Reading Time: 5 minutesThe best online banks in Europe have a few things in common: security, trust, and low fees. We use these three parameters to rank which online banks in Europe are the best when opening an account. But what exactly is an online bank? Banking has changed a lot in recent years. Nowadays, an online bank is a practical solution to making payments, receiving money, and managing finances. Not only that, but online banks are gaining a lot of popularity. In 2020, online banks worldwide had more than 2.5 billion active users. The practicality of online banking makes these establishments a popular choice for anyone that looks to manage finances online. So which are the best six online banks in Europe? The Top 6 Best Online Banks in Europe We picked up six banks we believe to be the best based on our research. These banks aren’t ranked in any particular order. What’s important is that the six picks on this list come with high user trust, low fees, and top-notch security. So let’s get into it. Wise One of the biggest problems in traditional banking is making international payments in foreign currencies. For obvious reasons, traditional banks keep foreign currencies unusable in your account and force you to exchange.  Online banks, like Wise, eliminate this problem by allowing you to open multi-currency bank accounts. And the best part about the service is that it’s available in Europe and more than 140 countries. With Wise, you can easily set up USD, GBP, EUR, and accounts in other currencies. Users receive bank details for each currency. For example, if you open a EUR account, Wise provides a SWIFT and IBAN, sort code, account number, etc. To view the details of each account, you will need to go into the specific currency account. There’s even the option to copy the information. The great thing about Wise is that you can make international payments with ease. Opening an account is free, and Wise is transparent about the fee structure. With that said, the fees are some of the lowest in the industry. You can open accounts in more than 50 currencies. They even have a debit card you can use in any establishment that accepts Visa/Mastercard. For ATM withdrawals, it’s free so long as you’re not withdrawing over 200 EUR per month. We covered Wise in our Best 5 Payoneer Alternatives for Freelancers and Businesses guide. Revolut Revolut is one of the top digital banks in Europe for several reasons. The online bank grew its customer base from 1.5 million to 10 million in the past two years. The online bank is best known for its relatively low fees. Not only that, Revolut offers traditional banking services such as loans, currency exchange, international payments, and more. In recent times, Revolut has allowed cryptocurrency trading. With Revolut, you can open multiple currency accounts and order a multi-currency spending card. There’s even the option to use a virtual debit card for online shopping. With every new currency account you open, Revolut gives you IBAN/SWIFT, account number, etc. It’s truly one of the best digital banks in Europe. Setting up an account is also free. You can create accounts in more than 150 currencies and even receive cashback. When using the Revolut spending or debit cards, you receive cashback on travel insurance, FX trading, and general spending. Considering that, Revolut has managed to cement itself as one of the most popular European online banks.  N26 N26 is one of the most established and largest European banks. Although N26 is a licensed traditional bank, it offers clients a wide range of financial services, making it one of the top digital banks in Europe. Moreover, with more than 5 million active users, N26 offers something that few other banks do – an insured EUR bank account. You can ensure up to $100,000 and receive a debit card to spend in stores or make online purchases. EUR withdrawals are free, and N26 is transparent with its fees and costs. With that said, N26 has some of the lowest costs in the industry and allows individuals and freelancers the option to select from three plans. The free plan is perfect for everyone that wants to give N26 a try. The free plan gives you unlimited deposits, access to a virtual Mastercard debit card, and options to make free SEPA transfers. You can even connect the card with online payment platforms like Google Pay and Apple Pay. All this makes N26 one of the best online banks in Europe. Curve Curve markets itself as an “all-in-one-place ” for all things finance-related. With Curve, you can use their free debit Mastercard to make in-store and online purchases. Not only that, but you can also connect other accounts and manage them. Multi-account management is what separates Curve from the rest of the top online banks in Europe. Curve comes with a mobile app, as with every other online bank on this list, where you can manage the different accounts. Curve also offers cashback rewards for spending money on Uber. As of late, Curve incorporated its cashback rewards with popular streaming services Netflix and Spotify. Creating an account is free, and managing finances has never been easier with Curve. Considering all that, Curve deserves to appear on our best online banks in Europe list.  Nuri We’ve added Nuri to this list as it is one of the best online banks in Europe for cryptocurrency purchases. Nuri, formerly Bitwala, is a neobank for all things cryptocurrency-related. For everyone wanting a seamless solution to manage finances and crypto investments, Nuri is the online bank for Europeans to go with. With Nuri, you can trade cryptocurrencies and even earn an annual interest rate for holding Bitcoin and Ethereum. The European online bank is looking to expand more into cryptocurrencies and hopes to incorporate other popular altcoins besides Bitcoin and Ethereum. Nuri also offers other services, such as saving and investing outside cryptocurrencies. The online bank is available in over

Reading Time: 5 minutesBillionaires don’t need to hide their wealth to avoid taxes. But for the average Joe, it might be better to hide your fortunes than to flash and show before all. That’s essentially the definition of stealth wealth. Steal wealth means hiding your money instead of splashing on designer clothing and fancy cars. The practice of stealth wealth isn’t to avoid paying taxes, but for keeping your fortunes a secret. But you might be asking yourself, why would you hide the fact that you have money? Well, it’s all about being under the radar. While that might seem like something out of Breaking Bad, frugal living does come with its benefits. In this short guide on stealth wealth, we’ll talk about the benefits of practicing stealth wealth. Why Should You Hide Your Money? Even though we gave a thorough and quite story-telling explanation about what stealth wealth is, it doesn’t answer the question of why you should be doing it. Billionaires and millionaires hide their wealth as a means to keep their business to themselves. Some do it as it isn’t in their nature to flash their fortunes. While a completely separate group of rich individuals do it as it presents an investment opportunity. Stealth wealth investing is a particularly niche type of investing that is more common than you might think. Stealth wealth investing is essentially the practice of hiding your investments in a bid to conceal your strategy. Since any avid investor would do anything they can to get their hands on a winning formula, telling everyone about your little secret won’t keep it a secret for long. But stealth wealth can also be a powerful tool for personal finance. Instead of spending outrageous sums of money, you live a middle-class lifestyle. This helps you save money, invest, and plan your financial future with little risk.  But if we look past stealth wealth as a means for the mega-rich to hide their fortunes, why does the average Joe do it? It is more common for billionaires and millionaires to be more interested in practicing stealth wealth. But this guide isn’t interested in exposing their interests in stealth wealth. Instead, we will tell you how you, the average Joe, can benefit from this quite niche practice. Benefits of Stealth Wealth Some of the benefits that come with frugal living will positively shock you so much that you might even start doing it now. While people tend to be proud of their achievements, not everyone should know about your fortunes. So with all that said, here is why you should hide money instead of flashing it. Stealth Wealth Is A Good Way To Spend Less We mentioned at the beginning that stealth wealth can be an excellent tool for personal finance. But what does that mean? Personal finance can mean any number of things. In essence, it means sticking to a budget, saving, and achieving financial freedom. Stealth wealth can help you do that. Since you’re not flashing your money on Instagram, you’re spending a lot less of what you make. Despite 86% of young people wanting the lifestyle of one of these influences, it’s not something you should do. Throwing money for Instagram fame is an excellent way to go broke. So the less you flash your cash, the bigger the chances of preserving your fortune. The more money you end up saving with each paycheck, the easier it is to achieve financial independence.  Since no one can predict what comes next in life, practicing stealth wealth prepares you for every financial emergency possible.  Stealth Wealth Is A Good Way To Avoid Loaning To People We are taught always to help those in need. But sadly, not every person out there is worth helping. Let’s assume that people know you have money. If a friend is in financial need, they’ll likely contact you and ask to borrow some money. While it’s perfectly normal to help our closest friends through tough times, not every friend will pay back. It’s just the rule of nature. Some people don’t solve their problems and end up in more debt. Maybe they have a serious addiction and they’ll use the money to fuel their addiction. When that happens, friendships usually end. You’re not the reason why the friendship ended, they are. You gave what they asked but they won’t pay you back. That puts you in a very tricky situation. Do you continue asking for your money back and risk losing this so-called “friend, or do you back off and give the person more time? It’s a conundrum that very few of us want to find ourselves in. One way to avoid these situations is through practicing stealth wealth. If your friends don’t know about your fortunes, chances are they won’t get offended when you tell them no. You won’t end up looking like a jerk and they’ll move on elsewhere. Stealth Wealth Is A Good Way Of Knowing Who Your Real Friends Are A problem that no doubt many millionaires and billionaires deal with regularly, money can bring the worst in people. If your friends know that you have money, do they even care about you? Are you 100% certain they’re not hanging out with you for your money? If they don’t know about your money, will they even be there?  You’re probably concluding that the benefits of stealth wealth have more to do with what people around you think about you than what the government thinks. But you’d be completely wrong about that. While stealth wealth does fend off unnecessary attention from people, it also fends off the prying eyes of the government.  Stealth Wealth Is A Good Way To Avoid the Government Ultimately, the average Joe can practice stealth wealth for the same reasons rich people do – that’s the whole twist of this article. The less the government knows about you, the more you can go about doing your things. Instead of telling the government that you have all this fortune laying around, why not stay silent and look for clever ways to