Width 1 — Welcome

Your personalized money plan

One move.
Not a list.

Nine questions, about two minutes. Nothing to look up, no account to open, no numbers you have to go and find.

At the end you'll see where you are on the roadmap, and the one thing worth doing next.

Your answers stay on your device. Nobody at Dow Janes sees them.

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What's the money thing on your mind most?

Whatever you'd say first, without thinking about it.

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You're in the biggest group there is.

Of 26,519 women+ who told us their single greatest money challenge, debt was named more than almost anything else — and 62% of women+ joining Million Dollar Year are carrying it right now.

From 26,519 answers to “your single greatest challenge with money” and 5,403 Million Dollar Year onboarding forms.

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How much could you get your hands on this week?

Cash savings. Not investments, not credit.

Shaping up Build a starter cushion first
Your plan

Here's where
you are.

Six stages, in order. You're on the second one. Everything below it can wait — that's the point.

  1. Spend less than you makeDone
  2. You are here Save a starter emergency fund — $1,000

    Build a starter cushion first

    This one goes ahead of the debt on purpose. Without a small buffer, the next surprise goes on a card, and the balance you just worked down climbs back up. That loop is the single most common story we hear. A starter cushion is what breaks it.

    Target
    $1,000
    You have
    $240
    To go
    $760
    At $100/mo
    8 mo

    Start today: move something into savings. Twenty dollars counts — the account existing matters more than the amount.

  3. Max out employer contributionsAfter this one
  4. Pay off high-interest debt
  5. Save an emergency fund
  6. Grow investments

This applies a published order to the numbers you gave us. It isn't financial advice, and it doesn't name anything to invest in.

Stage 2 of 6 · Your steps

Build a starter cushion first

Four things. The first one takes about ten minutes.

  • Open a separate account for it
    Money sitting next to your spending money gets spent. A separate account is the whole trick.
    Where to open one

    We keep a comparison of high-yield savings accounts — the kind that pay you more for the same money sitting still.

    Compare high-yield savings accounts →

    These are affiliate links, so we may receive compensation if you open an account. It costs you nothing, and the commissions help support our free content and our scholarship program. We can't tell you which one to pick — the list is there to make the choice easier.

  • Move $20 in today
    Not the target. Just today. The account existing is what matters this week.
  • Set it to happen by itself
    Pick a date just after payday and automate it. At $100 a month you'd be at $1,000 in about eight months.
  • Name the account
    Call it “Peace of Mind” or “Don't Touch” rather than Savings 2. Money with a name on it is harder to spend by accident.
Your plan is set

Want it sharper?

Make my plan
more specific.

You answered in ranges, which was the point — it got you an answer in two minutes.

If you've got ten more minutes and your actual balances, we'll give you the real numbers: what this is costing you a month, and the date you'd finish.

Your plan is saved either way.

Sharpening your plan

The real numbers

Only these three change the answer. Anything you'd be guessing at, leave blank — a blank is better than a guess.

Cash you could reach this week. Not investments.
Housing, food, utilities, transport, minimum payments.
On top of the minimums you already pay.

These stay on your device too.

Welcome back

Since about
a month ago

  • UPYour starter cushion is up $180. That's $760 down to $580.
  • UPTotal owed is up $220. Said plainly, with no verdict attached — the move below still holds.
  • —Nothing else moved enough to mention.
Still your move

Build a starter cushion first

Target
$1,000
You have
$420
To go
$580
At $100/mo
6 mo