Matt Fellowes Explained

Birth Date:27 February 1975
Alma Mater:St. Lawrence University (B.A.)
Georgetown University (M.A.)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Ph.D.)
Occupation:Businessman
Known For:United Income

Matt Fellowes (born February 27, 1975) is an American financial technology entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of United Income, a retirement-focused online investment management, and financial planning company based in Washington, D.C.[1] He previously founded financial planning technology company HelloWallet, which was acquired by Morningstar, Inc. in 2014 for $52.5 million.[2]

Education

Fellowes holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, a Master's in Public Policy from Georgetown University, and a B.A. from St. Lawrence University.[3]

Career

Fellowes was a Brookings Institution fellow from April 2004 to April 2008. His academic research focused on consumer finance, particularly poverty, household debt, and retirement planning.[4] In 2008, he left Brookings to found financial planning technology company HelloWallet with a $1 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.[5] Following the acquisition of HelloWallet by Morningstar, Inc. in 2014, Fellowes served as Chief Innovation Officer at Morningstar.[6] In 2016, with $5 million in seed funding from his own resources, Morningstar, and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's Omidyar Network, Fellowes founded online financial planning and investment management company United Income.[7] [8] [9] United Income was acquired by Capital One Financial in August 2019.[10]

United Income

Fellowes founded United Income in September 2016. United Income is an investment firm that offers a "hybrid service" with access to human advisors who rely on financial software in their decision-making process.[11] The company deploys sets of statistics on investment performance, retiree spending, longevity, and other factors to simulate potential financial outcomes.[12] [13] Its "unified consumer finance system" recommends a retirement strategy based on millions of simulations for each individual. Its purpose is to offer retirees financial advice different from traditional financial planning software.[14] [15]

United Income's team of policy experts includes former U.S. Social Security Administration Director of the Office of Policy Evaluation and Modeling (OPEM) Howard Iams; former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner Erica Groshen; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Office of Tax Policy Adam Looney; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Office of Retirement and Health Policy Mark Iwry; and Steve Utkus, Head of the Vanguard Center for Investor Research.[14]

The company attracted $200 million in assets under management during its beta stage.[14] United Income raised $5.8 million in seed funding in 2016. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, Morningstar, Inc. and Fellowes each own between 25% and 50% of United Income. A smaller stake is owned by the Omidyar Network, funded by billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.[16] On July 31, 2019, Capital One acquired United Income.

Awards

Notes and References

  1. News: Fintech Startup Aims To Help Boomers Manage Retirement Income. Novack. Janet. Forbes. 2018-01-16. en.
  2. News: HelloWallet says goodbye to independence in deal to be bought by Morningstar. Ravindranath. Mohana. 2014-05-30. Washington Post. 2018-01-16. en-US. 0190-8286.
  3. Web site: Matt Fellowes – Stanford Center on Longevity. longevity.stanford.edu. en-US. 2018-01-16.
  4. News: Matt Fellowes. Brookings Institution. 2018-01-16. en-US.
  5. News: HelloWallet: Proving That Electronic Nagging Is An Important Employee Benefit. Sharf. Samantha. Forbes. 2018-01-16. en.
  6. News: This Fellow's Furthering Financial Wellness – Workforce Magazine. 2015-10-19. Workforce Magazine. 2018-01-16. en-US.
  7. Web site: He sold his first local financial startup for $52.5M. Now he's launching another in D.C.. www.bizjournals.com. 2018-01-16.
  8. News: This Is Not Your Child's Robo: New Service Targets Older Investors. Tergesen. Anne. 2017-09-11. Wall Street Journal. 2018-01-16. en-US. 0099-9660.
  9. Web site: HelloWallet Founder Matt Fellowes Has a New Financial Services Startup. www.americaninno.com. 2018-01-16.
  10. Web site: Capital One Investing.
  11. News: Fintech Startup Aims To Help Boomers Manage Retirement Income . . 19 October 2017.
  12. News: This advisor wants to help with spending, not saving . . 11 September 2017 .
  13. News: He sold his first local financial startup for $52.5M. Now he's launching another in D.C. . Washington Business Journal . 29 June 2016 .
  14. News: This Is Not Your Child's Robo: New Service Targets Older Investors . . 11 September 2017 .
  15. Web site: Finally, a Retirement Calculator That Might Help You Retire . . 2017-09-11 .
  16. News: Baby Boomers Get Their Own Retirement Robo Advisor -- And A Pitch To Spend More . . 11 September 2017 .
  17. News: Who Is The Ultimate Game Changer In Business?. Leo. Alex. 2010-09-15. Huffington Post. 2018-01-16. en-US.
  18. News: Tech Titans 2013. Washingtonian. 2018-01-16.