How to Make $50 Fast

Sometimes life sneaks up on you, and you desperately need $50 fast, but you don’t really want to sell your body just yet.

Maybe your bank account is overdrawn, or your rent is past due.

Don’t worry; we’ve all been there.

And thanks to technology, it’s easier than ever to make quick cash.

Here are seven ways to make $50 fast. Do a combination of all of these, and you’re bound to make $50 quickly.

1. Amazon Mechanical Turk

Amazon Mechanical Turk is a crowdsourcing website where business owners post tasks (known on the platform as HITs — Human Intelligence Tasks) for individuals to perform for money.

Those performing tasks on the platform are (straightforwardly) called “Workers”, and those posting tasks to be completed are called “Requesters”.

Your actual earnings on the site will vary based on your own aptitudes as well as the tasks you select, but a general rule of thumb is to only select tasks over about $0.20 each.

Doing this, you can realistically expect to earn about $10 – $15 per day assuming you spend one to two hours a day performing tasks on Mechanical Turk.

So no, you won’t earn $50 just by snapping your fingers, but this platform does offer a realistic way to earn $50 in exchange for your time.

Create a Worker account here to get started.

Pro Tip: With Mechanical Turk, the “refresh” button in your browser — combined with taking action quickly — is key.  The best (read: highest-paying) opportunities on the platform are snatched up hot cakes, so if you don’t see any tasks you like, just refresh your browser and if a good task pops up, take it ASAP.

2. Claim lost money.

Unclaimed.org is the official website of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.

All you have to do is click on your state on the map, and you will be taken to your state’s official unclaimed property website.

Each state has a different website, but the idea is you can look yourself up by name to see if banks, insurance companies, corporations, or other entities owe you money that you haven’t yet claimed.

Pro Tip: Be sure to look yourself up under previous name you have used, such as a maiden name before marriage!

3. Sell your stuff.

Possibly the quickest way to earn a quick $50 is to find $50 worth of stuff laying around your house and sell it.

It’s no secret that selling old electronics, such as outdated smartphones, will probably yield the largest dollar value per sale.

And selling the gadget doesn’t have to be complicated either — just snap a few pictures, write an honest description of the condition, and make a post on Facebook Marketplace or list it on eBay.

If you have a lot of stuff to sell, throw a socially-distanced garage sale!

Pro Tip: Be sure you wipe your devices of any of your personal data or information before you sell them!

4. Deliver food.

Here in California — as well as in other states — restaurant dining is all but a thing of the past thanks to COVID-19.

This means that there is more demand than ever for those willing to drive to restaurants or grocery stores to deliver food for others.

You’ve probably heard of services like UberEats, but here are some other ones you may not be as familiar with:

• Postmates: With Postmates, you deliver anything (but mostly takeout).  You must have an insured vehicle — generally a car, but in some locations you can deliver for Postmates with an alternative vehicle like a scooter or bicycle.
• Instacart: With Instacart, you deliver groceries.  You must have an insured car or truck (bicycles aren’t permitted for the obvious reason that it’s difficult to deliver a load of groceries onto a bike).
• Doordash: With Doordash, you deliver takeout foot.  Similar to Postmates, you must have an insured vehicle — typically a car though in some areas a bike or scooter will work as well.

5. Do odd jobs around your neighborhood.

I guarantee that if you go around your neighborhood, offering manual labor in exchange for money, you will find a taker or two.

Whether it’s mowing lawns, shoveling snow, cleaning pools or gutters, or washing cars, there is at least $50 out there for you if you’re willing to work for it.

Pro Tip: Use sites like TaskRabbit to find gigs faster.

6. Get a new credit card.

Obviously a new credit card will give you more than $50 in credit access, but that’s not what I’m referring to here.

I’m referring to the fact that many credit cards give you a welcome offer of up to a few hundred bucks simply for signing up.

Below are some of my favorite no-annual-fee cash back cards on the market right now offering decent welcome offers.

• Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card: This card is currently giving a $200 welcome offer if you spend $500 with the card in the first three months.  Additionally, it offers unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
• Chase Freedom Flex: This card is currently offering a $200 welcome offer if you spend $500 with the card in the first three months.  It also offers five percent cash back on up to $1,500 in categories that rotate quarterly in addition to first-year five percent cash back on grocery store purchases up to $12,000 in your first year of having the card.  It also offers 5% back on travel purchased through Chase, 3% back on dining, 3% back at drugstores, and 1% on everything else.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited: This card is currently giving a $200 welcome offer if you spend $500 on the card in the first three months.  It offers unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases in addition to first-year five percent cash back on grocery store purchases up to $12,000 in your first year of having the card.  As noted above, other cards offer unlimited 2% cash back but it does not currently have a welcome offer.

Pro Tip: There are a few credit cards that offer unlimited 2% cash back, which is obviously superior to the unlimited 1.5% cash back rates, but these cards currently do not have cash back welcome offers.

7. Get free stocks.

Several online stock brokers are giving away stocks right now when you make an initial deposit.

Webull, for example, is giving away four free stocks to everyone who opens a new account and deposits at least $100 before December 31, 2020.

These stocks are valued between $2.50 – $1,600 each, so there’s a chance that the combination of stocks you receive equals $50 or more.

Other than Webull, here is a list of other brokerages offering free stocks right now:

• Robinhood is giving away a free stock simply for opening an account.
• M1 Finance is giving away $30 just for opening up an account and funding at least $100.
• Acorns gives a $5 bonus when you use our link.  Warning: Unlike the other stock brokerages mentioned previously, Acorns charges a monthly fee that could very well make the signup bonus not worth it.

Pro Tip: Although you could very well simply sell your free stocks after receiving them in order to cash out, consider keeping the stocks in your account so they can increase in value over time!

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