Co-founder and personal finance industry analyst for The Ascent by The Motley Fool. He has 11 years of finance experience and has published over 800 educational and research articles on The Motley Fool, CNN, MSN, Yahoo, and more.
Let’s be honest: no one wants to spend hours trying to figure out the best credit card, mortgage provider, savings account, or stock brokerage to use.
But at the same time, getting these things right can be crucial to achieving your financial goals.
Truth is, many people simply miss out on pocketing thousands of extra dollars every single year because they’re given bad personal finance advice or they don’t know where to look.
We started The Ascent, The Motley Fool’s personal finance service, to help fix that. Our experts have spent hundreds of hours researching, reviewing, and rating the top financial products in America.
Most importantly, we’re objective and editorially independent. Here’s why that matters.
Did you know that when you search the internet for something like “best credit cards” or “top mortgage lender”, most of the top sites that show up in the results will only display products and offers that they get paid a referral fee for?
We don’t think that’s right.
We recommend the best products, regardless of whether we get paid for them or not. Sure, we have some advertiser relationships -- it helps us bring you our reviews and recommendations for free. But that has zero influence on our opinions and evaluations of products.
Below, you’ll simply find products rated highly by our experts, some of which we earn an affiliate commission on, and some of which we don’t.
Our motto is simple: if we wouldn’t recommend a product to a friend or family member, we wouldn’t recommend it to you either. This report takes that a step further: many of the products you see recommended below are used personally by members of The Ascent team.
Check out our top personal finance tips below from Ascent money expert Nathan Hamilton.
Credit cards can get a bad rap, and sometimes it’s deserved. But they can also be an incredible tool if used in the right way. Truth is, it’s usually best to avoid credit cards if you can’t pay off your interest-bearing balance each month, since high-interest debt can really add up. (Note: if you already have credit card debt, consider transferring it to a 0% interest balance transfer card. And if you need to make an emergency purchase or need some temporary help making ends meet, consider a card with a long 0% intro APR period.)
But as long as you’re able to pay off your balance each month (set up autopay!), it’s practically a no-brainer to regularly use credit cards instead of debit cards or cash. That’s for three main reasons:
With hundreds of different credit cards out there, it’s hard to know where to begin for picking the right one. Here are 3 of my top credit card picks in common categories:
If you want the highest possible cash back rate: Discover it® Cash Back
Suggested credit score for approval: 670+
If you want low effort, flat-rate cash back: Citi® Double Cash Card – 18 month BT offer
Suggested credit score for approval: 700+
If you have credit card debt currently: Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card
Suggested credit score for approval: 700+
If you don’t have the credit score needed to get approved for these cards, check out our best cards for building credit.
I’ll give you the same advice I’ve been giving my friends and family: even if you think you currently have a good mortgage rate, in this environment you’d be crazy not to at least see how much you’d save by refinancing.
This is the best opportunity I’ve ever seen to lock in a lower rate on your mortgage, as mortgage rates are shockingly low and still sitting near record low levels. Many Americans have gotten the message as refinance applications have surged 88% over last year.
When does refinancing make sense? In general, if your quoted refinance interest rate is 1% or lower than your current rate and you don’t plan on moving for a few years at least, refinancing is often a good move.
I can personally tell you that savings can be massive. I’ve now refinanced twice in the past 12 months, and it’ll save me a whopping $1,745.16 per year on my mortgage payments. That’s over $52k over 30 years! I used Better Mortgage both times I refinanced, and the experience was excellent. A process that was once a hassle is now a walk in the park: they found me a low rate and I was able to complete my application in just a few minutes.
We reached out to Better Mortgage after myself and several members of our Ascent team used them when refinancing. They’re fans of The Motley Fool and have agreed to give Motley Fool readers an exclusive discount of $150 off closing costs. Use this link here to claim your discount and check your rate.
We may never see an opportunity like this again for low rates: if you own a home or are looking to purchase one, I highly recommend you at least check how much you can save on your mortgage.
Click here to check your rates and claim your exclusive discount.
If you’re buying stocks or getting ready to do so, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a top broker. The truth is that there is less differentiation in this industry now that trading commissions are $0 pretty much across the board (hurray!). But it’s still very important to pick a top brokerage due to differences in other things like welcome bonuses, customer support, ETF/mutual fund availability, bank integration perks, mobile experience, and more.
Merrill Edge is a top pick of our experts for the reasons below:
If you have your savings in an account at a traditional brick-and-mortar bank, you’re likely earning almost no interest on your money. The average national savings account currently earns less than a dollar on every $1,000 in the account! You can do better than that.
I think it’s a no-brainer to use an online savings account to stash your savings cash -- I moved my savings to an online account years ago and haven’t looked back. The rates might not look super impressive now as interest rates are down across the board, but online savings accounts can still pay you 12x more interest than a traditional bank account.
Many people can easily earn several hundred additional dollars every year just by opening an account at a top online savings account provider. I view the extra interest income as essentially free money.
American Express High Yield Savings Account is a top pick of ours for its high rates and ease of use. Plus, your account is FDIC insured up to $250k just like savings accounts at traditional banks, so your money is safe. Click here to learn more and open an account.
Varo offers a high APY if certain conditions are met, but you need to jump through some hoops to get it and balances over $10k won’t earn the highest rate. Click here to read our full review.
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Co-founder and personal finance industry analyst for The Ascent by The Motley Fool, a new online publisher of the year award recipient in 2017. Prior to that, he was a Director for The Motley Fool. He has 11 years of finance experience under his belt and has published over 800 educational and research articles that have appeared on websites such as MSN, AOL, and Yahoo Finance. He holds an MBA in Finance from George Washington University.
The Ascent is reader-supported: we may earn a commission from offers on this page. It’s how we make money. But our editorial integrity ensures our experts’ opinions aren’t influenced by compensation.
We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers.
The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.
The Motley Fool has a Disclosure Policy. The Author and/or The Motley Fool may have an interest in companies mentioned.
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