With a looming recession on the horizon, it is inevitable that many of us will feel the pinch. However, living in a digital age, we can strengthen our financial future with a few clicks.

Here is a Step By Step guide to setup your financial future to withstand the recession.

Step #1.  Get a clear (and True) picture of your current finances for Free

At Inspired Advice, we have tried several apps to do this and recently fell in love with TrueBill. Here’s why.

You choose what you pay and can even pay $0!!  This was the coolest signup experience I have ever seen.  While some companies offer free trials, Truebill lets you pick any amount, including $0, which lets you use the app for free.

You can then use the app in a few ways, including

  • Seeing your monthly subscription bills and canceling some of them with one click (84% of people underestimate what they spend on digital subscriptions)
  • Viewing all of  your spending and any irregular fees or payments (you can use this to get your bank to refund that random fee they charged you last month).  A recent study found that this can average $7 a month and cost you $10,221 of lost savings and investment.
  • And as a bonus, you can setup savings goals and have the app put aside some of your monthly earnings in your savings account
Start Saving With True Bill

Step #2.  make sure your credit is bullet (and recession) proof

Most of us do not have contingency plans for how to handle a recession. One thing we know is that in a recession, credit tightens and having a good credit score, can help you access money at affordable rates when you may need it most.

That’s why I have used Credit Sesame to analyze my credit score, improve it, and monitor it for free.

If you’re wondering how they provide this for free, it’s interesting to note that they may recommend products and services from their advertisers. But you are never obligated to take them up on it. I find this to be an easy and free way to stay on top of my credit and boost it.

Start Boosting Your Credit

STEP #3.  Negotiate your bills (or have someone do it for you)

It’s a little known secret that you can haggle on your internet, phone, and cable bills among others. But it takes an immense amount of time and is painstaking to go through this process. Luckily, you can use Trim to do the dirty work for you. Here’s how it works:  

  • Sign up for a free account
  • Snap a picture of your bill (or upload a copy)
  • They do the heavy lifting
  • You get 67% of the savings (for their part they take 33%)

As an added bonus, they offer a savings account with an interest rate of 1.5% (that’s more than 10 times higher than what a typical bank like Chase or Wells Fargo offers).

Trim Your Bills Now

Step #4.  Pay off Debt Quicker

At a birthday party recently, a few of us got into a conversation about how much to save and how much debt to pay off. We all had different perspectives depending on how worried we are about a looming recession.

But what we all agreed upon is that we are not spending enough time paying down debt at a time when interest rates are at an all-time low, and are likely to increase soon.

After some research, we came across Qoins which intelligently rounds up your transactions, and takes that extra change to pay down your debt. Or you can set up some basic rules on when to put down an extra $10 or $50 towards debt.

Either way, paying down some debt can reduce your future expense load when interest rates go up and the economy tightens.

Cut Debt With Qoins

Step #5. GET YOUR 401(K) READY

How often do you manage your 401(k) investments? Most Americans have access to saving with a 401(K) but only 32% are actually using it.  Worse, and even lower percentage are actually managing their 401(K) investments.  Which is crazy when you think about it. With the uncertainty of social security and a looming recession, protecting and growing your nestegg is super important.

That’s why Blooom is a life-saver. They will analyze your account for FREE and if you choose you can have them manage your 401(k) investments for $10/month. There is no account minimum and compared to larger brokerage services, this is a drop in the pan. Most importantly, it ensures that time and energy is spent on one of our most valuable assets. And helps us build our nest egg for when we need it.

Maximize Your 401(k)