Somehow New Year’s Day has come and gone, and the resolutions that we make year after year are already haunting us. Exercise. Save money. Don’t spend so much. Don’t eat so much. Pay off that debt.

Finding the right diet or the right exercise routine, as hard as it can be, is nothing compared to holding on to those hard earned dollars that always seems to be running away from us. Financial planning can be scary, overwhelming and complicated. Sure, there are financial planners that can help us with our finances, but for a wide swath of the population they often charge more than we can afford to spare in the first place.

That’s exactly why in 2009, Alexa von Tobel decided to drop out of Harvard and launch LearnVest, a company devoted to financial planning and education. Her goal: to get people as comfortable visiting their money as they are getting on a treadmill. Financial planning “should be as accessible as gym membership”, she says.

What's unsaid is that she also wants to make it as accessible as the reading on your Kindle. von Tobel has written a new book, Financially Fearless, that aims to make people confront their money in a chatty, accessible way, and is equal parts memoir, pep talk, instruction manual and workbook.

We caught up with von Tobel – just as we were making our very own frugal new year’s resolutions – to chat about her book, the importance of having a financial plan and myths about saving.

You often say that you believe that financial literacy is a fundamental human right. Can you explain why?

Alexa von Tobel: Absolutely. That is one of my favorite things to say and I believe it wholeheartedly. One of the things is, [for instance, that] healthcare is a right; we give you healthcare to make sure you can be protected. One of the things is that money, actually, is fundamental to your life. It's the way to protect your family. And one of the things I believe is that personal finance should be taught in high schools and colleges across the country. And it is not.

I was pretty alarmed by the fact that I had an amazing education – I went to Harvard Business School – and I literally never learned in a single class or had a single moment of education about personal finance. Yet you make between six to 10 money decisions every day. So I feel passionately about this, since money is the way you can protect your family; it's the way you can retire, when are old and your bones are brittle; it is the way the way to be able to enrich your family, to educate it. I just wish there was an easier way to get financial advice.

I know we go to great lengths to make healthcare available to everyone – and I won't get into that, obviously, there's a lot of going on with that – but I believe that getting access to advice about your money is also fundamental because if your money is not in great shape, it has an enormous impact. It is one of the largest reasons for divorce. I want to change that, and I'm really passionate about trying to help empower Americans to have better financial lives.

What is the bigger mission of the company? How does that influence your interaction with the customers?

The bigger mission for the company is that we believe that financial planning should not be a luxury product; it should be as accessible as gym membership. And what we do with customers is when you come to LearnVest, we connect you to an expert, who is your own dedicated expert, and we build you a detailed financial plan and then we hold you accountable.

So that's our mission, that's what we do every single day. And when it comes to our customers, we care about treating them like gold. We care about helping them achieve their goals. We care about making sure that they make progress on their money.

If we were to start educating people in high school or college about money, what should we be teaching them? What are the three things everyone should know?

One, it's critical for you to contribute to retirement, because we're responsible for planning our retirement and there is nothing more valuable than starting early. Compounding interest is not magic, it's just math.

Two, better understand how to protect your family. We don't sell insurance, so we tell people that it's critical. Having insurance – of all types – is one of the most important ways to protect your family against any danger. And making sure that you have the right levels of insurance and the right insurance at all times.

Three, credit card debt is designed to grow and it's designed to grow rapidly. An average college senior graduates with $4,000 of credit card debt. The average household in America has about $9,000. And that ends up paralyzing you, because it grows so quickly that you then don't take care of other financial things that you need to do. It is one of the reasons why people tend to be pretty ashamed, so helping people understand how to pay that debt as quickly as possible can help people make a lot of progress.

In your book you share a lot of your personal experiences and anecdotes from your life. You also demand that from your readers: to think about the way they handle money, their past and current experience and to think about the future. Do you think that by asking people to look within themselves just like you had you can get them to perceive money differently? What was your goal?

My goal is this: after talking to thousands and thousands of people in customers, I've never met anyone that feels really really great about money. And as a result, one of things that I am trying to do is help people with the shame. There are a lot of reasons we don't talk about money. One is it's extremely complicated and confusing, [which] is why I wrote the book.

Another reason people don't get started is most tend to be pretty ashamed. They feel really overwhelmed, they feel guilty, and there is a lot of emotion around money. One of the reasons why I try to open up, why I try to sort of lead the charge saying, ‘Listen, I have made a mistake. You have made a mistake. It's OK. Let's put that behind us, look forward and do this together.' And, you know, we really are in the same boat: at the end of the day no one ever feels like they have enough money.

Everyone always feel silly because they've made a mistake. You know, just today I talked to few people who confessed that they have a tremendous amount of credit card debt. And one of the things I am here to say is we can always make progress, there is always progress to made. It's just the matter of you deciding to take the first step.

I feel like if I have picked up your book or signed on to LearnVest, I have already made that first step. I made a decision to take a look at my money a little closer. How do you get people to make that call? What's the first hurdle that they have to overcome to get here?

One thing that we see and are really grateful for is that when people come to LearnVest, they are [already] starting to make progress. That's pretty exciting, and we're happy to see it. Also, to take that first step, they think they do need help.

How do you get them to take that step? That's one of the reasons why I am going on a tour. I am going across the entire country – it's called Financially Fearless America – for the entire month of January. We are bringing experts. We are going everywhere from homes to bookstores to colleges to companies to hospitals to churches to bring the message 'We can do this together.’ It's right in time for New Year's and resolutions, and we know about half the country will have resolutions about money. So that's one of the reasons for my book tour, to go out and raise awareness, to help people take that first step.

What's your target audience? Older, younger … ?

Anyone. Men, women, older, younger, educated and not. I cover every major financial topic that you can think of. When you are in the book, it's really well designed and if something doesn't apply to you, skip this chapter. If you don't have mortgage yet, skip it. If you don't have kids yet, skip that chapter. And it's really made because I wanted one manual that anyone can read to get their financial advice.

What is the demographic of your users?

Men and women. It's mostly couples, between 25 to 60. They are people who are well educated. And it's really helpful to men and women to enroll in the service as a couple; more than half our users are couples. We're doing the financial plan for the whole household.

Why is it important for couples to plan out their finance together?

Money is one of the largest causes of stress across the country; 76% of the country feels out of control. It's one of the largest reasons why people fight. It is actually proven that having a financial plan with your significant other tremendously improves your relationship. The reason for that is actually very simple: when you have a financial plan, it actually takes into account all the things that you don't have time to do, and gets you on the same page about so many things: traveling, where your kids are going school, what house you live in, how you pay your bills. It's really powerful and we believe that financial planning can really improve your life in so many ways. One is actually by getting you on the same page with your significant other.

As you have mentioned, looking at your money can be a stressful and confusing experience. What is the most common hurdle that people face once they start looking at their finance?

They don't know where to start. One of the biggest things is we find ourselves saying, ‘If I only had x' – x can be a $100 – ‘of extra money a month. With $1,000 of extra money a month, what do I do with it? What would be your priority for that money?' So we get a lot of people saying, 'If I am in a position where I can only save $300 a month, where does it go? Because I have to save for retirement, pay down the credit card debt, and juggle student debt. And I'm also trying to save for a baby. And I'm also trying to contribute towards my 401k.' And so that's the biggest question. People get paralyzed by all those things that the money is supposed to be doing. So that's what we teach them, and that's exactly the purpose of a financial plan, because it will help you figure that out.

One of the many misconceptions that I think a lot of the people have about sitting down and going over their financial plan is that they have to save everything, that they have to give up their lattes and little perks like manicures and books. Yet, you mention in your book that that isn't really the case.

One of the things that we are passionate about in terms of our brand is making sure that we help people recognize that at LearnVest, our brand isn't about deprivation, it's about helping you achieve what you want to achieve, whatever that might be. So I think what's really important, particularly about that, we do smart things like help you have a lifestyle budget so that you can spend a little on yourself.

If you come to LearnVest and you want to buy a million dollar home, we would run all the math for you and say, 'You know what? You can't buy a million dollar home this year, but you can buy it next year. Or if you want to buy a home this year, you can't buy a million dollar home but you can buy $850,000 home.' So what we do is help you make decisions about your money and let you know what's possible, what's within your means, and what's going to keep you protected.

When you say you help your customers build financial plan and hold them accountable, how do you do that?

Let's just pretend it's you. Let's say you bought a plan today. We would have you fill out a form online about what's going on in your financial life. We'd have an expert pore over it and build you a custom plan – and when I say custom plan, I mean we build you a monthly calendar of exactly where your dollars should go, down to the penny. We tell you what accounts you need, we tell you what insurance you need, we tell you what to close and then we literally check in with you. Not only weekly, but monthly, to make sure you are doing it.

So we tell you what to do and then we hold you accountable, to make sure that you're actually executing it. We answer all of your questions along the way, and we're really on demand for you.

One of the other misconceptions that we often hear about is that people believe that they have to have some money saved up before getting started on financial planning. Is there some amount that people should have before coming up with a plan?

When you have less money, it's more critical for you to have a financial plan because mathematically every extra dollar you have is more critical. So, one of the things that I am trying to change and raise awareness around is that not having a financial plan is a plan. It's a really bad plan. And we need to get everyone a financial plan to improve their lives significantly.

A good financial plan should be revisited and updated as you reach certain milestones, such as a promotion or a raise, or paying off certain debt. Do you find that people are coming back to their financial plans and adjusting them as necessary?

One of the amazing things that LearnVest is doing and that's so disruptive is that your financial plan updates every day based on what you are doing. This isn't a print-it-out, one-time-only financial plan. It's dynamic financial planning so if you get a bonus, we factor that in and it changes. If you lose your job, we replan and rebuild you a new concept of what you should be doing. That's one of the most amazing things that LearnVest is really doing, it isn't a one point snapshot. It really is designed to keep up with you.

What do you look for when hiring for LearnVest?

I hired two people today. The last question is always [ask candidates is]: why can you get behind our mission? I ask things like, ‘Tell me about what's stressful in your financial life. What worries you? What worried your family growing up?' It's an honest way to connect with someone. What ends up happening is everyone has a story, and I really do talk to everyone about this; and they'd say ‘I didn't save enough’ or ‘I'm in debt’ or ‘I'm doing this.’ It gets them committed to what we're doing and they recognize all the ways we can help.

I hired someone today, for example, who has been a LearnVest customer. I have actually hired two people in the last week who have been LearnVest customers, because they were so excited about what we are doing. I'll also say is that this is a long journey, so we also make sure that everyone we hire shares our mission, our belief, and our passion for what we're trying to do.

Did you ever think that this is what you would be doing?

I actually did have a pretty good idea. You know, I was really passionate about this topic, it really spoke to me. I feel like life is short and I have limited days here on this earth and I want to be in the position to help empower other people's lives and really make an impact and so that's part of the reason why I am so passionate about that we are doing. I always knew I wanted to do something that would help improve people's lives. I come from a family of doctors and so I think, I always wanted to do something that was bigger and greater than me.

When you were first starting LearnVest, what was the hardest thing about starting a company?

When I was first starting LearnVest, the hardest thing about starting a company was ... You know, I dropped out of the Harvard Business School in the middle of recession. That was a pretty scary thing to do, because I was in a comfortable, safe place, if you will, with two years of school ahead of me at the heart of the recession. Then once I made them jump, everything got easier. I was so focused. I was so committed.