Top Rated For
澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Best for Women Investors
Our Take
In the News
On Feb 26, 2025, Betterment announced that it has acquired Ellevest's automated investing business. The transition is expected to conclude by Apr. 17, 2025. Ellevest customers will have the choice to opt out of the transfer. Customers that choose to do so will need to make a full withdrawal (which may be subject to capital gains) by April 10, 2025.
Ellevest is an investment platform built around the unique investing needs of women. Recent Fed data shows that labor force participation rates for women have returned to pre-pandemic levels, and it is likely that demand for the services Ellevest offers will grow. As a fiduciary, Ellevest offers women investing options that put their financial interests first. The platform has a unique algorithm and initial questionnaire that focus on the gender-specific issues of salary gaps, career breaks, and longer life expectancy. When combined with low monthly membership fees and a $0 account minimum, it's no surprise that Ellevest earns our pick as the best robo-advisor for women investors.
Pros & Cons
No ✱minimums to open an account and start investing
Goal-focused investing approach
Low monthly membership fee
Portfolio ꦇselection geared towards the investment needs of♛ women
Limited account customization and investment options
☂No tax-loss harvesting 💞(private wealth clients can consult an advisor)
0% APY on uninvested cash
Minimal access to ♐a financial planne💟r without paying extra
Account Overview
Account Minimum | None |
Fees | $12 monthly subscription fee for Ellevest Digital Plan; fees vary for Ellevest Private Wealth |
Goal Setting | Goals encompass wealth building, home buying, family planning, business, big splurge, retirement |
Available Assets | ETFs and mutual funds |
Interest Paid on Cash Balances | 0% |
Customizable Portfolio | No, limited ability to add ESG investment ETF as an option, and change risk tolerance |
View Portfolio before Funding | Yes |
Customer Service | Email and phone, Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; chatbot; social media: Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn |
Financial Advisor Available | Yes |
Cash Management | FDIC cash holding account |
Tax-Loss Harvesting | No |
External Account Sync/Consolidation | No |
Mobile App | Android, iOS |
Account Setup
Setting up an account at Ellevest is quick and easy. Clients are able to set up a new account entirely online. During account setup, you𓄧 choose an investing goal and Ellevest makes a portfolio recommendation based on your personal details. After the first deposit, your money will be invested and you can also set up recurring ♊deposits to put your investing on auto-pilot.
Acco💙unt options are quite streamlined, with only two types of accounts offered:
- Online investing ($0 minimum to open an account)
- Private wealth management ($1 million minimum to open an account)
This no-frills platform offers limited customization and investing options. Ellevest now offers only one type of account for investors with less than $1 million–the Ellevest Plan for online investi💖ng. The Ellevest plan offers the following for a low fee of $12🔯 per month:
- Up to five goal-specific accounts with portfolios created to suit your financial goals
- Retirement planning
- Tax minimization strategies
- Automatic rebalancing
- Exclusive discounts for one-on-one financial guidance
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Profile-Set-Up-ellevest-review-4587894-6b9ce8ac09774985ac15ba9795fa80f5.jpg)
Source: Ellevest
Goal Planning
Ellevest has recently streamlined the investing membership options and now offers investing and retirement planning to all clients for $12 per month under the Online Investing option. Investors can choose from individual investment🔜 accounts or retirement accounts to reach their investing goals.
Individual investment accounts refer to the following goals:
- Build wealth
- Home
- Kids goal
- Big splurge
- Business
In addition to building wealth in an individual taxable account for retirement, investors can choose specific retirement accounts—traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or SEP IRA—which may offer additional tax advantages.
Account Services
Ellevest offers a straightforward, no-frills approach to investing. Clients cannot combine self-driven trading with robo-trading, nor can they invest in individual stocks at Ellevest. The platform does not offer any type of banking privileges, but it does offer a quick and easy option to set up automatic investing, with very little effort from the client once initial investing parameters have been established.
Cash Management
Ellevest investors are able to link one external bank account and set up automatic deposits for investing. Ellevest works to keep your account fully invested, and though minimal cash residuals may occur in the account, keeping this amount minimized is the norm. A recent change to the Ellevest platform is that banking services, such as cash savings accounts and debit cards, are no longer offered. At this time, 0% interest is paid on cash balances in the account that are not invested in an ETF or mutual fund. The lack of emphasis on cash management and interest payments for incidental cash is consistent with the fact that the Ellevest platform moved away from banking services, such as cash savings accounts and debit cards, in 2023.
Portfolio Construction
The portfolio investment offerings at Ellevest are relatively limited, with only two portfolio options—Ellevest Core or Ellevest Impact—so if you are looking to trade individual stocks, this is not the account for you. Based on your answers to the personal investing goals questions asked during account setup, you are able to select from among 22 ETFs for the Core Portfolio, and 3ꦓ ESG funds to use as part of your Impact Portfolio. There are no questions, or way to answer the questions, that would guide you toward higher-risk instruments like forex or cryptocurrency ETFs.
Ellevest’s practice to act as a fiduciary means it will play it conservative. Investment options for the ETFs or ESG funds are invested in the following asset classes:
- U.S. large-cap growth
- U.S. large-cap value
- U.S. mid-cap growth
- U.S. mid-cap value
- U.S. small-cap growth
- U.S. small-cap value
- Developed international stocks
- Emerging market stocks
- REITs
- U.S. bonds (taxable and municipal)
- Non-U.S. bonds
- Emerging market bonds
Available Assets
Individual Stocks | No |
Mutual Funds | Yes |
Fixed Income | No |
REITs | Yes |
Socially Responsible or ESG Options | Yes |
ETFs | Yes |
Non-Proprietary ETFs | Yes |
Private Equity | No |
Crypto, Forex | No |
Portfolio Customization
Clients can see their proposed investment portfolio prior to account funding. However, the only changes that can be made are ones that align with changes to the risk tolerance level of the portfolio or the type of investment portfolio.
Ellevest offers𒁏 two investment portfolio options:
- Ellevest Impact
- Ellevest Core
Both of these portfolio options are further customized based on your risk tolerance and personal investing goals. The logic behind Ellevest optimizes its portfolio for women and specifically cites reducing fees and minimizing taxes in its methodology. Additionally, with the Ellevest Impact option, clients have more than half of their portfolio allocated with a focus on 澳洲幸运5🅷官方开奖结꧑果体彩网:environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing as well as funds that aid in boosting women.
Portfolio Management
Portfolio rebalancing💙 is done periodically, as necessary. While there is no set timeframe in which this occurs, client portfolios are monitored to detect when the portfolio has drifted meaningfully from original investing objectives. This can happen due to market fluctuations, additional cash deposits, dividend distributions, or as the company’s recommended asset allocations change over time.
Another key takeaway of Ellevest portfolio management is that the company does not offer 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:tax-loss harvesting at the basic level. Ellevest takes more of a customized approach to the idea of automatic tax-loss harvesting for clients, stating: “The benefits of tax-loss harvesting depend on an investor’s goals, tax situation, whether she has capital gains to offset now and/or in the future, and the state of tax policy in the coming years. There are a lot of unknowns here, and we believe it’s hard to definitively state that deferring taxes will increase your portfolio’s return, as some advisors claim."
ౠ However, the company does implement tax minimization strategies🌳, which work in two ways at Ellevest:
- Securities, such as tax-efficient municipal bonds, are included that might cost you less in taxes in the accounts that are taxable right now.
- Ellevest includes securities that might cause you to incur more taxes, like corporate and government bonds, in tax-deferred retirement accounts.
Key Portfolio Management Features | |
---|---|
Automatic Rebalancing | Only occurs when the investor’s portfolio has “drifted meaningfully from the target” |
Reporting Features | Tax and monthly statements |
Tax-Loss Harvesting | No—tax minimization strategies are used |
External Account Syncing/Consolidation | No |
User Experience
Desktop
Ellevest currently supports the two most recent versions of the Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari web browsers. All account functionality currently available via ♈desktop is also available to mobile users.
Mobile
Ellevest has an app available for iOS and Android smartphone users. The app currently supports i💜OS 11 and above, which means you must have an iPhone 6 or newer. The Ellevest app requires Android 8.0 and newer. While Eꦗllevest does not currently have an app for the iPad, investors are still able to visit Ellevest.com from their iPad.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Mobile-Experience-ellevest-review-4587894-ec1764fc4f8f4adda21ea784eae83429.jpg)
Source: Ellevest
Customer Service
How to contact customer service from Ellevest’s website is not evident initially. Investors must scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “Help Center” link under Support. At this pointꦜ, there are several FAQ topics that investors can view. However, if you want information on a specific topic not listed, you must do one of three things:
- Submit a question: Click the “” link at the top right of the screen—clients can submit a question and even attach documents to get an email response.
- Email customer service: Scroll down the page to find the “” link. Clients are then prompted to click on another link, “” Clients are again promoted to “Click here” to be taken to a direct email to customer service.
- Use the chatbot: Click on the green chat icon at the bottom right corner of the screen—clients can ask questions and get suggested articles that may be helpful in finding an answer.
All new account holders are also able to schedule a free 15-minute call with a financial planner to help them determine which type of financial planning session they may want to purchase.
Security
Ellevest offers security features commensurate with industry standards in order to keep investors’ account information safe:
- Two-factor authentication to open an investment account or make a withdrawal
- Industry-standard encryption for all accounts
- Regular testing of products and security systems for vulnerabilities
- Closely monitored network and secure software development procedures
- Safeguards in place to prevent unauthorized account access
SIPC insurance is also offered to all clients, up to the $500,000 limit for all accounts combi💮ned.
Education
Ellevest clients have access to the tips, videos, and articles available in-app or on the website. For a fee, members can sign up for digital workshops and self-paced courses, or even download budgeting and planning materials. Ellevest users can also book one-o𒐪n-one sessions with financial planners or career coaches for an additional fee. However, the fees for these services are discounted up to 50% for all Ellevest clients.
Ellev♎est offers free𝕴, live workshops online for clients:
- All About the Benefits of Ellevest
- Budget How-To
- How to Pay Off Debt
- Investing, Part 1: How It All Works
- Investing, Part 2: You and Your Portfolio
- Planning for Your Dream Retirement
Clients can also subscribe to the “What the Elle” newsletter for weekly financial news and advice from Ellevest planners, insights from industry leaders—such as a weekly column from Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck—and updates on new workshops, additional resources, and events.
Commissions and Fees
Ellevest has revamped its𝓀 account structure recently, which has streamlined the membership matrix to only two levels:
- Ellevest Plan: Up to $1 million in assets for $12 per month
- Private Wealth Management: Over $1 million in assets
While there are no advisory fees associated with an Ellevest account, there are certain fees from the companies that own the individual funds in your investment portfolio. With Ellevest Core Portfolios, the ETF fund fees can range from 0.05% to 0.10% per year, and for Ellevest Impact Portfolios, the ETF and mutual fund fees can range from 0.13% to 0.19% per year.
There are no fees associated with withdrawing your funds. However, if you're looking to transfer an account to another company, additional fees are involved. Ellevest works with Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions, which is an independent third party, to act as custodian; its fees are as follows:
- $100 fee per account for transferring an investment account or IRA to another institution
- If you're transferring only part of an account, fees are $5 per security, with a $25 minimum and $75 maximum
Category | Fee |
Management fees for Ellevest Plan | $12/month |
Management fees for Executive account | Varies based on account size |
Termination fees | None |
Expense ratios | 0.05% to 0.10% |
Mutual funds | 0.13% to 0.19% |
The Bottom Line
The Ellevest platform provides a good entry-level investing tool for new investors, those with a low amount of initial capital, or those who just want a more hands-off investing approach. While individual stock trades are not supported by this platform, investors can rest assured that Ellevest, being a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:fiduciary, has their best interests at heart. While Ellevest makes entry-level investing quite easy, it does also offer private wealtღh management for more affluent clients.
Where this robo-advisor is really able to shine is that it is unique within the industry in providing a distinctive forum for women. Ellevest🔯 is certainly a leader in this niche market by taking into account the issues that women face in the areas of salary gaps, career breaks, and life expectancy.
How Does Ellevest Help You Save M💯oney on Your Taxes?
Ellevest uses a method it calls the Ellevest Tax Minimization Methodology (TMM). This methodology is built into its automated rebalancing algorithms as well as something premium clients can get through advisor services. The platform favors the selection of low-impact securities such as tax-efficient municipal bonds for accounts that are taxable now. By contrast, corporate and U.S. Treasury bonds or stocks are favored for selection in tax-deferred retirement accounts. In this way, TMM is intended to reduce tax impact over time.
How Much Does Ellevest Cost?
Ellevest offers a straightforward investing platform, allowing clients to put their investing on auto-pilot at an affordable rate of $12 pꦡer month.
Is Ellevest FDIC Insured?
Yes, Ellevest is FDIC insured, for cash deposits. While FDIC insurance does not protect you against market risk, it does ensure that the cash that you deposit is guaranteed regardless of what happens to the banking institution itself.
How Secure Is Ellevest?
Ellevest utilizes several security features to ensure investors’ account information is kept safe: two-factor authentication, encryption, and network monitoring.
Who Owns Ellevest?
Sallie Krawcheck is co-fo🌳under and CEO of Ellevest.
Can Men Use Ellevest?
While Ellevest is a company built by women and is aimed towards the specific ♑i🐼nvesting needs of women, anyone is able to open an account with Ellevest.
How We Picked the Best Robo-Advisors
Providing readers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of digital wealth management companies, more commonly known as robo-advisors, is a top priority of Investopedia. To collect data for our 2024 best robo-advisor awards and rankings, we sent a digital survey with 64 questions directly to each of the 21 companies we in🌳cluded in our rubric. Our team of researchers verified the survey responses and collected any missing data points through online research and conversations with each company directly. The data collection process took plac🍌e from Jan. 8 to Feb. 9, 2024.
We then developed a quantitative model that scored each company to rate its performance across nine major categories and 59 criteria to find the best robo-advisors. The score for each company’s overall star rating is a weighted average of the criteria:
- Goal Planning - 21.00%
- Portfolio Contents - 17.00%
- Portfolio Management - 17.00%
- Fees - 15.00%
- Account Services - 10.00%
- Account Setup - 5.00%
- Customer Service - 5.00%
- Security & Education - 5.00%
- User Experience - 5.00%
Many of the companies we review for our projects grant our tea🔥m of expert writers and editors access to live accounts so they can perform hands-on testing. Robo-advisor companies allowed us to do this, as well.
Through this all-encompassing data collection and review process, Investopedia has provided you with an unbiased and thorough review of the top robo-advisors. Read more about 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:how we research and review ro⛄bo-advisors.
The above material and content should not be considered to be a recommendation. Investing in digital assets is highly speculative and volatile, and only suitable for investors who are able to bear the risk of potential loss and experience sharp drawdowns. Digital assets are not legal tender and are not backed by the U.S. government. Digital assets are not subject to FDIC insurance or SIPC protections.