Young Smart Money

Now in general, I’m not a fan of paying for a credit score and generally think it’s best to just be patient and build it over time. But I think it might make sense for some people who are thinking of applying for a significant loan or mortgage in the near future.

So in this video, I’m going to break down how you can buy a 730+ credit score with only about $25.

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So if you’ve heard anything about buying a credit score before, you’ve probably heard of buying tradelines. I give that a big thumbs down because you’re essentially paying someone to add you to a line of credit that they have had established for a while.

These are deceptive, can cost thousands of dollars, and may sometimes qualify as bank fraud. So let’s steer clear of that.

Instead of potentially committing a crime, I’m going to fill you in on a way to “buy” a credit score that is 100% by-the-books and approved of by banks as a legit way to establish your credit. This is by reporting your bill payments to the credit bureaus.

Your credit score is largely a measure of your ability to make on-time payments (this makes up 35% of your credit score), so many banks are willing to take your cell phone payment and utility bills into account when calculating your score.

This can be an ideal solution for people in the Dave Ramsey “credit cards are evil” camp because it allows you to build credit without the use of credit cards or the potential to get into debt.

Now, you personally can’t just start editing your credit report and adding your Netflix payment to your credit report, but there are a number of companies that will allow you to do just that. One of them is a completely free option, and the other is going to run you $24.95 per year.

The free option is Experian Boost and it is a service provided by the credit bureau Experian to “boost” your credit score by linking to your bank account, finding the monthly bills you pay and subscriptions you are on, and reporting these on your Experian credit report. These are only going to show up on your Experian report and not on your TransUnion or Equifax reports. So if you’re in the market for applying for a loan, it might be worthwhile to ask the lender which report they’ll use before you sign up for Experian Boost.

But what about the downsides?

Well, Experian Boost only reports positive payments which might seem like a good thing but lenders aren’t a huge fan of this. Imagine if every time you paid late on a credit card or went into default you could just opt out of putting that on your credit report. Kinda makes the whole system not very useful. So some banks don’t value Experian Boost as highly as typical on-time payments.

The paid option for increasing your score is similar but likely to have a bigger impact. This is called eCredable. eCredable is going to work with your TransUnion report instead of your Experian report and is generally looked at more highly by lenders. That’s because they don’t plug into your bank account.

Instead, eCredable plugs into your utility and phone bill accounts to track your payment history. As a result, they’re going to be reporting on-time payments as well as late payments so lenders will know they’re getting the full picture. Additionally, eCredable pulls back the last 24 months of payments across an unlimited number of accounts which can have a really big impact for someone with low-or-no credit.

On their site, they estimate that a person coming in with no credit could see their score jump to over 730 with only 3 bills that they have paid on-time for 12 months. That’s a huge jump and enough to make you eligible for many of the best rewards credit cards out there.

In the end, I think that both of these services have a use case for people who need to build their credit from scratch and are looking for a better option than a predatory credit card. Experian Boost is free and the biggest downside is that it won’t impact your score at all, so if you’ve got a thin credit file and pay bills from your bank account, it might be worth it to take a couple minutes to sign up and see what happens.

eCredable does cost $25 per year which is more than zero, but if you are planning on applying for a loan relatively soon, paying $25 to boost your credit score by a potentially significant amount could end up saving you thousands of dollars or more.

Personally, I don’t use either of these nor am I incentivized to get you to sign up, but I do think they make much better options than buying tradelines or paying someone $200 to remove a credit inquiry off of your report.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

0:40 How NOT To Buy A Credit Score

1:30 How Buying A Credit Score Works

3:00 The Free Option (Experian Boost)

5:10 The Downside Of Experian Boost

6:55 The Paid Option (eCredable Lift)

8:25 How To Boost Your Score To 700+

9:30 Who Should Use This Strategy?

10:45 Other Routes For Increasing Your Credit Score

11:40 Outro

in this video I’ll be diving deep into the no-credit-check Tomo Credit Card and give you the full picture and why you might want to tread lightly around this credit card company.

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So I interviewed one of the co-founders, Kristy Kim, back in mid-2019. Since then they’ve gone on to go through the Barclays Accelerator (powered by TechStars), raise a few million dollars, and build a team of a dozen or so people. All that to say that although this is a newer company, they’re not totally fly by night.

You’re not going to find Tomo Credit listed on BBB though, that’s largely due to the fact that they only

Now I’m a big fan of the core offering of Tomo core offering, however, there’s a pretty significant issue that I see when it comes to the longevity of this company.

Most of you know that the offering consists of a no-credit-required credit card that does not run a hard inquiry on your credit report. This is typically only a feature you will see with secured credit cards, but this is not (technically) a secured credit card.

How the Tomo Credit Card works is by evaluating other factors like your employment and bank account balance and activity to determine your financial behavior and if you’d be a good fit for the card. This means they aren’t even looking at your credit so no credit pull is necessary.

Now once you get approved for the card, this is where things really start to get interesting. One of the card’s big claims to fame is that they don’t charge interest, and this is true. There will be no interest rate on your Tomo Credit card.

So like I said, your Tomo Credit Card isn’t going to behave like a credit card and that’s because it’s a charge card. Except with a charge card, you generally won’t have a limit and your payment will be due every month. With Tomo, you do have a limit and your payment is due weekly. You also won’t see any late fees like you would with charge cards. That’s because your Tomo Credit Card will be set up to automatically pay itself off every 7 days.

So so far it seems like we’re looking at wins all around for the Tomo Card, so what’s the catch? Well no late fees and no interest seem awesome for beginners with building credit, there are actually a couple of reasons why this might not be such a great thing.

This comes back to the business model of credit cards. Credit card companies typically make money in three ways: interest paid by consumers, fees paid for things like late payments balance transfers and annual fees, and the small fee that merchants are charged when they accept credit cards.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the majority of these revenues come from the interest that credit cards are charging, which makes sense with the average interest rates at 18% and the average American carrying over $6,000 in credit card debt at any given moment.

Tomo Credit has essentially cut off the two most profitable revenue streams available to them and now relies 100% on the swipe fees that make up the vast minority of revenue for most credit card issuers.

So this leads to one of my main concerns with Tomo Credit, as it stands now, their business model doesn’t make sense. They would need so many of these cards in circulation being used extremely regularly just to break even, and that is not the case today.

The typical interchange fee that credit card issuers receive can vary from 1% on the low end all the way up to 3% on the very high end. For example’s sake, let’s say that Tomo is getting 2% from all transactions. This is their only revenue stream. They are also paying anywhere from 1% - 20% cashback to their users which could potentially result in negative cashflow on each transaction if enough people were earning the higher rates (you earn a higher rate by referring friends). On top of that, processing and relationship fees can eat out another 15% of their interchange, fraud and losses will eat up a few more percentage points of their revenue, and then they’ve got to have enough left over to pay their people (they just hired another developer in San Francisco for $85k - $150k) and spend on marketing.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

0:25 Background On Tomo Credit

1:20 The Tomo Credit Card

2:35 Why The Tomo Credit Card Isn't A Credit Card

3:55 What's The Catch?

5:45 Problems With Tomo's Business Model

9:00 Future Potential Changes To Tomo

9:55 How Tomo Might Respond To My Concerns

10:55 Another Concern On The Tomo Credit Card

12:25 Advice To Those Considering The Tomo Credit Card

13:20 Outro

These are the Top 5 WORST Money Mistakes to avoid in your 20s. If you can avoid these money traps as a college student and into your 20s, you'll be able to set yourself up for long-term financial success. Enjoy!

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In this video, I'll be breaking down the 5 largest mistakes that I see people in their 20s making on a regular basis. While I was a college student, I saw tons of my peers falling into these money traps and severely hurting their finances from a few simple mistakes.

Fortunately, it's very easy to avoid these mistakes and instead form good financial habits in your 20s. By the end of this video, you'll have a blueprint you can follow for how to be good with money in your 20s and beyond!

If you have any additional money mistakes you think I missed, or you disagree with any of them, let me know in the comments! I'm always curious to hear what you think :)

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:30 - Not Taking Risks

02:09 - Buying A New Car

05:01 - Burning Through Savings

07:43 - Living Above Your Means

11:05 - Not Investing

13:50 Outro

Joe Biden's tax plan, while tailored specifically to increase taxes for the wealthy, will almost certainly impact your tax situation. In this video, I break down the full implications of Joe Biden's proposed tax plan and what that means for you.

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With Joe Biden's stance on taxes being quite a bit different from Donald Trump's we can expect some significant changes in tax policy during the next administration. In general, this means higher taxes across the board but specifically targeted at high-income earners.

Joe Biden's tax plan specifically identifies individuals making $400,000 or more as high-income earners and these individuals will take most of the increases in individual income tax. Some high earners will even see their combined marginal tax rate rise to over 60%, the highest we have seen since the 1980s.

However, there are also a number of changes likely to come to investment taxes, gift and estate taxes, and corporate taxes that will impact those not making $400k or more.

Under Joe Biden, capital gains rates will almost certainly rise for individuals making over $1 million per year. These folks will likely see their capital gains rates rise to their income tax rates, resulting in a potential sell-off in the markets as investors lock in lower capital gains rates.

At the same time, Biden has stated he would like to lower the gift and estate tax exemption from over $11.5 million down to $3.5 million. The top gift tax bracket would also rise from 40% to 45%.

There are also a number of changes likely showing up in the step up in basis rule that would eliminate this feature of the tax code and corporate income taxes that would result in large companies paying more in taxes.

In addition, there are a number of additional credits and deductions that Biden hopes to expand including the child tax credit and childcare tax credit. Most of the credits on Biden's agenda would aim to benefit lower-income earners.

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 INTRO

0:46 Disclaimer

0:58 Changes To Individual Income Taxes

2:20 Changes To Social Security Taxes

3:15 60% Marginal Tax Bracket Example

4:42 Other Changes To Individual Income Taxes

5:44 Changes To Capital Gains Taxes

7:14 Eliminating Step Up In Basis

8:36 Changes To Gift and Estate Taxes

9:55 Changes To Corporate Income Taxes

12:25 Proposed Tax Breaks From Joe Biden

12:40 Child Tax Credit

13:33 Childcare Tax Credit

14:00 Other Proposed Tax Breaks

15:09 Outro

Ryan Scribner was one of the first personal finance YouTuber's to make it big. Through spreading financial tips and investing strategies, Ryan was able to establish himself as a leader on the platform. Today we'll be diving into Ryan Scribner's Top 10 Financial Tips!

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In this video, we'll be highlighting some of Ryan Scribner's top financial tips for people in their 20s. While these tips don't just apply from the ages of 20 - 30, they are tailored towards younger people who are just getting started out on their journey into personal finance.

Growing up, it's tough to find high-quality personal finance information. If you're not lucky enough to be born to parents that have their finances figured out, you're kinda just on your own. It's made even harder to find valuable information given the surge of bad actors giving out BS information in an effort to convince you that your hard-earned cash would be better off in their pocket.

As a 26-year-old who has created significant online income streams and makes YouTube videos for a living, Ryan's words have a lot of weight behind them. He's clearly not just another fake guru blowing smoke and trying to sell you on a course. While he does sell courses, they are on subjects he knows extremely well (investing and affiliate marketing) and his business model does not revolve around shoving these down people's throats.

Ryan is a powerhouse of content, which is why I decided to make this video. With over 350 videos published to date, it would take months if not years to fully dig through Ryan's content. So in this compilation video, I went ahead and rounded up 10 of the cornerstones of Ryan's personal finance philosophy to share with you.

Timestamps for each tip, are down below. So, once you're done with the video feel free to take a deeper dive into any of them! And for goodness sake, if you're not already subscribed to Ryan go subscribe!

P.S. don't forget to smash the like button for the YouTube algorithm ;)

00:00 - Intro

01:21 - Create Passive Income

02:28 - Saving = Losing

04:45 - Invest in Assets

07:03 - Don't Look Rich

09:52 - Don't Follow The Herd

11:21 - Look At Both Sides Of The Equation

14:44 - Use Optimal Investing Accounts

16:25 - Be Wary of Optimism

17:29 - Small Consistent Actions

19:31 - Final Thoughts

Opening a Roth IRA is hands-down the smartest financial decision a person can make in their 20's. However, the question of how to open a Roth IRA stops many investors in their tracks. By the end of this Fidelity Roth IRA tutorial, you'll have a step-by-step blueprint for exactly how to open a Roth IRA account!

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By opening a Roth IRA at a young age, you can set yourself up for long-term financial success. That's because of the numerous tax advantages that Roth IRAs offer to investors. If you play your cards right, opening a Roth IRA could allow you to pay no taxes on your investments!

But when it comes to how to open a Roth IRA, there are a ton of Roth IRA providers out there to choose from. It's important to think carefully about this choice because not all Roth IRAs are created equal! Some Roth IRA providers will have strict fees and minimums that will eat away at your retirement account. Other IRAs will force you to mail them a check just to make a deposit!

Personally, I opened my Roth IRA with Fidelity because they offer a Roth IRA with no fees or minimums and provide the greatest investment selection out there. In this video, I'll be walking you through exactly how to open a Roth IRA with Fidelity. 

Opening a Fidelity Roth IRA is a painless process that takes under 5 minutes and will get you up and running with a retirement account quickly. Compared to many of the other Roth IRA providers out there, Fidelity Roth IRAs come out on top due to the longevity of Fidelity and their history of providing low-cost options for investors.

Feel free to drop a comment with any questions about how to open a Roth IRA that I missed and I'd be happy to help out!

Roth IRA Explained - https://youtu.be/Htc9Sk-XXGk

Roth IRA vs. Traditional IRA - https://youtu.be/gcekCrBAQaI

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

00:46 - What is a Roth IRA?

02:32 - What should I look for in a Roth IRA provider?

04:38 - Who are my Roth IRA provider options?

07:31 - How To Open a Roth IRA Step-By-Step With Fidelity

09:27 - Final Thoughts

I got rejected for the Chase Ink Preferred Credit Card... Coming in with an 800 credit score this came as a bit of a shock especially because I had already been approved for the Chase Ink Preferred in the past.

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In this video, I'll be breaking down exactly why I got rejected for the Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card so you don't have to. After a long history of getting approved for Chase credit cards (both business and personal), getting rejected for the chase ink preferred kinda threw me off.

In hindsight, it was clear that I wasn't going to get approved for this card even though I had an 800 credit score. That's because of two big factors that I overlooked before applying for this business credit card from Chase.

By the end of this video, you'll know exactly what those two reasons were for getting rejected for the Chase Ink Preferred as well as how to avoid making the same mistakes I did.

The Chase Ink Preferred is far and away one of the best small business credit cards out there, so hopefully after watching this video you'll be able to go out there and get approved for one yourself!

Apply for the Chase Ink Preferred - applecrider.com/cip

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 INTRO

0:49 My First Credit Card Rejection

1:15 My History With Chase Credit Cards

1:55 Applying For The Chase Ink Preferred

2:25 Reason #1 Why I Got Rejected

3:30 How To Address Reason #1 With Recon

4:30 Reason #2 Why I Got Rejected

5:30 How To Address Reason #2 With Recon

6:15 How To Get Approved For The Chase Ink Preferred

7:05 Outro

Getting approved for business credit cards as a new business can be tough. Business credit cards often have confusing application processes that trip up new business owners. In this video, I'll be breaking down the business credit card approval process so you can get approved for any business credit card!

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Building credit as a new business is extremely important. There are so many benefits to establishing business credit and one of the easiest ways to get started is by opening a business credit card. Business credit cards can help new business owners get off the ground by providing access to capital to help them get started.

Additionally, business credit card rewards are some of the best out there. Personally, I've gotten thousands of dollars of free travel just through business credit cards.

In this video, I'm walking through a Chase Ink Preferred credit card application to show you exactly what you need to know to fill out applications and get approved for business credit cards. 

From knowing what to put for business income on a credit card application, to whether to use an EIN or social security number on the application, there is a lot to know. If you follow along and fill out your business credit card applications using the information in this video, the odds you'll get approved for that business credit card will go up dramatically.

I'll also be sharing with you two of the most common reasons why people will not be automatically approved for business credit cards along with what to do if one of these things happens to you. 

By the end of this video, you'll know exactly how to get approved for any business credit card whether you are a brand new business or have been in business for years and have multiple business credit cards already.

Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS 

0:00 INTRO

1:07 Going Through The Chase Ink Preferred Application

1:41 Using your Social Security Number

2:25 What To Put For Gross Income

6:15 Applying With EIN vs. Social Security Number

9:43 What To Put For Annual Business Revenue

11:25 What To Put For Business Category

11:50 Ecommerce Company Example

12:20 Digital Marketing Agency Example

12:49 What To Put For Estimated Monthly Spend

14:07 Using Business Credit Cards For Personal Spending

14:45 Reason #1 You Won't Get Automatically Approved

15:55 Reason #2 You Won't Get Automatically Approved

16:48 Outro

Here is everything you need to know about business credit cards in order to take full advantage of business credit in 2020. In this business credit cards for beginners video, I'll be sharing the 6 things you must know before applying for a business credit card Enjoy!

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Business credit cards are kinda complicated... From the rules around who can get them, to how they impact your credit score, to how to get a higher limit on them there’s a lot to know.

And business cards are not something to ignore. The unique perks that business cards can end up scoring your business interest-free loans, building your business’s credit, and my personal favorite, scoring you a ton of free travel.

By the time this video is over, you’ll know exactly how to take full advantage of business cards and have actionable strategies you can use to maximize the perks they have to offer.

Plus: if you stick around until the end I’m going to show you a major mistake that most people make that prevents their business from building credit!

In order to explain business credit cards simply, there are 6 key questions that need to be answered.

#1 - Who can apply for business credit cards?

#2 - How is your personal credit impacted by business credit cards?

#3 - How are credit limits determined for business credit cards?

#4 - Do I need to sign a personal guarantee for my business credit card?

#5 - How do I separate my expenses on a business credit card?

#6 - Do I have the same protections with business credit cards?

During this video, we'll be answering these business credit card questions, as well as walking you through how to open a credit file for your business. unlike your personal credit report, you need to manually open a credit report for your business. This is an often overlooked step and will actually prevent your business from building credit even if you have business credit cards.

So sit back, relax, and let's dive into how to get business credit cards for beginners!

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 INTRO

1:00 Who Can Get A Business Credit Card?

1:53 Business Credit Cards Impacting Personal Credit

4:27 Business Credit Card Credit Limits

6:15 Personal Guarantees For Business Credit Cards

7:44 Personal vs. Business Expenses

10:32 Protections For Business Credit Cards

12:15 Opening A Business Credit File

14:13 Outro

Caleb Boxx is an expert at YouTube automation and scaling cash cow YouTube channels. Today we are sitting down with Caleb to learn how he scaled his YouTube channels to $100,000 per month and how to make money on YouTube for beginners.

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Over the last 4 years, Caleb Boxx has been building YouTube channels and perfecting the process of YouTube automation. Today he runs a massive YouTube business and oversees over 100 freelancers and content creators that pump out YouTube content across dozens of channels.

In our conversation, we discuss how Caleb got started in building YouTube channels and how relationships with famous YouTubers like MrBeast and Preston allowed him to rapidly scale his operations.

The interview is action-focused and Caleb provides viewers will action steps that they can take in order to get started with YouTube automation. Caleb breaks down exactly how to come up with YouTube content ideas, how to pick a niche on YouTube, and how to make money on YouTube by taking advantage of the YouTube algorithm.

There is a ton of valuable YouTube growth content here for creators large and small. We dive into the differences between compilation YouTube channels (which still work) and the "safer" option that Caleb is spending more of his time focusing on. Additionally, Caleb breaks down step-by-step how to get started on YouTube for beginners.

Caleb also dives deep into his process for fully automating all of his channels by hiring freelancers and how he has been able to scale many of these channels to 7 figures.

If you have been thinking about getting into YouTube automation or building cash cow YouTube channels, you'll want to listen up to this conversation with YouTube expert Caleb Boxx.

Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro To Caleb Boxx

1:45 How Caleb Got Started On YouTube

5:40 Scaling With Freelancers

7:00 How Caleb Blew Up On YouTube

8:30 Do Compilation Channels Still Work?

9:45 Copyright Rules For Cash Cow YouTube Channels

13:35 Catching Trends on YouTube

16:00 Picking Your Niche

17:30 Breaking Down A Successful YouTube Video

19:50 Growing A New Channel From $0 - $7k Per Month

23:20 How Often To Post On YouTube

24:50 The Secret To Viral Video Ideas

25:50 The First Step For YouTube Beginners

28:50 Most Common YouTube Mistakes

30:15 Buying YouTube Channels vs. Building From Scratch

33:20 When To Start A Second YouTube Channel

34:55 Closing Thoughts