Thank you to everyone who came to our She Spends event at Betterment’s headquarters. We had a great time meeting so many of you in real life! For those who couldn’t make it, we wanted to share a brief recap and some exciting news about She Spends and Betterment.

Our panelists Marshay Clarke, a CFP from Betterment, Ally-Jane Grossan of the Moneysplained podcast, and PwC, Digital, Editor in Chief Jennifer Merritt had such smart responses to questions on investing. Some main takeaways:

If you have already paid off your debt, you can start investing now. There’s no need to time the market, especially because you should be planning to let your investments sit for awhile.
Start with a 401(k) or Roth IRA allocation — these accounts are often matched by your employer, or at least have tax benefits that other investments don’t have.
Investing is super personal! You may want to pay a financial adviser to invest on your behalf, or a financial planner to help you make smart choices about your investments. Or, if you’re more of a do-it-yourself gal, you can invest in index funds through a robo-adviser or through Vanguard.
Investing on the basis of ESG (or environmental, social and governance — aka “good causes) often won’t affect major change in the world unless you have a lot of money. These ESG investments often have higher fees and lower returns, so consider putting your money into regular investments and volunteering your time for a cause you support.

Want to get started investing? She Spends has awesome news with you. In addition to working with Ellevest, we are now also working with Betterment. If you click this link and invest with Betterment, She Spends receives a small commission. We plan to use this money to keep up with website maintenance, bring you more events and potentially a podcast one day.

Remember that you can also support She Spends by filling out this completely free investment plan through Ellevest using this link. Both of these robo-advisers are awesome options for investing, so we hope that you take time to decide which — if either — is right for you.