ALEXA VON TOBEL

I am so organized that it's dysfunctional. Everything has a place. I am a very visual person, so my environment is important to me. If my environment is messy, I can't think clearly. I don't like clutter. A clean desk is a clean mind for me.

Automating some of your finances can be incredibly convenient and is a great way to save time, but automating everything makes it too easy to go on autopilot and forget to pay attention to your personal finances.

As a new entrepreneur, you need a stake in the game, but you can't risk it all.

Your credit report should be 100% accurate, so make sure everything is entirely correct. If something doesn't look right, dispute it.

Without any formal personal finance instruction in our high school or college curricula, many college seniors who graduate in the red will continue to make common financial mistakes that only exacerbate their debt burdens.

When I was planning LearnVest, everyone told me I had to talk to Ann Kaplan, one of the first female partners at Goldman Sachs. Within five minutes of our meeting, she totally got the idea - and by the time I left, she was a seed investor.

Even if you feel like your debt is just never going to go away, think long and hard before declaring bankruptcy. Declaring bankruptcy means that getting a loan for anything will be next to impossible for the next 10 years.

Losing your job is terrifying, but being prepared makes it so much easier.

The best advice that I can offer is that being proactive and a careful planner is key. Think about the major things that could shake up your financial life, and I'll bet there are some great ways to protect yourself.

What's the point of creating a budget if it's not possible to follow through?

By teaching twenty-something year olds responsible debt management practices, we can help them create a balanced lifestyle and find peace of mind through increased financial awareness, smart saving and long-term investing.

The most common reason new mothers return to work sooner than they'd like to is because they can't afford to go without their salaries any longer.

I don't want to tell you what to buy. I just want to help you think about why you're buying it.

The time to save for the future is now. Thanks to compounding interest, the earlier you start putting money away for the future, the more you will save.

I do my workouts in the morning, and often I'll take someone from my team. The person I'm meeting with can pick the class, whether it's a spin or barre class, or going for a power walk. It's hard to run and talk - I haven't mastered that yet.

The financial advice market presents an impossible conundrum: in order to work with a financial planner, you must have enough money to be of interest. In order to amass enough money, it is critical to work with a financial planner. Most financial plans come with a $1,500-$3,000 price tag - numbers that are simply out of reach for most Americans.

For many, graduation marks the end of formal student life - the end of long spring breaks and of thinking that a 10 A.M. class is far too early.

I always have Moleskine notebooks on my desk. I am a big journaler. Every day I write down where I went, who I spoke to and what it was all about. Richard Branson told me to do that.

When you have a lot of money, there's so many places you can go to manage your money. But when you don't have money, mathematically you actually need a financial plan more. You can't really afford to make mistakes. So why is this such a luxury product?

LearnVest provides women with the necessary tools and resources to manage their personal finances; its core mission, to positively contribute to society through education and, ultimately, the promotion of self-sufficient and financially aware women.

We all have pretty much similar dreams, and at the root of all those dreams is being able to be in control of your money.

We never intend to lose our jobs, break up with our live-in loves, or face any number of the curveballs life throws our way. But they happen all the same, so have a bailout plan just in case. Sounds corny, but I call this the 'freedom fund' because it gives you the freedom to get out of a jam without climbing into debt.

Personally, I am obsessed with my mom, and I would do literally anything for her.

Since the beginning of LearnVest, I've never left the office for food.

When you're at work, it's about being present and getting as much done as humanly possible.