Welcome to the Smarts Tools page! As part of our commitment to providing you with the resources and guidance you need to make smart financial decisions, we've compiled a list of some of the best financial tools and resources available online.
From budgeting apps to investment platforms, we've hand-picked a selection of tools that we believe can help you take control of your finances and achieve your goals. We've tested these tools ourselves and believe they offer a combination of ease of use, value, and features that make them stand out from the rest.
We're constantly updating and refining our list of recommended tools, so you can be confident that the resources you find here are the best of the best. Whether you're just starting out on your financial journey or are looking to take your investing to the next level, we're here to help.
Thank you for choosing Smarts as your trusted source for personal finance advice and tools. We hope you find our selection of financial tools helpful and look forward to helping you achieve your goals!
Banks
An innovative digital bank with one goal: to help you earn more, and grow your savings faster and easier than at your everyday bank. CIT offers one of the highest interest rate for any savings account and its mobile app has great reviews on the App Store and Google Play.
- Qualify for up to $200 overdraft without paying any fees with SpotMe*
- No monthly fees and no minimum opening balance
- Get paid up to 2 days early with direct deposit*
Credit Cards
Annual Fee: $0
Regular APR: 11.99%-22.99% Variable APR
Intro APR: 0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers
Annual Fee: $695
Regular APR: 16.74%-23.74% Variable APR
Promotion: Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards®points*
The OpenSky Credit Card is a good credit card for people with a bad credit score who want high approval odds more than they want rewards. The OpenSky Card is worth its $35 annual fee because it has no credit check for new applicants and it helps cardholders build credit.
Investing
Robinhood is a free-trading app that allows you to trade stocks, crypto, and more without paying commissions. Plus, they'll give you a free stock worth between $5 and $200 for joining.
Webull offers a promotion where you can get up to 12 free stocks worth between $3 and $3,000 each. To qualify, you need to make an initial deposit of any amount. The free stocks are randomly chosen from Webull's inventory of settled shares. They are from companies listed on NYSE or NASDAQ with a minimum market cap of $2.5 billion.
SoFi Invest allows members to buy and sell stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), fractional shares, initial public offerings, and cryptocurrency. SoFi Invest also offers commission-free trades. Join now and get $25 worth of your favorite stock to start building your portfolio when you fund your SoFi Active Invest account with at least $10.
With Acorns, automatically invest spare change from everyday purchases in expert-built portfolios recommended for you, easily save for retirement, get paid early, and more. Start in under 5 minutes and get a $20 bonus today!
M1 Finance offers free automated investing as would any robo-advisor. And while it classifies as a robo-advisor in terms of features and functionality, it varies in a few key ways. Fund your account with $10,000+ and get up to a $500 bonus. It’s that easy.
Fundrise can help you get your feet wet with high-value real estate investments. They have a very easy-to-use app that allows individuals access to crowd-funded real estate investing. This option is best for users who want to make money consistently and let their money make them money.
Take control of your finances with Empower's personal finance tools. Get access to wealth management services and free financial management tools.
Cash Back Apps
Drop is the free app that rewards you for shopping at your favorite brands. Join over 4 million members earning millions in cash rewards at Amazon, Netflix, and Starbucks.
Upside can help you make up to $5 back on each gas fill up from on at over 1,000 stations. You can also get the cheapest gas prices near you. Cash out your earnings to PayPal with no minimum balance requirements.
With Fetch, you get rewarded for anything you buy. Snap a receipt to get started. Shop all your favorites & get rewarded on Fetch. Try the free app now. Earn points and redeem.
Ibotta will pay you for going shopping, it's that easy and you can get a $10 bonus after uploading your first receipt.
Rakuten can get you up to 40% cash back at over 2,500 stores. They don't mess around with points, fees, or any forms, just straight up cash back. You can signup and get a $30 bonus today.
Credit
See your free credit scores, reports and personalized tips and tools to help you achieve your financial goals. Start making progress today.
Extra’s mission is to make credit building safer and more accessible for everyone with the first debit card that builds credit and earns reward points. The Extra Card is an ideal choice for those who cannot meet the requirements of standard credit cards but are aiming to improve their credit scores.
- First debit card that helps build credit and earns rewards points
- No security deposit is required like other credit cards for building credit
- Anyone can join, no credit check or minimum credit score required
- Costs $20/month
- Only reports to two credit bureaus: Equifax and Experian
Insurance
Lemonade Insurance offers a new approach to renters, condo and home insurance. They even give back up to 40% of unclaimed money to the nonprofit of your choosing.
Side Hustles
This app lets you play bingo for money — make $100 today. Over 5 Million players agree Blackout Bingo is the fresh, social competitive twist to the classic game where you can win real world rewards and cash prizes (where available).
DoorDash provides more stable hourly pay but has lower earning potential. Instacart has higher earning potential but you must book your schedule in advance. Most gig workers sign up for both to maximize their earning potential.
By signing up as a dog sitter through Rover, you’ll be connected to a nationwide network of pet owners in need of caring providers who offer boarding, pet sitting, or dog walking.
By participating in Nielsen research, you can improve products and services you use online today. Nielsen Computer and Mobile Panel combines your unique internet usage with people like you to build a picture of internet behavior.
Solitaire Cube is the ultimate solitaire game where you can compete in cash tournaments and play head-to-head online in fair competitions for a chance to win real money.
Sign up for free and start using Swagbucks Search, powered by Yahoo!, every time you search the web - you get paid!
Discover games you'll love, and earn rewards for playing. Over $15 million given away to date to gamers who love to earn free gift cards.
Decluttr will give you an instant cash quote for the unused stuff that you have laying around. They'll even give you a free shipping label to send it in. Using them to earn extra cash is a no-brainer.
Bluehost is one of the largest website hosting providers and powers millions of websites and you can start a blog in less than 10 total clicks. If you set up your site on a platform like Bluehost, it automatically walks you through every step of the process, from buying the domain to setting up your own blog.
To participate with HealthyWage, you make a bet on your weight loss and then compete against others – either as an individual or as part of a team – to achieve that goal. If you reach your goal, you will win money. If you don’t, you lose and don’t get to share in the winnings.
Money Saving Apps
Sign up for Paribus and find out if stores owe you a refund - effortlessly! Sign up (or log in) with the email you use for online shopping receipts. They'll scan your inbox for receipts from stores they monitor.
For Rocket Money to lower your bill, you'll upload a copy of your most recent bill with one of the service providers or connect directly to your online account. Then, you'll provide information about the service you're already receiving. After that, Rocket Money will negotiate a lower rate for you.
Capital One Shopping is a legitimate company designed to save people money on purchases they make on a regular basis. Capital One Shopping has millions of customers using its services on a frequent basis. Within the last year, Capital One Shopping saved its customers more than $70 million on the purchases they made.
Survey Apps
Bonus: $10 sign up bonus
Swagbucks is a site that allows you to earn points or "Swagbucks" to redeem for gift cards or cash, yes, cold hard cash, via your PayPal account for doing simple tasks.
Survey Junkie has a well-designed platform, straightforward rewards system where you can get paid to surveys, listen to music, try out new products and participate in focus groups at home.
InboxDollars is a legitimate way to make extra money online. It's been around for 20 years, and the company says it's paid its members more than $59 million since 2000.
We've built relationships with some of our favorite companies on this list. As a result, using some of these links support what we do at no cost to you. We greatly appreciate your support!