Origin

Our founder Matt Watson and his wife, Alyson, were already successful entrepreneurs by the time they got married — and they knew that open dialogue about money is key to any solid relationship. Before their wedding, they discussed how their parents related to money, what their goals were as a couple, how they both managed and thought about money at the time, and how they each wanted to evolve and grow financially in the coming years. Now they’re happily married with children — and Matt founded Origin to help other couples tackle their joint financial journeys. “One of the biggest challenges couples face is understanding their joint financial picture,” he says. “With Origin, both partners can see where the money is going, set goals together and track progress in real time. This joint effort reduces stress and builds a stronger, more united approach to financial management.” https://lnkd.in/dk7NSNhX

What an energizing experience at #SHRM2024 in Chicago! Our team had invaluable conversations with HR leaders from diverse industries. Looking back on the experience, our team noticed some key trends: - Financial stress is a major concern for employees - Wellness initiatives are at the forefront of HR strategies - Focus is shifting towards measuring and improving productivity and engagement, and HR leaders understand that financial stress can be a hindrance to both These insights perfectly align with what Origin can do for your workforce: reduce the burden of financial stress, ultimately positively impacting the overall health, happiness, and productivity of your employees. Didn't catch us at SHRM? No problem! Book a personalized demo on our website to see how we can help you tackle these challenges: https://lnkd.in/g8GGrTuW Let's continue the conversation and elevate your HR initiatives!

Fun fact about us: We ship 🚀 We released some of our biggest product updates this past quarter. Learn about all the ways we've improved Origin—including our revamped Portfolio tab, Zillow integration, estate planning, split transactions, and more. Take a look in our latest blog post: https://lnkd.in/edZRPX_y

Let’s talk about financial advisors. Does everyone need one? Are they helpful? When should people consider getting one? Here’s my take: Financial advisors provide instrumental value in a couple of scenarios. Here are three scenarios where you might consider working with one: 1) You’re seeking expert advice: You have a complicated financial situation (i.e. liquidity events, tax strategy, retirement, business sale, etc.), and you want guidance. I’ve personally lost over 7 figures through poor tax strategy when my first business was acquired. 2) You want to offload the work: You have the means and don’t want to be proactively involved in managing your money. You’d rather pay someone to do it for you and free up the time and cognitive load to focus on work, family, etc. 3) You want a sanity check: You’re confident in the “what”, “when”, and “why” but want a second set of eyes on your financial decisions to make sure you’re steering in the right direction. At most points in someone’s life, they’ll fall into one or all of these broad categories, and in that case, it’s always helpful to have someone who has gotten to know you and your financial situation when you need the help. Historically, financial advisors have been widely inaccessible due to the cost. In the future, AI will play a larger role in all three of these categories, allowing folks to get the expert advice they need and empowering them to feel confident in their financial decisions. We’re also empowering episodic financial planning needs at Origin, which is a way to solve these issues as they arise. That’s my take. I’d love to know what your experience has been with financial advisors. Or if you have a strong opinion on whether they’re helpful (or not). Let me know below.

The #1 reason why people use Origin: Managing their spending. When Mint shut down in March, we saw countless Mint users signing up for Origin, seeking out an alternative. Our product team wanted to understand the needs of our members, so we sat down with countless individuals, listening to their stories, product feedback, challenges, and financial aspirations. From these conversations, a clear picture emerged of what people really needed from our spending tools. We didn’t just stop listening; we took action. We spent months meticulously crafting a suite of features designed to tackle their biggest pain points head-on. Now, I believe we’re the most powerful spend tracking app. Cash flow breakdowns. Projecting upcoming credit card bills. Adding custom categories to your budget. Tracking and managing all your recurring subscriptions. Splitting transactions for an accurate view of your spending. Equity Tracking And so much more. Pair all of these features with our AI layer, and now Origin provides deep spending insights unlike any other personal financial management tool. Of course, we do so much more than spend tracking and budgeting tools. Estate planning, investing, tax filing, you name it. This video highlights the incredible work we've been doing to build up Origin’s tracking capabilities. Major shout out to the team for bringing all these features to life. Excited for what’s to come. What features do you wanna see next?

At #SHRM2024? Looking for ways to alleviate the stresses your employees take on when it comes to navigating their personal finances? Stop by Booth #553 to chat with the Origin team!

AI & the future of fintech. In the near future, everyone will have their own AI personal wealth manager. We’re working on three big opportunities Origin that are being unlocked by AI in financial services: 1) Making expert advice widely accessible Getting expert, tailored advice is the most expensive aspect of personal finance. It can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars per year. AI will bring similar levels of personalized investing, tax, estate, and insurance advice for the price of a cup of coffee. 2) Application Consolidation AI advice is only as good as the information provided to it, and today most consumers utilize 5+ disconnected tools to manage our finances. Consumers will be motivated to consolidate into one platform as agentic features become available. Should I pay down debt or contribute to pre-tax investments? Well, I'd need to know the APR on the debt and your cash flow to help answer that question. By consolidating into one financial application, the AI will have the data to make and execute the right decision, so you can think *less* about your money. 3) Reduced Involvement + Stress via Automation There is a graveyard of financial products that tried to get individuals to engage more with their finances. The reality is most people are intensely scared of money. They’re nervous to look at balances, make the wrong decision. Naturally, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Affluent individuals offload this issue to wealth advisors who provide peace of mind. The rest of us end up with sub optimal financial outcomes. Very soon this will be a historical relic as AI will execute the next best financial decision for us. We’re shipping all of these experiences at Origin this year. Exciting time to be building the future of personal finance!

“Ice cream is the best. It’s kinda like seeing Billy Joel perform live. Never disappoints” - Ted Lasso You know what also never disappoints? Stopping by the Origin booth (#553) at #SHRM2024 before hearing Jason Sudeikis’ keynote speech. Chad Schneider, Jackson Klein, Janell Bascara, and Caitie Feeley will be in Chicago June 23-26 to chat about all the ways you can empower your employees to take control of their personal finances with Origin. See you next week! #OriginFinancial #FinancialWellness

The best money tips Mark Cuban, Robert Kiyosaki, and our very own Matt Watson got from their dads. ⤵ “My dad didn’t teach me a lot about money, but he encouraged me to learn as much as I could about business and supported me in every endeavor I ever had. He taught me that with continuous effort I could create and be successful with companies that I started.”  –  Mark Cuban “As the ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ story goes… I had two dads. Two men with very different points of view when it came to money. One was an employee and focused on a paycheck. The other was an entrepreneur who built and bought assets. My poor dad put value on his degrees and diplomas; rich dad focused on his financial statement. Very different perspectives on the same subject: money. They taught me that there are always two sides to every coin and that intelligence is found on the ‘edge’ — where we can see both sides and decide what’s best for us. From a young age, I knew that I didn’t want to depend solely on a job or paycheck and that the path to financial freedom — true freedom — was about assets and investing… not income from a paycheck.”  – Robert Kiyosaki “I learned about saving, investing and the law of compounding returns from my dad. That’s why I started Origin — to make it effortless to manage and grow your money. I’ve tried to create a one-stop shop for investing, budgeting, estate planning and financial guidance. It’s a place where it’s easier than ever to apply the lessons we learned from our parents, without getting so lost in the weeds that we give up.”  – Matt Watson Learn more money tips that industry leaders got from their dads here: https://lnkd.in/db-gsit

One of the most common questions I get from founders: How did we get initial traction when we first launched Origin? Getting traction when launching any product can be tough, but we found the biggest success when we sought out opportunities where incentives were aligned for both parties (us & the customer). We realized that employers in Silicon Valley wanted to help their employees understand stock options. No one was doing it. We knew this was where we could make a difference. Employee equity is complex. Especially because employers and HR teams often struggle to explain how equity works. And it’s a black box for employees too. They don’t understand their options or how to make smart financial decisions with equity. So we started building and selling a product that helped employees understand their stock options and learn how to make smart, long term financial decisions around their equity. This directly solved a customer pain point, which made the sales process much smoother. We were no longer selling a product, but a solution to a problem. The best products solve a real customer pain point. Aim to solve a unique problem and showcase exactly how and why you’re the best.. I’d love to share more about my journey and approach to building Origin. Let me know below if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them in future posts.