Investing
Learn how investing works before anyone sells you something.
Cipili teaches you the accounts, the order to use them in, and the maths behind compounding. It does not pick stocks, funds, or portfolios for you, and it will tell you plainly that it will not.
Your Financial Score is free. The tools on this page are part of Premium.
Overview
Most investing content skips straight to what to buy. That is the part a licensed professional should help you with, and it is the part Cipili deliberately does not do. What Cipili does is the groundwork almost nobody explains: which account types exist, what each one does to your tax bill, and which one to fill first.
It is the difference between knowing a ticker symbol and knowing why an employer match beats almost anything else you could do with that money.
Assumes the figures you entered. Cipili does not recommend specific securities or allocations.
Key benefits
The order of operations
There is a broadly accepted sequence for where money goes: emergency fund, employer match, high-interest debt, tax-advantaged accounts, then the rest. Cipili shows you where you are on it and what the next rung is.
Know your containers
A 401(k), an IRA, and a taxable brokerage account are containers, not investments. Cipili explains what each does, who can use it, and why the container often matters more than what goes in it.
Compounding you can see
Change a contribution or a time horizon and watch the projection move. The assumed rate is stated on the page, so you always know what the estimate rests on.
No product being sold to you
Cipili's revenue is the subscription. Nothing is ranked by what a partner pays, and no better option is ever hidden because it does not pay us.
Investment planning
Start with where you actually are: what is saved, what is owed, and what your employer offers. Cipili maps that onto the standard sequence and tells you which step is next, along with why that step comes before the one after it.
Retirement investing
The retirement accounts are covered here as accounts, what a 401(k) does that an IRA does not, how an employer match works, and why leaving one unclaimed is unusual. For the fuller picture on planning the retirement itself, see the retirement page.
Portfolio education
You will learn what diversification means, how risk and time horizon relate, and how fees compound in exactly the same way returns do. What you will not get is an allocation, a fund list, or a buy, sell, or hold. That is regulated advice, and Cipili is not a registered investment adviser.
Long-term wealth building
The compounding preview shows what a contribution sustained over years could become under an assumption you can see and change. Every figure is a modeled estimate resting on stated assumptions, not a promise of a return. Markets do not owe anyone an average.
Frequently asked questions
Will Cipili tell me what to invest in?
No, and this is a deliberate limit rather than a missing feature. Recommending specific securities or allocations is regulated investment advice. Cipili teaches how the system works and directs you to a licensed professional for the rest.
Can I connect a brokerage account?
Not in this version. You can enter what you hold so it counts toward your score and your net worth.
Where do the projection assumptions come from?
They are published in the app next to the projection, along with the rate used. You can change them and see the estimate change, which is the point of showing them.
Is this suitable if I have never invested before?
That is who it is written for. It starts at what an account type is and assumes no prior knowledge.
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Onboarding asks for your age, income, goals, and rough balances. Ranges are fine, and it never asks for account numbers. Your Financial Score is free.
Cipili provides financial education, comparisons, and estimates based on the information you provide. It does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice, and is not a registered investment adviser or fiduciary. Estimates rest on stated assumptions and are not guarantees of future results.