6 Things to Do This Year if You Want to be the First Millionaire in Your Family

A woman wearing a black dress, fur coats and pearls clutches onto her tiny tog. She is a wealthy woman.
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Wouldn’t it be great to be the first millionaire in your family? Think of the bragging rights!

None of your relatives would ever be able to question your judgment again. You could brush them off by asking, “I’m sorry, are YOU a millionaire?”

Also, as a millionaire, you’d be able to help the rest of your family, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Ah, but how to make your first million? A lucrative job and good investments would help. But we’ve got some other tips for how to improve your financial bottom line, both immediately and over the long run.

Try these:

1. Stop Putting It Off and Become an Investor

Ultimately, investing is how you really build wealth — including that first million.

If you feel like you don’t have enough money to start investing right now, you’re not alone. But guess what? You really don’t need that much — and you can even get free stocks (worth $5 to $200!) if you know where to look.

Whether you’ve got $5, $100 or $800 to spare, you can start investing with Robinhood.

Yeah, you’ve probably heard of Robinhood. Both investing beginners and pros love it because it doesn’t charge commission fees, and you can buy and sell stocks for free — no limits. Plus, it’s super easy to use.

What’s best? When you download the app and fund your account (it takes no more than a few minutes), Robinhood drops a share of free stock into your account. It’s random, though, so that stock could be worth anywhere from $5 to $200 — a nice boost to help you build your investments.

2. Stop Paying Your Credit Card Company

You’ll never become a millionaire if you’re stuck with credit card debt, which is the most expensive kind of debt there is. And your credit card company is just getting rich by ripping you off with high interest rates. But a website called AmOne can help you fight back.

If you owe your credit card companies $100,000 or less, AmOne will match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every single one of your balances.

The benefit? You’ll be left with one bill to pay each month. And because personal loans have lower interest rates (AmOne rates start at 6.40% APR), you’ll get out of debt that much faster. Plus: No credit card payment this month.

After 20 years in business, AmOne has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. It takes two minutes to see if you qualify for up to $100,000 online. You do need to give AmOne a real phone number in order to qualify, but don’t worry — they won’t spam you with phone calls.

3. Get Paid Every Time You Buy Groceries

Groceries are so expensive! But a free app called Fetch Rewards will reward you with gift cards just for buying toilet paper and more than 250 other items at the grocery store.

Here’s how it works: After you’ve downloaded the app, just take a picture of your receipt showing you purchased an item from one of the brands listed in Fetch. For your efforts, you’ll earn gift cards to places like Amazon or Walmart.

You can download the free Fetch Rewards app here to start getting free gift cards. Over a million people already have, so they must be onto something.

4. Stop Overpaying for Stuff Online

Wouldn’t it be nice if you got an alert any time you’re shopping on Amazon or Walmart.com and you’re about to get ripped off?

That’s exactly what this free service does.

Just add it to your browser for free, and before you check out, it’ll check other websites, including Walmart, eBay and others to see if your item is available for cheaper. Plus, you can get coupon codes, set up price-drop alerts and even see the item’s price history.

Let’s say you’re shopping for a new pair of shoes, and you assume you’ve found the best price. Here’s when you’ll get a pop up letting you know if that exact pair of shoes is available elsewhere for cheaper.

In the last year, this has saved people $160 million. You can get started in just a few clicks to see if you’re overpaying online.

5. See If you Can Get Car Insurance For as Low as $19/Month* 

When was the last time you compared car insurance rates? Chances are you’re seriously overpaying with your current policy.

If it’s been more than six months since your last car insurance quote, you should look again.

And if you look through a website called InsuredNation, you could save yourself up to $500 a year*.

It takes just two minutes to answer some questions, and InsuredNation’s smart matching technology will show you the insurance providers that are the best fit for you. And don’t worry — InsuredNation uses advanced data security and encryption technology, so all your details are safe.

The website is free to use and can even save you up to an additional 20% if you add another vehicle to your policy. You could be paying as little as $19 a month* for car insurance.

InsuredNation has already helped millions of people find affordable car insurance. See how much money you could save with a new policy.

*average expenditure $88/mo.

6. Leave Your Family up to $1.5M

You could always make your family millionaires. There’s been a surge of interest in life insurance during the pandemic, as more Americans are realizing they probably need it.

Also, more people are seeking out no-exam life insurance because they don’t want to go to a doctor’s office for an in-person exam. Companies like Bestow use algorithms instead of medical exams to evaluate applicants.

Rates start at just $20 a month. You could leave your family up to $1.5 million. The peace of mind knowing your family is taken care of is priceless.

If you’re under the age of 54 and want to get a fast life insurance quote without leaving your home, get a free quote from Bestow.

Mike Brassfield ([email protected]) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He’s not a millionaire — not YET, anyway.

*Bestow: Policies are issued by Bestow Life Insurance Company, Dallas, TX on policy form series BLI-ITPOL. Bestow Life Insurance products may not be available in all states. Policy limitations or restrictions may apply. Not available in New York. Our application asks lifestyle and health questions to determine eligibility in order to avoid requiring a medical exam. Prices start at $10/month based on an 18-year-old male rated Preferred Plus NT for a $100k policy for a 10-year term. Rates will vary based on underwriting review.