5 Pieces of Dumb Financial Advice That Most People Believe

When it comes to money advice, everyone wants to throw in their two cents.

Oh, you should definitely buy and not rent. Stay away from credit cards; they’re evil. Why are you so worried about your credit score? It doesn’t matter.

There’s a lot of — quite frankly — dumb financial advice floating around out there, and it can be hard to figure out what’s up and what’s down.

Well, we’re here to set the record straight. Here’s some of the dumbest money advice out there — and what you should do instead.

Dumb Advice #1: You Should Get 3 Auto Insurance Quotes

Sure, this sounds like good advice. Here’s why it’s wrong: Comparing only three companies isn’t nearly enough. We suggest comparing 175. But who has time for that?

A website called EverQuote will show you all your options at once.

EverQuote is the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US, so you’ll get the top options from more than 175 different carriers handed right to you.

Take a couple of minutes to answer some questions about yourself and your driving record. With this information, EverQuote will be able to give you the top recommendations for car insurance.

In just a few minutes, you could save up to $610 a year.

Dumb Advice #2: Playing Games on Your Phone is a Waste of Time

People love to preach about hustling — how if you dare to enjoy even a minute of your free time, you’re somehow lazy. We totally disagree.

In fact, there’s a free iPhone app called Solitaire Cash that lets you play Solitaire on your phone for real money — up to $83 per win.

You might be thinking: There’s got to be a catch. This is definitely one of those spammy apps, right?

Wrong. There really isn’t a catch. Sure, you can pay to play in some higher-stakes tournaments, but there’s no pressure. And, in fact, there aren’t even any annoying ads.

With each game, you’ll battle it out against at least five other players. Everyone gets the same deck, so winning is totally a matter of skill. The top three players who solve the deck fastest can win real money — anywhere from $1 to $83.

Over on the App Store, it has over a million downloads and more than 15,000 ratings, averaging 4.7 stars (out of 5).

To get started, just download the free app and start playing your first game immediately.

Dumb Advice 3: You Have to Pay Your Credit Card Bill Every Month

Every month, you make payments toward your credit card debt. But you never seem to make a dent. It’s because of those sky-high interest rates — as much as 24% interest. It can feel impossible to get ahead.

But MoneyLion could help you find offers to cut your interest rate by 70% as soon as tomorrow.

Here’s how it works: MoneyLion can match you with new loan offers at a lower interest rate — as low as 5.20% APR*. That’s 70%* lower than the average credit card interest rate. And it’s the key to finally getting ahead.

You can use this new loan to pay off all your existing credit card debt, then you’ll be left with one (cheaper) monthly payment that will help you get out of debt faster.

If you have a credit score of at least 620, you could get up to $100,000. With no collateral. And terms go up to 144 months.

Worried you won’t qualify? Take two minutes to check online and see if you could cut your credit card interest rate by 70%.

*Based on creditworthiness. Average credit card interest rate is 24.72% as of 8/14/23, according to Forbes Advisor’s weekly credit card rates report.

Dumb Advice #4: You Can’t Quickly Add 300 Points to Your Credit Score

People have all sorts of thoughts on how to game your credit score. But the truth is, it doesn’t need to be that complicated.

A website called Credit Sesame makes it easy to check your score for free, and it will even give you personalized tips for improving it. It might even be as simple as finding a mistake on your report that’s bringing your score down — one in five reports have an error.

Credit Sesame helps you detect any errors — for free. Salome Buitureria, a working mom in Louisiana, found a major error on her report this way. Using Credit Sesame, she was able to fix the mistake and take additional steps to raise her credit score from 524 to nearly 700.

Now she and her husband feel like they’re in a better position for their biggest goal — purchasing a house.

It only takes about 90 seconds to sign up and see how you can raise your score.

Dumb Advice #5: You Need to Get a Second Job to Make Extra Money

Why not try making money doing something you’re already doing?

If we told you that you could get paid while watching videos on your computer, you’d probably laugh.

It’s too good to be true, right?

But we’re serious. By signing up for a free account with InboxDollars, you could add up to $225 a month to your pocket. They’ll send you short surveys every day, which you can fill out while you watch someone bake brownies or catch up on the latest Kardashian drama.

No, InboxDollars won’t replace your full-time job, but it’s something easy you can do while you’re already on the couch tonight, wasting time on your phone.

Unlike other sites, InboxDollars pays you in cash — no points or gift cards. It’s already paid its users more than $56 million.

Signing up takes about one minute, and you’ll immediately receive a $5 bonus to get you started.