help you repay your credit card debts faster, earn pocket money on the side, receive your paychecks earlier than usual, and create a robust financial plan with a vetted financial advisor.

Repay Your Credit Card Faster While Saving On Exorbitant Interest Rates

Credit cards are easy to get but debt could be difficult to get rid of if you don't use them wisely. The effect of high interest rates is often neglected when an individual is offered thousands of dollars in a revolving credit line. On top of that, if you are just paying the monthly minimums for thousands of dollars of debt, you might stretch it for years and end up paying way more than what you owe due to high interest rates. Additionally, missing your credit card payment deadlines could cost you late fees and tank your credit score by many points.

While some choose to pay monthly minimums towards credit card debt, many aren't able to do so due to budget constraints. Either way, if you want to break free from this vicious cycle, you should look for efficient ways to repay your debt while exploring opportunities that could lower your effective interest rate.

An emerging artificial intelligence-powered smartphone app called Tally could help you repay your credit card debt in many ways. Their proprietary technology scans your credit card balances, interest rates, and due dates to curate an optimized debt repayment plan using the Avalanche method and a projected debt-free date. You'll make the highest possible payments towards high interest-rate credit cards with larger balances while paying minimums for the rest. Over time, you could save on high interests and clear your debt faster than you normally would.

If you want to expedite the debt repayment process and have a FICO credit score above 660, Tally offers a low interest line of credit starting at an interest rate of 7.9 percent, which will depend on your credit score. If you opt for the credit line, Tally will transfer all of your credit card balances to your newly-acquired line of credit and pay your credit card issuers every month on your behalf. You'll only need to make a single payment to Tally every month while saving on interest as Tally figures out the most efficient way to clear your credit card balances.

Unlike debt consolidation, Tally doesn't take over your credit cards or contact your card issuers. Furthermore, Tally's Late Fees Protection program will save you from late payments fees or negative credit impact in case you miss a payment deadline. The program ensures that Tally will pay on your behalf in case you can't, and you can pay Tally without any consequences at a later date. It would still be advisable to stay current on payments, though.

Download the iOS or Android app and link your credit cards on their secure platform to get started today.

Check for Incorrect Entries and Accounts Negatively Impacting Your Credit Score

Your credit score determines your creditworthiness when applying for credit cards, personal loans, and even mortgages. It also affects your insurance premiums, job opportunities, and chances of finding a good place to rent since landlords often check credit profiles of potential tenants before leasing out their homes.

There are several factors that may affect your credit score, including your debt repayment history, debt size and utilization, and frequency of loan applications. Sadly, even if you do everything right, erroneous entries on your credit profile could still dampen your efforts. A Consumer Report survey of 6,000 people found that 34 percent had found incorrect credit-related entries on their credit profiles that negatively affected their credit score.

While making timely payments is extremely important, frequently checking your credit score and profile is also essential to keep track of your progress towards a higher credit score. After all, this will ultimately determine your financial credibility to lenders.

Credit scores are generated by major credit bureaus, and one popular fintech firm called Credit Karma can fetch your credit score from TransUnion and Equifax for free.

Over 100 million Credit Karma users enjoy features like free credit reports and ID monitoring that could help you avoid pitfalls like identity theft and data breach while giving you an option to recognize and dispute incorrect entries directly from their smartphone app.

Check your credit score and credit profile by downloading the iOS or Android mobile app from Credit Karma today.

Get Your Paycheck Up to Two Days Earlier While Reducing Banking Fees

Estimates show that it could cost an individual $169.56 annually just to have a bank account. Furthermore, you pay fees for almost every banking feature like wire transfers, savings withdrawals, debit card transactions, and ATM withdrawals. This could result in expenses of another hundred dollars or more, depending on how much you use them. At the same time, you don't usually receive your paycheck right when your employer sends over the payment file to your bank. This is because payment clearing systems at traditional banks could take up to two days to clear paychecks.

Because of this, online digital banking platforms are attracting millions of people by eliminating high banking fees, expediting direct deposit payments, offering cashback rewards, and making your idle money work for you with a comparatively high-interest savings bank account.

Oxygen is a rapidly-growing digital banking platform that has raised over $24 million since 2018 with a mission to eradicate banking fees, expedite your salary day, and many more lucrative options that focus on building wealth. Oxygen facilitates these banking services that are offered by the Bancorp Bank, Member FDIC.

When you open a checking bank account on the platform, you can set up a direct deposit by submitting a form available in the app to your employer and Oxygen could clear your paycheck up to two days earlier than usual. Their quick payment clearing system strives to make your funds available to you right when your employer sends in the payment confirmation.

Additionally, you won't have to pay any account maintenance fees or ATM withdrawal fees when you use the Oxygen Visa(R) Debit Card at Allpoint ATMs. They have over 55,000 participating ATMs including major retailers like Target, Kroger, and Circle. Every time you swipe your Oxygen debit card at select vendors for food or coffee, you'll even earn a flat $1 cashback reward. If you have a checking account with Oxygen, you can also avail of a high-interest savings account that will grow your idle money at a 0.25 percent interest rate compared to the 0.06 percent offered by most traditional banks.

Download the iOS or Android Oxygen app today and set up a checking account in a few clicks.

Earn Pocket Money By Voicing Out Your Opinion

While most side hustles generally require you to put in a lot of hard work, sharing your opinion to shape future products and services is one fun activity that you can do during your leisure time to bring in some extra money.

Major companies and brands rely on consumer input to shape products and services. They often do this by reaching out to millions of people through market research platforms to gather feedback and insights. Activities often revolve around simple surveys, watching videos and movie trailers, playing fun games, and even just reading emails.

Since online surveys are sometimes associated with scams, it could become tedious to find a legit market research platform with a proven track record of paying their members in cash. One accredited rewards platform called InboxDollars has been rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and has paid over $80 million dollars in cash rewards to its users for participating in simple online activities since the year 2000. They have also partnered with major brands like Walmart, Target, Netflix, H&R Block, and Publishers Clearing House.

Online paid surveys could fetch from $0.50 to $5 and take from 3 to 25 minutes of your time. Some surveys could even fetch you as high as $20 given that you match the demographic profile that companies are looking for. You might be offered similar cash rewards for watching videos, playing online games, and reading emails, which you can redeem directly to your Paypal account.

Create an account on InboxDollars in just one minute and avail of a $5 sign-up bonus now.

Chalk Out a Long-term Plan With a Fiduciary Financial Advisor

Financial awareness is key to saving money smartly, refraining from overpaying taxes, investing in stocks, and growing your retirement wealth. The cost of financial illiteracy can be gauged from a National Financial Educators Council 2020 survey, which estimated that Amercians lost a whopping $415 billion due to financial unawareness.

The survey of 1,548 people also revealed that 12.7 percent of the respondents lost over $10,000 because of financial mismanagement. What most fail to realise is that stocks are not lottery tickets, and even a good company stock might tank during a full-blown recession. Watching your life savings dip might not be easy, but making impulsive decisions that affect your investments and retirement savings might be irreversible at times.

While hands-off investment using robo-advisors is gaining popularity, nothing matches the intuition and experience of an in-house financial advisor following fiduciary standards. Those following fiduciary standards are legally and ethically bound to find investment opportunities that are best for you.

Since Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) undergo 1,000 of coursework often with follow up certifications, their guidance on retirement planning, taxes, investments, and monthly budget planning could go a long way to building a fortress around your financial life. Unlike robo-advisors, in-house fiduciary advisors are able to remove emotions from the equation and prevent you from making emotional money moves.

A billion-dollar fintech firm based in New York, called SmartAsset, helps over 65 million people manage their personal finances every month with their award-winning tools based on proprietary technology. Their dedicated concierge team could help you connect with up to three vetted fiduciary advisors near you within minutes when you complete a brief online quiz about your retirement expectations and timeline, risk appetite, and current financial stature. You may interview all of them to find a good fit.

Match with a fiduciary advisor on SmartAsset today.