Save Money and Time Using Financial Web Tools | Smart Moves to ...

Posted by Laura Adams on Feb 11, 2012 in Banking, Blog, Credit Cards, Insurance, Investing, Money Management, Recordkeeping, Retirement, Save Money, Taxes | 0 comments

Do you wish you could accomplish more with your money?

People often ask me what financial tools I really use to?earn more, save more, and accomplish more in my life and business.

So here they are?20+?of my favorite web tools, resources, software, and services that allow me to be productive on the go and keep my finances super organized:

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Banking

#1 ?CheckingFinder: This site allows you to compare and open free, high-interest checking and savings accounts from community banks nationwide. Each institution is FDIC-insured, requires no minimum balance, refunds ATM fees nationwide, has free online bill pay, and pays exceptionally high interest rates. I found my online checking account using this amazing database years ago. The offers you?ll receive depend on where you live in the U.S.

#2 ?CarouselChecks: I rarely write a check these days. However, I do like to keep a few on hand if I need to pay someone quickly and they don?t take payment cards. Carousel is great because you can order as little as one half box of checks starting at $3.99. They?re quality checks 80% off bank prices and are delivered quickly.

Credit Cards

#3?Discover? More Card: Discover offers a wide range of rewards cards and?balance transfer cards?to help you save money based on the types of purchases you make the most.?I?ve had my Discover card since 1992 and won $1,000 in the mid-90s in one of their cash give-away promotions. I actually threw the award notice away because I didn?t believe it! When the 2nd award notice came in the mail, they got my attention and I hurried down to the post office to get my prize!

#4 ?Upromise: This is a clever way to save for college for yourself, a family member, or a friend by racking up cash rewards for purchases you?re already making. You can sign up for a Upromise credit card to get extra rewards?or just link your free Upromise account to existing credit and debit cards. Every time you make a qualifying purchase at thousands of local or online merchants (like grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and clothing stores) you get cash in your Upromise account. I created a quick video tutorial with more info: ?How to Use Upromise to Pay for College VIDEO?

Bookkeeping, Budgeting & Planning

#5 ?QuickBooks: I started using Quicken when I was in my mid-20s and then switched to QuickBooks so I could have more functionality for my businesses. Intuit products are the industry standard and they make bookkeeping easier than you could imagine. It aggregates all your financial accounts into a dashboard and keeps track of every transaction. My tax information is so organized that all I have to do for my personal and business taxes is run a few reports. I use the desktop software version, but now you can get QuickBooks Online.

#6 ?Mint: This is a free financial service owned by Intuit that?automatically pulls in all your?accounts (checking, savings, credit?cards) and categorizes every?transaction, so you can see where?your money goes. This is a great free alternative to paid financial software that makes it easy to budget. There are apps that make it easy to keep track of your financial accounts on any mobile device.

#7 ?Online Bill Pay: If your banking institution offers online banking, you probably also get free online bill pay. Once you start paying bills online you?ll wonder how you lived without it. You can pay any company or person with the click of the button. The back-end processing service wires your payment or mails a paper check (no charge to you) by the due date you enter. You save money on checks, envelopes, and stamps?not to mention countless hours! Also create alerts to be sent to your email, cell phone, or both so you never miss a payment due date.

#8 ?Budget and Financial Planners: These planners make it simple to do a variety of financial tasks like tracking a Budget, calculating your Net Worth, estimating your Investments, Planning for Retirement, estimating Taxes, and making Business Plans. My financial coaching clients love them!

Investing

#9 ?Betterment: This is a radically simple online brokerage where you can invest money in a regular taxable account or in a traditional or Roth IRA. When you set up your account you decide how you want your money invested: conservatively (mostly bond funds), aggressively (mostly stock funds), or somewhere in between (a combination of stock and bond funds). Betterment allows you to set up recurring transfers and automatically rebalances your portfolio so you stay on track. I have accounts with Betterment and have set my family up with ?them too, because it makes investing so intuitive and easy. They offer a free app for your iPhone and iPad.

#10 ?E*TRADE: This is a traditional online brokerage where you can invest money in a regular taxable account or in a traditional or Roth IRA. There are thousands of investments to choose from such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). I have an account with E*TRADE for when I want to research and purchase a specific investment. You can get free apps for any mobile device.

Taxes & Legal

#11 ?TurboTax?: This is another great product from Intuit that makes it easy to e-file your taxes. You answer a series of interview questions and the program takes you step-by-step through the process and searches for tax deductions and credits you?re qualified for. I use a local CPA to file my personal and business taxes each year. ?However, if your situation is fairly simple (you don?t own rental property or a business), TurboTax? Online Federal Free Edition?is a simple way to get your taxes done quickly and accurately each year.

#12 ?Legal Zoom: This is a one-stop shop for hundreds of different kinds of legal forms for your personal or business use, such as a Will, Power of Attorney, Bill of Sale, Promissory Note, Lease, and much more. The templates are created by attorneys and are extremely affordable. I?ve downloaded several of them for my personal and business use.

Credit

#13?AnnualCreditReport.com: This is the official free credit report site. You can get your full credit report from each of the 3 nationwide credit reporting agencies every 12 months. However, your credit report does not include your credit score. I pull my credit file from each agency (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) every 4 months. That allows me to see my credit report for free as often as possible and nip any fraudulent activity in the bud.

#14 ?Credit Karma: Credit scores typically cost about $15. But they?re 100% free (with no strings attached) at Credit Karma! I like to check up on my credit score once a month to make sure no one has stolen my identity?so this site saves me almost $200 per year.

Productivity & Savings Tools

#15 ?RoboForm: I can?t imagine being online without this fantastic password manager. It keeps all your user names, passwords in one place so you can login to all your favorite sites quickly and securely. There are versions for your?desktop and mobile devices that have?gone through multiple security reviews and are used by the U.S. government. Try out the free trial?you won?t want to give it up.

#16 ?eFax: This service allows you to send a fax anywhere you have an Internet connection and save the cost of a fax machine and fax phone line. I don?t have any land lines at home, so eFax lets me send and receive faxes on my computer.

#17 ?Skype: This free Voice Over IP (VOIP) service allows you to talk, video chat, or instant message with other Skype users using an Internet connection. You can call land lines and cell phones for incredibly low per-minute rates. Install the app on your mobile phone and save serious cell minutes!

#18 ?Dropbox: This is a free service that lets you store your files (documents, photos, audios, and videos) in the cloud and share them with other people. This is great when you want to send any type of file that?s too big to email. Dropbox has free mobile apps and syncs up between all your devices. It?s used in combination with other apps I use like the next tool.

#19 ?QuickOffice Pro: This powerful app for your iPad allows you to create, edit, and share Microsoft? Office?documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. You can create a document on your laptop, send it to your Dropbox account, then open it up on your iPad to work on the go. If I create a spreadsheet on my iPad, I can transfer it back to my computer using Dropbox. I can work anywhere, online or offline.

#19 Restaurant.com: I?m a terrible cook, so I love eating out! This site offers huge discounts on my favorite local restaurants. Just enter your zip code and you?ll be amazed at the savings. It?s a great way to try out new restaurants without spending more than you want.

#20 Dinkytown.com: This site is loaded with online calculators that help you crunch the numbers on just about any personal finance issue. You?ll find calculators for mortgages, retirement, insurance, taxes, credit cards, debt, investments, autos, and more.

Bonus! ?Amazon?s Subscribe and Save: This savings program gives you 5% to 15% off Amazon?s lowest prices, plus free shipping on select groceries, beauty products, household supplies, food items, and more. I use this program to save money on over 15 different products including paper products, garbage bags, soaps, coffee, and drink mixes. I dread grocery shopping, so having Subscribe and Save products delivered straight to my front door is the best!

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Source: http://lauradadams.com/save-money-and-time-using-financial-web-tools/

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