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]

Matt Fellowes
Born (1975-02-27) February 27, 1975 (age 49)
Alma materSt. Lawrence University (B.A.)
Georgetown University (M.A.)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Ph.D.)
OccupationBusinessman
Known forUnited Income

Education

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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

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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

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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.[16][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

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  • Named a "Top 100 Business Game Changer" by the Huffington Post in 2010.[17]
  • Named a "2013 Tech Titan" by The Washingtonian.[18]

References

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