The System is Rigged. Here’s How to Not Let it Rob You Blind
In the 1950s, CEOs were earning about 20 times more than their average employees. Seems fair considering their title, right? Sure.
Today, according to research pulled by Bloomberg, the typical Fortune 1,000 CEO makes 144 times more than their average worker. But wait, it gets worse: at The Coca-Cola Company, CEO James Quincey makes an insultingly high 1,621 times more.
The system is rigged, man. And over the last year, it’s become a lot more apparent. The rich get richer, and many of us are just trying to make ends meet.
You can ask for a raise or try your chances playing the lotto, but neither of those are guaranteed to land in your favor. So how can you get your slice of the pie, too? Here are some surefire ways you can stick it to The Man.
1. Cancel Your Car Insurance
Here’s the thing: your current car insurance company is probably overcharging you. But don’t waste your time hopping around to different insurance companies looking for a better deal.
Use a website called EverQuote to see all your options at once.
EverQuote is the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US, so you’ll get the top options from more than 175 different carriers handed right to you.
Take a couple of minutes to answer some questions about yourself and your driving record. With this information, EverQuote will be able to give you the top recommendations for car insurance. In just a few minutes, you could save up to $610 a year.
2. Fight the Billionaire Hedge Fund Managers
Think those high-flying billionaires on the top floor are just sitting pretty on their cash? No way — they’re investing it and making even more millions.
It doesn’t seem fair they get to have their own hedge fund managers who make them richer every day. The system wasn’t set up to make it easy for us worker bees.
But with an app called Stash , you can take on those expensive brokers. It lets you be a part of something that’s normally exclusive to the richest of the rich — on Stash you can buy pieces of other companies for as little as $1.
That’s right — you can invest in pieces of well-known companies, such as Amazon, Google, Apple and more for as little as $1. The best part? If these companies profit, so can you. Some companies even send you a check every quarter for your share of the profits, called dividends.1
It takes two minutes to sign up , and it’s totally secure. With Stash, all your investments are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) — that’s industry talk for, “Your money’s safe.”2
Plus, when you use the link above, Stash will give you a $5 sign-up bonus once you deposit $5 into your account.*
3. Say Goodbye to Your Big Brick-and-Mortar Bank
Not that you’d be surprised by this, but the place you trust to keep your money safe and growing is getting rich by ripping you off.
First, they charge all those insane fees. Then, they make tons of interest on your money — but only give you .05% (on average). Peanuts for the poor. Billions for the bank.
So if you’re sick of getting ripped off, find an account that won’t charge you ridiculous fees and earn you way more interest on your savings — it is your money, after all.
A debit card called Aspiration lets you earn up to 5% cash back every time you swipe the card and up to 16 times the average interest on the money in your account. Plus, you’ll never pay a monthly account maintenance fee.
To see how much you could earn, enter your email address here , link your bank account and add at least $10 to your account. And don’t worry. Your money is FDIC insured and under a military-grade encryption. That’s nerd talk for “this is totally safe.”
4. Ask This Website to Help Pay Your Credit Card Bill This Month
No, like… the whole bill. All of it.
While you’re stressing out over your debt, your credit card company is getting rich off those insane interest rates. But a website called Fiona could help you pay off that bill as soon as tomorrow.
Here’s how it works: Fiona can match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every credit card balance you have. The benefit? You’re left with just one bill to pay every month, and because the interest rate is so much lower, you can get out of debt so much faster. Plus, no credit card payment this month.
If your credit score is at least 620, Fiona can help you borrow up to $250,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 2.49% and terms from 6 to 144 months.
Fiona won’t make you stand in line or call a bank. And if you’re worried you won’t qualify, it’s free to check online. It takes just two minutes, and it could save you thousands of dollars. Totally worth it.
All that credit card debt — and the anxiety that comes with it — could be gone by tomorrow.
5. Copy This Strategy To Get a $526 Refund
Chances are you do some of your shopping online. Whether it’s pet food from Walmart, toilet paper on Amazon or even a flight home for Thanksgiving, you’re probably leaving money on the table.
A free website called Rakuten has the hookup with just about every online store you shop, which means it can give you a kickback every time you buy.
In fact, since Denver resident Colleen Rice started using Rakuten, it’s sent her checks in the mail totaling $526.44. For doing nothing. Seriously. Rice says she uses Rakuten for things she already has to buy, like rental cars and flights.
It takes less than 60 seconds to create a Rakuten account and start shopping. All you need is an email address, then you can immediately start shopping your go-to stores through the site.
Plus, if you use Rakuten to earn money back within the first 90 days of signing up, it’ll give you an extra $10 on the first check it sends you. Talk about money for nothing.
Kari Faber is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.
1Not all stocks pay out dividends, and there is no guarantee that dividends will be paid each year.
2To note, SIPC coverage does not insure against the potential loss of market value.
For Securities priced over $1,000, purchase of fractional shares starts at $0.05.
*Offer is sunbject to Promotion Terms and Conditions. To be eligible to participate in this Promotion and receive the bonus, you must successfully open an individual brokerage account in good standing, link a funding account to your Invest account AND deposit $5.00 into your Invest account.
The Penny Hoarder is a Paid Affiliate/partner of Stash.
Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser. This material has been distributed for informational and educational purposes only, and is not intended as investment, legal, accounting, or tax advice. Investing involves risk.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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