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Qapital has always been more than just a savings app. For nearly 10 years, people from all walks of life have used Qapital to budget better, spend smarter, and invest in their futures.&nbsp;Freelancers use Qapital to set money aside for tax day. Small business owners use it to reinvest their profits. Couples use it to pay for their honeymoons and buy their first homes. All of these things are made possible with automated tools designed to help you fund your best life.&nbsp;Now, we’ve made it easier to explore the app, try out our tools, and build a personalized money management system that works for you. Here’s a rundown of what’s new.&nbsp;<img src="Home_1_bd11105c7e.png" alt="Home (1).png" width="242" height="501">&nbsp;Find everything easily from your new home screen&nbsp;We’ve redesigned your home screen so important information and key features are front and center. Check your account balances, track goal progress, and see how your investments are performing at a glance. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, you can easily navigate to any part of the app with just a tap or two.&nbsp;<img src="All_Accounts_1_b86a415e67.png" alt="All Accounts (1).png" width="242" height="501">&nbsp;Save, Spend, and Invest in one place&nbsp;Now, you can access your Save, Spend, and Invest accounts from your home screen. Just tap to view account details, make changes, and move money.&nbsp;Haven’t opened a Spend or Invest account yet? No worries. You can get set up right from your home screen.&nbsp;<img src="Goals_1_b235854941.png" alt="Goals (1).png" width="242" height="501">&nbsp;Manage goals easily&nbsp;Goals are a key part of the Qapital experience, but displaying them on the home screen takes up a lot of space. Now you can see all your goals in list or carousel view. Tap “Change view” to switch.&nbsp;If you want to look at all your saving or investing goals together, you still can; just tap your Save or Invest account on your home screen. You can edit goals and start new ones this way, too.&nbsp;<img src="Invest_2_1a2e2ba3fd.png" alt="Invest (2).png" width="242" height="501">&nbsp;Cleaner visual design&nbsp;The new Qapital is a lot easier to use and it’s easier on the eyes, too. We’ve updated our icons and colors, reorganized page layouts, and spruced up the overall look and feel. Plus, it looks awesome in dark mode.&nbsp;&nbsp;These changes will be rolling out to all users starting in September 2023, but you can manually update the app anytime to access the new experience.&nbsp;We hope you love the new Qapital as much as we do. Stay tuned for even more improvements in the coming months.&nbsp;Still have questions about the new design? Search our updated&nbsp;<a href="https://support.qapital.com/hc/en-us">knowledge base</a> for more details.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2024 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Qapital’s new design makes all your money more manageable

<a href="https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2024/apps-software/general-apps/financial-services-banking">Fans Can Vote Online to Help QAPITAL Win The Webby People’s Voice Award</a>&nbsp;Qapital has been nominated for&nbsp;Best Financial Services and Banking App&nbsp;in the&nbsp;28th Annual Webby Awards!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As a Webby Award nominee, Qapital is also competing for The Webby People’s Voice Award, which is an additional award voted on by the public. Both awards are a mark of international distinction for internet excellence. Fans across the globe can head&nbsp;<a href="https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2024/apps-software/general-apps/financial-services-banking">here</a> to cast their votes now through Thursday, April 18th, at 11:59 pm PDT.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital makes it super easy for users to get started, get a big-picture view of their finances, and achieve their own personal version of financial success. With over 2M members, Qapital has 100K+ 5-star reviews and has been named “Editor’s Choice” by the Google Play Store. Since its creation, Qapital has helped users save over $3B collectively toward their goals.&nbsp;The other nominees in the best&nbsp;Financial Services and Banking App category include: TurboTax, Cash App, Claire, and Westpac.&nbsp;“Nominees like Qapital are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said&nbsp;Nick Borenstein, General Manager of The Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 13,000 entries we received this year.”&nbsp;Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by&nbsp;The New York Times, The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet. IADAS, which nominates and selects The Webby Award Winners, is comprised of internet industry experts including&nbsp;Marian Croak, VP of Engineering – Responsible AI &amp; Human Centered Technology, Google; Sarah Harden, CEO, Hello Sunshine;&nbsp;Tobe Nwigwe, Artist &amp; Actor;&nbsp;Shigetaka Kurita, Artist &amp; Father of Emojis;&nbsp;Severin Hacker, Cofounder &amp; CTO, Duolingo;&nbsp;Law Roach, Image Architect;&nbsp;Yann LeCun, VP &amp; Chief AI Scientist, Meta;&nbsp;Roxane Gay, Host, The Roxane Gay Agenda;&nbsp;Quinta Brunson, Writer, Director and Actor;&nbsp;Questlove, DJ and Producer;&nbsp;Todd Kaplan, Chief Marketing Officer, Pepsi Co;&nbsp;Ashley Murphy, VP Global Consumer Marketing, Rare Beauty;&nbsp;Nelly Mensah, VP of Digital Innovation, Global Head of Web3 and Metaverse, LVMH; Jim Habig, Vice President Marketing, LinkedIn; and&nbsp;Tonya Custis, Director of AI Research, Autodesk.&nbsp;All Webby and Webby People’s Voice Award Winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 23rd and honored in a star-studded show in New York City.&nbsp;&nbsp;Don’t forget to vote for Qapital&nbsp;<a href="https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2024/apps-software/general-apps/financial-services-banking">here</a>!&nbsp;

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Qapital® Nominated for Best Financial Services App  in the 28th Annual Webby Awards

Automation has always been core to what we do. We started by helping members save toward their financial goals effortlessly. After more than 100,000 five-star reviews and over $3 billion saved to date, we knew we were on to something.Qapital® Payday Divvy™&nbsp;takes our “set and forget” approach beyond saving, and makes budgeting a no-brainer, too.<h2>How does Payday Divvy work?</h2>Automatically, every payday. Tell us how often you get paid and how you’d like to divide your income, then set it and forget it. It takes just a few minutes to get started, and you can pause or make changes anytime.<h2>What can I use Payday Divvy for?</h2>Payday Divvy helps you get your $$$$ together. More specifically, it automatically sets money aside for savings, investments, and spending when you get paid. You decide how much moves to your Qapital goals, and the rest of your paycheck stays in your linked bank account.<h2>What is the right amount to set aside with Payday Divvy?</h2>The amount to set aside will be unique to you, depending on your short-term goals, long-term investment strategies, recurring expenses, and bills. Start with a comfortable amount that you know you can afford. You can always adjust it later.<h2>Ready to try Payday Divvy?</h2><a href="https://app.adjust.com/5zj06l8_zl1a4bt?campaign=Get_the_app_button&amp;adgroup=Header&amp;creative=Top&amp;fallback=https%3A%2F%2Fqapital.com%2Fdownload%2F&amp;engagement_type=fallback_click">Download the Qapital app</a>, if you haven’t already, and give it a go. It takes just a few minutes to get started.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Budget Instantly with Payday Divvy™

Since launching our first version of Qapital seven years ago, we’ve been committed to providing easy, effective ways for our members to manage their money. We’ve learned that people need flexible, sustainable solutions that address them as whole human beings. One-size-fits-all methods just don’t work, so we’re building a better way. Starting in October 2022, we’re making a series of updates designed to help you balance immediate needs and wants with long-term financial goals, and set you up for your own personal version of financial success.&nbsp; Our new and improved suite of easy money tools will give you a more holistic view of your financial life. Now, you’ll be able to manage loan payments in the same place you plan for retirement. It’s all about finding a healthy balance between today and the future, and getting to enjoy what you work hard for everyday.&nbsp; Money is very personal, and financial success looks different for everyone. That’s why our new tools are designed to fit any life stage or lifestyle. Here’s what we’ve been building for you.<h2>How does Payday Divvy™ work?</h2>Automatically, every payday. Tell us how often you get paid and how you’d like to divide your income, then set it and forget it. It takes just a few minutes to get started, and you can pause or make changes anytime.<h2>Debt Wrangler™ — Automate your debt management plan</h2>Debt Wrangler is a new tool that handles everything related to borrowing. It makes it easy to see what you owe, choose a payback strategy, and automate your loan payments. You can explore refinancing options to reduce your monthly bill, or get out of debt faster and pay less accumulated interest over time.&nbsp; Debt Wrangler’s array of credit management solutions also includes powerful credit score tools and up to $1M in identity theft protection. The feature will be initially available for student loan management and then expand to cover other types of debt. The upcoming product release will give users time to get a plan in place before the Federal student loan payment moratorium ends on January 1, 2023.<h2>Dream Team™ — Team up on your finances without needing a joint account</h2>Dream Team makes collaborating on your finances easy with money tools designed for two. Invite a partner to Qapital, share financial goals, and reach them faster – together. Make account balances and transaction histories visible to each other, and leave comments directly in the app. You decide what to share and what stays private, always.&nbsp; We believe that managing money can be, and should be, simple for everyone. These updates are only the beginning, and we’re so excited to share what’s coming with all of you.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2022 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Introducing an even better way to manage your money

Shopping can be a fun way to boost your mood and shake things up when you have an extra bit of cash to spare.&nbsp; “Retail therapy” – while not a scientifically proven form of therapy – is a common way that we look to improve our moods. Nearly half of Americans said they engaged in some feel-good shopping during the pandemic. ¹&nbsp; Here are some do’s and don’ts to make sure that you get the most out of your “fun money” without breaking the bank – or your emotions.<h2>DO have a wishlist</h2>Anticipation is half the fun. Research shows that longing for something can make the payoff feel sweeter, so knowing what you’re looking for in advance helps to maximize your chances of finding something you love while enjoying the entire process. Create a Goal on Qapital, let yourself daydream about it, and feel free to be precise and picky about what you’re looking for.<h2>DON’T buy without a price comparison</h2>It always hurts to find out that you left money on the table, and with the power of smartphones, it’s easier than ever to make sure you’re getting the best deal. If you’re buying in-store, try a quick online search to see if another shop has it cheaper. Asking if the physical shop does price matches could save a few dollars, too.<h2>DO set a budget before shopping</h2>Splurging can be fun, but being in debt usually isn’t. Overspending is the biggest killer of retail therapy, and it’s tough to know whether you’re overspending if you don’t have a budget in the first place. You might feel a luxurious rush from walking home with a huge haul, but you’ll most likely feel more anxiety or regret if that spree racks up interest bills on your credit card or forces you to forgo fun nights out in the future. Know your limit before you head out.&nbsp;<h2>DON’T buy things that you don’t need</h2>It might seem like a good idea at the time to go outside the box and take a chance on something unusual, but when the temptation strikes, think of the last time you felt similarly while buying a luxury. Did you use it? Snagging something you don’t need is a fast route to buyer's remorse, which is a sure-fire way to spoil the shopping treat.<h2>DO try shopping with a friend</h2>Having a supportive, honest friend shopping with you will often lead to a better experience. Not only will they nudge you to buy that piece you won’t stop talking about, but they’ll probably be a better sounding board to catch you before you buy an outrageously expensive, sequin top. The conversation and company will turn the shopping into a social experience – a researched-backed way to double up on your happiness boost.²<h2>DON’T buy it all in one session</h2>Avoid the temptation to react to “Buy now!” signs and sales countdowns on websites – these are all scientifically proven tactics that retailers use to make buyers feel urgency and spend impulsively. Taking a beat will help you to decide if you really want something, and delaying the gratification until you’re sure will only make the payoff sweeter when you do. Plus, some retailers will even send you a discount code or coupon when they see that you’ve left your cart without buying!<h2>DO consider experiences</h2>Many studies have shown that <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/can-money-buy-happiness/">experiences can make us happier than possessions</a>. The happiness rush that we get from buying an item tends to fade quickly as it becomes part of our normal lives. On the other hand, experiences create memories that we can always revisit. Plus, if we do them with a friend, then experiences can deepen friendships and social connections that are proven to be an important factor in living a long, happy, healthy life.<h2>DON’T turn it into a habit</h2>Unfortunately, just like any other habit-forming activity, shopping can become dangerous when done to excess. One in twenty Americans suffer from a shopping addiction.³&nbsp;If you notice that shopping becomes your primary way of coping when you feel sad, then it’s worth reflecting on your habits (and your bank statements) to see if you’re truly in control.<h2>DO find other ways to feel the rush</h2>Retail therapy can be a lighthearted mood-booster, but it shouldn’t be your only therapy! Sometimes we think we crave possessions when what we really want is novelty. Try heading to a new park, taking a new route home from work, or changing up your exercise routine. You might not need to spend to get the same feeling!<h2>DON’T be afraid of going home empty-handed</h2>Sometimes, the act of simply looking can be just as enjoyable as actually making a purchase. Going to see what new styles are in fashion for the season is still worthwhile. Plus, if you don’t spend any money on this shopping trip, then you can put that cash towards something in the future. There’s always the next trip!&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2022 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved. [1] McCann, Adam. <a href="https://wallethub.com/blog/coronavirus-shopping-survey/73706">“Coronavirus Shopping Survey.”</a> WalletHub, 29 Apr. 2020 [2] Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban. <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/happiness-and-friends">“Are We Happier When We Spend More Time with Others?”</a> Our World in Data, 17 July 2019 [3] Connect to Care Staff, WebMD. <a href="https://www.webmd.com/connect-to-care/addiction-treatment-recovery/signs-of-a-shopping-addiction">“Addicted to Shopping: 7 Signs You May Have a Problem.”</a> WebMD, WebMD

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The do’s and don’ts of retail therapy

Whether you’re becoming <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/what-is-inflation-and-why-is-it-surging/">inflation-conscious</a> or you simply don’t want to overpay, it’s always a good time to find ways that give you more bang for your buck. Searching for better value doesn’t need to be a painful exercise in scrimping and saving. Here are 10 tried-and-true ways to make your money go further.&nbsp;<h2>Use the sunlight method</h2>There’s an old adage in business and journalism that says: “sunlight is the best disinfectant” – meaning, if there’s something that you want to improve, shine it in the bright light of day and take a good look. Research shows that we tend to change our behavior simply by being aware that we’re being observed.¹ The same principle applies to your money: put your spending in the sunlight and observe yourself. Take a look at your bank statements and see what expenses jump out – perhaps that streak of food deliveries weren’t all that satisfying, or those new jeans don’t seem as stylish as the price tag suggests.<h2>Spend where it counts – and save where it doesn’t</h2>Each of us has different values and preferences for what’s important to us, and the key is to know what really makes a difference to your wellbeing. On the flip side, sometimes there are things we think will make a bigger difference than they actually do. Food shopping is a great example. Love organic produce? Buying from the farmer’s market down the street is probably worthwhile – but perhaps you can offset their higher prices by grabbing pantry staples in bulk from the value superstore. Less waste on the unimportant stuff leaves you and your cash free for the next goal.<h2>List it out</h2>Making your money stretch means cutting out nonessential purchases that don’t bring you much value; the best way to avoid overbuying is to make a list before you head out. We’ve all heard that you should stick to a list and not grocery shop when hungry, and the same principle applies to other types of shopping. Keeping a running wishlist of other things like clothes, gifts, and even holiday destinations will help you to differentiate what you really want from what just seems like a good idea at the time. Stores and online shops are scientifically designed to induce spending. Impulse is your enemy, and your shopping list is your best shield.<h2>Bulk up (carefully)</h2>Buying essentials and nonperishables – like paper towels, frozen vegetables, and toiletries – is such a good savings trick that entire retail chains have sprung up based on this single idea. It’s an added benefit that you’ll also save time since you won’t need to go shopping as frequently. Just be careful not to catch the “bulk bug” by stocking up on too many different items, though – it’s never a bargain to buy something that you don’t really need.<h2>Be loyal</h2>Leaving money on the table is a surefire way to shrink the power of your dollars. Loyalty programs offer discounts and freebies for repeat purchases, and most of the time you can sign up for free rewards that don’t expire. Picking up a punch card at your favorite cafe might get you a free latte at zero cost to you, just like a rewards card at your grocery store could bank your coupons and store credit.<h2>Consider going meatless</h2>Looking for a new challenge that’s good for your wallet and the planet? Consider cutting down on your meat consumption. Beef, pork, and poultry are usually more expensive than their leafy tablemates, and they’re one of the big contributors to climate change, too. Challenges like <a href="https://www.mondaycampaigns.org/meatless-monday">Meatless Mondays</a> or <a href="https://veganuary.com/recipes/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxIOXBhCrARIsAL1QFCYSXuXophcyWC2E0r2wEuYp8PsPIkXL9uBHXFYG2MT6ZBfjW9VORwsaAheIEALw_wcB">Veganuary</a> are great ways to see if these dietary changes work for your lifestyle. Even if the flavor doesn’t quite do it for you and you ditch the diet, you’ll have saved a few bucks towards your next steak dinner.<h2>Keep an eye on the calendar</h2>Whenever you have the flexibility to choose the timing of a purchase – especially for big things like cars and appliances – it’s worth knowing when it’s likely to go on sale. Black Friday and January are huge sale seasons for just about everything, but you can be strategic and look for product-specific sales throughout the year. For example, new cars usually go on sale in September at the end of the model production year; furniture prices typically get reduced in September when summer moving demand dies out; clothes go on sale at the end of the season; the housing market is always changing, but winter in cold weather climates is often a time when the market is quiet. The rule of thumb is that prices are low when demand is low, so look out for low-demand seasons to find good deals. Looking for more? Learn about how Qapital can help you find your money happiness with AI-powered tools based on cutting edge behavioral science.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2022 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved. [1] <a href="https://www.mondaycampaigns.org/meatless-monday">“Meatless Monday.”</a> The Monday Campaigns, 15 Aug. 2022 [2]<a href="https://veganuary.com/recipes/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxIOXBhCrARIsAL1QFCYSXuXophcyWC2E0r2wEuYp8PsPIkXL9uBHXFYG2MT6ZBfjW9VORwsaAheIEALw_wcB"> “Vegan Recipes.”</a> Veganuary, 20 July 2022 [3] Payne, Geoff, and Judy Payne. “<a href="https://methods.sagepub.com/book/key-concepts-in-social-research/n22.xml#:~:text=The%20Hawthorne%20Effect%20is%20the,usually%20unwittingly)%20the%20research%20findings">The Hawthorne Effect.</a>” SAGE Research Methods, 1 Jan. 2011

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8 tips to make your dollars stretch (in style)

It’s an age-old question that never seems to get resolved: can money really buy happiness? We’ll give you a fast rundown of the most important things we know about the relationship between dollars and delight.<h2>What is happiness, anyway?&nbsp;</h2>Even the Greek philosophers disagreed on the definition of happiness; Aristotle believed that happiness was achieved by living a life of virtue and achievement, while Epicurus thought the key to happiness was a life free of pain and fear. Today, most scientists measure happiness as the satisfaction and positivity we feel in our daily lives. So, what does the existing research tell us about happiness and money?<h2>Having money isn’t everything – not having it, is</h2>More money does correlate with greater self-reported happiness – up to a point. In a landmark study conducted by Nobel laureate Angus Deaton, people with higher income generally reported greater life satisfaction. However, once the participants made more than a certain amount ($75,000 back in 2010), the relationship fell away. Making more money didn’t make people happier.&nbsp; Why? Under the $75,000 threshold, people usually spent their money solving problems and making life easier. Couples could eat out at restaurants, parents could afford childcare, and families could afford to buy cars rather than take public transport. The money was spent on reducing pain and inconvenience – a win for Epicurus.&nbsp; But once participants hit the magic $75,000 threshold, a new effect set in. Psychologists call this problem the “hedonic treadmill,” a formal term for “Keeping Up With the Joneses” syndrome. The theory says that desire is like a treadmill. When we run on a treadmill, we can run faster and faster – but the belt keeps moving faster with us, and in real terms we actually stay in the same place. When it comes to happiness, money is like the speedometer and our desires are like the belt on the treadmill: we can spend more and more, but we’re not getting any closer to true happiness.<h2>Managing expectations</h2>The real problem at the root of the hedonic treadmill is one of expectations: when we have more, we expect more, so it requires more to feel the same amount of happiness. Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and happiness journalist, has broken down satisfaction into an easy-to-understand equation: happiness equals what we have divided by what we want. When we want more than we have, we feel less happy. Wanting more makes you human, but being human could make you sad. According to Brooks, “all of our evolutionary and biological imperatives focus us on increasing the numerator—our haves.” The problem? High levels of “Keeping Up With The Joneses” syndrome are associated with anxiety and depression. Brooks again: “But the more significant action is in the denominator—our wants.” Keeping our wants down is a sure-fire way to keep control of the main factor of our happiness. Having lower expectations is one of the secrets that make the Danes consistently at the top of world happiness rankings. ¹<h2>Where pleasure and purpose collide</h2>One other reason that high incomes didn’t make people happier is that money can’t buy some of the key components of happiness. Paul Dolan, a happiness researcher at the London School of Economics and a collaborator of Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, has a new theory of happiness that helps us to broaden our sense of happiness. His pleasure-purpose principle says that there are two main components of happiness: pleasure and purpose. Pleasure refers to the nice sensations that we feel from enjoyable things like relaxing, socializing, vacationing, or sense-seeking – the kinds of things that feel good but might lead us down the endless path of the hedonic treadmill. Purpose is the feeling we get from contributing toward something meaningful in our lives. Something purposeful, like going above and beyond at work or visiting an ailing family member, might not always be pleasurable, and vice versa. The problem, according to Dolan, is that we sometimes get our pleasure-purpose balance out of whack. Have you ever binged on Netflix for hours on end and felt empty afterwards? You’ve probably overdosed on pleasure. Felt glad, but emotionally drained after supporting a friend through a months-long saga of illness or grief? You’ve probably hit your purpose quota and need some pleasure. The key is finding an equilibrium between the two in our daily lives.&nbsp; Back to the magic $75,000 threshold. Above the threshold, participants seem to have a pleasure surplus and a purpose deficit – a win for Aristotle’s theory. The trouble is that buying purposeful things is rarer and harder to do.<h2>Beating Father Time: buying experiences and time savings</h2>So how can we put our money to better use and avoid the hedonic treadmill?&nbsp; Research has shown that, in most cases, experiences lead to longer-term happiness than possessions.² The pleasure that we receive from possessions typically fades, especially when it’s something we see every day, whereas we keep the memories from an experience and can relive them multiple times. Plus, if we have experiences with friends and loved ones, then we also solidify the life-affirming bonds that are scientifically proven to help us live longer and healthier lives, too.³ Philosophers often tell us that time is our only real resource, and in everyday speech we often use the expression “buying time” to mean stalling – but what if you could actually buy time, as if it were a commodity like water or food? Well, we can’t purchase years to tack onto the end of our lives (yet), but money we spend to avoid using up our own time can tangibly boost happiness, according to studies by Michael Norton and Dr. Elizabeth Dunn.⁴ A few dollars on grocery delivery can save time and hassle; paying a house cleaner can give you back hours of leisure time; taking a taxi from the airport might cut out hours on trains and buses. It can be counterintuitive at first to think about spending money on intangible things, but it’s the quality of our experiences, fleeting as they are, that stick with us the most.<h2>Being purposeful - and generous</h2>Want to be the happiest of all? Well, there’s research that the best thing you can do for your own happiness might be giving your money away. In a Swiss psychological study, participants who were asked to spend money on someone else were significantly happier than those who were asked to spend the same amount of money on themselves. Even better – the amount of money they were asked to spend on someone else didn’t really affect how much of a happiness boost they got. Generosity is associated with mood-boosting and stress-relieving power that’s associated with living longer, too. New research by Happy Money proves that people who donate to charities are happier across all demographics – the kind of quantifiable uplift that we rarely see from things outside of exercising and socializing.⁵ If you’re looking for a real happiness kick, then consider donating to charity, bringing your colleagues coffee in the morning, or buying a surprise gift for a close friend. While money can’t buy us happiness in a bottle, the way that we spend our money can certainly have a huge impact on the way that we feel. Let Qapital help you buy your happiness.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2022 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved. [1] Carey, Benedict. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/world/europe/08iht-danes.4140472.html">“Denmark's Secret to Happiness: Low Expectations - Europe - International Herald Tribune.”</a> The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Jan. 2007 [2] Landau, Elizabeth. <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/10/happiness.possessions/#:~:text=Psychological%20research%20suggests%20that%2C%20in,it%20every%20day%2C%20experts%20said">“Study: Experiences Make Us Happier than Possessions.”</a> CNN, Cable News Network [3] Hopper, Elizabeth. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrae/2019/01/30/happy-money/?sh=40fd81c8721d">“How Your Social Life Might Help You Live Longer.”</a> Greater Good, 28 July 2020 [4] Rae, David. “The Five Principles of Happy Money.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 29 June 2021 [5] Money, Happy. <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-from-happy-money-reveals-people-who-spend-money-on-others-and-make-time-saving-purchases-are-happier-301581941.html">“New Study from Happy Money Reveals People Who Spend Money on Others and Make Time-Saving Purchases Are Happier.”</a> New Study from Happy Money Reveals People Who Spend Money on Others and Make Time-Saving Purchases Are Happier, 7 July 2022

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Can money buy happiness?

Inflation seems to be all anyone is talking about in the news. If you’re curious to know more about how inflation works and why it’s surging, check out<a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/what-is-inflation-and-why-is-it-surging/"> our explainer.</a> But while the economists and financiers debate about the future of inflation, we’ve put together this guide to help you understand what impact it’s going to have on your life.<h2>Everything just got more expensive</h2>The heart of inflation is an inconvenient truth: prices just went up. Inflation doesn’t impact all prices uniformly or simultaneously, but it does trickle through the economy to touch just about everything.&nbsp; At first, you can expect products like gas and groceries to go up, since these prices can change the fastest in response to supply and demand. Next, utilities like electricity, heating, and water will increase, since these often involve big organizations that closely monitor changes in the economy to create their prices. Finally, other products and services like restaurant prices and clothes may catch up to the rest.<h2>Be careful with cash</h2>When prices go up, your cash effectively becomes less valuable. If you’re keeping lots of cash sitting in a safe or a checking account, then that cash is depreciating relative to everything else because prices are going up by more than your bank balance. However, that’s not a reason to move the cash around – keeping cash in rainy day and emergency funds is just as important, even in times of rising inflation. Inflation means that budgeting becomes tighter, so keeping an eye on your cash reserves becomes even more essential.<h2>Think about loans</h2>Since inflation hurts consumers, central banks like the Federal Reserve (“the Fed”) try to keep it under control. Their main strategy is raising interest rates. When they raise interest rates, the rest of the banking system follows suit. That means that interest rates on credit like personal loans, mortgages, car loans, and student loans will increase in the near future. If you’re a borrower, then now is a good time to consider refinancing, since the cost of borrowing will soon increase – especially if you have an adjustable-rate mortgage. Locking in a lower fixed rate now can protect you against rate increases in the coming months.<h2>Consider a chat with your boss</h2>Companies will be increasing their prices in order to keep up with inflation and not lose profits, so you should also think about raising the “price” of your own work – a.k.a, raising your salary. If your employer is paying you the same salary as last year while prices have gone up by 5%, then you are effectively making 5% less money for the same amount of work. Salary negotiations can be tricky and every conversation is different, but it’s important to approach these conversations with self-confidence and data. After all, it’s up to you to defend your own “price” in the market, since we don’t all have agents to manage our salaries, like movie stars and athletes.&nbsp; Your work performance and fulfillment should always be the basis of any discussion about a salary increase, but don’t forget to factor inflation into the calculation, too. Being objective helps. Find out how much prices have increased since your last raise (through something like the Consumer Price Index tool),¹ and use that increase as a starting point in your discussion. For example, if your employer agrees that you deserve a 5% merit raise based on taking greater responsibility and inflation increased by 5%, then the economically fair thing is a 10% raise to you.&nbsp;<h2>How long will it last?</h2>Governments and central banks are working to reduce inflation, but their tools and tactics take several months to have an impact. There’s no ironclad way to know, but many analysts estimate that inflation will continue at a high level through the rest of the year, and potentially into 2023. In the meantime, the best thing you can do is protect your money as much as possible.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2022 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved. [1] <a href="https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm">CPI Inflation Calculator</a>

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What does rising inflation mean for me and my money?

Amidst the global political and economic turmoil, there’s been a lot of doomsday press about inflation. But what exactly is it, and why is it getting so many headlines?&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Much ado about prices going up</h2>If someone in your family has ever said “back in my day, a new car only cost $3,000…” then you already know about inflation.&nbsp; Inflation refers to prices increasing over time. The price of that car has become “inflated”; the product is more or less the same, but its price has become bigger, like inflating a balloon. Inflation happens for a few main reasons. To illustrate the point, let’s continue with the example of buying a car. Prices can increase when production costs increase, like raw materials or wages. For example, when the cost of steel used to create engines increases, then car manufacturers will increase their prices to preserve profit. Changes in supply and demand can also raise prices. When supply goes down or demand goes up, then prices will increase. Think of the economy like one big car auction. If there are half as many cars available for potential car buyers, then car dealers will raise their prices to maximize profits. On the other hand, if twice as many people suddenly wanted to buy a car, then there wouldn’t be enough cars to go around. Buyers would bid the price up. Both of these changes actually happened during the pandemic. The supply of cars decreased because of lockdowns, factory shutdowns, and closed ports. At the same time, demand went up since many more people wanted the freedom to escape their homes and drive to the outdoors. Lastly, changes to the money supply can impact inflation. The money supply refers to how much cash – digital and physical – is in circulation in the economy. When central banks lower interest rates, they trigger a series of effects that increase the amount of money in circulation. Similarly, when governments increase their spending on public programs or lower taxes, they’re helping to increase the amount of cash flowing around. All of these factors – low interest rates, low taxes, and high spending – will increase inflation, and vice versa. The most common measurement of inflation is the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI has a basket of things that most consumers need, from groceries to gasoline, and compares how much the cost of this basket goes up over time.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Is inflation a good thing?</h2>Well, yes and no. A small amount of inflation each year is a good thing for the economy. The American institution in charge of controlling inflation, the Federal Reserve (also known as “the Fed”), typically targets 2% inflation each year in order to keep the economy growing at a healthy clip. The logic is simple. Let’s say you want to buy that car. If you know that the car’s price would go up in the future, then you’d be more likely to buy it today. Because you’ve spent that money today, you’ve helped the car dealership to grow. When the car dealership grows, it can hire more people, create more jobs, and distribute more profit to its shareholders. It also tells car manufacturers to produce more cars; when that happens, the same process helps the manufacturers to grow. All of the car dealerships and manufacturing employees benefit, because more car sales means more money in their pockets. In simple terms, the idea of prices increasing tomorrow helps the economy to grow today. Since private consumption accounts for about two-thirds of the US economy,¹ all of the incremental increases in personal spending add up to a big impact on the economy. On the flip side, inflation can hurt individual consumers. If prices are going up, then the cash in your pocket will buy you more today than it will tomorrow. Economists would say that your “purchasing power” is eroding because of inflation.&nbsp; Back to the car example. If you stash your saved car money under your mattress in order to buy the car in one year, then prices would rise and you would have to downsize. That’s the dark side of inflation: when it increases quickly, consumers feel the pain. This is why most countries try to target inflation that’s just right – just enough to nudge the economy, but not too much to hurt your bank account. But if prices can become inflated, can they also become deflated?&nbsp;<h2>What goes up does not come down</h2>The scenario when prices decline is called deflation. Deflation might seem great to you (who doesn’t want lower prices?), but it’s something that keeps economists up at night. The trouble with deflation is what happens on a large scale. If you knew that the price of the car would be less in the future, then you’d be smart to wait to buy it. But you wouldn’t be the only person waiting to buy a car; everyone else who wanted to buy a car would also wait for prices to go down. In that case, car dealerships miss out on sales and lose profit. When that happens, they’d need to fire employees and buy fewer cars from the manufacturers to stay alive. In turn, the manufacturers would make fewer cars and need to fire their employees to cope with lower production. Since those unemployed people and shareholders also buy normal products besides cars, these impacts ripple throughout the entire economy. So, in the deflation example, you end up with lower profits, lower growth, and higher unemployment. Money gets drawn out of the system, and the economy seizes up like a car engine without oil. Since deflation can cause a death spiral for the economy, businesses try not to reduce prices.&nbsp;<h2>Why is inflation surging now?</h2>The pandemic had many different impacts on the economy that created a perfect storm for inflation growth. First, it decreased the supply of goods and services around the world. Lockdowns created shortages for many different goods and services almost overnight. Since our demand for essentials like groceries and gadgets didn’t change, this meant that sellers could increase their prices.&nbsp; At the same time, demand increased in certain industries, like cars, technology for teleworking, and e-commerce. This put a huge strain on suppliers. Good luck finding at-home gym equipment in April 2020. Then, in response to the economic shutdowns, central banks and governments tried to keep the economy afloat by increasing the money supply. Governments spent trillions on relief programs like the Paycheck Protection Program and furlough scheme, while central banks kept interest rates low to incentivize spending. Both of those changes poured money into the system, which resulted in rising inflation. In other words, we pulled every lever we could to keep the economy alive, but inflation is the price we all pay for survival.&nbsp;<h2>The inflation outlook</h2>Now that the pandemic’s worst effects are behind us, bringing inflation back into check is becoming the next goal for governments and banks around the world. Governments are trying to reduce spending, and central banks are raising interest rates to reduce the amount of money in circulation. These changes will help reduce inflation in the future, but they take a while to have an impact. For normal consumers, this means that we’re probably going to keep seeing high prices for utilities, food, and retail essentials through the end of the year before prices begin to stabilize.&nbsp; It’s not all doom and gloom, though. The US economy is forecast to grow over 4% this year – a fantastic rate for economic recovery – and unemployment rates are recovering. High inflation hurt us, but we still emerged survivors. In the meantime, you can explore more about <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/what-does-rising-inflation-mean-for-me-and-my-money/">what inflation means for you and your money.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved. [1] <a href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/united-states/private-consumption--of-nominal-gdp#:~:text=United%20States%20Private%20Consumption%20accounted,68.7%20%25%20in%20the%20previous%20quarter.">United States Private Consumption: % of GDP</a>

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What is inflation, and why is it surging?

When was the last time you checked in on your budget? If it’s been a minute since you’ve thought about your spending plan or you’re not feeling in control of your money at the moment, it might be time to make some adjustments. Life happens! And when things change, it’s perfectly normal to give your budget a tune-up. So how do you know when it’s time to hit refresh.<h2>You have to spend more on non-negotiables because of inflation.</h2>Are some of your bills – like rent, groceries, or fuel – more expensive than they used to be? It’s no secret that inflation has been tough on everyone’s wallet. Inflation reached 8.3% in April 2022, which means a basket of goods that cost $100 in April 2021 costs an average of $108.30 in April 2022. So, a budget that was a perfect fit a few months ago may not be working today.<h2>You tend to run out of cash between paychecks.</h2>Do you find yourself constantly transferring money from your savings account to your checking account, spending more than you earn, or losing track of the rest of your paycheck after bills get paid? It could mean that your current budget isn’t working.<h2>You had to cover unexpected expenses.</h2>Emergencies or unexpected income loss can turn any good budget upside down. You might have needed to use cash from your emergency fund or rely on credit cards more than usual to get by. If you’re looking to replenish those funds or pay down that debt, working those goals into your regular budget can make catching up much less stressful.<h2>You have new priorities or routines.</h2>Ready to save to buy a house, add to your family, or bump up contributions to your retirement fund? Or maybe your daily routine has shifted, and your budget doesn’t reflect that yet. For example, you could be back to working in an office and eating more lunches out. When you create a plan with these changes in mind, it can help you enjoy spending on things that matter most to you and have a strategy for those long-term goals.&nbsp;<h2>You got a windfall and want to use it wisely.</h2>Did you recently get a raise, a bonus, a tax refund, or a new job? It’s a great time to evaluate your budget to make sure you’re still hitting your goals and getting ahead of lifestyle creep. (Lifestyle creep, when a higher income gradually leads to increased discretionary spending, can eat away at your newfound gains.)<h2>Do any of these sound familiar?</h2>It’s time for a good old-fashioned reset. Take a look at your bank statements from the last several months. Have you noticed any new trends and patterns? While we love automation here at Qapital, (it’s our not-so-secret weapon that helps our users save so much money), it’s still important to manually check on your money.&nbsp; And if you’re looking for a way to make budgeting easier, we have something for that. <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/weekly-spending-target-budget/">Spending Sweet Spot</a> guides you to create a weekly budget that fits your spending habits and income. It notifies you about your progress throughout the week, and you can adjust your budget amount at any time as you figure out what fits you best. When you pair Spending Sweet Spot with the <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/meet-the-new-improved-qapital-visa-debit-card/">Qapital Visa® Debit Card</a>*, you’ll get a powerful duo that will help you keep track of where your money goes. Anytime you use your Qapital Visa® Debit Card with Spending Sweet Spot, you’ll get real-time alerts about how much money you’ve spent and how much you have left for the week. You can set up your Spending Sweet Spot by tapping your Spending Account in the “My Accounts” section. The Qapital Visa® Debit Card and Spending Sweet Spot are exclusively available for Complete and Premier members.Ready to build a better budget? Log in to your Qapital account and get your Qapital Visa® Debit Card today.&nbsp;&nbsp;*The Qapital Visa® Debit Card is issued by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC.Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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5 Reasons to Rethink Your Budget

It’s Women’s History Month and here at Qapital we’re feeling more emboldened than ever – because our mission to drive financial empowerment has never been more important. Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted women compared to men. Women are more likely to take on caretaker roles – which increased dramatically with school closures and reduced availability of outside help – even while working full-time. And they’re also more likely to hold essential services roles.&nbsp;<ul><li>The most <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/9/feature-covid-19-economic-impacts-on-women">COVID-impacted industries</a> employ more women – women are overrepresented in industries such as food service, retail and entertainment. 40% of all employed women work in hard-hit sectors.</li><li><a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/9/feature-covid-19-economic-impacts-on-women">80% of domestic workers </a>are women and 72% of domestic workers have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic.</li><li>Even prior to COVID-19, women spent an average of <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/9/feature-covid-19-economic-impacts-on-women">4.1 hours per day </a>performing unpaid work (domestic work and care) while men spent 1.7 hours. This amount of time has escalated with remote school or school closures.</li><li>Because of the pandemic, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201021-why-this-recession-disproportionately-affects-women">one in four women </a>said they were thinking about reducing or leaving paid work because of company inflexibility, caring responsibilities and stress.</li></ul>The global pandemic has only further exposed the many inequalities facing women today. At the same time, women are increasingly in charge of spending and investing decisions at home, with <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/personal-finance/women-are-the-new-cfo-of-the-household-14089470">over half</a> – 51% – reporting that they serve as household CFO.&nbsp; If women are going to achieve lasting financial independence, they need access to better tools and support. It’s why our co-founder Katherine Salisbury – fearless female and working mom of 4 – created Qapital with her own experience in mind. “The financial challenges facing women cannot be underestimated,” Katherine notes. “We’re increasingly the breadwinners but we’re also the caretakers. We’re constantly juggling and focused on the needs of those around us – our families, our partners, our children. How and where can money management fit into this picture? I built Qapital partially because I realized if I’m struggling with dealing with my finances because I’m too busy and stressed, there must be plenty of other people out there who feel the same way.” We love to hear your stories – from the sheroes saving for birthday presents to the working mompreneurs taking control of their retirements. Share them with us – in our MyQapitalGoal Contest on Instagram or in a review in the <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/qapital-save-invest-spend/id969977669">App Store</a> or the <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qapital">Play Store</a> – and let’s celebrate your amazing stories together.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Celebrating Women’s History Month by Driving Financial Empowerment

At Qapital, we’re all about automating finances to help you reach your goals. With our new <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/sneak-peek-meet-payday-divvy/">Payday Divvy</a> feature, you can automate payday and set the right amount aside for savings, investments, and everyday spending – the moment you get paid. And to boost your savings even further, our fun, creative Rules trigger smaller amounts of money that stack up in your Qapital savings account. They put you in control of how and when you save the extras.<h2>Here’s a quick guide: <img src="Rules_6_312c67a816.png" alt="Rules-6.png" width="251" height="252"></h2>&nbsp;Set and Forget: Just set the app to automatically deposit money into your Qapital savings account once a week. Start with just $10 a week and see if you even miss it. <img src="Rules_5_335bdc73e6.png" alt="Rules-5.png" width="251" height="252"> <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/save-your-change-round-up/">The Round Up Rule</a>: Our most popular rule. Qapital users save an average of $44 a month, just by rounding up their change. Round up your change to the nearest $2 or $3 and watch it add up faster. <img src="Rules_2_1144c6b3c5.png" alt="Rules-2.png" width="252" height="252"> The Guilty Pleasure Rule: We all need our morning coffee. Don’t cut it out, activate the Guilty Pleasure Rule and save money every time you buy your iced with skim or double shot of espresso. You can make any place a Guilty Pleasure – it’s up to you. <img src="Rules_7_08fd0628b3.png" alt="Rules-7.png" width="252" height="252"> The Spend Less Rule: Do you always spend $50 at the supermarket? Set the Spend Less rule and then spend $40 the next time you shop. Viola! That $10 is automatically deposited in your Qapital savings account. It pays to come in under budget. <img src="Rules_1_c610d04517.png" alt="Rules-1.png" width="251" height="252"> <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/qapital-freelancer-rule-taxes/">The Freelancer Rule</a>: This simple solution helps freelancers and independent workers stay on top of their taxes and avoid trouble with the IRS. The Rule automatically transfers a percentage of every deposit over $100 into your FDIC-insured Qapital account. <img src="Rules_a02f542c65.png" alt="Rules.png" width="251" height="252"> <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/qapital-52-week-challenge/">The 52 Week Rule</a>: What would you do with an extra $1,378 a year? Our 52 Week Rule automates the process of saving $1 on week one, $2 on week two, $3 on week three for an entire year. <img src="Rules_8_bb5fc4771d.png" alt="Rules-8.png" width="252" height="252"> <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/apple-health-rules-give-financial-rewards-physical-fitness/">Apple Health</a>: Tie your personal fitness goals to your financial goals. Reward yourself with a buck or two of savings every time you walk, bike or run. You’ll feel twice as good when you finish your workout. <img src="Rules_3_34de4f7848.png" alt="Rules-3.png" width="252" height="252"> <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/ifttt-rules-are-supercharging-your-savings/">IFTTT</a>: We’re the first personal finance app that let you save with IFTTT (If This Then That), the wondrous web service that’s been dubbed “digital duct tape.” IFTTT lets you link your Qapital account with many of your favorite mobile apps. You can save with a tweet, an Instagram post or when you hit your step goal with FitBit. Really! The ways to save with Qapital are truly limitless.&nbsp; <a href="https://app.qapital.com/">Create account</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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The Rules: How to Save Money with Qapital

2020 was… a year. A fresh start for 2021 is looking quite appealing. A <a href="https://people.com/human-interest/most-americans-are-ditching-traditional-new-years-resolutions-for-2021-survey-finds/">recent survey</a> asked 2,000 Americans about their plans for the new year in light of the stress from 2020 and found that they’re looking to take control of their finances – to save money for future expenses (62%), better budget their finances (54%), and pay down debt (49%).&nbsp; There’s never been a better time, or tool, to help with your money goals. “We live in a world that makes it easy to spend without thinking, and few of us have the time or tools to consider the <a href="https://vimeo.com/226792730">opportunity cost</a> of those financial decisions,” says our Chief Behavioral Economist, Dan Ariely. “Qapital aims to make saving as easy as spending, and to incentivize good behavior and feelings when it comes to money.” Harnessing behavioral science, Qapital is about more than just taking charge of your money – it’s your plan for money happiness. You start planning for money happiness by setting specific Goals. You don’t save for the sake of saving, rather you choose meaningful Goals that we’ll help you commit to. You’ll save for things like an emergency fund, new laptop or post-pandemic vacation. And if you’re dreaming big and long-term – like a down payment or college fund – you can invest in one of our pre-built portfolios that are ideal for budding investors. <img src="Home_7a0b03958e.png" alt="Home.png" width="1200" height="702"> The smart part? It all happens automatically thanks to our fresh take on budgeting automation – Payday Divvy – plus fun automated everyday Rules you can layer on top of it. With <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/sneak-peek-meet-payday-divvy/">Payday Divvy</a>, you decide how much you want to allocate to your Goals, and what to set aside for bills. Then, every time you get paid, your money flows where it’s needed – no more juggling funds from account to account every other day. <img src="Payday_Divvy_81fa21d47d.png" alt="Payday Divvy.png" width="1200" height="702"> Plus you can throw a bunch of <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/save-money-qapital-rules/">Rules</a> – on top of Payday Divvy – into the mix. <img src="Rules_b6efe51023.png" alt="Rules.png" width="1200" height="702"> The money that’s left after your Payday Divvy allocation and triggered Rules is yours to use at your discretion – but if you need a helping hand, sign up for our <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/meet-the-new-improved-qapital-visa-debit-card/">Qapital Visa® Debit Card</a> and <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/weekly-spending-target-budget/">Spending Sweet Spot</a> will help you track how you’re spending now, so you can spend happier in the future. <img src="Spending_0c3e7b0880.png" alt="Spending.png" width="1200" height="702"> And because sometimes money’s a team game, Qapital <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/sneak-peek-meet-dream-team/">Dream Team</a>™ makes it easy to couple up and conquer your Goals together. Designed for collaboration, Dream Team gives couples the tools to talk about, manage and make decisions about their finances – all without giving up their individual accounts. <img src="Dream_Team_80bd68f102.png" alt="Dream Team.png" width="1200" height="701"> Our members have already saved more than $1 billion toward 3 million Goals and they’ve given the app more than 100,000 5-star store reviews. Find your money happiness with Qapital – join today!&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Achieve Your 2021 Money Goals with Qapital

We’ve harnessed behavioral science to revolutionize the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/52-week-money-challenge#adjust-the-52-week-challenge-to-fit-your-needs">52-week money challenge</a>.&nbsp; The 52-week money challenge is a strategy that helps you save nearly $1,400 over the course of a year. With the most popular version, you save $1 on the first week and work your way to saving $52 on the last week. This adds up to $1,378 for the year! The behavioral science nerds love this strategy of making saving a habit. But we’ve taken it a step further and removed some of the behavioral obstacles – like remembering – that can make completing this challenge, well, a challenge. By activating Qapital’s 52 Week Rule, you can move the money to your Goal automatically each week. Just set it once, and let Qapital do the work. Challenge accepted… To get started, <a href="https://app.adjust.com/5zj06l8_zl1a4bt?campaign=Get_the_app_button&amp;adgroup=Header&amp;creative=Top&amp;fallback=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.qapital.com%2F&amp;engagement_type=fallback_click">download the app</a>, create an account, and connect your checking account.&nbsp; Set a Goal Your Goal can be anything – a trip to Paris, your dream wedding, a down payment for a new home – the sky’s the limit. Once you’re all set up (don’t forget to add a photo of your Goal to inspire you), it’s time to add the 52 Week Rule. Activate the 52 Week Rule Tap the ‘Add Rule’ button, then select ‘52 Week Rule.’ Choose your strategy Decide whether you want to start small and work your way up ($1 for week one, $2 for week two, etc.) or if you want to start big and work backwards ($52 for week one, $51 for week two, etc.). Want to ramp it up? Try saving your change by using our Round Up Rule while using the 52 Week Rule – you’ll finish out the year with almost $2,000 in your pocket! What would you do with an extra $1,378 a year? Tweet us at <a href="https://twitter.com/qapitalapp">@qapitalapp</a> and tell us what you’re saving for. <a href="https://app.adjust.com/5zj06l8_zl1a4bt?campaign=52weekBlog&amp;adgroup=Blog&amp;creative=Blog&amp;fallback=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.qapital.com%2F&amp;engagement_type=fallback_click">Create account</a> <img src="Group_43955_905df25480.png" alt="Group 43955.png" width="721" height="1452">

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Take the 52-Week Money Challenge, with a Qapital Twist

Qapital Dream Team™ is the ultimate way for couples to collaborate on their finances.&nbsp;&nbsp;Just invite a partner, team up, and meet money goals faster. You decide what’s shared and what’s private, always.&nbsp;<h2>Who is Dream Team for?</h2>&nbsp;Dream Team is for couples that want to manage their money together, but prefer to bank separately.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>How does Dream Team work?</h2>&nbsp;Dream Team allows you to see all your savings and investment accounts in one place, so you can visualize your goals together. You set personal and combined financial goals, and fund your accounts using “rules”. You’ll get instant notifications of milestones and goal completions to keep you both on the same page. And you can instantly transfer money to your partner (and vice versa).&nbsp;But you choose how much, or how little, you want to share. Qapital displays all of your individual and shared finances in one place, and you can decide how much information you want to share with your partner – from account balances to transaction history.&nbsp;&nbsp;And if you decide to fly solo, you can opt out of shared accounts anytime.&nbsp;<h2>What can I use Dream Team for?</h2>&nbsp;If you have a goal you’d like to fund with a partner (like a down payment on a new home) you can invite them to join you. You can both track your progress, see how much money you need to reach your goal, and track how your money grows over time.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Ready to try Dream Team?</h2>&nbsp;To get started with Dream Team, open the Qapital app and head over to the Profile tab. Tap on the section that says Dream Team. You will then be guided through a short setup where you’ll select which goals and permissions you’d like to share with your partner. The final step is to invite your partner.&nbsp;&nbsp;You can invite anyone you want, whether they already have Qapital or not!*&nbsp; (If your partner is new to Qapital, don’t forget that you’ll each be eligible for the referral bonus when they join!**)&nbsp;You’ll be notified once your partner accepts the invite. Once you confirm, you are all set!&nbsp;*You must be a US resident over 18 and have a valid checking account supported by our data provider to open a Qapital account.&nbsp;**See&nbsp;<a href="https://www.qapital.com/terms/qapital-everyday-referral-program/">Terms and Conditions</a>. Qapital Dream Team™ enables you to share your Goals and Spending Account information with other Qapital account holders, such as family members. If you decide to do so, such Qapital account holders may import and view your account information. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR AND ASSUME ALL RISK ARISING FROM SHARING ACCOUNT INFORMATION WITH OTHER QAPITAL USERS. QAPITAL IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENCE OF ANY USE OR DISCLOSURE OF YOUR ACCOUNT INFORMATION BY YOU OR ANY QAPITAL USER WITH WHOM YOU SHARE YOUR ACCOUNT INFORMATION. Dream Team also allows you to send money from your Qapital Spending Account to your Dream Team partner’s account at your initiation. You understand that when you send the payment, you will have no ability to stop or cancel it.

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Sneak Peek: Qapital Dream Team™

Halloween is usually a fun kind of scary, but with next week’s presidential election on the horizon and a global pandemic still raging, you may find yourself actually feeling nervous this year – especially about your investments. We are certainly seeing a lot of stock market volatility, but don't let that mess with your investment strategy. Whenever we need a dose of rational thinking we turn to our Chief Behavioral Economist <a href="https://vimeo.com/226792730">Dan Ariely</a>. In addition to being professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, Dan has played a key role in developing the saving and budgeting tools that have helped our members save more than $1B. So who better to drop a little wisdom when it comes to volatile markets? Markets go up and markets go down. It’s true that the market could take a dive after the election. But day-to-day fluctuations are normal, and it’s best not to sweat them. We aren’t saying that you shouldn’t pay attention to the market; you’re an investor now, so it’s good to stay up to date on what’s happening. But it’s also important not to panic over changes in the value of your investments.<h2>Don’t make decisions based on fear</h2>Says Dan: “Every time you open your portfolio and you notice that the value’s changed, it’s going to impact how you feel.” Sometimes, because they’re feeling emotional about the state of their portfolio, investors will take action. This might mean cashing out their stocks and investing in bonds, for example. “Historically, those are some of the biggest mistakes that people can make,” says Dan. Don’t make market decisions when your head is clouded by emotions. His recommendation is to act deliberately — rather than react to the state of your portfolio. Don’t even check your Invest balance unless you have a clear idea of what you want to do: “Decide what change you want to make, and only then open your portfolio. It’s never a good idea to open up your portfolio for fun and then decide what to do.” Investing is a long-term game. Many of our members have Invest Goals for things like down payments, college funds, and retirement. If you plan to use the money you’ve invested years from now, then volatile markets this week shouldn’t be of much consequence to your long-term Goals.You can set up a new Invest Goal in the Qapital app or simply convert one of your existing Savings Goals to an Invest Goal. When evaluating the performance of your investments, an important benchmark index to watch is the S&amp;P 500. The S&amp;P 500 is a collection of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States. It’s called a ‘benchmark index’ because it gives you a good general understanding of what’s happening in the market.&nbsp; The average return of the S&amp;P 500 over the last 100 years is between 6% and 10%, depending on whether or not you reinvested dividends. Corrections and crashes happen, but the overall long-term trend of the market is that it goes up.&nbsp; Remember that in times when temporary volatility can get you down.&nbsp; Make ‘buy and hold’ your new money mantra, and keep working toward your Goals.&nbsp; At Qapital we have built the most simple investment solution there is. Qapital Invest Goals take full advantage of Modern Portfolio Theory and all the rational tips that Dan preaches. Learn more about <a href="https://www.qapital.com/invest/">Qapital Invest </a>here.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Any historical returns or projections are hypothetical and may not reflect actual future performance. Investments in securities are not FDIC-insured and may lose value. This is not a complete description of Qapital Invest’s investment advisory services. For more details, click <a href="https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/283762">here</a>. Brokerage services provided to Qapital Invest clients by Apex Clearing Corporation, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Qapital’s Halloween advice: Don’t make investment decisions based on fear

Mastering your money is hard. Raising kids is hard. Doing both simultaneously is really hard. At Qapital, we recognize the many challenges that working parents face.&nbsp; And we want to do everything we can to help those parents and their children be happy and thrive – now and in the future.&nbsp; So in addition to offering our members a robust set of tools to help manage their money, we offer our employees a robust benefits package to help them earn their money while managing their lives. We are extremely proud of our industry-leading parental leave policy – 20 weeks of guaranteed paid parental leave per child for US employees, with the possibility for additional weeks based upon need.&nbsp;&nbsp; We also offer:&nbsp;<ul><li>work-from-home/telecommuting options;</li><li>a flexible PTO policy</li><li>health insurance, disability insurance, and life insurance (for domestic partners and their children too)</li><li>Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts</li><li>milk expression breaks, areas to breastfeed or express milk, and refrigerated milk storage</li><li>company-sponsored family-friendly events.</li></ul> However, even with the ambitious policies we currently have in place, we recognize that we can do more.&nbsp; While we can’t eliminate meetings, deadlines, or the interconnected nature of the work each employee does, we aspire to do all that we can to reduce workplace rigidity in ways that don’t reduce productivity.&nbsp; As parents ourselves, we understand how child care responsibilities often collide with work responsibilities and we are continuously searching for ways to help alleviate some of that tension.&nbsp;&nbsp; We are strongly committed to achieving gender equality and enacting policies that enable everyone to participate equally in the workforce.&nbsp; We believe that with the right support people of all genders can be leaders in the workplace and at home, and it is up to each organization to do its part to have policies that permit this.&nbsp; Research demonstrates the benefits that employees, employers, and society as a whole reap from family-friendly policies – such policies positively impact recruitment, retention, productivity, creativity, and employee morale. They also help to close the wage gap, keep more primary caregivers in the paid workforce, and improve the future workforce by ensuring quality child care in the formative years. Happiness matters.&nbsp; We work every day to help our members discover true money happiness.&nbsp; And we feel our employees deserve the same. The Qapital leadership team Katherine Salisbury George Friedman Erik Akterin&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Benefits That Benefit Everyone

Qapital was built on the idea that it should be easier to make smart money decisions. We started by helping members save toward their personal Goals in new and creative ways. We called them Rules. Our members called them awesome. With more than 70,000 five-star reviews and over $1 billion collectively saved, it seems automation goes a long way when it comes to helping people meet their money Goals. Automating savings was a fantastic start. However, we always knew that to deliver on our promise of helping members make smarter money decisions we had to aim higher. Talking to our members, we saw a need for applying the convenient "set and forget" approach of Rules to more than just savings. This, combined with insights from our behavioral science team, made it clear where we had to focus our efforts – payday. By automating payday, our members can truly take control of their day-to-day finances the second they are paid. And we know our members want this kind of automation – a recent survey revealed that Americans are more likely to automate their day-to-day finances than rely on technology to get food delivered!*<h3>What's so special about payday?</h3>Aside from giving you that sweet, life-affirming bump in your balance, payday is your best shot at making a money plan you’ll actually stick to. But the truth is that most of us don’t prepare a detailed household budget.** Let’s face it – spreadsheets aren’t much fun, and it can be tedious juggling money from account to account. So how does Qapital make budgeting less dry than the Moab desert? By taking it off your plate.<h3>Meet Payday Divvy</h3>Payday Divvy comes with all the benefits of budgeting but none of the hassle of setting up and maintaining a budget. <img src="https://cdn.qapitalapp.net/wp-uploads/2020/09/payday-divvy-2x.png" width="1600" height="960"> &nbsp;<h3>How does Payday Divvy work?</h3>Automatically, every time you get paid. Just tell us once how to divvy up your paychecks, and we take care of the rest. That means we calculate the right amounts and make transfers in the background to keep it out of mind – but never out of sight. That's right, you can always adjust, pause, or stop Payday Divvy whenever life gets in the way.<h3>What can I use Payday Divvy for?</h3>Payday Divvy helps you get your $$$$ together. More specifically, it automatically sets the right amount aside for savings, investments, and everyday spending – the moment you get paid. The rest? It stays securely in your linked bank account for the expenses and bills you haven't moved over to Qapital.<h3>What is the right amount to set aside with Payday Divvy?</h3>The amount set aside will be unique to you – it will depend on your short-term Goals, long-term investment strategies, recurring expenses and bills, and the size of your paychecks. But we are excited to see that, on average, our early beta adopters have been setting aside almost a quarter of their paychecks!<h3>When is Payday Divvy available?</h3>Soon-ish. We're rolling it out slowly in beta to select members right now. But if you can't wait to try it, e-mail our team at <a href="mailto:support@qapital.com">support@qapital.com</a> and we'll put you on our priority list. Once you've given it a go, we’d love to get your feedback and suggestions on how we can make Payday Divvy even better for you. *<a href="https://www.aboutschwab.com/consumer-digital-demands-survey-2018">https://www.aboutschwab.com/consumer-digital-demands-survey-2018</a> **<a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/162872/one-three-americans-prepare-detailed-household-budget.aspx">https://news.gallup.com/poll/162872/one-three-americans-prepare-detailed-household-budget.aspx</a>

Sneak Peek: Meet Payday Divvy™

Starting last week, Qapital users have been receiving envelopes in the mail containing the new &amp; improved Qapital Visa® Debit Card*.&nbsp; This small yet mighty card has it all: Top-notch security, supercharged savings, smart budgeting, convenient withdrawals and contactless tap-to-pay technology. Qapital is proud to be among the first to provide its members with access to this advanced payment tool, particularly at a time when contactless checkout is imminent to public health. Here’s a list of everything you can expect from the game-changing Qapital Visa® Debit Card:<ul><li>Tap to pay: Checkout safely and securely wherever contactless-payment is enabled. Simply bring your card within a few inches of the contactless payment device (tapping is optional).&nbsp;</li><li>Avoid overspending (and underspending): By setting up <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/weekly-spending-target-budget/">Spending Sweet Spot</a>, you’ll get real-time notifications to help you stay within a weekly budget that doesn’t make you feel guilty or deprived.</li><li>Supercharge your Savings: Your new card can be used to trigger your Savings Rules, so you reach your Goals faster. For instance, set up a Rule to save every time you use your card to pay at Starbucks.</li><li>Withdraw cash on demand: Enjoy no-fee withdrawals from <a href="https://www.allpointnetwork.com/locator.aspx">over 55,000 ATMs</a> across the United States and around the globe.</li><li>Stay safe: Thanks to Visa’s <a href="https://usa.visa.com/pay-with-visa/visa-chip-technology-consumers/zero-liability-policy.html">Zero Liability Policy</a>, you won’t be responsible for fraudulent use of your card.</li><li>Digital payment friendly: Use your card with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.</li></ul>&nbsp;&nbsp;* The Qapital Visa® Debit Card is issued by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and is available with Qapital Complete and Qapital Master membership plans.Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Meet the New & Improved Qapital Visa® Debit Card

This past week has been a time of painful reflection and necessary discussion for every single one of us. Systemic racism against the black community stretches across healthcare, education, security and finance. There are so many tough questions that we as a society have failed to ask and answer. What can we do as individuals to effect change? What can we do as business leaders to address systemic racism? What can we do as organizations to make a difference? We’re listening to each other, to our users, and to society as a whole – and we’re making a commitment to help close the racial wealth gap. To start, we’ve made donations to the NAACP, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the ACLU because they are fighting for equality. We’re also looking inward to make changes to further uphold diversity and inclusion. And we’re more focused than ever on opening up access to tools and resources that can help close the racial wealth gap for good. How can we do better? We welcome ideas and actions. We know we don’t have the answers and these are just small steps forward. But we are committed to doing better as individuals, as a community, and as an organization. Because racism has no place in our society. Here are just a few of the many resources and organizations that are doing the hard work to address racism head-on: Closing the divide <a href="http://Year Up - Closing the Opportunity Divide">YearUp</a>: Focused on closing the opportunity divide <a href="https://operationhope.org/">Operation Hope</a>: Dedicated to financial literacy Talking to our children about racism and equality <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/parenting/kids-books-racism-protest.html">NYTimes</a>: Anti-racism books for kids <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/us/cnn-sesame-street-standing-up-to-racism/index.html">CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall</a>: On racism Supporting black-owned businesses <a href="https://www.oprahmag.com/life/a32731286/black-owned-businesses/">Oprah Magazine</a>: List of businesses you can support <a href="https://officialblackwallstreet.com/directory/">Official Black Wall Street</a>: Online directory The Qapital leadership team Katherine Salisbury George Friedman Erik Akterin

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Racism and Inequality Must End

Creating and sticking to a budget can be hard. During a <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/stay-rational-during-pandemic-dan-ariely/">pandemic</a>, many of us are feeling overwhelming financial anxiety - adding to the stress of budgeting.&nbsp; Qapital has stepped up with a simpler, more effective way to budget; one that's rooted in behavioral science.<h2>Find your Spending Sweet Spot</h2>Thinking of a budget as restrictive is the first step to making it feel restrictive. Recently, our Chief Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely <a href="https://bit.ly/3evClD1">spoke with Qapital users via Instagram</a> about the <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/stay-rational-during-pandemic-dan-ariely/">financial implications of COVID19</a>, stating “this is an opportunity to reexamine what are the things that give us joy." Then, take on the challenge to create a new sustainable budget.&nbsp; A sustainable budget will comfortably pace how you spend your paycheck. This is opposed to an ineffective budget, that encourages you to overspend or underspend, thereby steering you away from the quality of life you want and holding you back from financial freedom.&nbsp; That’s why we designed our Spending Sweet Spot to let you customize a budget that fits your spending habits and income. It will automatically send you notifications that keep you updated throughout the week so you always know how you’re doing. You can adjust your budgeted amount at any time so you have the flexibility to learn and grow with your spending habits. You can also rate how your weekly spending made you feel and use that rating to adjust your weekly spending goal until you find the spending amount that makes you happiest -- your own Spending Sweet Spot. &nbsp; Through use of the Spending Sweet Spot tool, included with your Qapital Complete and Qapital Master membership, you'll be able to build a balanced budget that finally gives you control of your finances - allowing you to&nbsp;make the most of your government stimulus payment, unemployment check, diminished salary, or any income.&nbsp; We'll let Professor Dan Ariely delve deeper into the science behind this innovative budgeting tool. Qapital: Should I split my budget by category? Dan Ariely: “While it’s reasonable to have a budget for multiple categories, most people won’t stick to them. You don’t want to go for something that’s perfect, you want to go for something that is doable. For that, I recommend the strategy of creating one budget for all your discretionary spending.” “Think about all the things you could live without. For example, grocery shopping is not one of those things. You can’t live without food. But take all the things you could live without, put them in one bucket, then think about what amount you want to spend on that category per week — coffee, drinks, going out, entertainment — and then think of that as a separate category, as a holistic category, without breaking it into components.” Qapital: Should I create a weekly, monthly or yearly budget?&nbsp; Dan Ariely: “If we have a yearly budget — let’s say $50,000 — we’ll run out of that money way too soon. A monthly budget makes sense for some things — it fits the bill of rent and so on — but most of our discretionary expenses* are either weekly or daily.” “We certainly need a monthly budget for monthly expenses — rent and so on — but for discretionary spending*, it’s much much better to have a weekly budget. In fact, some studies show that even if you have a two-week budget, people spend way too much in the beginning and don’t have enough by the end. So if we want to spread our money correctly, the right framework is to think about a week.” Qapital: When should the week start, for budgeting purposes? Dan Ariely: “Should the week start on Friday or should the week start on Monday? Well, on the weekend we have more discretion. We can expand our spending [because] there are so many more things to do on the weekend. In fact, when you work, life is quite cheap; you don’t have enough time to spend all your money. But on the weekend, when you have more [free] time, you can expand your spending dramatically. It’s something to look forward to.” “So what’s the right approach? If our week starts on Friday or Saturday, we end up spending way too much on the weekend and are left with no money by Wednesday or Thursday. But if we start on Monday we save some of the money because we want to keep it for the weekend, and then if we don’t have that much leftover it’s easy to shrink our amount spent over the weekend.” The Spending Sweet Spot tool is available for users with a Qapital Visa® Debit Card. Sign up for a Complete or Master membership today to get a Qapital Spending Account and set a budget you can feel confident about. <a href="https://app.qapital.com/">GET STARTED &gt;</a> This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. *Discretionary expenses/spending: non-essential purchases for things like leisure and entertainment. The materials and content discussed in these sessions and on the Qapital app and website are opinions for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to be tax, personal financial planning, investment or financial advice. Please consult a licensed qualified professional about your personal situation.

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COVID19 Throwing Off Your Budget? Make Your IRS Stimulus Last Longer

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Staying Rational During a Pandemic:  Join Dan Ariely Live on Instagram @Qapital

Recent weeks have been marked by uncertainty for all of us, and our hearts go out to anyone impacted by COVID-19 worldwide.&nbsp;Rest assured,<ul><li>We are here for you.&nbsp;</li></ul>Qapital is operating normally. You can reach out to our <a href="https://support.qapital.com/hc/en-us">support team</a> with any questions or concerns.<ul><li>Now more than ever, we encourage you to rely on Qapital.&nbsp;</li></ul>Many of our customers have taken charge of their finances by setting up new savings goals, particularly emergency funds. Having money saved, and continuing to save when possible, is crucial, as is the confidence of knowing that your Qapital Goals accounts are safe and FDIC insured. Thanks for being a part of Qapital.&nbsp; &nbsp;Stay well, George Friedman CEO, Qapital<h3>Your questions, answered.</h3>Is Qapital functioning normally? All Qapital services, including Master, Complete and Basic subscriptions, Qapital Goals, Qapital Invest, Payday Divvy, and Qapital Card are functioning normally. As always, our <a href="https://support.qapital.com/hc/en-us">customer service</a> team is on hand to answer any questions you might have.&nbsp; How do I set up an emergency fund? In your Qapital app’s Overview screen, tap on Select Goal. From there, you can navigate the prompts manually, or scroll down to the pre-set Emergency Fund goal. You’ll be able to customize every aspect, from the goal amount, to when you imagine needing it, and whether it’s shared with someone else.&nbsp; I have money saved with Qapital; can I shift the Goal to become an emergency fund? Yes! To change an existing goal’s purpose, find it on your Overview screen, tap on it, then click the three dots in the top right-hand corner, and select Edit Goal. Here, you’ll be able to easily edit the name, display image, goal sum and target date for your goal. All existing rules will remain in place, though you can edit those too at any time.&nbsp;Do you have recommendations on how to weather this period of financial uncertainty? When faced with challenges, we often turn to behavioral economics for answers. Taking human nature into account, and considering the importance of saving and investing as long-term financial health strategies, our Chief Behavioral Economist <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/dan-arielys-advice-for-investors-in-volatile-markets/">Dan Ariely</a> recommends* the following:<ul><li>Keep saving as much as possible, and be specific: If you are able to continue saving, we encourage you to do so. This, in addition to specifying what you’re saving towards – whether it’s an emergency fund, or that kitchen renovation you plan to kick off when life returns to normal – is going to help you stay on track.</li><li>Buy &amp; hold should be your investment mantra: Temporary volatility can get you down, but remember that investing is a long-term game. If you plan to use the money you’ve invested years from now, then volatile markets this week, this month or even this year shouldn’t be of much consequence to your long-term Goals.</li><li>Don’t make decisions out of fear: “Don’t make market decisions when your head is clouded by emotions,” says Dan, referring to the emotional state often brought on by checking the stock market repeatedly. Being driven by fear can make you pull funds from your portfolio before you need them, hurting your finances in the long run.</li></ul>* The materials and content on the Qapital app and website are not, and shall not be construed as, tax, personal financial planning, or financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional about your personal situation.

COVID-19: You & your money are in good hands with Qapital

<h2>To mark Women’s History Month – and the small matter of being named App of the Day by Apple – we’re offering new members a $20 sign-up bonus.&nbsp;</h2>We couldn’t have been more thrilled earlier this month when Apple celebrated our co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Katherine Salisbury by <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/story/id1491970650">naming Qapital ‘App of the Day’</a>.&nbsp;To celebrate, we’re giving all new members a $20 sign-up bonus through to the end of March.<h2>How Qapital helps you master your money</h2>We’ve been helping our members save smarter since 2013. In fact, our 1.9M members have saved more than $1Bn. And our money management tools, developed in collaboration with our Chief Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely, help our members save an average of $5,000 a year.To claim your sign-up bonus, download the app and enter the code WHM20 when prompted.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

It’s Women’s History Month and we’re on a mission to help you save smarter 💸

Whenever we need a dose of rational thinking we turn to our Chief Behavioral Economist <a href="https://vimeo.com/qapital">Dan Ariely</a>. In addition to being professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, Dan’s played a key role in developing the saving and budgeting tools that have helped our members save more than $1B. So who better to drop a little wisdom when it comes to volatile markets? Markets go up and markets go down. Day-to-day fluctuations are normal, and it’s best not to sweat them. We aren’t saying that you shouldn’t pay attention to the market; you’re an investor now, so it’s good to stay up to date on what’s happening. But it’s also important not to panic over changes in the value of your investments.  Don’t make decisions based on fear Says Dan: "Every time you open your portfolio and you notice that the value's changed, it's going to impact how you feel." Sometimes, because they're feeling emotional about the state of their portfolio, investors will take action. This might mean cashing out their stocks and investing in bonds, for example. "Historically, those are some of the biggest mistakes that people can make," says Dan. Don't make market decisions when your head is clouded by emotions. His recommendation is to act deliberately -- rather than react to the state of your portfolio. Don't even check your Invest balance unless you have a clear idea of what you want to do: “Decide what change you want to make, and only then open your portfolio. It’s never a good idea to open up your portfolio for fun and then decide what to do.” Investing is a long-term game. We aren’t the first investment advisor to say this, nor will we be the last. It is tried and true advice because it is good advice. If you plan to use the money you’ve invested years from now, then volatile markets this week shouldn’t be of much consequence to your long-term Goals. An important benchmark when thinking about the stock market is an index called the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sp500.asp">S&amp;P 500</a>. The S&amp;P 500 is a collection of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States. It’s called a ‘benchmark index’ because it gives you a good general understanding of what’s happening in the market.  The average return of the S&amp;P 500 over the last 100 years is between <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042415/what-average-annual-return-sp-500.asp">6% and 10%</a>, depending on whether or not you reinvested dividends. Corrections and crashes happen, but the overall long-term trend of the market is that it goes up.  Remember that on days and weeks like this when temporary volatility can get you down.  Make ‘buy and hold’ your new money mantra, and keep working toward your Goals. <h2 class="h3">Put money in its place</h2> Master your money with the app that makes it easy to divvy up every dollar so you can balance what you want with what you need. <a class="btn" href="https://app.qapital.com/">Create account</a>

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Dan Ariely's advice for investors in volatile markets

Have you tried setting IFTTT (If This Then That) rules to your goals? They work by connecting Qapital to other apps you love and make it even easier to save with Qapital. For instance, you can connect Qapital to your Fitbit app so that you save a set amount every time you reach your daily step goal. Simple, right? Even more simple – saving with it!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Users with IFTTT rules save almost double over a 30-day period than those without them. In dollar terms, IFTTT users save an average of $407 in a month while for non-users the figure is $235.&nbsp;It’s a two-horse race for the most popular IFTTT rule, with Fitbit just edging out Uber. But it seems you guys like taking rides a little more than you like working out as Uber leads the way when it comes to the total number of actual savings events.&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="Review_c02bf14764.png" alt="Review.png" width="498" height="263">&nbsp;There are nine ways to save with IFTTT:&nbsp;<ul><li>Facebook: Take advantage of your Facebook fixation by saving every time you post.</li><li>Fitbit: Reward yourself by saving toward a goal every time you hit your daily step goal.</li><li>Twitter: Give your goal a boost every time your favorite user tweets.</li><li>Square: Save toward a big dream every time you make a little sale.</li><li>Strava: Save for a vacation whenever you workout (you’ve earned it).</li><li>YouTube: Killing time watching videos? Now you can save every time you like one.</li><li>Finance: Playing the markets? Play to win by saving when the S&amp;P 500 Index falls.</li><li>Google Assistant &amp; Amazon Alexa: Say a certain phrase, save a certain amount. Certain savings!&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;&nbsp;If you haven’t tried our IFTTT rules yet, it’s super easy to get started:&nbsp;<ol><li>Make sure you’ve signed up for our Complete or Premier membership</li><li>Choose one of your savings goals and tap “Add Rule”</li><li>Select one of the IFTTT Rules from the list and tap “Set up”</li></ol>&nbsp;Happy saving!&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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IFTTT Rules are supercharging your savings!

We want to say a heartfelt thankyou to all our members for your support this year. 2019 has been huge in lots of ways. We rolled out our membership model – the biggest change in our history – and together we reached a massive milestone: more than $1billion saved. And at the rate you guys are saving, we’ll hit $2billion by the summer. &nbsp;<h3>Your Goals, our gratitude</h3> Pretty much every new bank or financial service promises to help people ‘take charge of their finances’. We started Qapital partly because we were tired of empty promises. And this year we saw just how much of a difference Qapital can actually make in your financial lives: &nbsp;<ul><li>88,000 Goals were completed 🎉</li><li>104,000 of you saved toward a vacation 🏖</li><li>70,000 of you saved to pay off loans and debt 🙌🏼</li><li>8,500 of you saved towards weddings ❤️</li></ul> Oh, and one of you saved for a 🐄. Which is exactly what Qapital is all about – helping you master your money so you can use it on what <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/myqapitalgoal/">matters to you</a>. &nbsp;<h3>Looking ahead</h3> Our focus for 2020 is simple: do more of what helps you master your money. Today, our tools help members invest toward lifelong dreams, get better at budgeting, and learn how to balance what you want with what you need. And our toolkit is growing. We recently introduced our <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/ifttt-rules-are-supercharging-your-savings/">powerful new IFTTT Rules</a> and you can look forward to more ambitious money-saving and budgeting features in 2020. We can’t wait. For now, we wish you and your loved ones a Happy Holidays. Here’s to hitting all your Goals in 2020! &nbsp;<h2>Put money in its place</h2> Master your money with the app that makes it easy to divvy up every dollar so you can balance what you want with what you need. <a href="https://app.qapital.com/">Create account</a> Best,

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Thanks a billion for an amazing 2019!

We’ve just added two new Money Missions to our collection. Created in collaboration with our Chief Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely, Money Missions are fun challenges that help you unlock helpful insights into how you use your money now so you can use it better in the future. In that sense, Missions are not about success or failure, but about helping you learn more about what matters to you.<h3>New Mission 1 – Make Sunday your meal-prep day</h3> At Qapital, we believe it’s never too late to build better habits. This Mission is a great way to start and it can help save you time and money. Team up with a partner, friend or roommate and decide which meal you want to prep: breakfast, lunch or dinner. Think about when you typically struggle for time. Find it hard to get out of bed in the morning? Having a ready-made breakfast like overnight oats could be the answer.&nbsp; Once you’ve agreed on the meal, decide what you want to eat. Pasta dishes are good options for dinner as they’re relatively easy to make in large batches and then divide into meal-sized portions. Dish picked, all that remains is buying the ingredients and preparing the food. If time is really tight, consider having the ingredients delivered. Then it’s time to cook!&nbsp; Before starting the Mission, make a note of what you spend on groceries for a week or two and then compare with what you spend when you meal prep. If you save some cash while saving time and improving your health, consider putting the difference toward one of your Goals.&nbsp;<h3>New Mission 2 – Cancel a subscription and put the money toward a Goal</h3> The subscription economy is booming these days – and it’s not just your favorite streaming services that are cashing in. More and more of us are paying hundreds of dollars every month for everything from software to shaving blades.&nbsp; Our latest Mission is designed to make you reflect on which subscriptions make you happy, and which you can happily live without.&nbsp; So take a quick audit of the services you’re paying for and commit to cancelling one or two. Allocate the money you save to one of your Goals instead and then sit back and evaluate if it was worth it. If nothing else, it will help you figure out which subscriptions are worth the money. All Money Missions are available now for Qapital Master members.&nbsp;<h2>Put money in its place</h2>Master your money with the app that makes it easy to divvy up every dollar so you can balance what you want with what you need. <a href="https://app.qapital.com/">Create account</a>

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Two new Missions to make mastering your money fun

There’s nothing better than reaching your goals. You’ve been effortlessly putting money aside for the things you really want. Maybe it’s taken a while to get there… especially if it’s a big goal like a down payment. So when you do get there, wouldn’t it be great to be able to pay for it right away?&nbsp;With Qapital’s Express Withdrawals, you can! For a fee of just 2% of the transfer amount (and never more than $10), you can transfer money from your Qapital savings account to your linked bank account on the same day. You’ll find Express Withdrawals in the Transfer tab before 12pm ET Monday through Friday on non-bank holidays.&nbsp;&nbsp;And, of course, our standard withdrawal is available 24/7 to transfer funds at no charge in 1-2 business days.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Get Your Savings Even Faster with Express Withdrawals

The market is unpredictable. But there are ways that investors can try to protect themselves against big changes in the value of their investments. One of the key risk management strategies investors use is&nbsp;diversification, or the practice of spreading money across a variety of different investments.&nbsp;The idea is that the negative performance of some investments can be offset by the positive performance of others. In other words, diversification means you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket. While not a guarantee, diversification is a way to reduce risk in the long term.&nbsp;To give a concrete example, if your investment portfolio is made up of one stock, and that stock’s value goes down 10%, your entire portfolio is down 10%. If your investment portfolio is made up of 10 equally valuable stocks and two lose 10% of their value and the rest remain unchanged, your portfolio only suffers a 2% drop.&nbsp;Portfolios can be diversified in a number of different ways. Some common variables that investors will consider are:&nbsp;<ul><li>Asset class: the type of investment. Asset classes include stocks and bonds, which we covered, but also a variety of other investments you may have heard of, like commodities and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).</li><li>Geography: The location of the company or country.</li><li>Industry: The type of good or service the company offers.</li></ul>&nbsp;And Qapital does all the diversification work for you! Each of our five pre-built portfolios is comprised of a mix of investments. You can see how we’ve diversified your portfolio right in the app! Just tap your Qapital Invest goal and Select Account overview to see how we’ve invested your money.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Any historical returns or projections are hypothetical and may not reflect actual future performance. Investments in securities are not FDIC-insured and may lose value. This is not a complete description of Qapital Invest’s investment advisory services. For more details, click <a href="https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/283762">here</a>. Brokerage services provided to Qapital Invest clients by Apex Clearing Corporation, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Managing investment risk through diversification

Tax season is a stressful time — it’s complicated and full of uncertainty. This year, tax refunds are <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-23/u-s-tax-refunds-plunge-17-as-treasury-ratchets-up-defense">down about 17 percent</a>, disappointing many Americans who were anticipating a large windfall of cash come early spring.&nbsp; American employees are now getting a feel for what freelancers and small business owners experience. Because of their complicated tax situations, freelancers and small business owners typically pay taxes rather than get a refund. Wanting to get a tax refund, instead of owing the IRS money, is actually irrational (as I explain below). But it is also very human. We like getting back money, even if it is our own. And having money in hand helps us plan better for the future. So, with this in mind, the question is how can we design a system to get back this windfall?&nbsp;<h3>Create your own tax refund on your own terms</h3>If you received a tax refund in the past, that means you essentially gave the U.S. government an interest-free loan until you filed your taxes for that year. It’s not the way a rational accountant would design the system, but we now understand that we get multiple benefits from this forced savings mechanism. When we get our tax refund we feel we have some unexpected money and we use it — many people use a third of their tax refund to pay off their debts, a third to splurge on themselves, and then put the rest into savings.&nbsp; Now that we understand that it is useful to have a forced savings mechanism, why count on the IRS to provide it? Instead, wouldn’t we be better off creating a system of saving in a way that works for us? For example, if we were to create our own “tax refund” we might set it up to save 5 percent of every paycheck, $10 every week, or $5 whenever we dine out. We might increase it more in the month when we have low expenses and save more when energy bills are lower. And if we were to build the system ourselves we would probably not cash it out on April 15th. Maybe we would take half just in time for the holiday season, and the other half in the summer.&nbsp; There are many ways we could design a financial system to deliver such a self-created tax refund, but at Qapital it has already been done for us. This approach of moving money automatically from one account to another and setting up saving goals is the basis of our system. And Qapital does it because splitting our money into different buckets and setting goals helps us to spend in a way that makes sense for us. &nbsp; &nbsp;<h3>Take a little extra time to evaluate your finances</h3>But, wait. There is more. As part of the tax process, people often review their personal finances closely. They check their credit card statements, bank statements, spending habits, and more. If you are already taking additional time to study your finances, why not spend some of that time adjusting your saving and spending habits so you’re more focused on your goals? For example, take a look at some of the major categories of spending — credit cards, restaurants, education, travel — and honestly ask yourself if you are spending the amounts you spend out of habit or because it fits your current and future goals. Here are a few recommended goals that we find many people benefit from — see if they could also work for you. &nbsp;1) Pay off credit card debt If you find that your credit card debt is higher than expected, set up a Goal to pay down that debt. You can open up a Credit Card Debt Goal on Qapital and set up Rules to move money toward paying off your credit card. You can even use the Round Up Rule linked directly to the credit card you are trying to pay off! &nbsp;2) Create a rainy day fund If you notice that you’re short on unexpected emergency funds, use the Set &amp; Forget Rule to put a bit of money aside every time your checking balance is over a certain threshold. This way when the time comes (hopefully not!), you’re prepared. &nbsp;3) Invest in yourself Spending money on things that make us happy is a good thing. The problem is when we impulsively spend on things that we later regret. Set up a Goal with an inspiring cover photo for something you really want and start saving. &nbsp;4) Set some long-term goals For long-term goals, such as a down payment on a house, retirement, or your kid’s college education, we recommend starting Invest Goals. Then start moving money to these Goals, even if it is just a bit every payday. The secret to saving is starting early and doing it consistently. &nbsp; &nbsp;5) Get on top of your taxes Lastly, for freelancers or small business owners, take advantage of the Freelancer Rule. It puts ⅓ of every paycheck into a separate account so that when the time comes to pay taxes, you are ready. &nbsp;<h3>Rethinking your finances</h3>This tax season, we hope you’ll see things differently than you have in the past. We encourage you to create your own refund goals and start working to reward yourself with that vacation or gift, as well as investing in a future goal. A little more intention in your financial efforts can go a long way. &nbsp;<h2>Put money in its place</h2>Master your money with the app that makes it easy to divvy up every dollar so you can balance what you want with what you need. <a href="https://app.qapital.com/">Create account</a>

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How Qapital can help you rethink tax season

When we launched in 2015, our tagline was: Save Small. Live Large.® It summed us up perfectly so we used it on everything from our mugs to our mousepads. The tagline reflects the great things that can happen with a little effort. The approach has been transformative for our members. Today, they save an average of $3,000 a year, which is impressive given that four in ten adult Americans can’t come up with $400 in the event of an emergency. But now, as well as saving with us, our members can invest with our personalized portfolios and they can spend with our checking account. In the past year we’ve introduced some of our most ambitious tools. Payday Divvy to help members budget more intelligently. Spending Sweet Spot to help members find a better balance between what they want now and what they’ll need in the future. And Money Missions, our fun challenges that help members build better money habits. As exciting as it is to add new features, sometimes you need to take a step back and make sure the foundations are still solid. As the app evolved, we realized our design system needed to evolve with it. Our design team set about the task of reimagining a simpler, pared down look and feel with more focus on your Goals and greatly improved accessibility. <img src="https://cdn.qapitalapp.net/wp-uploads/2019/03/spending-account-2-1024x630.jpg" width="1024" height="630"> Our new Spending account view (left) with the previous version on the right. The reduced visual noise is a recurring theme throughout the updated design. <img src="https://cdn.qapitalapp.net/wp-uploads/2019/03/transaction-2-1024x630.jpg" width="1024" height="630"> The updated transaction view on the left, with the old version on the right. We’ve implemented a modular system that can adapt to various merchant &amp; transaction data. You might have noticed some subtle but important changes already and there’s a lot more to come. The team’s ambition, besides creating a more refined look &amp; feel, is to explore a more personalized experience around setting up and reaching your Goals. In principle that meant taking practical steps like consolidating our color palette, streamlining our typography and overhauling key screens and features including Goals overview, Rules and transaction lists. It’s an exciting time for the team with a lot of changes under the hood of the app as well. While we’re focusing on rolling out the updated design system, our product roadmap is taking shape, too. As well as refining our budgeting tools, we’re hard at work on making Qapital a more social experience for our members. More about that soon! <img src="https://cdn.qapitalapp.net/wp-uploads/2019/03/peek-pop-1024x630.jpg" width="1024" height="630"> <img src="https://cdn.qapitalapp.net/wp-uploads/2019/03/user-2-1024x630.jpg" width="1024" height="630"> The upcoming iteration of your profile view is shown on the left with the current version to the right. There’s now a clearer emphasis on your actions. <h5>- George Friedman, Co-founder &amp; CEO</h5> <h2 class="h3">Put money in its place</h2> Master your money with the app that makes it easy to divvy up every dollar so you can balance what you want with what you need. <a class="btn" href="https://app.qapital.com/">Create account</a>

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More functionality, less friction - how we're updating Qapital's look and feel

The decision to start investing shouldn’t be taken lightly (see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/how-can-i-tell-if-im-ready-to-start-investing/">this article</a> to see if you’re ready) but we wanted to cover one of the most compelling reasons to invest:&nbsp;<h2>Compound growth</h2><h2>&nbsp;</h2>We’ve covered different kinds of investments and showed you why it’s important to have a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/qapital-invest-making-investing-accessible-to-everyone/">diversified mix of investments</a> in your portfolio. But that just covers risk and investment strategy. The reason investing is attractive to so many people is because of the potential for growth as a result of&nbsp;compounding.&nbsp;Essentially, compounding is a way for your money to make more money. That’s because you can earn money on both your initial investment&nbsp;and any of the gains you earn on that investment.&nbsp;Compound growth can be a bit confusing, so let’s look at a concrete example using a simple example. (Bear with us, we’re going to use a bit of math here.)&nbsp;<ul><li>Let’s say you have $1,000 invested in a portfolio that earns you 5% interest. In 20 years, that $1,000 turns into $2,000. So you made an extra $1,000! But it took 20 years. Much less exciting.</li><li>Now let’s take the same example, but now, the 5% interest is compounded annually, meaning that your interest gains are reinvested in your account every year.</li></ul>&nbsp;That $1,000 earns you $50 in interest the first year. The full $1,050 is reinvested to earn $52.50 in interest the second year. Your new total of $1102.50 is reinvested to earn $55.13 in interest the third year, and so on.&nbsp;Now in 20 years, your initial $1,000 turns into $2,653.30. Compare that to $2,000 without compounding! That’s an extra 65% just because the interest was compounded annually. If the interest is compounded monthly, then that increases your gains even more.&nbsp;The same concept applies to investing, although in this case, it’s returns* on your investments, not interest, that increase your gains. And rather than on a fixed schedule, your investment gains can be reinvested&nbsp;as they’re earned.&nbsp;<h2>Compounding your earnings with dividends</h2><h2>&nbsp;</h2>Investment gains aren’t the only way to take advantage of compounding.&nbsp;Dividends can also add up a lot to a portfolio’s growth.&nbsp;Dividends are payments that some companies provide as a way to distribute profits to stockholders. Anyone holding a dividend-paying corporation’s stock typically receives dividends on a consistent schedule (such as monthly or quarterly). Not all companies pay dividends and the amount of the dividends do vary. However, they’re still an important consideration when investing.&nbsp;Your dividends can also be reinvested meaning you’re then able to take advantage of gains on your dividends as well, leading to further growth.&nbsp;In the long term, this reinvestment cycle can really pay off. Those dividends you’ve reinvested into the stock will fuel more dividend payouts that you can continue to reinvest, helping accelerate gains.&nbsp;<h4>How Qapital helps you take advantage of compound growth</h4><h4>&nbsp;</h4>Compounding your gains and earnings and reinvesting dividends can be a complicated manual process. And you may be unsure on how to make compounding work for you. Fortunately, with Qapital Invest, we reinvest funds on your behalf, automatically. So just sit back and see where your investing takes you.&nbsp;*This scenario considers a positive return. Negative returns are possible and happen throughout an investment’s lifetime.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Any historical returns or projections are hypothetical and may not reflect actual future performance. Investments in securities are not FDIC-insured and may lose value. This is not a complete description of Qapital Invest’s investment advisory services. For more details, click <a href="https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/283762">here</a>. Brokerage services provided to Qapital Invest clients by Apex Clearing Corporation, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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A case for investing: The power of compound growth

A few years ago I decided to manage my money with Qapital. Not only has it helped me keep track of where my money goes, but I’ve also led a richer life. In turn, I’m a happier, more fulfilled me. What’s cool about Qapital is that it’s a one-stop shop to make purchases, track your spending, and save for goals — without having to step foot inside a brick-and-mortar bank. That’s right, all you need is a handy app. Using Qapital has helped enrich my money life and taught me a lot. Here’s what I’ve learned: <h2>Systems override habits</h2> If you don’t want to gorge on peanut butter cups, you shouldn’t have them lying around in the kitchen. The same “you can’t eat it if you don’t see it” principle goes for your money. If you want to save your beans, you should silo away those funds. I don’t always trust myself to do the best thing with my money, but I do trust the system I’ve created. A big part of that is auto-saving and setting up fun rules for different saving goals I’ve set up through Qapital. Right now I’ve set up auto-save plus a mix of rules for an art project, a vacation with my partner to Vietnam, and a big blowout for my mom’s milestone birthday. And I just started a few goals to give back in my own way. Knowing I’ve got my saving goals on cruise control allows me to spend more freely, without guilt or worry that I’m not keeping my other money goals in mind. And while being aware of my money habits is key to changing them for the better, I don’t have to beat myself up over the fact that I’m not perfect with my money today. (But who is, really?) I know the system and rules I’ve put in place with Qapital keep me in check. <h2>The less work you do, the more brain space you clear</h2> While it’s hard to pinpoint the exact number, research suggests we make an average of <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stretching-theory/201809/how-many-decisions-do-we-make-each-day">35,000 decisions in a given day. </a>That breaks down to 2,000 decisions per hour, or one decision every two seconds. For me, the trouble of making a decision is often harder than actually doing what I’ve decided. For instance, trying to figure out when I should go to yoga during the week is much harder than actually going once I’ve decided on set times. Less decision-making, less fretting. And instead of quibbling over whether I should save that five bucks for later or spend it now, I’ve already committed to saving part of my paycheck through auto saving. I stress less, worry less, and clear my brain space for other matters. <h2>You can balance present happy you with future happy you</h2> A major turnoff with super money nerds is that they are depicted as never having any fun with their money. Because they aren’t into spending, they live deprived existences, devoid of a  modicum of enjoyment. It’s quite the opposite. Last I checked, spending your whole paycheck and being stressed about your money isn’t exactly a fun time either. That’s why it’s important to strike a balance. Sure, you want to save for goals in both the short and long term, but what about enjoying life in the here and now? Because I pay myself first, and make a point to save for important, meaningful goals that will make my life richer, I can balance present happy me with future happy me. As long as I’m spending within the means I’ve safely set aside, I can feel secure about my long-term needs and have more fun today. <h2>Being in control of your finances doesn’t have to be complicated</h2> Being on top of your money game isn’t about numbers, math or following a bunch of rules. It’s about drumming up a sound, realistic plan, executing that plan, and in turn, dominating your finances. With that comes this blissed-out feeling of autonomy and having greater options. Because to me, financial wellness is about the power of choice. If I want to quit the nine-to-five and pursue freelance, go on an impromptu weekend road trip without second-thoughts, explore off-kilter projects and take greater risks, I’m setting myself up to have that flexibility. It boils down to making decisions you feel good about. That weekend binger you spent a quarter of your paycheck on that you couldn’t afford? That feels godawful. But the weekend binger you saved up for and pulled money from your designated “splurge fund”? That feels pretty awesome. With Qapital’s <a href="https://support.qapital.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011970594-Payday-Divvy">Payday Divvy</a>, I can set aside income for bills, my car payment, insurance, and a few savings goals. After I’ve allocated set amounts for my bills and savings, I can safely spend the rest on fun experiences and stuff that brings me joy in the present. <h2>Greater self-knowledge leads to more feel-good vibes </h2> Here’s how I use Qapital: I pay all my usual bills out of my “main account” and transfer a set amount to my Qapital account for discretionary spending. That’s everything outside of bills — groceries, eating out, entertainment, clothing, personal items, and so forth. Separating my variable spending from my fixed expenses helps me see where my money goes each month. Plus, after doing some quick math, I know how much I have left to spend for the week. If I had a few spend-happy days, I know I need to scale it back to get back on track. Another cool feature I’m itching to check out: Qapital’s <a href="https://support.qapital.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011970674-Spending-Sweet-Spot-">Spending Sweet Spot.</a> Up to now, I was manually doing simple math to figure out how much I had left to spend that week and how much I needed for discretionary spending. Qapital’s Spending Sweet Spot takes out the guesswork. It helps you monitor how much you spend day-to-day on those lattes, meals out with friends, and so forth. (This is spending separate from your fixed expenses, such as rent or cable.) Because you know how much you’re spending, you can treat yourself without feeling guilty or remorse for overdoing it. Having greater self-knowledge helps you make better decisions for yourself. You’ll know how much to set aside for your discretionary spending. It makes spending and managing your finances fun, easy, and empowering. It’s funny how a seemingly simple decision such as signing up with Qapital can improve how you feel about your money. It also helps you not only feel happier and more fulfilled about your financial picture, but about your life in general. Start a new financial relationship today. Get the <a href="https://app.adjust.com/5zj06l8_zl1a4bt?campaign=Blog&amp;adgroup=Financial Wellness&amp;creative=QapitalHappinessFulfillment&amp;fallback=https://get.qapital.com/download">Qapital app</a> here.

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How Qapital taught me about happiness and fulfillment

If you read our article covering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/qapital-invest-making-investing-accessible-to-everyone/">Qapital Invest</a>, you may have seen us mention risk a couple of times. In fact, we ask you several questions to assess your risk tolerance before recommending a portfolio based on your responses and when you’d like to reach your Goal.&nbsp;So you may be wondering – what is risk and why does it matter for my investments?&nbsp;To help you understand what risk is when it comes to investing, we put together this quick primer.&nbsp;When it comes to investments,&nbsp;risk refers to the chance that the return on an investment will differ from expectations. There is always a chance that your investment will lose some or all of its value. Low risk investments are less likely to lose money, but offer lower potential return. High risk investments are just that — they have a higher chance of not delivering the value you expect, but the potential value of that return is higher. Your&nbsp;risk tolerance is the degree of uncertainty you are willing to take on with your investments.&nbsp;So how does that relate to your Qapital Invest account? Each of our five portfolios has a different risk profile — ranging from very conservative to very aggressive — based on its unique mix of stocks and bonds.&nbsp;Overall, bonds are seen as less risky than stocks. That’s because if a company goes out of business, for example, they have to pay off their debts (bonds) before they have to pay any of their stock investors.&nbsp;That said, there is plenty of variation in how risky an individual stock or bond is. As a general rule of thumb, whether considering government or corporate-issued bonds, the smaller or newer the company or economy, the higher the risk.&nbsp;To put this in context, small companies or economies are perceived to have higher risk because they don’t have a history of growth, or may have a more limited infrastructure. Similarly, bonds issued from governments with thriving and relatively stable economies, like the United States, are often considered less risky than bonds issued by developing economies.&nbsp;It’s the same with stocks. Newer companies with less history of growth are perceived to be riskier than well-established companies. However, the potential return may be higher because they may have more room to grow.&nbsp;<h2>How Qapital Invest minimizes your risk</h2><h2>&nbsp;</h2>And if this all sounds too complicated, don’t worry. At Qapital, we will do our best to recommend the right investments for you based on your Goals and your risk tolerance.&nbsp;Risk applies differently to many available types of stocks, bonds and other investment opportunities. You can invest in huge companies like Microsoft, small companies like SolarWinds Inc., companies based in the United States, or companies around the world. You can choose to invest in specific industries, like energy or finance, and they all have a level of risk associated with them (how risky they are may also be a point of contention). The point is, you have a lot of options when it comes to investing!&nbsp;In order to minimize the overall risk our members are exposed to, we don’t invest in individual stocks and instead opt for a diversified approach for our portfolio recommendations. All of the stocks we invest in are part of ETFs, exchange-traded funds, that sample a segment of the stock market (we’ll cover this in more detail in another article). Simply put, investing in ETFs allows you to own a little bit of a lot of companies so you don’t experience all of the downside if a single stock drops suddenly.&nbsp;<h2>Summing it up</h2><h2>&nbsp;</h2>If this seems overwhelming, we understand. We’re here to help make this whole investing thing a lot less complicated. That’s why, after asking you a few questions, we do our best to recommend the right investments for you based on what you want to achieve in your life.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Any historical returns or projections are hypothetical and may not reflect actual future performance. Investments in securities are not FDIC-insured and may lose value. This is not a complete description of Qapital Invest’s investment advisory services. For more details, click <a href="https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/283762">here</a>. Brokerage services provided to Qapital Invest clients by Apex Clearing Corporation, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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A quick primer on investment risk

When you’re basking in the glow of a new engagement, it’s easy to get lost in visions of your big day. In reality, events cost money and figuring out exactly how much is no small task. Whether you’re dreaming of a lush affair or intimate backyard bash, it all begins with a budget. We tapped experts to make crafting yours easier.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Figure out who pays for what</h2>&nbsp;Hosting a wedding is a major undertaking. Before diving into each of your must-haves, it’s important to know the budget you have to work with.&nbsp;According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theknot.com/content/average-wedding-cost">The Knot’s latest study</a>, on average, parents contribute 51% of the wedding budget, while couples cover the remaining 49%. Talking with each family is the best place to start. Even if they haven’t set money aside, it’s possible they will still want to contribute.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Communication early and often is the best approach,” says Ross Menke, a certified financial planner (CFP®) at Mariner Wealth Advisors.&nbsp;He suggests sharing your goals and getting feedback from both families early on. Once you know how much each family will chip in, it’s much easier to create your budget.&nbsp;<h2>Craft a realistic budget</h2>&nbsp;There are a lot of factors that will impact your wedding’s final price tag. Unless you have a blank check, you will need to pick which things are most important.&nbsp;“Decide on your priorities and use them as a filter for all decision-making,” says Ashley Stork, owner and lead planner of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/i-do-i-do-wedding-planning-helena/331da0f371d2a7ba.html">Magnolia Vine Events</a> in Birmingham, Alabama.&nbsp;While costs vary based on where you live, the average couple spent $30,000 on their wedding last year. Some of the bigger expenses included:&nbsp;<ul><li>Venue – $11,200</li><li>Photography – $2,600</li><li>Dress – $1,900</li></ul>&nbsp;At an average of $15,700, those three line items can account for over 50 percent of the budget. Catering is another big expense at $75 per person. Stork says catering and drinks are some of the biggest expenses for her clients. Passed appetizers, late-night snacks, and a full open bar are nice-to-haves but add up quickly.&nbsp;Regardless of what you decide your final number is, you need to stay organized. Menke recommends The Knot’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theknot.com/wedding-budget">wedding budget tool</a>. It’s important to share your budget with vendors line-by-line and each step of the way. If a company won’t negotiate, don’t be afraid to walk away.&nbsp;<h2>Be ruthless with the guest list</h2>&nbsp;A party with 500 of your closest friends sounds fun — until you consider the bill. The guest list is one of the few things you have control over. The more folks you invite, the bigger your bill. Resist the urge to include distant family or old acquaintances. Each RSVP represents a higher bar tab, catering bill, and more decor.&nbsp;“When clients get stressed about the budget, my first suggestion is to cut the guest list immediately,” Stork adds.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Avoid debt at all costs</h2>&nbsp;It may be one of the biggest days of your life, but paying for it shouldn’t mean skipping your other financial goals. If you don’t have enough savings and your family can’t contribute, you do have options. Menke recommends either eloping or extending your engagement.&nbsp;“Do anything you can to avoid going into debt for a wedding,” he says.&nbsp;Menke points out how difficult the early years of marriage can be. Between student loans, buying a home, and raising children, there is already enough to tackle. Adding wedding debt will only make your joint finances more challenging.&nbsp;<h2>Host a remarkable event at any budget</h2>&nbsp;In the Instagram era, it’s easy to feel pressure to create the “perfect” wedding. It’s normal to get so wrapped up in your guests’ experience you forget who it’s actually for — the bride and the groom. Memorable weddings happen at every budget level, so don’t be afraid to cut out what is less important to you. Remember, your guests are there to celebrate your marriage, not how much money you spent.&nbsp;Start saving for your wedding today by setting up a Qapital goal. Not ready to get hitched? Well, there’s no harm in setting up a ‘Just in case’ goal.&nbsp;<a href="https://app.qapital.com/?_branch_match_id=1205527560824423654&amp;_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXT08t0StMLMgsSczRS87P1U%2FJL8%2FLyU9MAQAEHpZ1IAAAAA%3D%3D">Download the app</a> today!&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

How to budget for any wedding, large or small

Creating and sticking to a budget can be hard. If you’ve ever felt too intimidated, too anxious, or too lazy to budget your money, you’re not alone. That’s why, with the help of Qapital’s behavioral economists, we designed a simpler, more effective way to budget. The results? <h2>Spending Sweet Spot</h2> Do you ever contemplate what you should spend instead of what you could spend on a regular basis? A sustainable budget will comfortably pace how you spend your paycheck. But ineffective budgets that encourage you to overspend (paying for unnecessary expenses) or underspend (limiting your ability to sustain the quality of life you want), hold you back from financial freedom. If you don’t feel balanced or in control, then you can’t be honest with yourself about your money. That’s why we designed our Spending Sweet Spot to let you customize a budget that fits your spending habits and income. It will automatically send you notifications that keep you updated throughout the week so you always know how you’re doing. You can adjust your budgeted amount at any time so you have the flexibility to learn and grow with your spending habits. You can also rate how your weekly spending made you feel and use that rating to adjust your weekly spending goal until you find the spending amount that makes you happiest -- your own Spending Sweet Spot.   How are we so sure we’ve made smart spending easier? Because we asked our Chief Behavioral Economist, famed researcher and professor Dan Ariely. If you have budgeting questions, he has the answers — and we built our Spending Sweet Spot feature with those answers in mind. Qapital: Why should a budget be weekly? Why not set it monthly or yearly? Dan Ariely: “If we have a yearly budget — let’s say $50,000 — we’ll run out of that money way too soon. A monthly budget makes sense for some things — it fits the bill of rent and so on — but most of our discretionary expenses* are either weekly or daily.” “We certainly need a monthly budget for monthly expenses — rent and so on — but for discretionary spending*, it’s much much better to have a weekly budget. In fact, some studies show that even if you have a two-week budget, people spend way too much in the beginning and don’t have enough by the end. So if we want to spread our money correctly, the right framework is to think about a week.” Qapital: When should the week start? Dan Ariely: “Should the week start on Friday or should the week start on Monday? Well, on the weekend we have more discretion. We can expand our spending [because] there are so many more things to do on the weekend. In fact, when you work, life is quite cheap; you don’t have enough time to spend all your money. But on the weekend, when you have more [free] time, you can expand your spending dramatically. It’s something to look forward to.” “So what’s the right approach? If our week starts on Friday or Saturday, we end up spending way too much on the weekend and are left with no money by Wednesday or Thursday. But if we start on Monday we save some of the money because we want to keep it for the weekend, and then if we don’t have that much leftover it’s easy to shrink our amount spent over the weekend.” Qapital: Should my budget have categories? Dan Ariely: “The answer is yes only if you’re perfectly rational and if you enjoy budgeting. While it’s reasonable to have a budget for multiple categories, most people won’t stick to them. You don’t want to go for something that’s perfect, you want to go for something that is doable. For that, I recommend the strategy of creating one budget for all your discretionary spending.” “Think about all the things you could live without. For example, grocery shopping is not one of those things. You can’t live without food. But take all the things you could live without, put them in one bucket, then think about what amount you want to spend on that category per week — coffee, drinks, going out, entertainment — and then think of that as a separate category, as a holistic category, without breaking it into components.” The Spending Sweet Spot tool is available only for users with a Qapital Visa® Debit Card. Sign up for a Complete or Master membership today to get a Qapital Spending Account and set a budget you can feel confident about. To find your Spending Sweet Spot, download the <a href="https://app.adjust.com/5zj06l8_zl1a4bt?campaign=Blog&amp;adgroup=Dan Ariely&amp;creative=SpendingSweetSpot&amp;fallback=https://get.qapital.com/download">Qapital app today</a>! This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. *Discretionary expenses/spending: non-essential purchases for things like leisure and entertainment.

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Spending Sweet Spot: Why a weekly spending target is the best budget to have

When creating Qapital Invest, we were determined to offer an investment product that would be embraced by both experienced and new investors for its robust features and accessibility. Knowing this would be the first investment account for many Qapital members, we focused on making Qapital Invest familiar and easy to use, without compromising on flexibility.&nbsp;Whether you’re new to Qapital or a seasoned user, we’ll show you how you can start investing with the app and how we designed our investment strategy with you in mind.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>How to invest with Qapital</h2><h2>&nbsp;</h2>We take a long-term approach to investing and encourage our members to do the same. Qapital members can invest for Qapital Goals just like they can save for them. For Invest Goals, members choose a target amount and a Time Horizon, which is when they’ll need the money for their Invest Goal.&nbsp;We ask for a Time Horizon because not every goal is on the same timeline. For example, you may be saving for a down payment and for retirement — both are long-term goals, but vary as to when you would need the money. Once you’ve set your Time Horizon, we’ll recommend a portfolio in line with your goals.&nbsp;If this is your first time setting up an Invest Goal with Qapital, you’ll receive a few questions that will assess your risk tolerance. This assessment is coupled with the Time Horizon you choose for your Invest Goal to drive our portfolio recommendation. Our recommendation is selected from five different portfolio options differentiated by how conservative or aggressive they are. Qapital recommends the most optimal portfolio likely to help you reach your goal in time.&nbsp;From there, members just set Rules and start funding their investment accounts!&nbsp;Unlike other investment providers that lock you into one portfolio for your entire account, each Qapital Invest Goal has its own recommended portfolio and can be customized with a unique set of rules that work with your financial lifestyle. We value flexibility and know your goals come in all shapes and sizes.&nbsp;<h2>Our investing strategy</h2><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h3>Diversification</h3>&nbsp;Our investment strategy is based on Modern Portfolio Theory, developed by Nobel Prize winning economists. This portfolio theory is rooted in diversification, which refers to investing in different kinds of asset classes (which include stocks, bonds, real estate, and more). Asset classes are similar groupings of investments that, for the most part, move up or down as a whole. Some of the asset classes we invest in are:&nbsp;<ul><li>large-cap stocks, such as Google or Apple.</li><li>international stocks, such as Nestle.</li><li>investment grade bonds, such as from companies like Coca-Cola.</li></ul>&nbsp;Diversification is a way of managing your risk by investing across a variety of different asset classes. Making investment decisions by trying to predict how a single stock or bond will perform can lead to big problems if you predict incorrectly. A diversified portfolio, on the other hand, can protect you from big losses suffered by a single asset class. This means a negative performance from some investments may be offset by the positive performance of others. Basically, with diversification, you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket. While it’s not a guarantee (few things in investing are), it’s agreed that diversification is one of the best ways to reduce risk in the long-term.&nbsp;At Qapital, we invest in&nbsp;12 different asset classes that have varying degrees of correlation with each other. This is important — if all your investments have the same correlation with each other, then you’re not really diversifying your risk.&nbsp;Side note: Asset correlation refers to how the stock market performance of different asset classes relate to each other. Some asset classes have high correlation with others, meaning their performance, whether up or down, will affect that correlated asset class. In order to better spread out your risk, it’s often a good idea to invest in asset classes that have little correlation with each other.&nbsp;Each portfolio is designed to help you benefit when the market, as a whole, is on an upward trend, and tries to protect you from losses if the market is on a downward trend.&nbsp;<h3>DCA (Dollar-Cost Averaging)</h3><h3>&nbsp;</h3>DCA refers to an investment strategy that eschews trying to “time the market,” which, depending on who you ask, is an impossible feat for many investors. Rather than timing investments and buying or selling when a stock is predicted to go up or down, investors practicing DCA will invest set amounts of money at regular (often short) time intervals.&nbsp;Again, this strategy is designed to protect against a market drop while still retaining the potential to maximize investment earnings. Take lump-sum investing, which is the opposite of DCA. Let’s say you invest $100 in a stock all at once. If it drops 10 percent by the end of the week, you’re entirely exposed to that risk and lose $10 as a result. That’s the downside to lump-sum investing.&nbsp;But if you spread out the $100 investment and invest $25 weekly as directed by DCA, you’re only down $2.50 after the first week’s 10 percent drop. If the stock increases, you’re ready to reap those rewards without changing how much you invest in that stock.&nbsp;This is why Qapital recommends you start every Invest Goal with the Set &amp; Forget Rule. This ensures you invest on a regular basis to reduce your overall risk and to take advantage of market volatility (swings in the market).&nbsp;<h2>Ready to invest?</h2><h2>&nbsp;</h2>People can get intimidated by investing, and for good reason. If you’re not sure whether you’re ready to invest, check out&nbsp;<a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/how-can-i-tell-if-im-ready-to-start-investing/">this article</a> as a guideline. Our belief is that if you have long-term goals you can save toward, it makes sense to turn those into investment accounts. By putting your money to work and growing it via dividends, interest payments and more, you may be able to reach your goals faster than if you just saved for them.&nbsp;&nbsp;Qapital, LLC is not a bank; banking services provided by Lincoln Savings Bank, Member FDIC, and other partner banks. Advisory services provided by Qapital Invest, LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The information provided herein is for informational and general educational purposes only and is not investment or financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Any historical returns or projections are hypothetical and may not reflect actual future performance. Investments in securities are not FDIC-insured and may lose value. This is not a complete description of Qapital Invest’s investment advisory services. For more details, click <a href="https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/283762">here</a>. Brokerage services provided to Qapital Invest clients by Apex Clearing Corporation, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC. Copyright © 2023 Qapital, LLC - All rights reserved.

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Qapital Invest: Making investing accessible to everyone

Whether you’ve dreamed of flying to Mars or buying the house down the street, you’ve probably realized that all of your dreams have one thing in common — they require money. But here’s the deal: saving money is often difficult. In fact, nearly half of adults in the U.S. would be <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2017-report-economic-well-being-us-households-201805.pdf">unable to cover a $400 unexpected expense</a>. So if you’ve struggled to save money in the past, you’re not alone. (And if you’ve had a hard time saving <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/27/13078690/elon-musk-mars-mission-cost-per-person-spacex">the estimated $200,000 it would cost to visit Mars</a>, you’re definitely not alone.) But with the right savings app and some perseverance, you’ll be able to hit your savings goals. Thanks to Qapital, these three millennials went from spenders to savers as they accomplished their unique savings goals. Here’s how they did it, and more importantly, how you can too. <h2>Matt A., project manager in Denver, Colorado</h2> <h3>“Last February, I went to Japan and got back from the trip, paid all the bills and still had $800 in my Qapital account.”</h3> Before using Qapital, Anderson struggled to save money for short-term goals. Even though he had an emergency fund in a separate savings account, he still identified as a “terrible” saver. But here’s what Anderson learned: he’s able to save more when the money is stored in a separate account. The fact that he can’t see his Qapital account when he logs into his checking account has been a game-changer — for both his finances and his mindset. “For my trip to Japan, I had a rule set up [through Qapital],” Anderson explained. “I had $20 per week transferred from my checking account. I also used the Round Up Rule and had it set to <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/save-your-change-round-up/">round up my purchases to the nearest $5</a>. So if I spend $11 on something, it will round up to $15 and transfer $4 to my Qapital account. I saved for [my trip to Japan] for about a year. “It felt awesome to hit my savings goal. Japan was the best couple days of snowboarding I’ve had in twenty years. As we were flying home from Japan, my friends and I were talking about where we wanted to go next and it felt super satisfying to come back home and have nearly $1,000 already saved for my next trip.” Savings tip: If it feels like you’re always “stealing” from your savings account, try implementing a complete separation between savings and checking. <h2>Amanda R., interior designer in Lafayette, Louisiana</h2> <h3>“Since I’ve started using Qapital, I’ve saved over $10k towards various goals.” </h3> One of the first things Reviere tried when she joined Qapital was the 52-Week Challenge for Christmas savings, which <a href="https://www.qapital.com/blog/qapital-52-week-challenge/">gradually increases savings until you’ve saved a total of $1,378.</a> Thanks to Reviere’s competitive nature, the challenge was a success and she learned something important: she loves to compete against herself. Since then, she’s been able to harness her competitive spirit to complete multiple savings goals. As soon as Reviere finishes one goal, she immediately begins the next and constantly pushes herself to save more, which has allowed her to treat herself and her family to special gifts. “At any given time, I have three to four active goals. I use Qapital to help save for the fun — and sometimes not-so-fun — stuff,” Reviere said. “I always name them something interesting and add a quirky image to keep it exciting. Right now I have ‘Giving Season’ for Christmas, ‘Pay the Man’ for taxes, ‘Everywhere’ for spontaneous trips and ‘Slushy Money’ for things that I see and that I have to own right now.” Most of Reviere’s goals have been for big trips or events and Christmas splurges for the family. “Just in the last two years, I’ve managed to use my Qapital goals to go to the Dominican Republic, Breckinridge, New York City, Disney, and ride in the Muses Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans,” Reviere said. “My husband and I are going to France in October 2019 for our anniversary. We’ve been putting money into a joint savings account each month for the last three years to pay for the trip. My Qapital goal will be used to surprise him with an extra excursion or a night at a vineyard.” Savings tip: If you’re a competitive person and hate losing, focus your energy on savings “games.” Set goals and challenge yourself to hit them faster than projected. Even if you lose, you’ll still win. <h2>Sean M., Strategic Partnerships in Denver, Colorado</h2> <h3>“I set my engagement ring goal to $5,000 and when I hit the goal it felt excellent… It felt liberating.”</h3> Before using Qapital, Marrero had a “poor” relationship with money and struggled to make progress toward his savings goals. But the fix was surprisingly simple: separate accounts for saving and spending. Once he separated his accounts with Qapital, he focused on his “why.” “The [engagement ring] was the first goal I ever set,” he said. “I was like, ‘I really need to start saving money for this ring. How am I going do that?’  It was a mixture of a monthly savings and a round up rule. It took about a year and a half of saving to make it happen. The great thing is that when I hit the goal, there was a family ring that we ended up using instead. So I was able to use the money I had saved and transition it to other joint goals — a down payment for a car and a housing move.” He now has a “Love Cash” savings goal for his wife and their life together.   “I use the Round Up Rule, so I round up to the nearest $5,” he said. “What’s good about that is that you really don’t notice the money leaving your account, but the more you spend, the more you save. Recently, we used money from that fund to buy a new couch. “My next goal is a $5,000 emergency fund for our house. That goal will probably be funded in April 2019,” Marrero said. “I think that I feel more protected by having savings…It’s like having insurance. My savings goals have alleviated a lot of my daily stress.” Savings tip: Make saving personal. It’s hard to feel motivated if you aren’t clear about why you’re saving money. Use creative names for your Qapital accounts and add pictures that remind you of your purpose. <h2>Bottom line</h2> Whether you identify as a bad saver or a money genius, there’s always room from improvement when it comes to saving. With a few simple changes — separating your accounts, making it a game or focusing on your purpose — you’ll be able to hit your money goals, no matter how simple or outlandish they may seem. No matter how big or small your goal is, Qapital can help you achieve it. <a href="https://app.adjust.com/5zj06l8_zl1a4bt?campaign=Blog&amp;adgroup=Qapital Ideas&amp;creative=VacationOnMars&amp;fallback=https://get.qapital.com/download">Download the app</a> today and get started

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Saving for a vacation on Mars? No matter your goal, we have an app for it.