Ellevest Assessment 2023: Professionals and Cons

Ladies have fought for a spot on the proverbial desk, and now they’re exhibiting up sturdy. In the course of the pandemic, extra companies have been began by feminine founders, and extra girls than males have entered increased training.
Even so, fewer buyers are feminine, and the gender pay hole persists. That’s the place Ellevest is available in.
Ellevest is an investing service aimed toward tackling girls’s distinctive monetary burdens, making an allowance for issues like diminished wages growths, profession breaks and longevity. We love this focus but additionally like that Ellevest is open to all customers, no matter gender or identification.
In reality, whether or not these gender burdens apply to you or not, Ellevest’s personalised recommendation for banking and investing makes Ellevest investing alternative. Plus, with two membership plans, you possibly can tailor the service to search out your monetary match.
In our Ellevest overview, we’ll begin with a fast rundown on how investing with Ellevest works, then stroll you thru the membership choices, and at last flesh out every of the essential options Ellevest provides to be able to get all the knowledge you’ll want to resolve how finest to begin rising your cash your manner.
How Does Investing With Ellevest Work?
Ellevest makes use of a robo-advisor to develop an investing portfolio that matches your focused objectives and timeline. You merely obtain the app, enter some primary info like your age, gender, earnings, and many others, after which set a monetary purpose.
Do you wish to purchase a home in 5 years? Begin a household? Create an emergency fund? Or construct wealth usually? Ellevest will take particular objectives into consideration and create a mixture of ETFs (alternate traded funds) and mutual funds so that you can put money into.
Earlier than transferring onto the portfolio specifics, nevertheless, you could have to enroll in the precise Ellevest membership that you really want. Beginning at $5 a month, Ellevest provides two membership tiers with totally different prices and perks for every. Leap to the following part in case you’re curious which one will work finest for you.
When you’ve signed up on your membership, you’re prepared to take a position. With Ellevest, you don’t get to decide on particular person shares or bonds; as a substitute, you merely decide between their two portfolio choices:
Whereas each are created together with your specific threat tolerance and monetary objectives in thoughts, the Ellevest Affect Portfolios are centered on furthering constructive social impacts and advancing girls’s management positions.
As a result of Ellevest’s first precedence helps you meet your monetary purpose, not your whole funds might be positioned in affect investments in case you select the Affect Portfolio, however Ellevest will discover the easiest way to steadiness your monetary wants with constructive social change. Socially aware and fiscally accountable, we find it irresistible!
This specialization and affect does include barely increased fund charges (between .13% to .19%), so in case you’re strictly in search of monetary positive factors, the Ellevest Core Portfolio is an efficient choice. Just like the Affect Portfolio, it’s diversified and personalised for you with barely decrease fund charges of .05% to .10%.
When you’ve picked your portfolio, you then’re achieved–you’re formally an investor.
Whereas the investing is completed, Ellevest doesn’t cease attempting that can assist you develop your wealth–and monetary data–with perks like computerized paycheck direct deposit that enables a set quantity to be deposited into your funding every month or free monetary workshops and articles. If there’s something we love, it’s a no-stress technique to develop wealth and keep well-informed. Properly achieved, Ellevest.
Ellevest Membership Decisions
To be able to make investments with Ellevest, you must decide a membership. Most different funding choices have a percentage-based payment that expenses extra the more cash you set into your funding; Ellevest, alternatively, has flat payment memberships. Principally, you possibly can put in a greenback or 1,000,000 and your payment doesn’t change.
Ellevest provides two totally different membership plans:
- Ellevest Plus
- Ellevest Government
Each of those plans embody discounted entry to monetary planners and profession coaches, retirement providers, and free instructional assets. The variations come all the way down to the low cost on one-on-one assist and the variety of accounts you possibly can arrange.
Ellevest Plus
Finest for Retirement Savers
Key Options
- 30% off monetary planners and profession coaches
- Entry to retirement accounts
Ellevest Plus will get you investing and provides you entry to a private retirement plan and discounted monetary planners and coaches. At $5 a month, we just like the specialised assist to begin saving for retirement.
Ellevest Plus
Minimal opening deposit
n/a
Administration or advisory charges
$5 a month
Accounts provided
Ind. taxable, conventional, Roth, and SEP IRAs
Extra Details about Ellevest Plus
Ellevest Plus members get all the training perks Ellevest provides that can assist you increase your monetary know-how, plus you additionally get entry to a retirement account that can assist you construct an even bigger nest egg. We love the personalised retirement planning and steering on issues just like the IRA switch course of or how you can make investments a 401(ok).
At $5 a month, it’s completely affordable, nevertheless it’s price noting that you just’ll want to take a position an honest quantity to maintain it inexpensive. Principally, in case you’re solely investing $100, then $5 is a better payment than most percentage-based charges that different robo advisor providers supply in the marketplace. In the event you’re trying to make investments a number of thousand or extra, nevertheless, then Ellevest’s affordability checks out.
Ellevest Government
Finest for Larger Monetary Objectives
Key Options
- 50% off monetary planners and profession coaches
- Identical options as Ellevest Plus
- 5 personalized investing accounts
Ellevest Government is ideal for these with greater monetary objectives. You get all the advantages of the earlier membership — retirement accounts and studying assets— and now 5 customizable investing accounts.
Ellevest Government

Minimal opening deposit
n/a
Administration or advisory charges
$9 a month
Accounts provided
Ind. taxable, conventional, Roth, and SEP IRAs
Extra Details about Ellevest Government
Ellevest Government permits for extra customization with the power to save lots of for a number of objectives with totally different ranges of threat on the identical time. For $9 a month, now you can create excessive threat accounts and low threat accounts for various objectives based mostly in your timeline and threat tolerance. Plus, the additional benefit of fifty% off monetary planners and profession coaches permits you to make the most of extra of those providers, so you possibly can construct your wealth or attain your objectives sooner.
We love Ellevest memberships choices due to their simple and easy membership-based mannequin. You realize precisely what you’ll be paying and what you’ll be getting. Simply decide and begin investing.
Ellevest Account Choices
Ellevest provides particular person taxable accounts, and conventional, Roth, and SEP IRAs. At first, we had been a little bit disillusioned within the simplicity of portfolio choices. Ellevest doesn’t supply specialised accounts like 529 instructional accounts or joint or custodial funds. Whereas this can be a bummer, it’s this simplicity that makes investing with Ellevest simple.
Principally, in case you’re in search of each monetary automobile in the marketplace, look elsewhere, however in case you’re in search of a straightforward begin, Ellevest is an efficient investing alternative.
Non-public Wealth Administration
Ellevest provides Non-public Wealth Administration for top and ultra-high internet price people, households, and establishments. Once more, Ellevest approaches non-public wealth administration with personalization in thoughts. They work as a fiduciary with simple charges and well-published providers that begin together with your monetary objectives.
Ellevest additionally brings its perception that each greenback can have an effect to its non-public wealth administration providers by permitting you to share your values together with your advisors and serving to develop an intentional technique on your wealth.
Different Essential Options
Teaching
Ellevest provides teaching in an a-la-carte vogue that means that you can get precisely what you want. There are particular teaching periods for all of your monetary wants: how you can discover a job, negotiate your wage, create a price range, put together for retirement, and many others.
Packages vary from $20 for group workshops to a number of thousand for a full monetary planning package deal. Bear in mind, you get reductions on these packages relying in your Ellevest membership. You get wherever from 30% off with Ellevest Plusto 50% off with Ellevest Government.
Taxes Optimization
It’s aggravating to earn cash by means of investments after which watch all of it disappear to capital positive factors taxes. Ellevest does its finest to develop the perfect technique to go away your cash in your personal palms by means of Ellevest Tax Minimization Methodology (TMM). By TMM, Ellevest strategically reduces your taxes, when potential, by means of a mix of taxable and tax-deferred investments.
Most robo-advisor providers do computerized tax loss harvesting. Ellevest, nevertheless, believes that the advantage of tax loss harvesting depends upon your particular tax state of affairs, investments, and tax charge, in order that they don’t mechanically apply tax loss harvesting. For some, this might be helpful and for some this might be a loss. It simply depends upon your private state of affairs, so Ellevest doesn’t apply it to your portfolio.
There are totally different views on tax loss harvesting, however for Ellevest, it’s all the time about doing what’s proper for every investor’s state of affairs.
Professionals and Cons of Ellevest
We all know that’s numerous info, so right here’s the breakdown of how we expect every function and side of Ellevest stacks up.
Professionals
- Straight-forward charges
- Objective-focused investing
- Takes into consideration beforehand ignored gendered points
- Affect portfolio choices
- Discounted entry to profession/monetary coaches
- A la carte one-on-one periods with profession and monetary coaches and CFPs
- Non-public wealth administration
Cons
- No tax-loss harvesting mechanically
- Can’t commerce your self — no lively administration
- No joint or custodial accounts
- Membership charges will be excessive if not investing some huge cash
So Is Ellevest Price It?
In all honesty, we love Ellevest. With goal-focused investing, Ellevest makes investing manageable and achievable. We do want they’d have extra choices for account varieties, lacking joint, custodial, and 529s, however we applaud the simplicity.
On the flipside, whereas Ellevest’s flat-fee construction is straightforward, it can be dearer than different robo-advisor payment buildings. All of it depends upon how a lot you’re planning on investing.
Total, nevertheless, we love that Ellevest tackles typically ignored gendered points like longevity and profession breaks and makes gaining wealth approachable, achievable, and – with the affect portfolio choice – socially accountable.
Steadily Requested Questions (FAQs) About Ellevest
Nonetheless have questions? We’ve gathered up the entire commonest questions that can assist you make your resolution.
Is My Cash Protected with Ellevest?
Your cash is protected with Ellevest. Ellevest makes use of Goldman Sachs Custody Options, a SEC-registered broker-dealer and custodian, to safeguard the securities and money in your account. Due to this, within the unlikely occasion that the brokerage fails, the Safety Funding Safety Company (SIPC) will cowl losses as much as $500,000.
Is There Danger with Ellevest?
There’s all the time threat to your cash in terms of investing. Investing positively follows the no threat, no reward lifestyle, however we expect Ellevest does job navigating that threat.
Who Is Ellevest Owned By?
Sallie L Krawcheck is the CEO and co-founder of Ellevest. She previously led Merrill Lynch Wealth Administration and Smith Barney and was the CFO of Citigroup. Her co-founder is corporate president Charlie Kroll. Kross was the architect of the start-up Andera, a web-based banking software program firm.
What Dealer Does Ellevest Use?
Ellevest makes use of Goldman Sachs Custody Options, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and custodian.
Who Are Ellevest’s Rivals?
Ellevest’s high opponents embody Betterment, Wealthfront, and SoFi Automated Investing.
Contributor Whitney Hansen writes for The Penny Hoarder on private finance matters together with banking and investing.