LearnVest.com Launches a New Suite of Tools and Support to Make Financial Planning Accessible to Everyone

NEW YORK, July 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- LearnVest.com, an award-winning personal finance and lifestyle website for women, today announced the launch of a new suite of products designed to help women take control of their financial lives. These products will help members stay on track with the LearnVest Method – "Get informed, get organized, get support." New products include the free LearnVest My Money Center and Take Control Bootcamp as well as the LearnVest Advice Center, which is part of a new premium membership. Building on the success of LearnVest's original Bootcamp Programs, which are currently the focus of a $150,000 study by the Financial Literacy Center(i), this announcement comes just weeks after the close of the company's Series B round of funding totaling $19 million.

"Financial planning should not be a luxury," said Alexa von Tobel, LearnVest's Founder and CEO. "LearnVest is here to make financial planning more accessible to millions of Americans and these new personalized financial tools will help us achieve that."

A free LearnVest membership now includes access to the LearnVest My Money Center, where members can link all of their accounts (checking, savings, investment, loans and credit cards) into a Financial Inbox, which allows them to track their spending in one secure location. The LearnVest My Money Center, currently in beta, deploys a unique foldering system, which mimics an email inbox and enables members to personalize their budget items and track monthly spending goals with ease. For example, when a charge is made to a member's credit card, it will register in the LearnVest My Money Center and will be automatically filed into the appropriate budget folder. Another free tool is LearnVest's new Take Control Bootcamp, which will educate members on how to evaluate the current state of their finances, manage cash flow, and increase net worth while providing them recommendations on how to use the LearnVest My Money Center. The 10-day, on-demand Take Control Bootcamp will deliver one action-oriented email to members each day during the course of the program.

LearnVest will also offer a new premium membership, which will be available in 1 day ($4.99), 3 month ($39.99) and 1 year ($129.99) packages. Premium members will benefit from the LearnVest Advice Center through which they will gain unlimited access to personalized support from LearnVest's Financial Planning Team via the company's new "Ask An Expert" feature. Through "Ask An Expert," members may submit questions focused on their own financial situations and can expect to receive a tailored response within a matter of hours. The Advice Center also offers access to LearnVest Courses, a new multimedia curriculum designed to help women create a financial plan. LearnVest Courses are modeled to reflect topics that are typically discussed with a Financial Planner when creating a long-term financial plan. All LearnVest Courses are available on demand and may be watched at a member's convenience. LearnVest offers one free LearnVest Course on budgeting for anyone to trial.

"There are hundreds of programs and tools designed to help women study for exams, lose weight, and find love," said von Tobel. "Surprisingly, there isn't a single program that applies a similar method to help women get organized and in control of their finances. Recognizing this need and leveraging the online technology of today, the LearnVest team is building the products to blaze this trail."

LearnVest will demo the products explained above at the highly selective Finovate conference this September in New York City. During FinovateFall 2011, the newest financial and banking technology innovations from leading established companies and hot young startups will be showcased.

About LearnVest

LearnVest.com is the leading personal finance and lifestyle website for women. Since its debut as a TechCrunch50 Company in September 2009, LearnVest has helped over one million women gain control of their finances. LearnVest provides trusted content, tools, and support to help women tackle their finances at each stage of life.  LearnVest tools include: financial Bootcamp Programs, the LearnVest My Money Center, and premium support services such as "Ask an Expert" and LearnVest Coursework. LearnVest educates subscribers via the "LearnVest Daily," a bite-size email guide of money and lifestyle tips for living on a budget.  LearnVest closed a $4.5 million Series A round of funding led by Accel Partners in April 2010. In July 2011, LearnVest went on to close a $19 million Series B round of funding including Accel Partners, two new financial investors, and original investors. LearnVest's Board of Advisors includes: Lee Barba (Former CEO, Investools/thinkorswim), Theresia Gouw Ranzetta (Partner, Accel Partners), Ann Kaplan (Former Partner, Goldman Sachs), Greg Waldorf (Former CEO, eHarmony), Greg Coleman (Former President, Huffington Post) and Catherine Levene (Former COO, DailyCandy). For more information about LearnVest, please visit www.learnvest.com.

(i) The Financial Literacy Center is a joint center of the RAND Corporation, Dartmouth College and the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

SOURCE LearnVest.com