cool stuff

The leader in free credit monitoring.  See 2 of your credit scores for free. Dispute credit report errors right through the app.  Notifies you of any credit changes. 

Self Lender allows you to easily build credit by loaning money to yourself.  At the end of the loan you receive almost all of your money back (minus their fees)

Nerd Wallet analyzes your credit profile to determine the best credit cards and accounts for your situation. Free credit monitoring and user friendly.  

Mint gathers all your financial information into one place, giving you the whole picture in a way that’s easy to understand and take advantage of. Add the accounts, cards and bills you’d like. See what you have and what you owe. Track your spending patterns, investments and more.

Mvelopes is an online home budgeting system that helps you look to the future and manage your spending accordingly. With Mvelopes you can quickly and easily create an online budget, track all your spending, and always know exactly how much you have left to spend.

What if you could “save money without thinking about it”? Using Digit, you can. After you connect your checking account to Digit, it looks over your income and spending habits to analyze how much you can save each month. Digit will then transfer money from your checking account to your Digit account, based on what you can safely afford.

For years, millions of home shoppers have turned to realtor.com to find their dream home. Operated by Move, Inc., realtor.com offers a comprehensive list of for-sale properties, as well as the information and tools to make informed real estate decisions 

Speaking of real estate investing, the best app for real estate investors may be LoopNet. This real estate app is like Zillow for bigger properties. If you want a multi-unit or commercial property, you won’t find many details on the other sites on this list. LoopNet is exclusively for property investors.

If you love the action of an auction, you’ll love Xome. Xome offers real estate search similar to many others. But it also brings you access to real estate auctions. Some auctions come through the MLS while others are exclusive to the Xome platform.

Stash is an SEC registered investment adviser. When you sign up for a Stash account you get access to over 150 different investment options and personalized guidance. To make an investment, you’ll need to connect a checking account. All it takes is $5 to make your first investment. We let you buy fractional shares so you can invest what you can afford.  

Acorns is a mobile app that takes your spare change and allows you to make micro-investments into popular stocks.  It's "round up" features rounds up your debit card purchases to the nearest dollar and invests it for you in stock options you select. 

Forex, also known as foreign exchange, FX or currency trading, is a decentralized global market where all the world's currencies trade.  Just like stocks, you can trade currency based on what you think its value is (or where it's headed). But the big difference with forex is that you can trade up or down just as easily. If you think a currency will increase in value, you can buy it. If you think it will decrease, you can sell it.  Open a demo account here with 50k in play money to practice.

How the Market Works is advertised as “the web’s most popular Free stock market game.” On this site, investors can buy stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in the U.S. and Canadian markets. Currency trading and short-selling enable investors to practice more advanced investing strategies. The penny stock area even provides detailed insight into the potential dangers investors face when trading penny stocks.

The Investopedia stock simulator is well integrated with the site’s familiar educational content. The simulator includes How to Guides on everything from The User Interface Tabs and Purchasing Stocks to Advance Trade Types, Covering Short Positions and Cancelling Orders.  

Options, margin trading, adjustable commission rates and other choices provide a variety of ways to customize the games.

Wall Street Survivor is another popular stock market simulator offering stocks (but not penny stocks), options and currency trading. After signing up, novice investors can upgrade their skills with a variety of educational courses, including six on Getting Started in the Stock Market. With offerings ranging from Understanding Stock Market Indexes to Reading a Stock Quote, this site covers the bases with insightful information.