This Financial Advising Firm Is About To Become Every Woman’s Best Friend
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To all the women reading, we want you to really tune into what we’re about to say. Managing money can be tough, and investing can be even tougher. A Merrill Lynch report found that women are five times less likely than men to prioritize investing, and for whatever reason that may be, we’re losing out on a huge opportunity to self-fund our futures and to learn more about its potential.
One app endeavored to settle the score and help women make the most of their money, and we’re pretty sure it’s our new favorite personal finance resource. Everyone, say hey to Ellevest.
Ellevest was created by Sallie Krawcheck after she realized that “the investing industry has been, frankly, ‘by men, for men’ — and has historically kept women from achieving their financial goals.” The platform was established after Krawcheck and her co-founder Charlie Kroll surveyed women aged 25 to 50 and tested over 500 economic scenarios designed specifically for women (like maternity leave and the wage gap) to see how they affected investment behavior .
So, how does it work? When you sign up for Ellevest, you’re immediately prompted to complete a questionnaire in which you explain what your financial goals are, what roadblocks are in your way and what you’d like to learn. Licensed professional finance gurus analyze your answers and put together a free personalized portfolio for you that takes account how much you want to invest. You can check on, or change, your investment details at any point.
You can start investing as much or as little as you want — there’s no minimum balance requirement. You also can withdraw your money to your connected bank account of choice without any penalty.
Ellevest receives .25 percent of your annual earnings on the standard plan, and receives .50 percent of your annual earnings if you have a premium plan. If you ever reach the point where you’re investing more than $1 million with Ellevest, the percentage of earnings the company takes will depend on how much you have.
The app includes 24/7 assistance from the gurus, as well as a visual guide to your investments with explainers.
Basically, if you’re interested in learning how to invest the right way and work with people who will take your personalized economic situations as a woman into account, Ellevest is the app for you. Women have just as much potential as men to do incredible things with their money, so why should we feel intimidated by investing? The answer is we shouldn’t, and Ellevest doesn’t think so, either.
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