Jordan Wexler, CEO of EarlyBird, recently discussed the importance of family finance and how this is a pivotal moment in US history in relation to the great wealth divide.
During his recent interview with CI, Jordan highlights the growth of fintech is now more accessible than ever, so it is our responsibility to ensure that every child is set up for financial success from the earliest age possible.
For context, EarlyBird is a Fintech platform that focuses on empowering parents, family, and friends to collectively invest in the children they love starting from day 1. Their mission is through the power of love, community, and capital; they will democratize access to generational wealth for all US families.
Jordan Wexler is a serial entrepreneur committed to solving the problem of how to create equal access to generational wealth for all American families. He was previously the COO at a global software development firm called Agility.io. He also helped co-found a non-profit called Recovery Through Entrepreneurship focused on teaching digital literacy and entrepreneurial skills to ex-felons.
Our conversation with Jordan Wexler is shared below.
Crowdfund Insider: We heard EarlyBird 2.0 just launched. What is it, and why is it important for families?
Jordan Wexler: Yes, that is correct. We just launched EarlyBird 2.0 last week. The core focus of EarlyBird 2.0 is to foster financial growth through a community-based investing platform. With our mission to build a brighter financial future for every child, EarlyBird unites parents, family, and friends to capture, celebrate, and invest in a child’s most significant moments and milestones together.
It is more important than ever for families to start investing from day 1. With the boom of fintech, investing has never been more accessible yet the US still has 70% of Americans not investing in their kids. This is unacceptable and needs to change now.
Crowdfund Insider: You mention community-based investing; how does that work?
Jordan Wexler: Community-based investing is the concept that investing in a child cannot just be the sole responsibility of the parent. We have to galvanize all of the friends and family that want to participate in this process and create an easy and seamless way their them to invest so we can 10x the AUM contribution on an annual basis.
At EarlyBird, we have created the ability for parents to “Build their Nest” and have everyone uniquely contribute beyond just birthdays and holidays. As we all know, the saying; “it takes a village.”
When we think about investing in a child, it is more than just financial; it is also emotional. Just giving a child $100 is meaningless. Investing $100 with a beautiful video/photo/voice memory to contextualize when, where, what, and why is completely priceless. Every investment on EarlyBird includes some type of “emotional capital” which creates the ability to build a priceless time capsule of love and support beyond just money that the child will have for the rest of their life.
Think if you had an app on your phone right now that had $100k+ invested and 100’s of memories from loved ones all throughout your childhood celebrating you, investing in you, sharing knowledge with you, or just sending love, this would be invaluable.
Crowdfund Insider: With “Emotional Capital,” are you all trying to build another social media platform for families?
Jordan Wexler: No, we are defining a new space that lives between social media and private sharing tools. EarlyBird 2.0 eliminates the need for families to manage multiple Google Photo albums, navigate uncomfortable public social media posts, or juggle fragmented family iMessage groups. With its centralized platform, EarlyBird 2.0 addresses all these needs under one roof, empowering families to focus on what truly matters: building a better financial future for their kids.
Crowdfund Insider: How do you all think about financial literacy and how we can teach our kids to be financially savvy?
Jordan Wexler: Financial literacy is at the core of everything we do. One of our key phrases is; financial literacy + financial empowerment = financial freedom. 66% of American adults are considered “financially illiterate”… This is unacceptable and we have to make a substantial change at the root, which starts with our children.
Today, EarlyBird is primarily focused on new and expecting parents so we deeply value the importance of financial literacy throughout the EarlyBird experience for the parent and make sure we are both empowering users to take action but also teaching them as they invest.
The core ways in which we deliver financial content are our Learn section on our website, dedicated email series to users, a monthly financial literacy webinar, and consistent in-app content to learn about real-time events.
With this structure, parents will now feel more confident about their own financial literacy journey and then be able to begin teaching their kids once they turn 6+ through the EarlyBird app.
Crowdfund Insider: What is the best way for a family to start this investment journey today?
Jordan Wexler: There are really two types of accounts a parent should be aware of, a custodial investment account (UGMA) and a 529 Plan. A custodial investment account is under the ownership of the child and becomes theirs once they turn 18 or 21, depending on the state. This is special because it provides them with financial freedom to pursue whatever they want; traveling the world, starting their first business, or a down payment on their first home.
A 529 Plan is considered a college savings plan and is a great investment vehicle because it is tax-exempt for accredited institutional spend, which means the money can grow, and if used for college, there are no taxes.
Both of these accounts are very important to consider as a family thinks through financial planning. Our recommendation is to generally think about “what is most important to us as a family and what do we want to provide our child?” Is that free education? Then a 529 Plan should be prioritized. Is that financial freedom to use on whatever they want? Then a custodial investment account is best.
That all being said, these accounts can and should work together. It is best practice to set up both and follow dollar cost averaging which means putting away $X per month into each account on a consistent basis.
Crowdfund Insider: What is the grand vision of how you all plan to help democratize access to generational wealth for all US families?
Jordan Wexler: The first step is to get every family from day 1 to start investing in their kids. Remember, if a parent puts away just $50 per month when the child is born, that child will have $25k when they turn 18 years old and at 60 years old will have about $1M. So making sure every child is being invested in by both their parents and all of their community is the first phase.
Then as the child grows up, so should their financial service offerings. At EarlyBird, we will begin to expand to areas such as banking for kids, financial education for kids, an integrated teen experience and more. This way a child grows up knowing that they are being invested in and once they become an adult, they are deeply financially competent and they have a fully funded primary brokerage account at 18 years old!