I've talked in past posts about how a single score doesn't tell you much about a student. A 70% doesn't tell you whether "John" is stuck on past tense verbs or "Julia" just can't nail future tense. You need to see the specific questions, not just the grade, to actually help students.

Live quiz games have the opposite problem. They tell you plenty, for about ninety seconds, and then it's gone.

If you've ever run a Kahoot in your classroom, you know the feeling I'm talking about. The room lights up. Kids who never raise their hands are suddenly leaning forward, thumbs ready, dead serious about getting question four right. It's genuinely one of the best tools for engagement in the classroom.

But when the final leaderboard fades and everyone moves on to lunch, what's left? A screenshot, maybe. A memory of who won. Not much else. The data that could tell you something useful, like which specific question tripped up half the room, just evaporates.

That bothered me enough to build our own version.

### What We Built

Live Quiz is now live inside Investant Academy. You can start one straight from a lesson module you've already built, or from inside a classroom, pick the other half, and you're running a real-time quiz in under a minute.

![LiveQuizLobby.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1782946031/Live_Quiz_Lobby_6ce6bd8823.png)

The moment-to-moment experience will feel familiar if you've run this kind of game before. Students join from their own devices with the same class code they already use for everything else in Investant Academy. Questions pop up with a timer. Points reward speed and correctness. A leaderboard shows up between rounds if you want it to. It's built to be fun, on purpose, because a classroom that's having fun is a classroom that's paying attention.

And here's the important piece that I really wanted to get in teachers' hands: every single answer, from every single student, gets saved the same way it would if it were a regular assignment on Investant Academy. Sent directly to the Analytics engine.

![LiveQuizAnalyticsScoreDistribution.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1782946031/Live_Quiz_Analytics_Score_Distribution_7f687ed17a.png)

### Why That Matters More Than the Leaderboard

When the game ends, you don't just get a winner. You get the same kind of breakdown you'd get from any assignment in Investant Academy: who got which question right, how long they took, and whether a pattern is forming across your classes.

Say three-quarters of your class missed question six. That's not a "some kids didn't study" problem. That's the material telling you it needs another pass before the test. You'd never catch that from a leaderboard alone, because a leaderboard only tells you who's on top, not why everyone below them is stuck.

And it doesn't stop at that one quiz. Because Live Quiz results land in the same analytics as your regular assignments, you can look back weeks later and see that a student has now missed the same kind of question three times across two quizzes and a homework set. That's the kind of pattern that tells you exactly where to spend your efforts instead of guessing.

I want teachers to get the fun part of a live quiz and the useful part of an assignment, at the same time, without having to choose.

![LiveQuizAnalyticsItemAnalysis.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1782946018/Live_Quiz_Analytics_Item_Analysis_4362cfdf8b.png)

### What's Live Right Now

- Launch from any lesson module or any classroom, whichever you happen to be in already
- Fifteen seconds per question by default, adjustable up to two minutes if your questions need more room to think
- Leaderboard on by default, easy to turn off if you'd rather less competition
- True/false, multiple choice, select-all, and drag-and-drop questions all play live. (Free-response questions get set aside automatically since they're not quite fair for a fast-pace live quiz)
- Every response feeds straight into the same analytics you already use to track your classrooms

### See It in Action

Investant Academy is in early access, and I'm still building this alongside real feedback from real classrooms. If you want to see what a live, competitive quiz looks like when it's plugged into the same analytics engine as the rest of your content, I'd love to show you.

[Start a free trial](https://investant.net/pricing) to try it out, or email me directly at ryan@investant.net. I read every email.

---

_Ryan White is the founder of Investant, an all-in-one classroom management platform that helps teachers create interactive lessons, automate grading, and understand student performance at scale._

Live Quiz is now live inside Investant Academy. You can start one straight from a lesson module you’ve already built, or from inside a classroom, pick the other half, and you’re running a real-time quiz in under a minute.

Introducing Live Quiz

According to a [RAND Corporation](https://www.rand.org/about.html) survey reported by the National Education Association, teachers work an average of 53 hours a week, with a significant portion of that uncompensated time going to grading outside of school hours. Breakdowns from education researchers estimate that grading alone can consume anywhere from 5 to 15 hours per week depending on the subject and level of feedback provided. 

That time spent grading can make up an entire extra workday! Many teachers signed up for this profession because they have a passion for helping others learn and connecting with the students. Not for spending their evenings at the kitchen table marking wrong and right answers.

### Why a Score Alone Doesn't Tell You Much

I wrote about this [in my last post](https://investant.net/blog/InvestantAcademy), but it's worth repeating because it's central to the value I believe Investant Academy brings.

Say you have a handful of students who all scored around 70% on a Spanish quiz. On paper, they look the same. But "John" might be struggling with past tense verbs while "Julia" can't get future tense down. "Sarah" has a limited vocabulary and "Eric" keeps misspelling words he actually knows. A 70% doesn't tell you any of that. It just tells you something went wrong.

When grading is manual, most teachers don't have the bandwidth to dig into every wrong answer for every student across every class. There aren't enough hours in the day. So the insights stay buried in the stack of papers, and the next unit starts whether everyone's ready or not.

That's the gap I want to close with automated grading and real-time analytics.

![investant_analytics_example_1.webp](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1772936805/investant_analytics_example_1_73bdd10dbd.webp)

### What Happens When Grading Is Instant

When students complete assignments through Investant Academy, their responses are captured the moment they submit. For objective question types like multiple choice, true or false, and select all that apply, grading happens automatically. No waiting. No manual entry. The scores are there, and more importantly, the data behind the scores is there too.

Teachers can see which specific questions students missed, how the class performed overall, and whether a pattern is forming. If 80% of your students got the same question wrong, that's probably not a student problem. That's a signal that the material needs another pass.

This is the kind of insight that turns grading from a chore into something genuinely useful. Instead of just knowing *that* a student is struggling, you can see *where* they're struggling and start building a plan around it.

### Automated Grading Doesn't Mean Removing the Teacher

Automated grading works well for objective questions. Right or wrong, black or white. But not everything in education fits into that box.

A student writing a paragraph about the themes in *To Kill a Mockingbird* deserves more than a checkbox. That kind of work requires a teacher's judgment, their understanding of the student, their ability to see effort even when the execution isn't perfect. That's irreplaceable.

That's why we're building AI-assisted grading for free response questions. The system provides a suggested grade and feedback, then sends it to the teacher for review before anything is finalized. This takes the mechanical, repetitive parts out of the equation so teachers can focus on the work that actually requires them.

### What Teachers Do With the Time They Get Back

We trust that teachers are here to help their students. And if we provide them with more time and tools, they will take advantage and more students will be positively impacted.

When you give a teacher back even a few hours a week, the ripple effects are real. That's time to pull up a student's performance data and actually build a personalized review plan. Time to rethink a lesson and try a new approach. Time to grab coffee with a colleague and swap ideas. Or honestly, time to just leave school at a reasonable hour and be present at home.

My favorite teachers growing up were the ones who poured everything into their work and took the time to connect with me personally. If the repetitive stuff was handled for them, how much more of their energy could have gone toward helping and connecting with students?

This is where Investant helps.

### See It in Action

Investant Academy is in early access and we're building it alongside feedback from real educators. If you're a teacher who wants to see what automated grading, real-time classroom analytics, and interactive content delivery look like in one platform, I'd love for you to check it out.

Visit our [Academy Demo](https://investant.net/academy/demo) to explore the tools, or reach out to me directly at ryan@investant.net. I read every email.

---

*Ryan White is the founder of Investant, an all-in-one classroom management platform that helps teachers create interactive lessons, automate grading, and understand student performance at scale.*

Teachers spend 5 to 15 hours a week grading. Automated grading tools can give that time back. Here's how Investant Academy handles it.

How Automated Grading Gives Teachers Their Evenings Back

Hey, my name is Ryan and I am creating Investant Academy.

When I was in school, the teachers I appreciated the most were the ones who engaged with me at an individual level. It was rewarding and unexpected when a teacher clearly put thought and effort into what I needed, what Ryan needed. Today I look back and think about the extra blood, sweat, and tears that goes into understanding every individual student's strengths and weaknesses and addressing them personally.

If we look at a handful of students who might be underperforming in Spanish class, "John" might be having issues with past tense verbs while "Julia" struggles with the future tense. "Sarah" might lack a wide vocabulary while "Eric" has trouble with spelling. When it comes time for review before an exam, a teacher might be able to create personalized plans for each of these students, but how does that scale across 5 or 6 full classrooms with multiple grade levels and parts of the curriculum? Most teachers want to do this, but can't. It's not that they don't care but that there simply aren't enough hours in the day.

My vision is to deliver teachers a modern solution for their curriculum and classroom management. From creating lessons, quizzes, and assignments to delivering this curriculum to students to receiving automated analytics about student and class performance, Investant Academy will help every step of the way.

### Giving Teachers Superpowers

I aim to give superpowers to all teachers, from content creation for lessons and assignments to understanding individual student needs and being able to address them in real time. Our lesson module creation tool allows teachers to create both lessons and quiz assessments in a familiar slide-based editor. I will be adding AI auto-generation to this tool to save time by automatically creating lesson and quiz slides. In addition, completed lesson modules will be able to be made public for any other teacher on Investant to browse a library of high quality content.

Investant Academy will provide multiple ways to deliver this content, including:

1) A sleek presentation tool that acts as an interactive slideshow allowing question slides to be weaved into content slides during a live-classroom setting
2) Directly assign content to students who can join the online classroom and complete their assignments
3) Create a Live Quiz where students in class can join and compete to answer questions in real time
4) Send your content to Investant Island, our custom game where we inject your questions seamlessly into the game while students play

As students answer questions and complete your content, you can see how they are doing in real time. We capture student responses and provide automated analytics to teachers about the performance of individual students, classrooms, and the performance of the curriculum itself! I will also be adding support for free response question types with the ability to have AI auto-grade student responses and send it to their teacher for review.

Students have their own dashboard where they can see their progress, upcoming assignments, and engage with the content their teacher has prepared for them.

### Why Investant Academy?

I watched my favorite teachers stay up late grading papers, and I watched them light up when they actually got to *teach*. I remember my teacher calling me out of class one day to hand me a website written down on a piece of paper because he and I had connected about philosophy and he wanted to share more with me. To feel seen and cared for at an individual level by your teacher like that is an extraordinary moment. That's what I'm building towards.

With an online platform like Investant, we can build a network of teachers who can contribute to a public library of high quality class content. Through Investant Academy, we can deliver automated tools at scale to any teacher who wants to do more for their students and reclaim time outside of the classroom.

### Doing What's Right

If I can give teachers back even a few hours a week to actually *teach* instead of drowning in admin work, that's worth it.

Learn more [About Us](https://investant.net/about-us) and feel free to reach out anytime by submitting our [Contact Us](https://investant.net/?modal=contact-us) form or email me directly at ryan@investant.net.

Hey, my name is Ryan and I am creating Investant Academy.

Investant Academy

One of the most important financial decisions you will make in your life is the purchase of a home. Should you keep renting and invest your additional cash? Should you buy a property now to beat inflation and home prices in the future? What are some of the decision factors - financial and lifestyle - that you should consider before purchasing a home? We’ve developed the [Investant Rent or Buy Tool](https://investant.net/tools?block=RentOrBuy) to help answer some of these questions!

#### Rent or Buy Methodology

From a financial perspective, there are two main components to the decision to Rent or Buy: Expenses and Opportunity Costs. Using [our tool](https://investant.net/tools?block=RentOrBuy), in the graph on the right can be seen the average monthly expense by year if the home were to be purchased versus if you were to rent. This includes all of the forecasted expenses for each year over the course of the scenario, distributed across 12 months per year.

Try adjusting the mortgage term to 15 years, and entering that you will live in the home for 25 years to see how your monthly expense to live in the home completely falls away when the mortgage is paid off while renting prices continue to climb!

Directly below the graph lies more information on the cumulative costs of buying versus renting and the opportunity costs of each. If you were to rent, as an example, you will likely have additional cash on hand from smaller monthly payments and not needing to make the down payment on a mortgage loan. This additional cash can be invested and the proceeds from doing so can be seen as an opportunity cost to purchasing the home. However, buying the home will allow you to build equity through paying off the principal of the loan and through the appreciation of the home’s value. This can be seen as an opportunity cost to renting.

## How to Use the Tool

#### Decision Inputs

The first section contains the essential inputs for your analysis:

- Property Value: Enter the price of the home you're considering
- Down Payment: Input how much you plan to put down
- Living Years: Specify how long you plan to stay in the home
- Monthly Rent: Enter the comparable rental cost in your area

Growth Rates | These optional inputs help forecast future values:

- Annual Home Growth Rate: Expected appreciation of the property
- Annual Rent Growth Rate: Projected increase in rental prices
- Annual Investment Return: Expected return on invested savings

Other Expenses | These optional details help refine the tool to your situation:
For Renting:
- Monthly utilities
- Broker fees
- Rental insurance

For Buying:
- Mortgage rate and term
- HOA fees
- Property tax rate
- Maintenance costs
- Purchase and selling costs
- Homeowner's insurance
- Tax considerations
- Renovation budget

![InvestantRentOrBuyToolCoverImage.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1737402716/Investant_Rent_Or_Buy_Tool_Cover_Image_f0d8c3a0bd.png)

#### Understanding the Results

The tool provides several key insights:
- A comparison of average monthly cost based on how long you’ll live in the home
- An interactive graph showing the cost comparison over time
- Total costs for both renting and buying scenarios
- Investment returns from renting vs equity gained from buying

#### Beyond the Numbers: Lifestyle Considerations

While financial analysis is crucial, the rent or buy decision extends beyond pure economics. Home ownership can provide:
- Stability and control over your living space
- Freedom to customize and renovate without landlord approval
- A sense of community and belonging
- Pride of ownership and accomplishment
- Protection against rent increases and potential eviction

However, renting offers its own advantages:
- Flexibility to relocate for career opportunities
- Less responsibility for maintenance and repairs
- Lower upfront costs and financial commitments
- Simplified budgeting with predictable monthly expenses

Your decision should ultimately align with both your financial goals and personal values. Use our tool to understand the financial implications, but remember to consider how each choice fits into your broader life plans and aspirations.

![OriginalLogoInvestantTHIN.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1701147178/Original_Logo_Investant_THIN_1c2347d933.png)


One of the most important financial decisions you will make in your life is the purchase of a home. What factors should you consider?

Rent or Buy Guide

#### Building a time machine to your financial future through responsible input/output

Most things we deal with can be broken down to simple input/output. Your financial future is no exception. By understanding this principle and applying it to your finances, you can build a metaphorical time machine that transports you to your desired financial future.

>Act simply, think largely, invest responsibly.

Not sure where to start? You're not alone. Every financial journey begins with a single, intentional step.

### Building Your Financial Time Machine

In personal finance terms, simply put, your income is your input while expenses are your outputs. The beauty of this system lies in its simplicity: consistent, responsible control over your inputs and outputs will lead to significant and predictable financial growth.

1. Set your destination before you start your journey. You need to know where you're going. Do you want to retire at 50? Buy a house in 5 years? Have $1 million in investments by 45? Be specific and realistic.
2. Calculate your route. It's time to map out how to get there. Again, BE SPECIFIC. Use math to complete a top-down approach to this plan. We can start from the goal and back into exactly what it means for our day to day budget and required weekly/monthly savings.

![investant-financial-planners-theme-stock-photo.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1714544567/investant_financial_planners_theme_stock_photo_57ff6eaffb.jpg)

### Calculate your route

The [Investant Savings Calculator](https://investant.net/tools?block=SavingsCalculator) is designed to transform your financial goals from abstract dreams to concrete plans. Let's walk through how to use it:

Let's build out a goal for a 25 year old to reach $1 million invested by age 45.

- Initial Deposit: How much can you invest right now? This is your launch pad. Let's start with $5,000.
- Monthly Contribution: Commit to a consistent monthly investment. For our $1 million goal, let's aim to invest $1,850 monthly (Come back and change this value to see how it impacts your end result!).
- Time Period: We recommend setting this in years. For our example, that's 20 years (from age 25 to 45).
- Annual Interest Rate (%): Currently, high-yield savings accounts are offering between 4% and 4.25%. Check out our detailed guide on [The High Yield Savings Account in 2024](https://investant.net/blog/TheHighYieldSavingsAccountIn2024) to maximize your returns. The average retirement account makes between 5% and 8% annually. Let's use 7.5% as though we are depositing these savings to an aggressive (stock heavy) retirement account.

>Starting at 25 vs 30 can mean a difference of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars! See how adding 5 years can make a dent on the [Investant Savings Calculator](https://investant.net/?block=SavingsCalculator)!

With a $5,000 initial deposit and $1,850 monthly contributions across 20 years at 7.5% annual interest rate, we will have a Total Investment of $1,015,218.58 at the age of 45!

If you're just getting started, you may be thinking that $1,850 invested per month is not doable right now. But, we can make a plan to get there. Your next steps to meet this goal should be to take a total look at your income and expenses today, and use this new understanding of what monthly savings are needed to decide where your income and expenses need to be. To comfortably put away $1,850 per month while living a [middle class lifestyle](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/average-monthly-expenses/) in America today (average monthly expenses of $6,081), you would need to make $7,931 per month or $95,172 per year.

A $95,000 salary is in the [74th percentile](https://dqydj.com/salary-percentile-calculator/) of American Workers based on full-year 2023 and a completely achievable wage which can be surpassed through hard work, dedication, and discipline.

Pro tip: This isn't just a number. This is your potential. Whether you're a recent grad, a new professional, or someone looking for the next promotion, this goal is within reach.

### Periodic Calibration

Your financial time machine isn't a set-it-and-forget-it device. Schedule quarterly or semi-annual reviews to:

- Assess your progress
- Adjust monthly contributions
- Rebalance investments
- Account for life changes

Start small, but start now. These periodic reviews are a great chance to have a conversation with yourself and/or your partner about where you financially stand and the actions you're going to take going forwards. If you don't like what you're seeing, have the tough conversation then and there.

>Your financial future is not about timing the market, but time in the market.

![OriginalLogoInvestantTHIN.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1701147178/Original_Logo_Investant_THIN_1c2347d933.png)

Building a time machine to your financial future through responsible input/output

The Financial Time Machine

While many view patience as "taking things slow", the truth is that patience has nothing to do with speed and everything to do with mindset. Practicing patience as an investor is vital for long term financial health and well being. Here is how we can all be The Patient Investor.

>Investant Definition of Patience: "The ability to endure stressful and uncomfortable circumstances **with calmness**."

### Market In Distress

Whether the market is trending up or down, the patient investor will make consistent contributions and trust the process.

It can be difficult to keep calm in turbulent markets - especially when the majority of our wealth is held in securities and instruments directly tied to market performance. This is why our recommended approach to personal finance management - including holding 3 to 6 months of expenses in a high yield savings account ([HYSA](https://investant.net/blog/TheHighYieldSavingsAccountIn2024)) - is intended to help alleviate any stress from investments. The patient investor is not worried about short term market movement as they can be confident they are properly positioned for long term financial health.

[Read More](https://investant.net/blog/CreatingaFinancialSystemforyourMoney) About The Investant Approach To Personal Finance Management

### Set Up For Success

As mentioned earlier, the patient investor is setup with a financial system that promotes long term confidence. While those with strong patience can maintain the calm in any environment, it helps to create an environment with peace in mind. In our day to day lives, this might mean choosing to take the back roads instead of the highway every now and then or staying in on a Friday night. In personal finance, this can be created by having a healthy savings and refraining from keeping all your eggs in one basket.

When you have a healthy savings, it's not worrisome when the car needs to be repaired or the hot water heater needs to be replaced. If you lose your job, you're prepared! The day to day stress of these life events don't weigh over you because your financial system accounts for the bad just as much as it does the good.

Join our newsletter and follow us on [Twitter/X](https://twitter.com/InvestantGroup) for more!

![OriginalLogoInvestantTHIN.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1701147178/Original_Logo_Investant_THIN_1c2347d933.png)

Practicing patience as an investor is vital for long term financial health and well being.

The Patient Investor

I’ve known many financially successful individuals throughout my lifetime. It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in the idea that more money will make you happier. After all, more is better than less isn’t it? The irony of life, is the harsh reality of it. Money can remove unhappiness and relieve stress but overall does not have a large impact on day-to-day happiness. If it did, you would think that the celebrities you read about who blew up their lives and are living in misery would be happier than us. But the law of diminishing returns and hedonic adaptation can be easy to understand but hard to accept. 

The most dangerous assumption to carry, in my opinion, is the idea that more money = more happiness. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have a larger nest egg, but I’ve seen money come with a range of problems. 

One individual I met (we will call them Jane) was an extremely intelligent lawyer who was a partner at a small firm. Jane made very good money. However, in her mind it wasn’t a lot. She knew people she worked with who were far wealthier. This became a big source of misery for her. She ended up taking it out on her family and friends and burning bridges in her personal life. Behaviorally, we can see that although reality shows she is by all metrics (successful) in her career, due to social comparison and an inflated sense of self, she robbed herself of enjoying the fruits of her labor. In this situation I would define a loose equation for happiness as:

**Happiness = Income - expectations**

_by inputting your numbers you can see where you fall on the happiness spectrum._


**Jane’s Happiness**

>$150,000 (income) - $170,000 (expectations) = negative (happiness)

One other individual I met (we will call him Steve) was Jane’s boyfriend and an extremely content individual. He loved his office job. He was less financially successful than Jane, but much happier. He always underspent his income, had low expectations, and was intrinsically motivated to work hard for himself and his team. His hobbies were inexpensive and valued relationships over material goods. They were financially incompatible individuals which later showed when they broke up. 


**Steve’s Happiness**

>$90,000 (income) - $60,000 (expectations) = positive (happiness)

It is extremely easy for an individual to attribute their financial success solely to their skill or intellect and ignore or dismiss any factors that were outside of their control. Some factors being: who they were born to, the people they met in their career, their ability to pay for expensive schooling, etc. Successful individuals can quickly fall into the trap of falsely assuming that their financial success was solely due to their abilities. This is a prime example of survivorship bias and overconfidence and can lead to successful individuals perceiving themselves as subsequently better than less successful individuals and inadequate in respect to their peers.

Money as financial writer Morgan Housel put it is “[The Greatest Show on Earth](https://collabfund.com/blog/investing-the-greatest-show-on-earth/)” and reveals a lot about human nature and behavior. Re-examining your beliefs around money is incredibly important. There are so many ways to view it. Some people view money as a tool to build and live a better life, while as others use it as a benchmark of success to compare themselves against others. Your relationship with money will have a huge impact on your day to day happiness. 

![OriginalLogoInvestantTHIN.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1701147178/Original_Logo_Investant_THIN_1c2347d933.png)

Exploring the relationship between money and happiness.

Money and Happiness

Worrying about finances can be mentally taxing. More people spend hours micromanaging their finances than they do enjoying the things they love. In this blog post, we will be walking through how to set up a system that works for you so you can spend less time focusing on money management, and more time on the things you love. Here is a personal finance waterfall that you can implement into your financial system.

### 401k
If you have a 401k through your company, the money contributed to this account will be taken out of your paycheck before the money hits your checking account. It is recommended that you contribute up to the employer match if your employer offers one (more if you're able). Check with your HR department to get this set up. 

### Checking Account
The first account we will start with is a Checking account. This will be your financial “home base.” On payday, your salary will be deposited into your checking account, and from there we will tell our money where to go. You can use any traditional or online bank for this account.

### High-Yield Savings Account
The next account type that we want is a “high-yield savings account.” This account will be your emergency fund. It is recommended that you keep 3-6 months of living expenses in this account in case you lose your job or your car breaks down. You can also save up for big purchases here, as this account will earn more interest than your checking account. You will set up a recurring transfer to this account and fund this first before moving on to investments. I personally use Wealthfront for my HYSA (high-yield savings account). 

### ROTH or Traditional IRA
If you are in a low tax bracket, a ROTH IRA will be the next account you’ll want to contribute to. Contribute as much as you can afford, the goal is to have monthly transfers going into this account. You can later up the amount you contribute as you earn more money later in your career. I personally use Vanguard for my ROTH IRA. You'll need to set up recurring transfers on the platform your ROTH is on and link your checking account to the platform. 

### HSA
If you are young and healthy you may want to consider sending money to a HSA. This account requires you to have a high deductible health plan but is triple tax-advantaged. You can contribute extra money here for medical expenses and some HSAs allow you to invest and grow your money tax-free. This can be used as an additional retirement account as well. Talk to your HR department to see if your company offers an HSA and ask them how to enroll. 

> Here is an example of the financial system I use for my own money.

![Personal Finance Waterfall](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1725229248/Artboard_1_78986396c8.png)

![OriginalLogoInvestantTHIN.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1701147178/Original_Logo_Investant_THIN_1c2347d933.png)

Create a financial system and automate your money.

Creating a Financial System for your Money

You should have opened a high yield savings account (HYSA) yesterday. Here's why.

As of August '24, the average bank savings account offers 0.46% ([FDIC](https://www.fdic.gov/national-rates-and-rate-caps/monthly-update-august-2024)) while USD inflation stands at 2.9%, slowly recovering from the recent 9.1% high in June '22 ([YCharts](https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_inflation_rate)). Even with these inflation levels and 2-year treasury bills paying 3.99% on an inverted yield curve ([YCharts](https://ycharts.com/indicators/10_2_year_treasury_yield_spread)), many large banks are not passing these higher rates on to their common account holders.

### The Big Bank Problem

>"The truth is, Big Banks don't feel the need to compete."

Bank of America and Chase Bank offer just 0.01% yield on their consumer savings accounts with numerous stipulations on withdrawals, minimum deposits, and even fees. Many online banks, however, are offering upwards of 5% APY on a HYSA. So why is it that many big banks don't offer High Yield Savings Accounts?

Some argue that big bank operations are too expensive compared to online banks, which can provide services to customers without brick-and-mortar locations or expensive sponsorships like NFL stadiums. It is true the big banks have higher operating expenses and their physical branch networks are becoming less efficient than in previous decades. Through July '24, 539 branches across the US had closed ([Daily Mail](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-13621197/bank-branch-closures-wells-fargo-chase-bank.html)). And now through August '24, 277 branches have closed in the state of California alone - the most closures since 2020 ([FrankNez](https://franknez.com/more-massive-california-bank-branches-are-now-closing-for-2024/)) with the pandemic event.

>Efficiency Ratio = Noninterest Expense ÷ Total Net Revenue

>Long Term Debt Ratio = Long Term Debt ÷ Total Assets

In their 2023 annual report, Bank of America reported a 66.79% efficiency ratio and a long-term debt ratio of 9.50% ([Bank Of America](https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/_56c90f1f1d2a491bf6829a320ac7580a/bankofamerica/db/867/10038/annual_report/BAC+2023+Annual+Report.pdf)). Ally Bank, one of the most popular online banks, reported a 2023 efficiency ratio of 62.86% and a long-term debt ratio of 40.99% ([Ally Bank](https://www.ally.com/content/dam/pdf/investor-relations/2023-10k.pdf)) - a much riskier position than BOA. Based on this, we can say that the online banks spend less to make their revenue likely in relation to their operating in riskier environments.

However, these factors aren't the primary reason Chase and Bank of America don't offer competitive HYSAs. The truth is, big banks don't feel the need to compete.

![investant-money-roll-lincoln-face-wrapped.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1724455892/investant_money_roll_lincoln_face_wrapped_a795b4102c.jpg)

### Lack of Competition

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo alone hold 41.8% of the US market share ([FDIC Data via Wallet Hub](https://wallethub.com/edu/bank-market-share-by-deposits/25587)). The larger banks have earned customer trust and built their enormous market shares through decades of consistency and convenient banking practices for both consumers and enterprises. Many of us hold accounts with the same banks our parents used and are unlikely to switch. A Frost Bank Survey found that 44% of participants responded to have no plans to change their bank ([Frost Bank](https://www.frostbank.com/dam/Docs/Newsroom/NewsRelease/FinancialBelonging.pdf)). But why?

>"I think the biggest reason people don't change banks — and of course, I'm biased on this, but I believe it in my bones — they just don't know what some banks offer."
-Phil Green, Frost Bank CEO

While online banks are competing for consumer deposits through lower fee structures, higher returns, and more convenient practices, many big banks are happy to stay still because their clients are unaware of their competition.

### Take Action

At investant.net, we're urging you to take action by getting informed and opening a HYSA if you haven't already! Taking advantage of a HYSA to earn upwards of 5% returns on your savings and cash reserves is crucial in today's inflationary environment.

Some of our favorite options today in August '24 (who Haven and I use ourselves):

- Wealthfront  |  [5.0% Cash Account](https://www.wealthfront.com/cash)
- M1 Finance  |  [5.0% Savings Account](https://m1.com/earn/high-yield-savings-accounts/)
- SoFi Bank     |  [4.6% Savings Account](https://www.sofi.com/banking/savings-account/)

For more options, checkout [BankRate](https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/best-high-yield-interests-savings-accounts/) to select and compare some other HYSA offerings! Whoever you choose, ensure they are FDIC insured and make the most of it!

![OriginalLogoInvestantTHIN.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1701147178/Original_Logo_Investant_THIN_1c2347d933.png)

Big Banks aren't cutting it. Why you should have opened a high yield savings account yesterday.

The High Yield Savings Account In 2024

Since the rise of the internet, brokerages have employed new tactics to get customers to broker trades consistently. One of these tactics is the rise of the “commission free” platforms. Confetti animations and gamified platforms have made it easier than ever for clients to broker trades using complex financial instruments that they reasonably should not have access to. The firms using this model very rarely disclose the risks of using these financial tools as they know that the more trades the client makes, the more money they will make off of either commissions or [payment for order flow](![OriginalLogoInvestantTHIN.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1701147178/Original_Logo_Investant_THIN_1c2347d933.png)). 

### Options are not Investment Tools

Options trading has become a popular term in recent years, with more young people associating options trading with “investing.” In reality, they are using financial instruments that are primarily designed to be a way of managing liquidity risks by major financial institutions. Options are risk management tools, not investment tools. Options have a unique way of making people think that they are generating income when placing a put or call option. This however is false. On a risk-adjusted basis, options traders do substantially worse over long periods of time than the buy and hold investor. 

### Day Trading is Gambling

Online influencers in recent years have notably used day trading as a way to sell courses to a young audience. Day trading by its nature involves the short term buying and selling of securities in order to capture a profit off of short term price fluctuations. The problem? Day trading is akin to gambling to the retail investor. They are trying to arbitrage a profit off of a guess on where a stock price is going. After the [hidden fees](https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmoore/2019/10/01/the-hidden-costs-of-commission-free-trading/) that the client pays to the broker, they are highly unlikely to consistently make a good return on their capital. Day trading is a [zero sum game](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/z/zero-sumgame.asp). In order for you to win, someone else has to lose. It is not a sustainable way for retail investors to build wealth. Even the best hedge funds in the world cannot consistently beat the market over decades.

### What is Investing?

Investing at its core is putting your money into something (whether a business, real estate, index funds) with the expectation that it will produce returns for you over time. The stock market, is a giant distraction from the business of investing. The stock market reports the valuation of what millions of people are predicting the future will hold (which is impossible to predict). Responsible investing means diversifying your portfolio to avoid [idiosyncratic risk](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/idiosyncraticrisk.asp) and having reasonable expectations. For most people, investing means making diligent contributions to a well thought out portfolio over the course of a lifetime. Brokerages have purposefully employed tactics to make it easier for people to gamble with their money and use tools that are not to their benefit without the proper disclosure of what they are getting themselves into. 

![OriginalLogoInvestantTHIN.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/dnmr13rcg/image/upload/v1701147178/Original_Logo_Investant_THIN_1c2347d933.png)


Brokerages have gamified investing at the expense of their clients.

Modern Education,
Improved.

Introducing Live Quiz

How Automated Grading Gives Teachers Their Evenings Back

Investant Academy

Rent or Buy Guide

The Financial Time Machine

The Patient Investor

Money and Happiness

Creating a Financial System for your Money

The High Yield Savings Account In 2024

The Predatory Gamification of Investing

Modern Education,Improved.

Introducing Live Quiz

How Automated Grading Gives Teachers Their Evenings Back

Investant Academy

Rent or Buy Guide

The Financial Time Machine

The Patient Investor

Money and Happiness

Creating a Financial System for your Money

The High Yield Savings Account In 2024

The Predatory Gamification of Investing

Modern Education,
Improved.