Our current picks for brokerage accounts, retirement tools, budgeting apps, and books. Affiliate tag: rpf-blog-20. See Affiliate Disclosure.
Brokerage accounts
- Fidelity — Best overall. No minimums, ZERO expense ratio funds, excellent IRA platform. fidelity.com
- Vanguard — Best for long-term index investors. Creator of the index fund. vanguard.com
- Charles Schwab — Best for customer service and full banking integration. schwab.com
High-yield savings
- Marcus by Goldman Sachs — Consistently competitive APY, no fees. marcus.com
- Ally Bank — Strong rates, excellent UX, full banking suite. ally.com
- SoFi — Highest APY with direct deposit. sofi.com
Budgeting tools
- YNAB — Best for zero-based budgeting and total money control. youneedabudget.com
- Monarch Money — Best for couples and FI tracking. monarchmoney.com
- Personal Capital (Empower) — Best free net worth and investment tracker. empower.com
Essential reading
- The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins — The clearest book on index fund investing for financial independence. Amazon
- Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin — The foundational FI text. Reframes the relationship between money and time. Amazon
- The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley — Research-backed look at how ordinary people build wealth. Amazon
- Die with Zero by Bill Perkins — The counter-argument to over-optimizing savings at the expense of living. Amazon
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