If You Have More Than $1,000 in Your Checking Account, Make These 5 Money Moves

You've done it. You've built up a little cushion in your bank account — $1,000! It feels good, right? Those days of checking your account balance in a panic are behind you.

Congrats! You're on the right path. Now it's time to think about some longer-term goals. What do you want to accomplish next with your money? Do you need to save more? Do you want to buy a home someday? Invest?

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What's the next step to take? What are some specific things you can do to elevate your finances?

We've got some ideas for you:

1. Cancel Your Car Insurance

You might not even realize it, but your car insurance company is probably overcharging you. In fact, they're kind of counting on you not noticing. Luckily, this problem is easy to fix.

Don't waste your time browsing insurance sites for a better deal. A company called Insurify shows you all your options at once — people who do this save up to $1,100 per year.

If you tell them a bit about yourself and your vehicle, they'll send you personalized quotes so you can compare them and find the best one for you. No phone calls. No spam. Just happy customers (4.7 rating on Trustpilot). Tired of overpaying for car insurance? It takes just five minutes to compare your options with Insurify and see how much you could save on car insurance.

2. Start Investing with Just $5

You don't have to be rich or even pay attention to the stock market to invest. SoFi Active Invest lets you get started with as little as $5, no account minimums and no confusing hoops to jump through.

SoFi® lets you invest through a simple app that helps you buy and trade pieces of your favorite companies whenever you want. You can make the trades yourself or let SoFi's robo advisor handle it for you. Either way, you'll pay no commissions, so more of your money stays in your account to build your savings over time.

Plus, SoFi will give you up to $1,000 in bonus stock when you fund a new account with at least $50.

Put your money to work with SoFi Active Invest today.

3. Get Paid Up to $140/Month Just for Sharing Your Honest Opinion

Brands want to hear your opinion to help inform their business decisions on everything from products and services to logos and ads — and they're willing to pay you up to $140 a month for it.

A free site called Branded Surveys will pay you up to $5 per survey for sharing your thoughts with their brand partners. Taking three quick surveys a day could earn up to $140 each month.

Most surveys take five to 15 minutes, and you'll get paid within 48 hours of your payout being processed, just for sharing your opinions.

They've already paid users more than $20 million since 2012, and the most active users can earn a few hundred dollars a month. Plus, right now, you'll get a free 100-point welcome bonus just for becoming part of the community.

Set up your account and start getting paid to take surveys.

4. Stop Paying Your Credit Card Company

If you have credit card debt, you know. The anxiety, the interest rates, the fear you're never going to escape… but a website called AmONE wants to help.

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 6.49% APR), you'll get out of debt that much faster.

It takes less than a minute and just 10 questions to see what loans you qualify for.

5. Earn as Much as $1K/Month Doing Simple Online Tasks

Is there such a thing as easy money? If you know your way around the web, there certainly is.

That's because data is currency these days, and many companies are willing to pay cash for it — up to $1,000 per month.

Finding these companies can be time-consuming on your own. But a company called Freecash has compiled all sorts of quick cash tasks from about a dozen advertisers and market research companies thirsty for data. Freecash has paid out more than $13 million to users since 2019.

Pick and choose tasks and complete them at your convenience. Convert the coins you earn into things like Visa gift cards, Amazon gift cards, cryptocurrency or cold-hard PayPal cash.

Signing up for a Freecash account is easy, and there's no minimum amount to cash out. And if you've got enough free time on your hands, you can join the ranks of Freecash users making upwards of $1,000 a month in extra cash.

Sign up here to see how much you could earn.