Four Women-Owned Businesses To Support This Women’s History Month
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Women have and continue to make a significant impact on everyday life. In fact, there are a variety of different money platforms and apps that you might already be using that are women-founded and run. In honor of Women’s History Month, I’d like to take the time to highlight some of the best businesses and apps that are created by women. Here are some fun facts about Women’s History Month to get you started:
- Women’s History Month started as Women’s History Day on February 28th, 1909, in New York City. It was created as an ode to hardworking women in New York City’s garment district at the time. The trend quickly gained recognition and momentum globally in just a few short years.
- Women’s History Day became Women’s History Week in 1978 when an education task force in Sonoma County, California, kicked off the initiative. The idea was to include women’s history as a feature of K-12 education.
- In March of 1978, after women’s organizations like the National Women’s History Alliance campaigned annually, Congress officially declared Women’s History week a month-long celebration. Today, the month of March is recognized as Women’s History Month!
We’d like to welcome you to join The Smart Wallet in commemorating and celebrating women, and the vital role women have played in history! Now, let’s talk about some great platforms, tools, and apps that are women-founded, owned, and operated:
Clever Girl Finance: Learn How To Ditch Debt & Save Money
Clever Girl Finance was founded by Bola Sokunbi, a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI), money expert, and the CEO of Clever Girl Finance: a black woman-owned personal finance website. She created the platform to provide all women with the education, tools, and resources needed to take control of their finances.
The platform is centered around empowering women to “ditch debt,” save more money, and build long-lasting wealth. Clever Girl Finance is considered one of the largest personal finance platforms for women. Their mission of female financial empowerment is all-around fantastic!
Here’s what the platform can offer you:
- Free courses to learn more about finance
- Educational articles about financial literacy
- Access to The Clever Girls Know Podcast, hosted by Bola Sokunbi
- Access to Clever Girl Finance TV: Weekly videos by Bola Sokunbi
- Clever Girl Finance Weekly Newsletter
- The Clever Girl Finance Roadmap: A detailed guide with six core components to help you get on track financially.
- Access to the Women and Money Report: A survey from thousands of women who answered the question, “What do women really think and feel about the state of their finances?”
The most attractive feature? It’s all free. Yes, all free! The platform currently generates revenue from partnerships, investors, and advertising revenue. So, give this platform a shot; you have nothing to lose and lots of financial knowledge to gain!
Ellevest: Start Building More Wealth For The Future
Sallie Krawcheck is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ellevest. This platform prides itself on being a financial platform built by women for women (but don’t worry- you can sign up for the platform regardless of your gender identity or expression!) The platform’s goal is to get more money in the hands of women by closing the gender money gaps and increasing gender equality (oh yea!) You can access the platform both on iOS and Android. Let’s jump in and discuss more about the platform and how it works.
Here’s what an Ellevest membership can offer you:
- Investing- Learn How to Build Wealth: The platform teaches you how you can start investing today to build wealth for a brighter, more secure financial future (I mean, what are you waiting for?!)
- Banking- Access to Money Knowledge: You can get up to 50% off one-on-one and small group coaching sessions about how banking works (depending on your membership tier).
- Saving- Learn How to Put More Money Away: By using your Ellevest Debit Card (more about this below), you’ll save lots more money even while spending money!
- Plan For Retirement: Once you sign up, you can either roll over or transfer your existing retirement accounts (included with Ellevest Plus or Ellevest Executive).
- Ellevest Debit Card: You’ll earn a cool 5% cash back on everyday purchases using your Ellevest debit card. There are no overdraft fees, no account fees, and all ATM fees are reimbursed on any ATM use in the U.S. Any ATM withdrawals outside the U.S. will incur a $5 fee. Additionally, you can save the extra change (similar to Acorns Round-Ups® feature) from every purchase.
Now, let’s talk about the different membership tiers available at Ellevest:
Ellevest Membership Tiers
| Price | What You Get | Discount For One-On-One Coaching | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ellevest Essential | $1 per month or $12 per year | Features the “financial basics:” investing, banking, and saving. | 20% off |
| Ellevest Plus | $5 per month or $54 per year (10% discount on a yearly membership) | All of the features of the “financial basics” plus access to open a retirement fund. | 30% off |
| Ellevest Executive | $9 per month or $97 per year (10% discount on a yearly membership) | This plan gives you the best of Ellevest Essential and Ellevest Plus plus a higher discount on one-on-one coaching. If you use code INVEST25 to sign-up, you'll get one month free of Ellevest Executive plus $25 to start investing! | 50% off |
All in all, Ellevest is on a mission to help women rise up when it comes to financial wellness- sign up today!
Rewardify: Mobile Gaming That Pays You To Play
Rewardify, Inc. was created by a lifelong game lover and entrepreneur named Deborah Smith, who thought gaming should be rewarded. The woman-owned company’s mission is to delight mobile gamers with real-world rewards!
Several games in particular that have taken mobile gaming by storm are Match To Win (iOS/Android), Words To Win (iOS/Android), and Lucky Match (Android Only). The best part about these games is that they’re totally free to download, free to play, and you can actually win real money!
As you can see, not only are women making strides in financial platforms, but they’re also making strides in gaming (how cool!)
Waiver: Never Pay An Overdraft Fee Again
Waiver was co-founded by Carolina Nucamendi, who is also the CEO. Waiver is a women-owned, Hispanic/Latinx business that believes that banking needs to work the same for everyone.
Waiver is a relatively new service itself. It works by blocking your bank from charging you pesky overdraft fees. The best part? There aren’t any new accounts to open. You can keep your existing bank without a problem.
It works like this: if your account balance ever goes into the negative, hence an “overdraft,” Waiver alerts you immediately and makes an instant transfer to your account to bring you back to a $0.00 balance. This way, you avoid the overdraft fee from your bank! Once you deposit enough funds to get your account balance back to zero, Waiver will reverse their funds.
Think of this tool as a safeguard; if keeping track of your account balance has always been a challenge for you, this tool will help you a lot.
And guess what? Waiver is available for free when you sign up using code TSW, and there are no monthly fees or optional tips either!
How You Can Invest in Women-Owned Businesses
All these platforms provide a way for women to educate themselves financially and build a brighter financial future. Now, there’s a way you can invest your money in ventures just like these. Stash has a “Women Who Lead” ETF. The ETF is composed of businesses with women leaders! Plus, Stash also donates some of their profits from the fund to NPOs (non-profit organizations) that empower women; how great is that?!
The Bottom Line
Women have and continue to make positive contributions to the world, and that includes financial empowerment! Clever Girl Finance, Ellevest, Rewardify, and Waiver are all fantastic ventures that can help women get on the right track financially and make sure their wallets are, well, full of cash!
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