When you’re doing everything you can to save money, having access to free money management tools can be just the push you need to get your finances under control.

I mean, you don’t want to spend more money when the point of managing your money is to make sure you have more of it at the end of the day, right?

1. Open a high-interest savings account for free

You should always aim to have an amount equal to around three months of expenses as an emergency fund.

But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be earning interest on this.

Similarly, you may be saving up for a big purchase that you want to make in the next few months, meaning that it’s not wise to invest the money while you wait.

In both cases, it’s best to keep the money in a high-interest savings account.

And my absolute favorite for this is the CIT Premier High Yield Savings Account.

The interest rate is 1.55%, which is 22 times higher than the national average of 0.07%.

Better yet, it’s completely fee-free!

You simply need a minimum of $100 as an opening deposit and you’re good to go.

Click here to find out more and apply.

2. Check your credit score for free

It’s super important to be aware of your credit score, especially if you’re planning to take out a loan or a new credit card some time soon.

Fortunately, Credit Sesame lets you see your credit score for free.

Why is this important?

Well, a better score will likely result in you being offered better interest rates and avoiding security deposits on things like cell phone contracts and utilities. You’ll also have more negotiating power on your new loan or on a credit card.

All of this can add up to save you a ton of money.

And if your credit score turns out not to be as good as you’d hoped, it’s much better that you’re aware of this now rather than getting a nasty surprise when you go to apply for a loan.

Especially because it means that you can start to work on improving it.

So click here to grab your free credit score.

3. Get your credit report for free

It’s also important to know what’s listed on your credit report.

After all, it’s good to be aware of how your past activities have affected your credit so that you can make sure to avoid those things in future.

But perhaps more important is to catch anything that shouldn’t be there, which may indicate that someone has used your identity fraudulently.

They could have taken out a credit card in your name and be spending wildly – which you won’t know about until you get a knock on the door asking why “you” haven’t repaid it.

In any case, Credit Sesame can also give you a free credit report.

Just go to this page, hover over the “Credit Score” dropdown menu at the top of the page and click “Free Credit Report Card”.

And don’t worry, getting your credit report from Credit Sesame is a “soft inquiry”. This means that it won’t affect your credit score like what happens when you, say, apply for a credit card.

4. Get detailed information on your overall financial situation for free

It may sound obvious, but it’s impossible for you to improve your financial position if you don’t know where you stand at the moment.

Sure, you may have a rough idea of how things are going.

Some investments. Some debt. Things are ok, you guess.

But do you know exactly where your money’s going in and out? And how your overall net worth is growing or getting smaller each month?

This is why the free service offered by Personal Capital is so good.

It allows you to connect your bank accounts, 401(k) account and investment accounts as well as your credit cards to let you see your overall picture.

By clearly showing you where your money’s going in and where it’s going out, you’ll easily be able to see where you may be over-spending – perhaps without even realizing it – allowing you to focus your budget-trimming efforts on that area.

The information it shows you is detailed without being overwhelming and very easy to analyze, even if you’re not a finance whiz.

And if you continue to use Personal Capital over time, it’s a great way for you to see how you’re doing and make any changes accordingly.

Get more information and sign-up at Personal Capital here.

 

5. Get free money through your 401(k)

There’s no reason to beat around the bush: If your employer offers matching 401(k) contributions and you’re not doing everything you can to take advantage of this, then you’re throwing away free money.

This money is in addition to your normal salary (free money!) and you aren’t taxed on it until you withdraw it at retirement, which in most cases means that you’ll end up paying less tax overall (more free money!).

So if this is available to you, make it a priority to start contributing up to the maximum matched amount as much as you can.

MORE INFORMATION: HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR 401(K) BY TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

And speaking of your 401(k)…

6. Get an expert check on your 401(k) for free

It can be hard to know whether you’re doing everything right with your 401(k). But it’s hugely important to make sure you are.

After all, it’s been shown that not optimizing your 401(k) can cost you literally tens of thousands of dollars over your working life.

Things like excessively high fees (even half a percent too high) or an incorrect mix of stocks and bonds based on your profile can all end up costing you a massive amount.

However, Blooom can help – for free!

This tool will run an analysis of your 401(k) against 25,000 other funds and based on your personal circumstances (age, risk profile etc.).

It then tells you where you can improve things – such as if you have any hidden fees or whether you’re being too conservative – and suggest ways to fix these issues to make sure that you’re earning as much as possible for your retirement.

Blooom states that its users cut their management fees by an average of 44% and that around one third of users had accounts that were too conservative. This means that they were losing money over time due to lower returns.

Click here to get a free analysis of your 401(k) to make sure that you’re on the right track to retirement.

7. Download a budgeting app for free

Spent Money app (iOS / Android) is a great app that does double the work of most budgeting apps.

After you – completely securely – connect your accounts to the app, it automatically organises your expenses, analyses your spending habits and shows you how you’ve been using your money.

This is enormously helpful when trying to figure out where your money has gone, while also showing you where you can make some changes to save more.

However, the app then adds some icing on the cake by providing cash back whenever one of your accounts shows a purchase at one of the thousands of shops and restaurants in the Spent Money system.

This includes companies like Amazon, Uber, Netflix, Starbucks, Spotify and Grubhub.

So given that 99.9% of you are definitely shopping at one of these stores, you’ll be easily able to start getting cash back without changing your spending habits.

(And by the way – you get a bonus $10 cash back after your first eligible purchase.)

Download Spent Money app (iOS / Android) for free and see how it can help you take control of your spending – with some extra cash on the side.

8. Cut your subscriptions for free

There are bills that we pay month after month, like our internet or cable or car insurance, that we just blindly pay without thinking.

But have you ever stopped to wonder if you could be paying too much for these things?

It can seem like a major hassle to look into whether other companies offer a cheaper service on something that you’ve been using for a while, like your internet.

Luckily, Trim is here to take away the hassle for you, saving its users around $1,000,000 per month.

It’s a great app that looks at your recurring subscriptions and finds out just how you can cut back on them.

For example, it can renegotiate your internet and cable bills, find you better car insurance and more – all automatically.

And it’s totally free to try!

There’s one condition: if Trim saves you money on a bill, it will take a small percentage as a fee.

But this is slightly reducing your savings, not charging you a fee. So as you come out on top, we think that this one can definitely be considered as fee-free.

Click here to find out more and get started with Trim.

9. Find out how much you’ll be worth in the future for free

While some may say that this is nothing more than a fancy calculator, I love checking this from time to time to see the effect my savings will have on my future wealth.

Money Chimp’s Compound Interest Calculator is simple: you enter how much money you currently have, how much you plan to save each year, the interest rate on these savings and how long you plan to continue to do this.

You can then see exactly how much money you’ll have after that time!

So say you’re 30 and have saved nothing. But you want to start saving $500 per month until you retire at age 65. You plan to put this money into S&P 500 index funds, which have an average rate of return of around 7%.

By the time you retire, you’ll have just under $890,000. Not bad for only having invested $210,000 overall!

FIND OUT MORE: THE ONE PRINCIPLE THAT WILL GUARANTEE YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE

10. Get a credit card with great rewards for free

Credit cards can be a blessing or a curse.

In my case, I’ve discussed before how I put all of my expenses on my credit card. This lets me get some great rewards simply by maintaining my usual spending habits.

But this only works if you have the self-control to only charge as much on the credit card as you can afford to pay off each month.

Otherwise, you’re going to be slammed with high-interest rates and potentially late payment fees that make any rewards useless.

So if you trust yourself to pay it off, a credit card can be a great way to get rewards – and all for free if the card as no fees!

I’d particularly recommend the Discover it – Cashback Match card for this.

It has no annual fee and offers 5% cash back at a range of places, like gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and when you shop on Amazon, while all other purchases earn you 1% cash back.

And at the end of the first year, Discover will automatically match all the cash back you earned – so it’s double the earnings!

Click here and go to the first option on the list to find out more information on this card and to apply.

11. Refinance your student loans for free

There’s no question about it: student loan debt can be crippling.

Paying off your debt as quickly as possible is imperative for setting yourself up for financial freedom.

But massive student loan repayments can really get in the way of that.

So did you know that refinancing your loans can potentially save you thousands of dollars?

LendKey for example, reports that it provides an average saving of $16,000 for each person who refinances their student loans with the company.

Better yet, the entire process is completely free, including:

• It’s free to review your offers on their website, which also doesn’t involve any hit to your credit score; and
• There are no origination fees, which is an upfront fee charged by a lender for processing a new loan application (and which can be more than $1,000)

(You can read our full LendKey review for more information.)

For more information and to see the refinancing offers available to you, check out LendKey.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO REFINANCE YOUR STUDENT LOANS IN TWO MINUTES AND SAVE THOUSANDS

12. Get two audiobooks for free

Audible offers a 30-day free trial which lets you download TWO audiobooks.

And then even if you choose not to continue to use Audible once the free trial is over, you get to keep the free audiobooks!

If you’re just getting started on your personal finance book journey, I like to recommend starting with The Millionaire Next Door, as well as either The Simple Path to Wealth or The Richest Man in Babylon (or both!).

Start your free trial with Audible right here.

13. Get a two-week meal plan for free

Meal planning has saved me a ton of money at the supermarket.

However, it (unsurprisingly!) involves some planning, which I’ve tended to struggle with when trying to think of new meals to make each week.

So the service offered by $5 Meal Plan has been a lifesaver.

They send you meal plans each week, including recipes and shopping lists.

And, better yet, the recipes only cost about $2 per person to make, so my wallet’s even happier about it.

While I do have the paid subscription (which is an absolute steal at $5 per month or $1.25 per week), you can get a free 14-day trial through this link.

Take a look and see how much time and money you can save by starting to meal plan.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW I SAVED $300 ON MY GROCERY BILL IN ONE MONTH

 

15. Do a course to start a new side hustle for free

You may be looking to add to your household income or to launch yourself into a whole new career.

Whatever your reason, starting a new side hustle is absolutely a great idea for your finances.

However, it can be tricky to figure out where to get started.

Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of free courses that will lay the foundations for beginning your new side hustle or work from home job.