Behavioral economists have proved one big truth: The best financial decisions are automated.
If your bills get deducted on autopay, you are never late with a bill. Your credit score goes up. You never pay late fees.
If your healthy 401(k) contribution is automatically deducted from your paycheck for 30 years, you end up a millionaire at retirement. You mainly never miss the money.
So, what if you could invest change? Just a buck here and there.
With new financial apps you actually can.
The app Acorns rounds up small purchases. So if you buy a $2.50 coffee, it rounds up the price to $3 and invests the 50 cents in a portfolio of low-cost exchange-traded funds.
You can choose the level of risk, from conservative to aggressive. According to Money, one user saved $250 in a few months without noticing the difference.
A similar app, Digit, transfers small amounts from your checking into a savings account at times when you can afford it.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
