Alexa von Tobel dropped out of business school to start LearnVest. Her mission is to make financial planning affordable to everyone, not just the elite!
Financial empowerment is a tall goal since so many people in our world think nothing more about financial planning than how to make this week’s paycheck stretch to the next!
I don’t know how this looks in the rest of the world, but according to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System’s 2014 Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households:
- 34% of Americans feel under financial stress
- 59% spend all or more money than they earn.
- 47% cannot handle an unexpected expense greater than $400.
Because women often let finances become a black hole they avoid, I think Alexa’s company can be the entry point you need to get off the starting point in this area of your life.
And let’s face it, when you do not feel empowered financially everything else starts to become weaker, too.
LearnVest is structured with a minimum start up fee and then small monthly fees for tools, structure, and on-going online guidance. I haven’t used it and am not selling it; but I have to say the concept is brilliant. Every get rich book you read or seminar you attend will always advise you to start finding ways to put 10% of every pay check away. I like to call it “paying myself.”
But once you do that if you have never invested in the stock market, don’t know the difference between the Dow Jones Industrials and Fortune 500, and are pretty clear earning less than 1% at your local bank is not going to get you rich — where do you turn?
I recommend you check out LearnVest as they have free online budget programs and other free tools. Their blogs I read have some spot on financial advice and once you explore it if you decide to invest in the program you will probably find even more there.
Whether you choose this or any other forum for becoming more educated about your finances and controling them–rather than running from them–you will be a more empowered woman. It will give you choices and help you create a life you enjoy.
Start somewhere. Each step moves you closer to feeling good about you.
