Tips to Green Up Your Finances This Earth Day
NEW YORK, April 22, 2021 (Newswire.com) - It's no coincidence that the color of money and the color of Earth are the same. Or maybe it is. In any case, if you want to greenify your finances, to match your money to your morals, especially in honor of Earth Day, here are some tips to do just that.
4 ways to go green with your money
Get a green loan
Green loans are highly specific personal loans designed to help homeowners vastly increase their energy efficiency with major home improvement projects like installing solar panels, geothermal heat panels, or triple-pane windows. These loans can help you save money in the long run with sustainability, lower monthly bills, and potential tax credits.
In addition to traditional green loans, there also are green mortgages, which are better known as energy-efficient mortgages (EEMs) and can be used to purchase or refinance homes that already are energy efficient.
Move your money to an environmentally friendly banking service
Most—if not all—of the "big banks" contribute to funding oil projects and fossil fuels that have severe effects on the climate. If you bank with one of them and want to cut ties, there are alternative banking options that are committed to clean money. Certified B Corps financial institutions, which meet the highest standards of environmental and social performance, available in the U.S. include Aspiration, Amalgamated Bank, and City First Bank.
Aspiration offers high-yield savings accounts at 1.00% APY, which is significantly higher than the national average of 0.04%. Aspiration also allows you to offset your carbon footprint on gas purchases, plant a tree by rounding up your change on purchases, and get up to 10% cash back on purchases from brands that are part of their Conscience Coalition. Similarly, Amalgamated Bank has a Give-Back Checking program that donates the amount you earn in interest to an organization that you're aligned with.
Put your utility bill into renewable energy
If you've ever had someone knock on your door holding a clipboard asking about your utility bill, there's a good chance it was a third-party service that focuses on renewable energy.
But if you're not comfortable dealing with someone on your doorstep, there are strictly online services with similar offerings. Arcadia, for example, lets you power your home or apartment with renewable energy from one of their wind or solar farms. Signing up is free, and Arcadia does the legwork of dealing with your existing utility provider.
Invest in OMRI-listed or Clean Green-certified organizations
What better way to pregame for Earth Day than by celebrating 4/20? You can kill two birds with one stone by investing in the cannabis industry, whether you like getting high or not.
Traditional investing products probably don't have the environment's best interests at heart. But Good Earth Organics, which sells soil that is Organics Material Review Institute (OMRI) and Clean Green certified, allows you to invest with a green approach—green in more ways than one.
Source: Credello
