A salary of $45,000 annually is sufficient to provide for an acceptable lifestyle in most cities and states. However, taxes can make living on this salary challenging.
File your taxes correctly with TurboTax’s maximum refund guarantee and straightforward interface while earning extra cash through Survey Junkie (an online platform that rewards users for sharing opinions on products and services).
CIT Bank
CIT Bank was established in 1908 and, since then, has managed billions. Offering high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, home mortgages, and commercial supply chain finance as well as franchise financing, CIT Bank offers individual customers high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and mortgage loans at competitive rates with convenient online banking features including low fees. They even offer an eChecking arrangement that earns interest and reimburses up to $30 in out-of-network ATM fees with accessible scheduling features in mind – CIT makes transactions simple!
CIT Bank stands out from other banks by not having physical branches; however, its website and mobile app make managing your account and depositing checks more accessible. Furthermore, customers can use its mobile app to use CIT’s partnership with the Allpoint network to send and receive ACH transfers at low fees.
CIT Bank offers the Savings Builder account as a high-tier interest rate option when making regular monthly deposits, without minimum balance requirements or monthly service fees – plus FDIC protection up to $250,000 per depositor and ownership category!
CIT Bank’s high-yield savings and money market accounts offer excellent investment returns, being both easy to open and offering competitive interest rates. Plus, these accounts do not charge account opening or monthly service fees, making them an economical way of saving. Beautiful are their jumbo CDs, which boast competitive interest rates with minimal initial deposits required – making these accounts perfect for protection.
One major drawback of CIT Bank savings accounts is their limited branch access. You may still access them via ATMs affiliated with the bank; however, managing funds would be much simpler in person. Furthermore, ACH transfers between institutions may take five business days.
Another potential drawback is its poor customer service. There is no live chat option, and its phone line often fills up. Email customer service takes too long; this can be incredibly disappointing for people who prefer live conversations over email customer support.
TurboTax
TurboTax is one of the premier tax filing services produced by Intuit’s financial, accounting, and tax preparation software company. This user-friendly tool features interview-style questions with live on-screen assistance and an estimate refund estimator tool – making filing easier even for newcomers to the filing process.
Turbotax provides an extensive array of products, starting with its free edition for simple returns – ideal for individuals earning less than $66,000 annually. Turbotax also includes features to import W-2 information from employers, upload income and expense documents from Uber, Square, and Lyft services, and provide access to its searchable knowledge base and selection of videos.
TurboTax stands out from its competition by offering an unrivaled support system. The software automatically identifies and recommends deductions you may have missed and provides tips and explanations to complete forms efficiently. This level of inbuilt assistance makes a real difference to users when filing their tax returns.
However, Turbotax prices are slightly more costly than those of other primary tax prep services, such as H&R Block’s list price; their fees for filing state returns electronically could make their list price even higher when combined with any related e-filing costs. Furthermore, premium plans require direct deposit fees, which you’ll have to cover from your federal refund; unfortunately, you can’t switch package types once working on your taxes begins.
Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie is a legitimate survey site that pays you real cash for your opinions, offering surveys on various consumer goods, sports, and entertainment topics – from consumer goods and consumer services to sports, recreation, and entertainment – with rewards redeemable for cash or e-gift cards as your earnings increase. They even offer focus group opportunities and other avenues for making extra cash!
As part of registering an account with Survey Junkie, you’ll be asked to fill out a profile with as much detail as possible about yourself to be matched with relevant surveys – this may include information regarding lifestyle, hobbies, and demographics questions. Once complete, once the general profile has been set up, you can earn points by answering online surveys; once again, the website will show how many points each is worth and an estimated timeframe to complete them.
After signing in to Survey Junkie, you can view your earnings on your dashboard and see available surveys and their payouts. Survey Junkie Pulse lets you know when new surveys are available and allows you to get notifications for these opportunities. Furthermore, Survey Junkie allows cash out via PayPal or physical check. In addition, rewards earned may be used to purchase gift cards for major retailers like Amazon, Sephora, or iTunes.
Survey Junkie stands out among its many advantages by being free and accessible, enabling anyone to join. Even better? Joining will earn you 25 points for a $5 Starbucks gift card! However, you will require patience and dedication to generate any decent income through this site – though this won’t make you wealthy; rather it provides a fun way of passing time that would otherwise go to waste!
Even if a site’s reputation is solid, before joining one, you should always conduct some due diligence, seek out legitimate survey sites with an excellent history, and offer multiple ways to earn extra income.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is an accounting and invoicing software tool designed to help small businesses keep track of their finances. The program is easy to use and features an expansive set of tools. FreshBooks’ expense/income approach gives users a comprehensive view of their business at all times; it saves them time by automating invoicing and recurring billings.
Freshbooks provides a free 30-day trial, after which you can choose one of four paid plans. The Lite Plan is intended to meet the limited accounting needs of freelancers and small businesses; in contrast, Premium and Select plans offer advanced reporting and financial insights, capped credit card transaction fees, and dedicated account managers to assist.
FreshBooks goes beyond time tracking by allowing users to add expenses directly into their projects. You can manually import expenses now from banks; all fees will appear in a list in Reports for easy review if working on hourly or flat-rate projects.
FreshBooks software lets you collect payments directly from clients using online payment solutions such as FreshBooks Payments, Stripe, and PayPal. On average, you should expect a 2.9% fee per transaction, while American Express transactions incur an additional $0.30 surcharge.
