One of my goals this year was to spend more time improving my finances. Now I'll admit, money has never been a walk in the park for me and I was quite ignorant on the whole investing stuff. To be honest, I still am. If you're like me though, money comes and goes faster than you can you snap your finger and no, it's not the kind of magic I like. I wanted this year to be different though so I started to read books on investing and real estate investing and found myself diving into a whole new world!
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Along the way of me educating myself, I came across an advertisement for SoFi Banking. It came at the perfect timing too because as I read into the perks of signing up with SoFi, it aligned with all of my financial goals; talk about Law of Attraction huh? After a little research on it, I suddenly found myself depositing all of my money into my new SoFi Checking's Account and setup my direct deposit; all in two hours or less.
Now, before we continue, just a little disclaimer; I am not giving any kind of financial advice in anyway; just my opinion and experience. Please do your own research to decide if SoFi Banking is right for you. Also, this post is written in May of 2024, so the information in this post may be outdated as time goes on so again, do your research.
First things first, I was drawn to SoFi Banking because of their High Yield Savings Account. It boasts a 4.60% APY for their Savings Account and .50% APY for their Checkings. Now, for reference, before switching to SoFi I was using Wells Fargo Way2Save and the APY for that account was 0.01%...why on earth I stayed with this bank for so many years is beyond me!
For those who aren't familiar with APY, APY stands for Annual Percentage Yield. It's a measure used to represent the annual rate of return on savings accounts or other interest-bearing accounts. APY takes into account the effect of compounding interest which in plain English means your money grows overtime the more you put into it and hold it there. If you're a parent with kids, or a young adult reading this, get one of these accounts now so that it will have more time to grow and appreciate in value!
Not all accounts offer the same APY though which is why you want to go with the one with the highest APY, at least 4% and over for a savings account. SoFi's High Yield Savings account was the sole reason I signed up and I am very happy to know that my money will now start to grow every year just by keeping it there!
Sofi's High Yield Savings account isn't the only perk that comes with banking with them. Being a mobile banking app doesn't stop this company from offering a range of perks that many users will appreciate, including myself. Some of the benefits include no account fees, 2-day early paycheck, traveling discounts, estate planning assistance, referral program, and the wonderful ability to invest directly from your account.
Even though I'm still diving into the world of investing and managing my finances better, SoFi has introduced me to these new concepts in a fun and welcoming manner. So much, to the point where I'd frequently visit the App just to learn something new. Of my fifteen years banking with Well Fargo, I have never had the same connection with them that I now have with SoFi. My connection with Wells Fargo felt cold, but with SoFi it truly feels like the company wants to improve your livelihood.
Naturally, the first feature I was excited to get my hands on was their investing program. I really wanted to start building my investment portfolio and SoFi has done a great job giving their users the ability to do so with ease. Index Funds were my sole interest in the beginning so I quickly put money into my investing vault so that I make my first investment. If you're ever not sure of anything, SoFi also has a plethora of articles available both in App and online to help you along the way.
Since the company was still quite new to me though, I'd be lying if I said that I was confident with the Apps ability to function. There were times where the App itself wouldn't load and I'd have to sign out. These bugs were minor though and since my time using the App (about two months or more) the bugs have gone down with each update. Occasionally it glitches, but it's nothing major.
For their customer support, it's mostly automated where their robot directs you to commons answers to common questions. It's pretty helpful when you're first starting out as you get a feel for the interface. If you find that your question isn't solved though, you're quickly (and I mean quickly) connected to an actual human to chat with.
My experience with this was when I kept getting emails from SoFi that my password was found in a breach and it needed to be reset. I reset it of course, but I kept getting the same email repeatedly asking me to change my password. It started to become alarming after the third time, so I contacted customer service through the App and they were quick to look into the issue for me.
SoFi also has a credit card that members can get approved for. This credit card gives you 2% cash back on all purchases and up to 3% cash back for traveling purchases. So if you use this card for everyday purchases, traveling, or for bills even, you could get a good return back on it. Just remember that with any credit card, comes bigger spending responsibility! If you're looking for a entry level credit card though that can give you decent perks with it, SoFi's credit card is an ideal place to start.
With my three months of using SoFi, I am grateful to have stumbled upon it. I can now be more involved in my finances without the whole process being intimidating to me. And in all honesty, I feel like I can achieve my financial goals with it too. This company is greatly changing how we all do banking as a whole and they have made banking much more modern and appealing to us younger folks.
So if you're looking to step up your financial gains, I highly recommend giving SoFi a try!
Until next time! - Sarah xoxo
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