From budgeting tools to alternative lending and investment options, payments processing, and philanthropic platforms, we have a lot to gain from the advent of financial technology startups. Learn below about just a few ways in which you can leverage these hot new platforms before they inevitably become common applications for the entire public.

Payments Made Easy

The advent of payments technology has made consumer spending, and all other forms of payment easier, faster, and more secure. Payments technology startups, such as Square, help small businesses get off the ground by adopting easy to use and cheaper credit card payments processing. Instant, reliable transactions are important for day-to-day sales, along with employee payroll processing.

Venmo, a payments app, has provided a “free digital wallet” to the mobile devices of thousands, by allowing friends to connect quickly and securely via Facebook to request and send money to each other in a few taps.

Furthermore, on the consumer side, platforms such as Apple Pay and Bitcoin continue to disrupt the traditional method of pay. When sending money abroad, individuals should consider using money transfer services such as TransferWise to save on international transfer fees.

Lend a Helping Hand

Peer-To-Peer (P2P) business models have fueled a new sharing economy revolution, with many products and services such as home rentals, cleaning services, and anything else under the sun being “uberized.” New FinTech startups have uberized the online lending space, allowing you to access funds through unconventional ways, without the help of big-name banks or a network of established lenders.

Platforms such as U.S.-based LendingClub and Prosper, and U.K-based Zopa have individually issued millions of dollars in loans, joining the rising number of tech unicorns in today’s entrepreneurial space.

Crowdfunding: The New Venture Capital

Investment in crowdfunding platforms may surpass venture capital funding in 2016. Popular sites Indiegogo and Kickstarter have helped thousands of ideas get off the ground – from bizarre video games to social projects and multi-purpose jackets, small businesses and entrepreneurs can now look to the general public for support. Countless other sites such as GoFundMe, which took off by bootstrapping, allow individuals to raise money for any project they like.

Democratizing Investment Products and Services

Robo-advisors continue to gain traction as a provider of investment services once solely accessible to wealthier individuals who could afford their own financial advisor. An online advisor is now available through multiple platforms such as Wealthfront and Betterment. Wealthfront manages your first $10,000 free for a small fee of .25% after that, while Betterment charges .35% to .25% annually or $3 per month. A series of questions, including an individual’s age, determines a user’s risk tolerance, which then determines the portfolio allocation for each specific individual.

If you are unwilling or unable to invest your money yourself, or through a trusted financial advisor, an online platform is a much better way to direct your savings to their most effective use.

FinTech startups aren’t stopping at stock investment, however. For the growing number of Americans who seek involvement in alternative investing and philanthropic projects, the FinTech industry continues to deliver. Take Neighborly, a social venture helping you get involved in the municipal bond market. Neighborly’s Community Investment Marketplace allows you to make an impact directly in your community through safe and lucrative investing.

Budgeting: A Virtual Piggy Bank

As many tech startups target millennials, there’s a significant opportunity for business to facilitate the process of a new generation beginning to save, lend, and invest their money. Millennials don’t simply want to watch the purchasing power of their money wither away in a bank account; instead, they’re using budgeting and educational platforms to help them with a financial strategy. Alongside their robo-advisors, individuals can use budgeting platforms such as LevelMoney and Acorns that automatically track spending and income to give users a daily allowance for the day. This helps people grasp exactly how they are spending their hard earned dollars. Other platforms find creative ways to save you a dime. For example, Paribus scans users emails for receipts following a purchase to get money back in the case of a price drop.

The Bottom Line

FinTech is on the fast track to growth, and it’s not just investors who can benefit from the success. Be sure to stay up to date on the rapidly evolving FinTech sector, which will help drive a democratization of financial tools and services, from payments to wealth management and philanthropy. Ultimately, whether FinTech will take the place of traditional banking entirely is up for debate. However, the plethora of cost efficient and accessible financial tools and services will undoubtedly force the entire financial sector to transform.

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In our digital age, billions of people will join the online community for years to come. Therefore, we’ll continue to see a quick response from FinTech entrepreneurs offering innovative solutions to both consumers and businesses. Looking at how recent successes in technology have paved a new landscape for finance, we see that the future may bring services such as enhanced financial education, investment advice, better payments processing, and smarter compliance to the public.

Here are five big changes we forecast in 2016. Make sure to stay up to date and be prepared to take advantage of the constant shifts in the world of personal finance.

1. The Democratization of Finance

In 2016 and forward, entrepreneurs provide platforms by which consumers can track their spending and optimize their investment strategies. Jonathan Stein, founder and CEO of robo-advisor firm Betterment tweeted, “We’ll see the beginning of the end of the Retirement Crisis with greater access to advice via low-cost services and better 401ks.” Another startup, LearnVest, offers comprehensive financial planning—from retirement to emergency planning and asset allocation at a relatively low, $19 a month and $299 one-time fee.

2. Facilitating Easy and Safe Spending

Now, this point may not always be positive for the consumer. Easier payments sometimes mean frivolous spending, but it can also translate into a convenience that saves time (and, therefore, money). As consumers, we want our shopping experience to be quick, painless and safe.

With identity theft on the rise, online shoppers are more skeptical of their virtual transactions.

Startups such as payment company Stripe have helped Apple, Twitter, and Facebook launch e-commerce by dealing with the multitude of issues that arise with online payment processing. Stripe congregates and simplifies billing, fraud prevention, currency conversions, and other services on a single platform.

3. Make Sure You Comply

Along with the technology boom of the 21^st century comes a widespread increase in regulation. Compliance is costly for both businesses and individuals. Furthermore, transaction processing technology and software pose threats to security standards. New FinTech startups are trying to integrate the two so that companies can continue to grow online while without breaking the law. For example, the online identity verification leader, Trulioo announced raised $15 million in the largest FinTech equity financing round of 2015. The startup aims to “improve trust and safety online, focusing on compliance and fraud risk mitigation in the fast growing cross-border payment industry.”

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Following a solid year of significant investment in the industry, fintech could finally make its way into an even stronger growth pattern in 2016. Along with increased attention, the industry could see a large number of launches.

Over the past several months, a number of new platforms using algorithms for determining investment allocations have been launched. Big banks have also begun to experiment with blockchain technology for securing payments as well as releasing mobile-payment apps designed to make services easier.

Fintech Funding Booms

In recent years, funding for the fintech industry has boomed. In 2014, investors funneled more than $12 billion into fintech companies, an increase from less than $3 billion in 2012. During the first quarter of last year alone, this sector saw almost $3 billion in investments.

Over the course of the last 12 months, nearly $14 billion in funding has made its way into the coffers of fintech startups, representing an almost 46 percent year-over-year growth rate.

The fintech industry has experienced a steady increase in funding since 2010. Among the top categories receiving funding are cryptocurrency, payments, online lending, and personal financial management. In total, private equity firms and venture capital companies have invested approximately $50 billion in fintech companies over the past five years.

To be certain, the fintech sector has experienced a tremendous amount of growth since the first companies made their debut into this sector. Most of these companies began with the idea of taking a revolutionary approach to retail financial services. Once the financial crisis hit, the concept that regulated institutions, including banks, were vulnerable began to take hold. This naturally presented a tremendous opportunity within the financial sector. Entrepreneurs entered the scene with the idea of transforming everything from lending to payments to finance. Venture capitalists quickly took notice and started to fund new generations of fintech entrepreneurs and startups looking to change how finance was handled.

VC to Crowdfunding

In 2016, funding for the fintech sector is not expected to decrease, but funding could come from different sources in the future. An emerging trend shows that crowdfunding​ could actually outpace venture capital funding in the coming months. This is quite interesting considering that crowdfunding itself is considered a sector within the fintech market.

Fintech adoption could actually double in 2016, according to some reports. Urban consumers tend to use fintech services at a greater rate than any other population. On a global scale, consumers in Hong Kong represent the highest rate of fintech adoption and use. While the fintech industry as a whole is clearly on a path toward greater growth, the potential for the industry does vary based on product category. Research shows that payment services hold the highest rate of adoption at 17.6 percent. This category includes money transfers and the use of non-bank providers for paying for goods and services. The second-largest category is savings and investment, with a usage rate of 16.7 percent.

The Bottom Line

The significant amount of funding being invested in fintech startups serves to underscore precisely how much technology, particularly online technology, has dramatically changed financial services. From the way in which people decide how they will spend their money to the tools they use for making payments and investments, finance is experiencing an unprecedented level of change.

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