I sure am. The more I take a closer look at my spending and saving habits, the better I get at both of them. I think the first few steps are some of the hardest, but there are some really great tools on the internet to help you get a handle on your finances – from well established companies like Mint, Betterment and LearnVest for budgeting, to this new gem – Magnify Money.

Magnify Money focuses on how you’re already living and helps you set yourself up to optimize your savings, lower your interest rates if you’re in debt and max out credit card rewards.

There’s even a dog with a terrific name as the mascot.

I’m so used to so many things taking on a negative spin and being useless for me. I don’t need to pay down my debt (anymore).  I do not have a mortgage (I’m a pretty devout nomad).

Magnify Money drew me in immediately with it’s “eliminate fees” section. I have a checking account with TD Bank, mostly just for those rare occasions when you need to walk into a building and get something quickly (like cashier’s checks to sign a lease on an apartment that you will be homicidal if you lose because apartment hunting in NYC is easily one of the worst first world problems in existence).

Most of my banking is done with Ally, but when I get paid with a lot of cash, I stop by TD Bank to use the ATM. The problem is that they also hold $100 of my money hostage or I have to pay them $10 a month. If it even drops slightly under $100 – the fee kicks in. I know because I am an idiot and have triggered it twice.

Suffice to say, I don’t like fees.

Clearly if I’d checked out Magnify Money’s “Five Rules to Follow with Checking Accounts” and paid better attention to rule #2, I would be $20 richer.

I like the little starter statements that Magnify Money reels you in with. I like their rating system even more. I really dig that I can easily sort through whether a company is going to be straight forward or terrible to work with from the get go.

I was pretty vindicated to see that my choice of Ally a few years ago is still paying off. It was 2^nd on the list and seemed pretty much tied with Charles Schwab and a few others are being all around awesome.

Unfortunately, doesn’t look like any brick and mortar banks are awesome anymore. As long as I hold onto the shackles of a real building, looks like my $100 are trapped. Even the ratings and other facts about banks on Magnify Money’s list agreed with me. Online banking is the way to go.

I do kind of wish there was a search function near the list so that I could’ve checked out what Magnify Money had found out about TD Bank… I’m betting it would’ve made a C rating at best. Maybe not even that.

From there I checked out earning interest, because, heck yeah, I’d like some interest, please. Preferably, more than the .5% my current emergency savings has been raking in. As someone who has been actively scoping out the scene to move my emergency savings to a different bank, this is a pretty awesome tool!

Surprise, surprise, Ally is a front runner here too. It’s edged out by Barclay’s and GE Capital Bank, but .87% is better than my current rate. And have any of you gotten a Barclay’s Rewards Mastercard. That thing is travel reward magic, I’m not surprised that Barclay’s also has an awesome banking institution attached to it…  or, er, it probably came first. Whatever.

This is why I appreciate a website like Magnify Money – it’s written by people much smarter than me.

Finally, earning cash back is always a crowd pleaser, IF you are good with your credit cards and pay off the balance every month. Cash back cards often have very high interest rates.

I have to say that Magnify Money has pointed out a very interesting card to me that I previously knew nothing about – Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express Card.

This card has a 2% cash back rate with no cap and no fees. The only catch is that your 2% has to go right into a Fidelity investment account. This actually sounds awesome to me. Yes, please, automate some more of my savings. It doesn’t hurt that my IRA is actually a Fidelity IRA (FYI – Magnify Money folks, it’s Fidelity, not Fiedeity, you might want to check your Bottom Line ;o).

I recently applied for a new credit card with an airline that I often fly, but I’m pretty sure after I max out the rewards bonus, this is going to be the next one I open. And I didn’t even know it existed before checking out Magnify Money!

As if all this info isn’t enough, Magnify Money will also teach you how to complain. No joke, check it out!

And don’t forget to click the green button in the upper right hand corner called “Money Finder” because it will AND it’s fun.

 

**This company has not sponsored this post or provided any sort of incentive for this write up. They’re just providing a cool service I wanted all of the other personal finance nerds to know about.**