Recommended Resources
This page is where you can find all of the products, companies, and services that we trust to recommend to you. If you are looking to save money, invest, or track your wealth, you’re in the right place. We update this page regularly with new ways to make extra money online as well!
Please note: there are affiliate links on this page below. We are protective of our audience and only recommend products that we have fully vetted ourselves or use personally.
Money Management
BUDGETING PLATFORM THAT WE USE
You Need a Budget
The app offers not just the mechanics of monitoring income and expenses, but also provides instructional support to help you deal with the root causes of financial distress. YNAB allows you to automate your budget. YNAB is a robust budgeting software, and allows you to customize almost anything you want. It is the budgeting system that most closely mirrors how your transactions and money ACTUALLY work in real life.
A MUST-HAVE FINANCIAL EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS TOOL
ICE Binder - Emergency Preparedness
This binder is a comprehensive way to organize your life in a way that makes it easier for someone to take over for you if something were to happen. Organize your family's most important information - from finances to traditions to bed time stories - so you're prepared, no matter what happens.
FREE NET WORTH TRACKING TOOL THAT WE USE
Personal Capital
We personally use Personal Capital to track our money and more specifically our net worth. It allows you to view all of your accounts from one screen, and it tracks your net worth and sends you weekly spending updates. It’s 100% free to use for tracking your finances.
CHECK YOUR CREDIT SCORE FOR FREE
Credit Sesame
Credit Sesame allows you to track your credit score without having to put in credit card info. It’s totally free! You’ll also get $50,000 of free credit fraud protection when you create a profile (also FREE). Credit Sesame lets you check your credit score and get alerts when your score has been updated, it's completely free to use and won't hurt your credit.
Saving Money
EARN CASH FOR SEARCHING AND SHOPPING ONLINE
Swagbucks
Swagbucks is a company where you can earn free gift cards and even cash for the things you normally do online, such as shopping, searching the web, and taking surveys. They give out 7,000 free gift cards every day. You can sign up for Swagbucks here.
EARN CASH FOR MAKING ONLINE PURCHASES
Rakuten
With Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates) you can earn free cashback for just making purchases like how you normally would online. All you do is click on a store that you want to shop at through their portal (they have TONS of stores such as Kohls, REI, Toys R Us, etc.), and shop just like how you normally would. Rakuten makes a commission for referring you to the store you just shopped at, and they give you some of that money back as a thank you. Plus, when you sign up through our link, you receive a free $10 cashback!
SLASH YOUR FOOD BUDGET WITH THESE MEAL PLANS
$5 Meal Plan
The $5 Meal Plan is a great tool to help you plan meals without breaking the bank! It's only $5 a month and you get meal plans sent straight to you along with the exact shopping list you need in order to create the meals. The meals are easy to make and are affordable. Check out this interview that we did with the founder Erin Chase.
FANTASTIC RESOURCE TO LOWER YOUR BILLS
Trim
Trim is a virtual personal assistant that can help you negotiate your bills and start saving more money. It’s free to use and is a great way for anyone to save a couple of extra dollars a month. Cancel your old subscriptions, set spending alerts, check how much you spent on Uber last month, and automatically fight fees...to name a few cool ways Trim adds value. Check out this interview that we did with the founder Thomas Smyth.
Investing
Best App For Long Term Passive Stock Market Investing
M1 Finance
M1 Finance offers a unique combination of automated investing with a high level of customization, allowing clients to create a portfolio tailored to their exact specifications. You can create portfolios containing low-cost ETFs or use individual stocks – or both. With M1, you can choose one of more than 80 expert portfolios or build your own.
FREE ANALYSIS AND EDUCATION FOR YOUR 401K
Blooom
Blooom’s goal is to help everyone and anyone to understand and utilize their 401k. They offer incredible tools and advice and, most importantly, financial peace of mind. It’s completely free to receive a retirement account analysis from Blooom. You simply create a free Blooom account, connect your eligible retirement accounts and the service uses a proprietary algorithm to analyze and optimize your investment portfolio. Check out this interview we did with the found Chris Costello.
GET YOUR FEET WET WITH INVESTING IN THE STOCK MARKET
Acorns
Acorns works by rounding up your purchases on linked credit or debit cards, then sweeping the change into a computer-managed investment portfolio. They have also partnered with more than 200 different companies (such as Apple, Hulu, Nike, and Airbnb) to give you cashback on purchases you make with your linked account.
Business Tools
WEB HOSTING COMPANY THAT WE USE
Bluehost
Looking for cheap hosting? Bluehost is the hosting company that we recommend because it’s who we’ve used from the inception of our website. It’s affordable and if you sign up through our exclusive link you will receive a free domain name when you purchase a 12-month plan.
EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER THAT WE USE
Convertkit
Not too long ago we switched over to ConvertKit from MailChimp to handle our email campaigns and am very happy with it. If you are wanting to sell courses or products – this is a really good service. With ConvertKit, you can easily segment contacts into those who are interested and those who have already purchased. This is great for marketing automation.
The Smartest Way To Schedule on Pinterest & Instagram
Tailwind
Tailwind is the Pinterest scheduling tool that we use to assist us with planning out and scheduling our pins for Pinterest. This tool will help you save time, maximize your reach, be more efficient, and schedule like a pro. You can also use this same tool for your Instagram account scheduling needs.
QUALITY YET INEXPENSIVE WEBSITE THEMES
Genesis/StudioPress
When trying to nail down a quality level of design for your blog, Genesis is a great resource for this. Genesis is used on our blog, and we highly recommend it. It's incredibly affordable too!
BOOST PRODUCT SALES WITH THIS HIGH-CONVERTING SOFTWARE
ThriveCart
The number 1 cart software that grows your income from existing traffic and pays for itself many times over with high converting checkout pages, upsells & affiliate campaigns. Get lifetime access now before it changes to monthly pricing.
Business Courses We’ve Taken
Best Blogging Course On The Market
Six Figure Blogger
Six Figure Blogger is an online course that teaches you how to successfully monetize your blog. You will learn the exact strategies and the step-by-steps you need to take in order to create your first online course or ebook. Six Figure Blogger is dedicated to guiding aspiring entrepreneurs just like you get their brands up and running online successfully.
Make Money with Affiliate Marketing
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
This online course teaches you everything you need to know about making money through Affiliate Marketing. The is course was created by Michelle Shroeder-Garder and she consistently earns over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing and she shares her exact strategy and tips in this very informative online course. If you’re a blogger (even if you’re a new blogger!), then highly recommend this course.
The Popular Manual Pinning Strategy
Pinterest Strategies
This online course teaches you how to manually pin to Pinterest without using a scheduler. The course creator Carly was able to use her own strategies and get 200K pageviews to her site per month. Her pinning without a scheduler has fast tracked her to a full-time income from her blog. This course is doable and practical.
Great Foundational Facebook Ads Course
Flourish With Facebook Ads
Flourish with Facebook Ads takes teaches the strategies that the creator Monica Louie has used with clients through hundreds of successful Facebook ad campaigns and breaks down the keys to high-converting, low-cost campaigns with a step-by-step blueprint. Check out this interview we did with her about the course. We knew absolutely nothing about Facebook ads prior to taking this course and Monica changed all that for us.
Great Facebook Ads Course Specifically For Bloggers
Facebook Ads For Bloggers
This course teaches you how to instantly increase your blog traffic and email list for as little as $1 per day by using Facebook Ads. This content will lead you from being a total FB ads novice through to having a thoroughly solid grasp about how to run ads on Facebook – and how to get clicks. We have taken this course and learned a great deal that we didn’t know about Facebook Ads.
Our Favorite Entrepreneurship Conference
Fincon
This conference is our favorite entrepreneurship conference to attend and you can learn business-changing strategies and ideas to propel your brand forward. The #FinCon19 Virtual Pass gives you access to Keynote Presentations, Big Idea Talks, Breakout Sessions, and more — the next best thing to being there in-person! It's worth every dime...no exaggeration!
Learn How To Build a Membership Community
Tribe
Work From Home Ideas
Make Money as a Virtual Assistant
Virtual Assistant
There’s a great course called 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success that was created by Gina Horkey to help you become a successful money-making virtual assistant in less than a month! Check out this interview that we did with Gina as she discusses this money-making business opportunity.
Make Money By Running FB Ads for Local Businesses
FB Ad Side Hustle Course
This course will help you make $1,000 or more per month running Facebook ads for small businesses from the comfort of your home. Check out this interview that we did with the creator of this course.
Make Money as a Voiceover Artist
Voiceover Artist
Here’s a free guide from professional voice over artist Carrie Olsen to help you get started with making money as a voiceover artist. You can also check out this interview that we did with Carrie where she discusses how she got started in the business and eventually replaced her full-time income as a result.
Make Money as a Freelance Writer
Freelance Writing
Check out this interview with Holly Johnson to talk about how to make money from home as a freelance writer. Holly went from $0 to $225,000+ using the strategies that she teaches for freelance writers!
