Here is a list of all of the services and platforms that I use, and currently recommend.

Making Money Online

Lending Platforms

Through this blog, I have invested in quite a few crowdlending, P2P and P2B platforms (see my results). The list below represents some of the companies that I currently feel most secure investing in. If the platform is not listed, then I have some concerns about the way it is managed, recent events, uninspiring returns, or I have not used them enough.

Crowdestor (my review)

Crowdestor is an Estonian crowdlending platform created in 2017. The name Crowdestor is a combination of Crowd and Investor. The platform connects investors with businesses seeking project funding. Crowdestor offers up to 5 new projects each month, seeking funding up to €750,000. Projects span many industries including real estate, hospitality, retail, concerts, renewable energy, forestry, video games, and movies. Most projects through Crowdestor are covered by a buyback guarantee fund, which is a separate provision type of fund. The buyback fund currently has a pool value of over €200,000. The interest rates of Crowdestor start at ~12% and can go above 20%.

Transferring Money

Finding the best deals to transfer your hard-earned money is difficult. Especially when there are fees associated with everything nowadays. I use both the below two platforms to help combat large fees that the main banks charge.

Revolut (EU to EU)

Revolut is an online bank account and debit card, that lets you spend multiple currencies across 150 countries, only charging the interbank exchange rate. The best part is that it costs no fees for transfers under ~$5,000 USD each month.

 

Transferwise (Outside EU)

Wise (formerly TransferWise), is a money transferring company that uses the inter-bank mid exchange rate to transfer money. The mid-exchange rate is the midpoint between the buyers (demand) and sellers (supply), and matches the rates you can see on Google and other currency search engines.

Other Security Services

As I have been running my website now for a couple of years, I have decided to introduce a few security services to my toolkit. These include security while browsing online, but also the security of having backups saved to the cloud. I recently had a hard drive crash on me, and it was not easy to obtain the files back again.

Brave Browser

The Brave browser is a new security-driven open-source browser built on the Chromium web browser, created by Brave Software Inc, which was co-founded by the creator of JavaScript, and the co-founder of Mozilla. The premise behind the brave browser is to keep user’s data safe and prevent advertisements and tracking dater from websites. Brave is also aiming to help fight phishing and malware.

pCloud

pCloud is a cloud storage platform that lets you save all of your files in the cloud (think Dropbox, One Drive, Google Drive). Through pCloud, you can access your documents from a browser, or folder located on your phone or desktop. You can also share any files with friends or colleagues. The best parts of the service include tight security and a one-time lifetime cost for 2 TB (i.e. you don’t need to pay for it ever again!).

Website Set-up and Hosting

The below tools and platforms are all currently being used on this site. Each item listed (i.e. domain name, hosting, or theme) was researched extensively before being settled on. If you want to be found through Google, it’s extremely important to have a fast and SEO friendly site. The below platforms offer a good price, great customer service, and a good product.

Namecheap

Namecheap is one of the cheapest platforms to purchase a domain name, which generally includes a free whois guard to protect you from spam and identity theft. I wouldn’t go with hosting from Namecheap as they have less than desirable uptime, site speed, and customer service. You can easily update nameservers to point to another host.

 

Siteground

SiteGround is a web hosting company that is rated near the top of the list of the best web hosting companies. SiteGround offers multiple hosting plans, including cloud hosting and dedicated servers. I decided to utilize the GrowBig plan, which provides for unlimited websites, daily backups, a SuperCacher, and free website transfers. Apart from having a fast load time, and high uptime, the platform also offers extensive support (I have had to use this multiple times to rebuild my website). I am very happy with the service so far!

Astra Theme

The Astra WordPress Theme is my newest addition (December 2019), and I have only just started to scratch the surface of the Theme. The Astra theme is designed to be one of the fastest loading and customizable themes on the market to date. I can’t wait to see what it can do!