🌱 Dust off your money plans

Things that feel like spring: Retirement planning like a pro. Saying goodbye to debt. Making a plan to spend and invest. Finally being able to consult a financial planner on all of the above. 🌷

Now is a great time to declutter that money and spring clean your finances. Because putting it off — and missing out on potential returns — will keep everything feeling like a winter that doesn’t end.

Here are a few things you can do to start:

1. Appreciate how far you’ve come

   First, take a moment to recognize the opportunities your finances have offered you thus far. (Do a little money meditation, if you will.) Check in on your money mindset.

   Then assemble all your money stuff in one place — on your computer, on your dining table, wherever feels comfy. Sit down and visualize your end game. Finally, organize everything you’ll need to get there into these categories: Retirement, Debt, Investing (and Taxes), and Financial Planning. Easier to see, easier to conquer.

2. Consolidate your retirement accounts

   One way to be more efficient with your finances: See if you should combine your 401(k)s into one. Ellevest can help you fold them nicely.

   Next, ask yourself: Does a retirement full of doing whatever the hell you want sound good? We thought so. Start investing or upping your deposits into your retirement account today. You can also chat with one of Ellevest’s (100% women) financial planners in a 1:1 Retirement Planning Session to double-check that you’re on track.

3. Put some elbow grease into your goals

   Figure out what you love and set some goals. Kids? A house all to yourself? A dream vacay? We’re a goal-based investing platform because we’re less concerned with “chasing alpha” or “beating the market” and more concerned with helping you reach your financial targets.

   Then set up autodeposits into your investment accounts — for your 401(k) at work, through Ellevest, etc. Harder to miss money you don’t see!

Mark your calendar

All About Membership: Ellevest comes with more benefits than you might expect — let’s walk through ‘em together. 👣️

THIS TUESDAY @ 12:30 PM ET: Sign up for free

Workshop: How to Pay Off Debt: Don’t let debt weigh you down. Learn how you can make a plan to finally pay it off.  🕊

NEXT THURSDAY 4 PM ET: Sign up

Busy this week? Check out all upcoming workshop dates and times.

“Separate accounts.”

It’s spring and love is in the air. That’s why we loved hearing Elle Raiser @eiei20 share the best advice they’ve received about money in relationships. Find more advice, here.

What we’re reading

• Almost half of US women in hetero marriages match or out-earn their partners. But wait, there’s a sobering chaser: They’re still doing more housework and caregiving than men. Which proves, once again, that when a woman has it all, it means she’s doing it all.
• Janelle Jones’ economic theory — the idea that when Black women do better, we all do better — is shaping economic policy in real time.
• Think about hobbies like a soothing balm on your brain (the research supports this simile). Here’s how nine women manage stress through their hobbies.
• Feeling lonely at work? You’re not … alone. More than half of US women feel the same way.
• Don’t be surprised if your tax refund is a little anemic this year. Here’s why that is and our advice on how to put that refund to work.

Spring clean your finances with a financial planner.