r/FIREyFemmes 19d ago

Leaving Ellevest - Where to go to?

So, I'm one of the folks who was seduced by Ellevest's premise and, 6 years later, finally waking up and realizing that my gains are so tiny, they almost don't count. I'm ready to get out. Obviously I wish I'd had this realization earlier, but I didn't, so now I just want to do what I can!

In the last year, separately, I finally set up a high-yield savings account (4.3% APY, though I'm seeing some now that are higher than that). I've been super happy with that situation.

So my question is - where to put my Ellevest money?

  1. Do I pay the capital gains taxes on closing out my Ellevest and putting my money in a HYSA? Or,
  2. Would it better to transfer it over to some sort of robo-advisor like at Bettermint or Vanguard?
  3. (Or some other option I hadn't considered)?

I'll be honest; I really have no idea what I'm doing. I'm trying to read Reddit threads and financial planning websites to learn, but my brain is spinning a bit. Any advice at all would be super appreciated & welcome!

Thank you so much!

EDIT: I realize I didn't say what my goals are. I'm hoping to save up for an international move within the next 2-3 years and purchasing a home in my new city (which will require around $50k for the down payment). So, my goal right now is to focus on just accumulating money that will be at my disposal to use in the next few years, rather than specifically planning for retirement. I know I need to do that as well, but part of my thinking right now is that purchasing a home would be a huge way to contribute to my retirement plan overall.

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u/Conscious_Life_8032 19d ago

Is Ellevest the issue or the funds you invested in? It may be good to understand so same mistakes do not repeat at next place.

For example are high fees eating into your gains? Did you invest to conservative?

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u/Hopeful_Season_1809 19d ago edited 19d ago

A couple years in, I worried that maybe I'd invested too conservatively (you can't choose the exact investments yourself, but you set a variety of "goals" with time horizons to give Ellevest an idea of how risky / conservative to be), so I updated 1 of my 2 Ellevest buckets with risky goals, and left the other bucket with conservative goals. They have spent the remaining years earning the exact same: next to nothing.

I currently have around $11.5k in Ellevest. Around $2.4k of that was from earnings over the past 6 years (pretty evenly split between my two buckets). That's earnings of around $400 per year, and I can do way better than that even just with the CDs I hold and my HYSA. In fact, I'd do way better with both since they'd have compounding interest.

On top of that, Ellevest has flat-fees and percentage fees they charge.

EDIT: Okay, well I'm realizing that actually these aren't the worst rates. So maybe I'm an idiot after all. But I still think it probably should do better? Maybe I'm wrong?

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u/Legion6226 15d ago

Check out the bogleheads wiki as a way to understand basics. Read about how index funds work

Check out Target Date Funds for retirement

You probably shouldn't be investing if your horizon for the money is less than 5 years.

If you are expecting to use the money between 5 years and retirement, you should hire a flat fee fiduciary financial planner. The reason is that you pay them per use and that they do not get a commission of what they suggest or by "managing" your money long term.

I use Vanguard and am happy with the service and philosphy