Money is a fickle thing. We see it, we spend it, we lose it, etc. We think of money in terms of what we can buy. It’s often measured in tax brackets we’re in or wish to be in. Money, at its very core, is an agreement on value. It’s a representation of potential buying power that can be used or leveraged to do absolutely anything (within the bounds of your country’s laws). When we hold physical money, it tends to get spent. The same goes for if we don’t look at it at all and swipe credit cards. The happy medium is to have an online means to hold the money that you can check on, with real-time updates.
If you’re not currently using the internet to keep track of and hold your money, here are a few ways you can do it.
Banking On The Internet
Banking online is extremely easy. Remember when you had to show up to a building during banking hours and have all the right numbers scribbled on sheets, with two forms of identification just to prove your minimal amount of cash was yours? Well, nowadays you only need to do that if you need to be there. You can do everything online. Working with digital banking is a lot like signing up for a social media website, just way more secure. First, you put in your information and your account number. That, or you link up to a bank card. From that point, your bank and the 3rd party digital finance company approve your eligibility. They let you know through email. More often than not, you have an online account already available to you through your bank. That, in this day and age, can be used as a launching point to other payment means.
Investment Portfolios
One of the most popular means of keeping money active online is through a personal investment portfolio. You don’t have to be Warren Buffet or Ray Dalio to invest. You can put in as little or as much as you want into an online investment firm. Companies like TD Ameritrade, WeBull, and Robinhood have been dominating the retail investor sphere this past year. Why? Minimal fees, maximum output, and the ability to control where your money goes. You can keep it within the firm, like cash, without having to pull it out into physical bills, thus paying out the 15-35% tax you would usually pay with any other firm. You do eventually have to pay that tax when you get the cash into your own personal account, but why would you do that if you can keep it growing?
Cryptocurrency
Crypto is the big bad wolf in the investment and banking world. It’s touted as this end-all-be-all to the fiat currency the world currently trades with. There are benefits, although they have yet to outweigh the cost. The benefits are that they’re essentially inflation-proof. They’re also not tied to any government, commodity, or derivative. They’re based on the complex mathematics surrounding a self-regulating and self-perpetuating system. There’s a finite amount, and its value has to be agreed or disagreed upon by 51% of the people that own it. Because they’re fractionated, these can be millions of people. Some websites allow you to use cryptocurrency. It’s gaining a lot of steam, especially when we hit times of economic hardship. It’s a wonderful entryway into alternative forms of assets, and you can keep your cash safe in a crypto account.
Gold
Gold seems like such an old school way to keep your money. Fortunately for us, gold can be purchased and held online. Some services will take your amount and essentially back your spending money in gold. It’s like you’re in the 1920s again, except it’s with a digital account linked to a Brinks safe full of gold. These services do have a minimum, although they’re a lot more reasonable than you would expect to have your money backed by gold online. Just sign up and have your account approved by the service provider and facilitate the bank transfer. Much like any investment or alternative value acquisition, there is always a chance that the value will increase or decrease. Thankfully gold, with its history and finite amount, is generally more stable than any global currency.
Keeping your money online is as easy as setting up any social media account. The only difference is that it has questions, tax identifications, and proofs to make sure it’s you. There’s still the element of safety, granted our entire banking system is now online. Keeping track of our money on the internet is just the next logical step to joining the rest of the world in terms of services and convenience