Rebecca Liebman: Trailblazing Access to Expert Financial Guidance

Hi! It’s me, Spiffy the interplanetary journalist reporting from Planet Earth with the latest scoop on entrepreneurs making a difference in financial technology for all of us around the world! Today’s rockstar is Rebecca Liebman, co-founder and CEO of LearnLux. Are you ready to be enlightened!

Spiffy: Welcome Rebecca, can you start by telling us what challenge are you addressing? 

Rebecca: Thanks for having me, Spiffy! LearnLux is on a mission to make financial wellbeing a common benefit in the modern workplace. It’s 2021, and the vast majority of Americans are still on their own when it comes to managing money. To pioneer a new future of financial wellbeing, LearnLux is taking a radical approach to democratize access to expert guidance. LearnLux is blazing a trail that smashes stigmas and revolutionizes the tools we use. 

Spiffy: Tell me more! What motivated you to revolutionize and change up the way people work out their finances?

Rebecca: I worked at a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and I was studying trends in financial services. Two interesting things happened. One is that I learned that your level of education doesn’t necessarily relate to how you make financial decisions. I also learned that 90% of Americans don’t have access to fiduciary financial guidance. We started LearnLux because we wanted to make sure people had the help, guidance, and access they needed to make good financial decisions no matter their income or asset level. What keeps me doing the work, is that we get to change lives and help people with their biggest financial decisions every day. It is extremely motivational to be innovating an industry that hasn’t changed in decades.

Spiffy: Now, how would you say LearnLux is working to create a more equitable world for people?

Rebecca: As the most accessible and equitable financial wellbeing solution, LearnLux serves an incredibly diverse workforce and fills the financial wellbeing gap for underserved Americans. We take it as our responsibility to create more belonging in the financial services industry by having planners who represent every LearnLux member no matter their income level, race, gender, or asset level. This means creating a judgment-free space where people can talk about money with someone they are comfortable with. Traditionally, the majority of workplace financial programs have been provided exclusively to corporate employees and high net worth individuals.

Spiffy: Have you reached any exciting milestones that you can tell us about? 

Rebecca: We just announced our CFP Opportunity Scholarship that aims to empower all underrepresented individuals from any socioeconomic background who aspire to earn their Certified Financial Planner™ certification. The program is aimed at increasing the diversity of race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation. We believe that as more workplaces weave diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives into the fabric of their corporate cultures, their choice to partner with wellbeing programs that empower women and underrepresented groups will fuel forward progress.

Spiffy: I’m always asking entrepreneurs how they handle failure. What about you? What have you learned from failure?

Rebecca: I learned that you need to take big risks and lead by example. In fact, one of our company core values is, “Dare Greatly,” from the Teddy Roosevelt quote about being in the arena. The idea of this is that you try something so big that if it goes well can change your life positively—and if it doesn’t, it’s okay because you measure yourself on the intent. When you take big risks, you’re bound to have some big failures—and big learnings, too. From doing this, you build the muscle of resiliency, which is an important lesson in startups.

Spiffy: The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward! Thanks for sitting down to talk with me, Rebecca, it’s been an honor. 

Rebecca Liebman is the co-founder and CEO of LearnLux, a workplace financial wellbeing company. Rebecca has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, The Huffington Post, CNBC, TechCrunch and was listed as one of Forbes’ 11 Women Who Are Changing the Face of Finance. Rebecca is pioneering a new future of financial wellbeing that hasn’t been done before. Her company is innovating an outdated industry and providing customized financial services for a modern society.  (Nominated by Impellent Ventures. First published on the Ladderworks website on August 31, 2021.)