Category: Technology

Person's hand holding a locked phone above a blue background, Nicholas Fainlight keep financial accounts secure

How to Make Sure Your Financial Accounts are Secure

On March 24, 2018

In Career, Finance, Nicholas Fainlight, Technology

Whether you like it or not, most of your financial information is available online. While some people avoid using online banking or payment options, most people do. You can pay your credit cards online, check your bank balance, pay off other loans, or manage your retirement accounts. Many people have these apps on their phones and download other financial apps to help them save money or monitor their credit score. These options are incredibly convenient and can help you make informed financial choices and get help if any issues arise, but it can also lead to security issues. However, there are steps you can take to make your financial accounts secure.

Make sure it’s safe

The first step to take when making sure your financial accounts are secure is verifying that the app or website you’re using is actually safe. If you’re considering downloading an app, first look at reviews to make sure people aren’t having a lot of issues with it. Also check out the terms and conditions and find information on how they’re actually protecting your information. Most banks and financial apps are FDIC-insured, which means you can be reimbursed for money up to a quarter of a million dollars. Avoid following any suspicious links as well; only use your institution’s official website when entering account information.

Create complex log-in information

A lot of people reuse usernames and passwords amongst their accounts. However, when it comes to your financial accounts, you need variation. Create unique usernames for each account and randomly generate your passwords. Do not use any information over if you can avoid it. Then, write down your login information on a tangible copy and keep it somewhere secure in your home; avoid keeping any of this information on your phone, no matter how secure you think it is.

Regularly update your passwords

Even with variation, you’ll need to regularly update your passwords. Some people could access your information, but wait to use it. Regularly updating passwords helps make your accounts more secure and greatly reduces the possibility of your information being stolen.

Use a secure connection

If you’re on a public computer or even using a public WiFi connection, avoid checking your financial accounts. It’s much easier than you think to hack into public WiFi and subsequently get onto people’s computers; always use private, secure WiFi when checking important accounts online. Do not save your information in your browser for easier logins in the future. Just memorize your passwords or only access your accounts when you have the information written in front of you.

Monitor your accounts

Finally, once you’ve taken proper precautions with your accounts, continue to monitor them. Instead of waiting for your monthly statement, check your credit card and banking accounts at least once a week to make sure no fraudulent charges were made. While banks have become increasing good at detecting fraud, there is still risk. Always look over charges made to your accounts and make sure every transfer of money and every purchase was actually made by you or another family member who shares the account information.

Top FinTech Companies of 2017

By Nicholas Fainlight

On December 11, 2017

In Finance, Nicholas Fainlight, Technology

Financial technology companies are growing all around the globe, especially in the United States and Europe. Many of these companies make managing your finances much easier and help people get started with money management. So many fintech companies are startups seeing immense growth within their first few years of operation in the account management, payment processing, financial assets, capital, and lending markets. During 2017, there are some major fintech players that stand out way ahead of the rest.

Stripe

In the payment processing market, Stripe is becoming a major contender for the well-known PayPal. Stripe currently operates in 25 countries around the globe and allows for both business and personal transactions via the internet. With the addition of many major retailers adopting the use of Stripe for the first time in 2016, the business has grown to be a major market leader in the payment processing industry for 2017. Most people are grateful for anything that makes paying for purchases simpler.

Prosper

Prosper is a peer-to-peer lending platform that allows those in need of financing access to investors. This takes traditional bank funding and puts it on a new level. With Prosper, borrowers can find investors that are interested in funding them with unsecured personal loans for fixed terms and rates set by the platform itself. This makes lending simple for investors and borrowers alike.

Robinhood

As we see the numbers of individuals interested in becoming more hands-on with their financial investments rise, Robinhood fills the need for a free stock-trading platform. This mobile application is built with an easy interface that allows any average joe the ability to fund their account and trade stocks and learn a little bit more about investing. There are no maintenance fees or other agency costs that are traditionally required from brokerage firms.

Lending Club

Another leading fintech company in the financing market, Lending Club, has made its mark by offering both individual and small business financing options. This peer-to-peer platform assigns borrowers willing investors who can help them out. These investors can purchase notes backed by the payments made on each loan by the borrower. There are options to purchase a diverse portfolio of notes to ensure the best financial stability possible.

Fintech companies are becoming an essential part of our society’s new digital age. People want faster ways to manage their money and businesses want faster ways to receive their profits and technology has become a part of every industry. As technology continues to advance you can expect to see massive growth in the number of fintech companies popping up around the globe to satisfying the needs of individuals and businesses alike.

Piece of paper with a graph on it sitting on a table, image used for Nicholas Fainlight blog about learning to invest

How to Teach Yourself About Investing

By Nicholas Fainlight

On October 24, 2017

In Finance, Investing, Nicholas Fainlight, Technology

Far too many people are unaware of the basics of investing, even though it’s one of the best ways to build your wealth. Public schools do not teach anything about it and if you go to college, you really only learn about investing if you take business or finance courses. This lack of knowledge leads to people shying away from investing and relying on a steady and reliable source of income. They often view the stock market as a way to simply lose money, especially if they lack basic knowledge about investing. This viewpoint is completely understandable, but not one you should subscribe to. If you know nothing about investing, it’s never too late to learn! Here are some ways you can teach yourself more about investing and get ready to start a portfolio of your own!

Take a look at your finances

The first step you’ll need to take is examining your finances and determining how much money you want to put into investments. If you’re heavily in debt or have no savings, you should take care of those issues before attempting to invest large amounts of money. Get an accurate picture of your finances so you know how much you have available to invest.

Learn the basics

When you first begin looking at everything that goes into the markets and investing, it can feel overwhelming. People spend years trying to learn the secret to investment success. Instead of feeling intimidated by these approaches, simply start by learning the basics of investing. Learn what different terms mean and how creating an investment portfolio works. But, don’t take too long; the sooner you begin investing, the better!

Check out online resources

After you feel like you have a basic understanding of investing, it’s time to start learning about the different approaches people take and cultivate a deeper understanding of the market. A great place to look is online, because there’s a seemingly endless amount of online resources, such as ebooks, blogs, podcasts, and many websites that offer expert advice. Check out the credentials of a source before believing everything you read, but most information on investing can be useful, even to just teach you what not to do.

Find experienced people

You might know someone who’s a financial advisor or who spends a lot of time following the market and knows about investing. These are the people you should talk to. Even if you don’t personally know anyone like this, you can certainly find a forum or website where you can chat with someone who can give you actual advice about investing.

Set your goals

Before you actually start investing, take a bit of time to set your individual goals. How much money do you want to invest? Why are you investing? What return do you hope to see? People invest for different reasons, not simply to generate wealth. Once you’ve decided what your individual goals are, you can start investing.

Start small

As you begin your journey as an investor, remember to first start small. You definitely shouldn’t take your entire savings account and invest in high risk stocks; use a smaller, manageable amount first and invest smart. Research the best types of stocks and start out with moderate risk.

Person holding a phone with a bunch of apps on the screen, image used for Nicholas Fainlight blog on whether or not investing apps are worth it

Are Investing Apps Really Beneficial?

By Nicholas Fainlight

On October 16, 2017

In Finance, Investing, Nicholas Fainlight, Technology

Lately, there’s been a rise of apps offered to help you manage your personal finances. There are various types of apps and options to choose from. Whether you merely want to work on budgeting, keep track of your credit score, or begin investing, you have plenty of apps to check out. However, many people question whether or not these apps are actually worth it, especially investing apps. Is your information secure? Are you wasting money? Will you see any kind of return? I’d like to examine whether or not investing apps actually benefit the user.

The concerns about them

One of the main issues surrounding investment apps is the security of them. When you create an investment portfolio with a recognized bank or investment company, you must go through layers of security every time you want to do anything, even if it’s simply transferring money into an account. With investment apps, it doesn’t seem as though there’s as much security. Many people are also wary of putting their information online, so creating a new account with an app seems like the perfect way to have your account information compromised. While this concern is completely understandable, all of the popular investment apps have layers of cybersecurity, very similar to that of a banking website. Many apps also guarantee insurance for accounts up to a hundred thousand dollars, so if you’re below that number, you’d still be able to recover all of your money.

Another concern is whether or not the apps are worth the cost. Some of them charge high trading fees or have regular monthly fees, which can seem like a waste of money, especially when you’re trying to grow your wealth. The answer to this issue is a little murkier than the last. While you should certainly be investing your money in some way, it’s up to you what app you choose. Research the fees associated with each app and learn what different keywords mean, such as how much the app charges per trade. Decide how much you’ll be planning on investing into these accounts and whether or not regular fees are worth it.

Benefits of investing apps

One of the greatest benefits of investing apps is how most of them are designed for beginners to use. Many people do not have the first clue about investing and the best practices for it, so these apps have been designed with this issue in mind. Most investing apps are relatively simple to use once you take some time to play around with them. Some even offer blogs and other tips to help you with investment decisions. Still others offer you direct assistance from a financial advisor.

Another great benefit of investment apps is that you can open an account with relatively small amounts of money. You can start investing spare change or a few dollars and grow your portfolio. For younger investors, this feature is great, especially since many traditional investment companies require you to have a minimum of a few thousand dollars to invest upfront.

How to make them work for you

Finally, if you decide you do want to get into the world of investing and an app on your phone is the best option for you, there are ways to make sure you make the most of it. The best thing you can do is take your time and research the various apps. Check out blogs that focus on investing, financial advice, and financial apps to see what expert opinions are on the different apps and decide which one best fits your needs.