money apps

Digit Review Scam Legit or Necessary?

by
digit automated savings

Digit is an automated savings service. As always, my first question in a Digit review is, Is Digit a Scam? Then, if Digit is legitimate, the question is what exactly this online financial service does and is Digit worth it for the average person’s personal financial situation. Is Digit safe? I checked out some Digit app reviews and then dug into the details myself. If you are looking for something similar, but that invests the money and doesn’t calculate its own savings (it’s a roundup savings app) check out my Acorns reviews. Is Digit A Scam? The burden of proof for calling something a scam differs based on what exactly it does, and what can be shown from available sources. Digit is a venture capital-backed internet start-up, raising money from, among othe rs, Google’s own venture capital arm. That in itself doesn’t mean it is not a scam, but it does mean that it isn’t some fly-by-night hacker operation looking to steal a few credit card numbers and email addresses. Is Digit Legitimate? Since Digit is a legitimate business and not just a scam to steal your banking information, the question becomes whether Digit is necessary. The idea is that …

Read More

Ibotta Review Cash Back for Buying Stuff

by
ibotta really works legit

A friend of mine keeps going on about Ibotta. For those of you who don’t know, Ibotta is a shopping app that gives you cash back rebates for various items you buy. It’s kind of like coupons, only instead of saving on your grocery bill, you build up a cash back account. What makes it such a huge deal for my friend is that those offers often include beer and wine, and often for a few bucks at a time, so that can add up. But does that make Ibotta a legit deal for others, or is Ibotta a scam that takes more than it gives? Let’s dig into is Ibotta legit. What Is Ibotta? Ibotta is an app for either Android or Apple. You can also use it online via the webpage. It works a lot like many grocery store apps where you go through a list of coupons and select which ones you want to use. However, unlike my King Soopers app, or Safeway app, the offers on Ibotta are rebates, not coupons. In other words, while the coupons take 50 cents off of my grocery bill, the Ibotta rebates have no effect on the cost of my …

Read More

Is Zelle Scam or Legit? A Zelle Review

by
zelle send money

You may have seen the commercials for Zelle, the payment app. They aren’t very specific about what Zelle does, or how it does it. Questions that may pop into your mind are things like, how does Zelle work? Is Zelle legit, or a scam? Why would I bother to use Zelle? Is Zelle safe? You might even have Zelle through your bank without even asking for it. Time to check out some Zelle reviews. If you already use a payment app, your questions are probably more like, is Zelle better than Venmo, or is Square Cash better than Zelle? It’s time for our Zelle review. Soon we’ll have a look at Zelle vs Venmo. Zelle Reviews Zelle is actually two products from the same company. One version of Zelle is the behind-the-scenes payment system backed by, and used by, several American banks inside of their own banking apps. This is the part that the commercials claim is “already on your phone,” or “already in your banking app.” Since Zelle works directly with various banks, they play nicer with Zelle than with others including transferring money with no fees and allowing “instant” transfers and withdrawals. Check out my Acorns app review …

Read More

Rakuten Review Scam or Legit Money Saver

by
rakuten cash back ebates

What is Rakuten? Is Rakuten legit, or is Rakuten a scam? Can you really earn hundreds of dollars using Rakuten to shop online? How does Rakuten work? Ebates is now Rakuten. Rakuten bought out eBates and renamed it, just like it did with buy.com. Rakuten is legit and Rakuten is not a scam. I’m updating my Ebates review and turning it into one of the rakuten.com reviews. Let’s check out my Rakuten review below for answers. Holiday shopping bonuses make Rakuten a better deal than it usually is throughout the year. On Veteran’s Day, for example, there is 11% cash back at several retailers. Combine that with already available Black Friday sales or hit those bigger purchases you are waiting for. Rakuten Reviews The Ebates Rakuten commercials promise cashback for shopping. Does this online website deliver, or is this just a Rakuten scam? I took my own look after a cousin of mine (an extreme couponer) asked, “Is Rakuten safe?” So, without further ado, here is my review of Rakuten. Update: This Rakuten review is still completely accurate, however, it turns out that Rakuten is an especially good deal around holiday time. The reason is that many retailers have a …

Read More

Venmo For Teens!

by
teen venmo

No, you are not dreaming. Now you can get Venmo for teens. Officially speaking, you were required to be 18 years old to use Venmo before. However, lots and lots of teens and parents got around that restriction by having the parent sign up as the official user and then handing the username and password over to their kids. This worked particularly well when paired with a bank account containing nothing but the child’s money. What Is Venmo? Venmo is another cash app similar to Zelle or any of the others that let you move funds around to friends, acquaintances, or PTO boards. Banking for Teens A lot of banks will play ball with you and your teenager when the teen turns 16. No, they can’t open a bank account all by themselves, and no, a bank that has never heard of you probably won’t open an account with your teen either. That said, a bank that you have a relationship with will likely open a bank account for your teenager, with your name on it as well. It’s not like banks and other financial institutions are being mean or short sighted, it’s just that you cannot sign contracts until …

Read More

Acorns Investment Portfolio Review

by
acorns investment performance

Recently, I did a review of the Acorns app. If you are not already familiar with the Acorns savings and investing app, you should read that for an introduction how to use Acorns first. It also covers questions like Is Acorns safe, What are Acorns fees, and If Acorns is legit. Essentially everything you would expect in an honest Acorns review. Now, let’s take a look at Acorns funds and how they invest your change. Are Acorns Investments Good Portfolios? The idea of the Acorns automatic money savings app is that it rounds up all of your transactions and automatically invests that money for you. There are some nuances about how Acorns works you should understand first. Money is only transferred once the minimum round-up amount is $5, and it only happens once per day, unless you use the Acorns debit card or Acorns checking account. Before we get too in-depth here, it is important to remember a few things. First, when you get started with Acorns, we are talking about a very small amount of money. That means that as far as real dollar amounts go, the difference in percentages won’t be big. For example, if you have $100 in …

Read More

Acorns Review Automated Investing Made Easy?

by
acorns app reviews

Note: This Acorns review article has been updated with the latest information as published on the acorns.com website. No sooner than I finished my Digit review, than I saw an ad for another automated savings app on Facebook that takes a different tack for building up your savings automatically with the help of an app and online financial service. This one is called Acorns. Let’s check it out. Is Acorn legit? Is Acorns a scam? Read on while I do my Acorns app review. Acorns Review – Legit, Scam, Worthwhile? Acorns vs Digit Whereas Digit monitors your bank balance and transfers money its algorithm determines is “extra” into a savings account for you, Acorns rounds up the change on every purchase you make to the next whole dollar amount and automatically saves that money for you. Another version of this type of automatic investing and savings app is Grifin. Grifin does away the clever sounding “round up to the next dollar.” Grifin is a user-controlled automatic app investing. Instead of gathering up a few dollars’ worth of transfers and sending them down into mutual fund land, Grifin take every transaction you make and invests $1 in the stock you just bought something …

Read More

Stash vs Acorns vs Robinhood vs Betterment vs Wealthfront

by
acorns robinhood stash wealthfront betterment

It is time for a mega-review session where we review Stash versus Acorns versus Robinhood versus Betterment, and Wealthfront. Why these apps? These are current front runners in a crowded space that encourages small investments from regular people as a way to invest rather than the traditional broker models of investing. In a way, this Wealthfront review versus the other money investing apps begs for a new investing apps versus Fidelity, Schwab, ETrade, Ameritrade, ScottTrade review. That will have to wait for another day since I’ve already bitten off more than I can likely chew with an in-depth look at each of the Stash, Acorns, Robinhood, Betterment, Wealthfront apps and financial services. The Quick and Dirty Look (No Fine Print) Is Stash safe? What does Betterment do? Why is Wealthfront better or worse than Acorns? These questions demand an in-depth look at each one, and a thorough review of the fine print. Before that, we can take a look at what each money app and financial service say they do, and how that fits for regular investors. What Is Stash? Stash is why I’m writing this mega-review. People keep asking me about Stash. Then they ask me if Stash is …

Read More

Wealthfront Review: Safe, Scam, or Legit?

by
wealthfront reviews

I keep getting questions about the pros and cons of Wealthfront, probably because they are advertising pretty heavily on Facebook and other platforms. So, it’s time for a Wealthfront review. The most important thing is to make sure Wealthfront is legit. It is SIPC insured (that’s like FDIC insurance for brokerages) so it at least has to be a real financial organization. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Wealthfront has good investment advice or good service advice, but it does mean that if they go under all of the sudden, then Wealthfront is safe insofar as your money is insured. Wealthfront reviews agree that Wealthfront is not a scam. Wealthfront Fees Wealthfront’s trademark is “Self-Driving Money.” It’s value proposition is that it will take care of your money, and manage it for you. Wealthfront is a robo-advisor, and one of the mini-investor platforms. Wealthfront fees are low. The main Wealthfront fee is the advisory fee of 0.25% on the amount deposited with Wealthfront. Of course, like any other wealth app, or brokerage, the investments Wealthfront uses have their own expenses. According to the company, the funds Wealthfront uses charge between 0.06% and 0.13%, which are very low fees for mutual …

Read More