Women are the cornerstone of BKF University!

See below for key resources specific to women's economic empowerment:

Salary Negotiation

How to do it:

Resources to learn more and to receive salary/career coaching:

Financial Planners

How to find an in-person financial planner:

Determine your needs (how complex is your financial picture?)
Be able to explain your financial picture and needs verbally. (the more a planner has to pull out of you, the more time it will take and more they will charge)
Aim to seek out Certified Financial Planners who work on a flat fee, a fee based on percentage of your assets (ie 1%) or an hourly fee.
Ask friends and family for recommendations.
Use one of the following sites to search for your own:
- NAPFA (www.napfa.org)
- Planner Search (www.plannersearch.org) allows you to specify how much assets you have.
- Fee only network (www.feeonlynetwork.com)
Be prepared for fee ranges.

One time meeting: $400-$600
Hourly flat fee: $150/$300 per hour
Ongoing: $500-$2k upfront and $50-$300 per month | or percentage of your net worth/income (1-2%)

Send 3 prospective financial planners a questionnaire and see if they are the right fit for you. Make sure the option you choose hires CFPs with a "fiduciary" duty!

How to find an online financial planner:

Determine your needs (how complex is your financial picture?)
Be able to explain your financial picture and needs verbally. (the more a planner has to pull out of you, the more time it will take and more they will charge)
Aim to seek out Certified Financial Planners who work on a flat fee, a fee based on percentage of your assets (ie 1%) or an hourly fee.
Use one of the following hybrid robo-advisory websites to compare and contrast offerings:
- Ellevest -need $50k minimum and comes with salary negotiation. Costs .50%. (www.ellevest.com)
- Future Advisor - need $10k and costs .50% of assets under management. (www.futureadvisor.com)
- Schwab Intelligent Advisory - need $25k minimum and costs 0.28% or no more than $900/quarter. (www.Schwab.com)
- Vanguard Personal Advisor -.3% for $50k minimum (www.Vanguard.com)
- Personal Capital -need at least $100k and costs .89%. (www.personalcapital.com)
- Betterment Premium - need at least $100k minimum. .50% (www.betterment.com)
- Wealth simple - need $100k and only costs .4%. (www.wealthsimple.com)
Make sure the option you choose hires CFPs with a "fiduciary" duty!

Where you should be before hiring a CFP:

At bare minimum breaking even each month as far as expenses and income.
Preferably out of all consumer debt (ie. credit cards, car loans etc. Student loans and mortgages are ok)
Have an active medical insurance policy (preferably with dental)
Have $50k in liquid assets including an emergency fund (though $10k is bare minimum)
Consider using a financial trainer for asset levels $0 - $50k.
Understand that nothing should be invested if its part of a financial goal set to take place within 5 years from now.

Real Estate

Where you should be before buying a house/condo/townhouse:

You should be out of all non student loan debt (including zero credit card accounts open. No mortgage or low mortgage rate on earth requires a revolving CC account.
Your emergency fund should be 6 months minimum of your new SOON TO BE monthly expenses (real estate expenses included).
Your downpayment is very important however, more importantly than that, you should get your TOTAL monthly real estate costs below >>33%<< of your gross monthly income.

(Total real estate costs equal the monthly average for annualized repair totals, HOA, PMI, hazard insurance, home warranty, property taxes, annualized maintenance, [maintenance is different from repairs], increased amount for utilities, mortgage payment and everything else expense wise specific to your land type. Or you can add a general 60-70% more to what you’ve calculated your mortgage to be.)
Our criteria is more stringent than a banks, which it should be. For those who want to have a general rule of thumb to see if a bank will lend to you on a property, make sure your annual income (or your household combined income) is 1/3rd the amount of the mortgage you’re taking out. If you’re taking out a $300k mortgage, your household should be making $100k annually!
Bonus suggestion: Avoid 1 bedroom flat condos. If you have to choose, a townhouse is your friend.

Here's how to buy one the right way:

New homeownership book coming soon!

Student Loan Resources

Public Service Loan Forgiveness