13 Genius Money Moves Every Californian Needs to Make Today.

The pandemic has taught us all a lot, but one of the most fundamental things would have to be that we all need to create multiple income streams, and right now it’s easier than ever to make money from home.

We’ve scoured the internet to find the best and most accessible ways that you can earn passive income, save on expenses, or take on side-gigs, without jeopardizing your full-time or part-time job. So keep scrolling to find the ones that best suit you, and your lifestyle.

1. Invest in real estate with just $10.

It’s no secret that the ultra-rich love investing in real estate for the passive income.

But if you’re not a billionaire, you typically don’t have the capital you need to get started.

Meet Fundrise. They give you the opportunity to invest in some seriously prime real estate deals without having to manage the property, and best of all, you can get started with as little as $10.

Signing-up with Fundrise takes all of one minute. Enter your email and password, and make sure you confirm your account.

You’re basically investing or ‘crowdfunding’ a properties, so you get access to the investment returns the rich do, but without purchasing the entire property.

All investments carry risk, and return on investment is never guaranteed. The tried and true saying, ‘Only invest what you are willing to lose’ applies to all investments, however Fundrise has paid distributions to real estate investors every quarter since roughly Q2 2016.

The fees related to Fundrise are pretty straight forward, you’ll pay 0.85% per annum as an asset management fee and 0.15% per annum as an investment advisory fee.

Sign up for Fundrise now

2. Get paid to play games on your phone.

If you’re playing games on your phone and you’re not getting paid, you’re missing out.

Mistplay offers users the opportunity to try new games as they hit the market, and earn money in exchange for the time spent playing any game.

You’d be surprised to know that some of the most well-known games that you’re probably already playing are actually on Mistplay.

To get started, download the app and choose a game (or two!) that you want to play, or are maybe already playing, and launch the game through Mistplay.

Then every time you play that game, you earn points. It’s as simple as, the more you play, the more you earn.

The reward points are redeemable for gift cards to Amazon, Best Buy, and a bunch of other stores.

Download Mistplay for Android now

3. Make an extra $5,500 a year with an app created by Shaq.

If you don’t have money to invest, there are still ways you can make some extra side-cash.

That’s actually why Steady was created in the first place. This neat little app lists a bunch of options just for signing up for certain apps or banks where there are cash-back offers available.

Getting started takes just minutes. Fill in some details about yourself to set-up your account.

Then look at the incentives for checking accounts, savings on prescription medicines and a whole lot more. Each option in that particular section of the app pays anywhere between $5-$75.

Additionally, they have a ‘find work’ section which lists work from home jobs or local jobs within your area.

Bonus: If you connect your bank account to Steady, they’ll import your earning data into a dashboard so you can monitor your income streams and monthly earnings all in one place, making it a whole lot easier to keep track of your money.

Get started with Steady

4. Get paid to fill out surveys.

It’s a fairly well known fact that most survey sites are total scams, but there are actually some that are real and do truly reward people for their time – you just have to know where to look.

Survey Junkie is one of those, it’s 100% legitimate and the people that use it, love it.

You most likely already know a lot of the brands, companies and products which are on Survey Junkie, and giving your opinion on what they offer can be rewarding in itself.

Users on this platform earn virtual points in exchange for answering surveys which can then be redeemed via Paypal or in the form of e-gift cards to some of the most popular stores like Amazon, Walmart, iTunes, Target, and more.

They have over 6 million users and 4.4 star rating from over 32k people on Trust Pilot.

Sign-up with Survey Junkie today

5. Earn money online by taking surveys.

By now, you know that by looking in the right places, you can find platforms that offer real rewards in exchange for your time.

Help some of the most respectable brands and companies improve their services while also being paid just by giving them your opinion.

With Branded Surveys you collect points with every survey you complete which can then be redeemed via Paypal, Amazon, Visa, and more.

They also offer daily challenges, polls, products, and service offerings to users.

Share your opinion with Branded Surveys

6. Invest your spare change from every day purchases.

Investing over time is a great way to make investments, with small amounts over a long period of time.

Well, imagine all your small change being invested automatically for you.

That’s exactly what Acorns does. They round up all your spare change to the nearest dollar from your every day purchases and invest it for you.

Sign-up is realtively quick and easy, answer a few questions and you’ll get a portfolio recommendation based on your investment goals.

Then link your account to your investment portfolio, and Acorns will invest that spare change in a diversified portfolio built by experts.

It’s basically a straight forward way of getting your money to work for you.

Start working towards your financial freedom with Acorns

7. Earn money online by taking surveys.

By now, you know that by looking in the right places, you can find platforms that offer real rewards in exchange for your time.

Help some of the most respectable brands and companies improve their services while also being paid just by giving them your opinion.

With Branded Surveys you collect points with every survey you complete which can then be redeemed via Paypal, Amazon, Visa, and more.

They also offer daily challenges, polls, products, and service offerings to users.

Share your opinion with Branded Surveys

8. Get cash back for shopping.

Are you booking a holiday on Expedia, or ordering food from places like Postmates?

Instead of making your purchases on those apps directly, shop on the Drop app.

They offer the opportunity to earn redeemable points for making every day purchases with some of your favorite stores through their app.

All you have to do is sign-up, link your card, and get shopping.

They also offer rewards surveys and real-money games for you to earn even more redeemable points.

Then whenever you’re ready you can redeem your points for gift cards to all your favorite fashion, travel, beauty, entertainment, food, and shopping sites.

Get started with Drop today

9. Potentially earn up to $200/month just by answering surveys.

More than just a survey site, Swagbucks lets you shop online, watch videos, discover offers, search the web, play games AND answer surveys.

This site basically gives you a platform to do the things you’d normally do on a daily basis all in one place, and get access to exclusive deals and coupons to your favorite retailers.

Swagbucks boasts to be one of the highest paying survey sites. To date they have paid over $667 millon dollars to their users, and they gift 7,000 gift cards daily.

Sign-up is quick and easy and you can have your account set-up and ready to go in just minutes.

Get Swagbucks now

10. Get access to 100% cash back on products at your favorite stores.

Earning cash back on groceries and purchases from your favorite stores with Ibotta is just as easy as clipping coupons.

Simply check the app before heading to the supermarket, Target, or wherever, to easily earn cash back on thousands of major brands and retailers.

Ibotta will also find you exclusive retail deals where you can get 100% cash back on products worth over $20.

Once your account gets to $20 in cash back earnings, you can transfer it straight to your bank account.

Sign-up with Ibotta now

11. Save serious cash on life insurance.

Being healthy and young can sometimes make you feel like you’re invincible, and the thought of the added cost of life insurance can also feel like a burden.

But it doesn’t have to be! Bestow are making saving money on life insurance simple and convenient.

They offer policies approved by A+ rated carriers, and premiums from as little as $16 per month.

Get a quote and coverage in just minutes, all online, without the hassle of playing phone tag.

Bestow are offering 10-20 year term life insurance, with coverage ranging from $50,000 to $1,000,000.

Save on life insurance with Bestow today

12. Get paid your salary two days faster.

They say that patience is a virtue, but why should you have to wait for money that’s yours?

That’s why Current was born.

You can get paid up to 2 days earlier than you’re employer would pay you when you sign-up for direct deposits through Current.

Download their app, sign up for a Current Premium Account in two minutes or less, then enroll in direct deposits through their app.

Their mantra is that you deserve your hard-earned money as soon as it can be available, you shouldn’t have to wait. So wait no more!

Sign up to Current today

13. Get a free share of stock worth up to $1,500.

Purchasing stock in massive companies like Apple, Tesla and Amazon is no longer only for the super-rich.

Nowadays you can get started investing in these powerhouse companies with as little as $1.

SoFi is a company that lets you purchase fractional shares. That means that you can become the owner of any stock for just a few dollars, even if it’s an expensive stock.

It’s basically an all-in-one investment app for beginners. Which is why they don’t charge commissions, nor do they put limits on the shares you can buy.

Bonus: when you sign-up with SoFi you can score yourself a free share of stock worth up to $1,500. Just deposit $100 into your investment account and claim your share of stock. Once you’ve claimed it, you can easily pull your $100 back out afterwards, if that’s what you want to do.

Sign up to SoFi now

14. Earn hundreds of dollars a month watching viral videos.

Ah, viral videos – love ’em or hate ’em, somehow we all end up watching ’em. You might think that getting paid to watch these videos is a total hoax, but believe it or not, people are earning real money to do just that.

It’s super simple to get started – sign-up and confirm your email, then watch videos. It’s that easy!

This would have to be one of the lowest effort ways to earn a little extra spending money.

With Inbox Dollars, you earn real-life cash, not points, so whenever you’re bored and find yourself scrolling mindlessly through social media, open Inbox Dollars instead.

Get started with Inbox Dollars

That’s it and that’s all!

Thanks for reading! We’ll update this post with new money-making ideas as they become available, so check back soon.