• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

2

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

3

When SpaceX starts trading, some 'shareholders' will discover they own nothing at all

1

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back

2

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

3

When SpaceX starts trading, some 'shareholders' will discover they own nothing at all
MPWPersonal Finance

Sallie Krawcheck Launches A Robo-Advisor Designed Specifically for Women

By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 11, 2016, 8:00 AM ET
Sallie Krawcheck Of BOA Merrill Lynch
Photograph by Jin Li—Bloomberg via Getty Images

This story has been updated. See below.

Women don’t invest their money as frequently as men do—a phenomenon often referred to as the “investment gap.”

And it’s not because women don’t have money (they do), or because they’re worse at investing (they’re better). It’s because most investment tools—as well as most investment professionals—cater to men.

“[Wall Street is] full of sports and war analogies. Beating the market. Outperforming. Picking a winner,” says Krawcheck. “No woman looks at [investing] and is like, ‘Wow, that really speaks to me.'”

Recognizing the need for something a bit less testosterone-driven, Wall Street veteran Sallie Krawcheck set out to create an investment platform with women’s needs in mind. Enter Ellevest, the first digital investment platform designed around women. The platform, which launched to the public on Wednesday morning, is a robo-advisor that works much like more-established players such as Betterment and Wealthfront.

Like its competitors, Ellevest creates financial portfolios comprised of exchange-traded funds that it rebalances based on a user’s timeline and risk tolerance. It also offers the same main investment products (e.g. Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs, and investment accounts) and makes money the same way (by charging users a fee as a percentage of assets managed). With a 0.5% fee, Ellevest is more expensive than its digital competitors, whose fees range from 0.15% to 0.35%, but less expensive than traditional wealth managers, which charge around 1% per year.

 

But according to Ellevest, that’s where the similarities end.

“We do things very differently, and we don’t do them differently just to be different,” says the company’s chief investment officer Sylvia Kwan. For example, using a model in which salary earnings increase by 1% every year until retirement—an industry standard—would paint an inaccurate financial picture for a female professional, whose salary will likely peak around age 40 (unlike a man’s salary, which peaks around age 60, says Kwan).

Kwan also tries to take female professionals’ unique needs into account when creating financial plans for Ellevest’s users. For example, she factors in women’s superior longevity—women live about live about five years longer than men—and the fact that they tend to earn less than men do over the course of their careers.

From a user’s perspective, Ellevest looks and feels very different from other digital investment platforms. Visually, it’s more like a trendy sunglasses retailer than a personal finance service. Functionally, it’s goal-based, rather than centered on the performance of a particular product or portfolio.

To that end, Ellevest asks users to input their financial goals into its system. Goals can be long-term (retirement) or short-term (vacation). Armed with a user’s age, salary, and geographic location, the platform creates a targeted portfolio with a recommended timeline and monthly contributions. Users are free to tweak the timeline, as well as how much they plan to contribute, and the system recalculates the outcome based on this input.

These investment plans aim to help users reach their goals in 70% of market scenarios, while most competitors show projections that are achievable in 50% of market scenarios, says Krawcheck, making the platform relatively conservative. It’s not that women are risk-averse (“They’re risk-aware,” says Krawcheck), but given the opportunity, most women will minimize risk as much as possible and stick closer to 100%.

While Krawcheck realizes that some women may disagree with her approach, the former Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) exec points out that it is Ellevest’s responsibility as a fiduciary to act in investors’ best interests, which, for Krawcheck, means an appropriate level of risk in order to achieve desired returns in most market scenarios.

It plans to achieve this through a combination of rigorous financial analytics, courtesy of investment research and management firm Morningstar (MORN) (the firm also led Ellevest’s $10 million Series A round), and Kwan’s two decades of experience as a portfolio manager.

Click here to subscribe to the Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the world’s most powerful women.

While Ellevest’s goal is to help individual women make smart investments, the company’s larger mission is to help close the investment gender gap, which can cost women thousands or even millions of dollars over the course of their lives.

“Women are not equal with men until they’re financially equal with men,” Krawcheck says. “This is my Gloria Steinem moment.”

This story has been updated for clarity and compliance purposes. A previous version of the story stated that Ellevest locks users into a certain level of risk (between 60% and 80%). Users are not locked into a certain probability number, but rather a level of portfolio risk that is close to the Ellevest’s recommended portfolio. The previous version also stated that Ellevest aims to achieve “sizable returns.” Returns will depend on a user’s stated goals and timeline.

Learn how to navigate and strengthen trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter examining what leaders need to succeed. Sign up here.

About the Author
By Valentina Zarya
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in MPW

t
Arts & EntertainmentTaylor Swift
Taylor Swift is youngest woman to make Songwriters Hall of Fame at 36, but blew out her voice cheering for the Knicks
By Maria Sherman and The Associated PressJune 12, 2026
52 minutes ago
Bridgit Mendler speaking at Fortune's conference
SuccessCareers
Ex-Disney star Bridgit Mendler says being rejected hundreds of times by Hollywood gives her the same ‘traditional background’ as other space CEOs
By Preston ForeJune 12, 2026
1 hour ago
Melania launches Trump Accounts for foster kids — and Democratic governors want no part of it
MPWWhite House
Melania launches Trump Accounts for foster kids — and Democratic governors want no part of it
By Fatima Hussein and The Associated PressJune 12, 2026
9 hours ago
amodei
AIAnthropic
Anthropic is worth $965 billion and just hired 1,000 coaches for nonprofits: ‘The fox can’t guard the henhouse’
By Glenn Gamboa and The Associated PressJune 11, 2026
1 day ago
pope
EuropePope
‘Human dignity has no passport’: Pope rips into developed world for indifference to immigrants
By Nicole Winfield, Helena Alves, Renata Brito and The Associated PressJune 11, 2026
1 day ago
Bridgit Mendler speaks on stage at Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2026 in Aspen, Colorado.
Startups & VentureBrainstorm Tech
The space economy’s next frontier is in ground infrastructure, Northwood Space CEO says
By Sebastian HerreraJune 10, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
Environment
Corporate America has been draining the world's water. Matt Damon's new campaign calls on Gap, Starbucks, and Amazon to help give it back
By Catherina GioinoJune 9, 2026
3 days ago
Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
Energy
Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
By Sasha RogelbergJune 10, 2026
2 days ago
When SpaceX starts trading, some 'shareholders' will discover they own nothing at all
Investing
When SpaceX starts trading, some 'shareholders' will discover they own nothing at all
By Jim EdwardsJune 12, 2026
6 hours ago
Current price of oil as of June 11, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 11, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 11, 2026
1 day ago
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
Innovation
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
By Amanda GerutJune 9, 2026
3 days ago
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
Success
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
By Preston ForeJune 8, 2026
4 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.