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Welcome to our Financial Freedom Products page! Below are products that we use on a frequent basis, that help us on our road to Financial Freedom! Each one has either made our lives easier, added wealth to our balance sheet and/or has added income to our pocket. We will list out articles for our review, a brief synopsis and a disclaimer that – yes, these may contain affiliate links. But just so you know, we would never put on products that we would not touch or use ourselves, or recommend to a family member. Enjoy and strive for Financial Freedom!

The Financial Freedom Products List

1. Rakuten – A Free Website That Earns You Cash Back With Each Online Purchase

You have seen the commercials, the advertisements, and the name nearly says it all. We have each used Rakuten for a long, long time and have earned hundreds of dollars cash-back. This website is simple to use and adds just a few seconds to your shopping experience. When you are shopping online, make sure you stop by Rakuten first to see what Cash Back percentage you can earn by accessing the website through their portal. Nearly EVERY store is on this website. Chances are, you are missing out on EASY cash back if you don’t stop by Rakuten before checkout!

Time to Sign Up: <1 minute

2. iBotta – An App That Helps You Save on Groceries and Everyday Products

We have both been using this app for years and have earned back hundreds of dollars! This application on your phone gives you cash back for when you go grocery shopping! Even scanning them a receipt gives you money back. It’s so easy to use. The best part is that you are getting money back on purchases you would normally make. Such as beer, milk, cereal, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.. All we have to say is, “You Gotta, iBotta!”.

See Our Review: LINK.

Tim time to Sign Up: <1 minute

3. Swagbucks – A Website That Allows You to Earn Cash by Shopping, Surveys, Searching, and Many Other Ways!

It is always a blast earning “Swags” each day. Swagbucks is allows you to redeem Swagbacks for PayPal cash or gift cards to nearly EVERY major retailer. On top of it, earning swags is easy and quite frankly, a lot of fun. Like Ebates, Swagbucks allows you to earn cash back via online shopping. However, there are also MANY other ways to earn Swags: watch videos, answer daily polls, answer surveys, sign-up for new products, play games, download apps. This list may seem long, but there are plenty of others that were not included. We mean this, stop by the website and see if you enjoy it as much as we do!

See Our Review: LINK

Time to Sign Up: <1 minute

4. Robinhood – An App That Allows You to Invest for Free

This wonderful application is SO easy. The best part – when you sign up through the referral link YOU get a FREE SHARE of stock from a company! There are NO trading fees using this application and I recommend this to all that want to keep costs low/at $0. Further, there are plans to have a high yield savings account within the application and could be one of the best platforms to stay!

See Our Review: LINK.

Time to Open Account with Robinhood: Minutes to apply. One to several days for account approval.

5. Acorns – An App that Automates Investing by “Rounding Up” Your Purchases

This investing app was once of the first applications to allow you to invest the spare change from your purchases. The idea is simple. With each purchase, you invest the spare change by “Rounding Up” your purchase. Here is an example to demonstrate. Let’s say you purchase groceries for $10.15. Acorns will automatically invest $.85 in one of 5 mutual funds that you select based on your risk tolerance! The process is completely automated, making it very easy to use. Based on your purchase volume, your portfolio, and dividend income, can grow quickly!

See Our Review: LINK

Time to Open Account with Acorns: Minutes to apply. One to several days for account approval.

6. Lively – A No-Fee HSA Account that Allows You to Invest Your Funds

Do you have multiple HSA accounts from different employers and you aren’t sure what to do with them? Tired of your company’s HSA provider nickel and diming you with fees? If so, Lively may be the solution for you! Lively is a no-fee HSA account that is changing the game.

Lively allows you to either keep the funds in cash and earn an above-the-market interest rate or to invest the funds in a TD Ameritrade account (subject to TD’s brokerage fees). The best part is that YOU can pick the investments for your account and are not forced to pick from a menu of high-fee mutual funds. The process to sign up is simple and the company is as transparent as can be!

See Our Review: LINK

Time to Open Account with Lively: Short application. May take several days to finalize account opening

7. Ally Bank – The High-Yielding Online Savings Bank used by The Diplomats

Bert and Lanny both have savings accounts through Ally and are currently earning an above average interest rate…just for letting their funds sit there. They currently are yielding 2.80% on their online savings accounts, which is incredible compared to the big bank’s rates of 0.01%. Why not earn as much as you can with any idle cash that is in your account? Exactly. In addition, they have no trading fees for their investment platform! The website is seamless and customer service is getting better, as well.

Time to Open Account with Ally: Five Minutes or less

8. Fundrise – A Crowdfunding Real Estate Platform That Delivers a High Yield

Looking for an alternative investment, outside of the stock market? Lanny currently has a small position with Fundrise and is currently yielding approximately 7.2% on investment and all has been steady thus far. The best part is that it’s not a large portion of his overall net worth, does not track the stock market ebbs and flows, but still offers the taxation of a REIT due to receiving dividends and not interest payments. If you are looking to diversify what is currently in your financial picture, Fundrise is worth a look!

See our Review: Link

Time to Open Account: 10-15 minutes. Account approval may add time to account opening (if needed)

9. Earnest – Save Money by Refinancing Your Student Loans and A Sign-Up Bonus

In May of 2018, Lanny re-financed his brother’s student loan from a blistering > 10% rate, to a low ~5% interest rate, by going through Earnest. This is going to save him a TON of money in interest over the life of the loan and also allowed his brother to reduce his monthly payment! Further, you can earn $200 just by signing up & re-financing your loan from using the aforementioned link.

Time to Refinance Loan: Minutes to receive a pre-qualified rate. Up to 10 to submit formal application for loan.

10. Google Fi – Use Google Fi to Save on Your Monthly Cell Phone Bill

The price is $20 per month for unlimited talk and text messaging. What’s incredible is you can travel internationally and there truly aren’t any roaming costs and is perfect for that. Further, I (Lanny) added my mom to my line for ONLY an additional $15 per month. This is all shared data and you spend $10 per 1 GB used. I am on Wi-Fi 97% of the time and this has worked perfectly thus far (since summer of 2017). In addition, there are no contract terms or strings attached. Using Google Fi has been that amazing and I have easily saved THOUSANDS of dollars.

Further, there is a $20 Referral bonus if you use my link above or below. I also get a little $20 credit as well, so thank you! Check it out:

Time to Sign Up for Google Fi: Easy application. 15 Minutes or so to complete transfer once approved.

11. Shopkick – Earn Cash By Scanning Products Or Simply Walking Into a Store

Another app has found its way onto the list. Shopkick offers users many easy ways to earn rewards (aka “kicks”). This includes “checking into” a store (aka walking into the store), scanning specific products in the store, scanning a receipt, linking cards, or watching videos in the app. In particular, we all enjoy the scanning specific products in stores. We have made scanning products in Shopkick a part of our normal Target shopping routine! My wife enjoys the challenge of the scavenger hunt for products within the store. If you are looking for a fun app to use that does not require you to purchase an item to earn points, it is worth checking out Shopkick!