Brandon Burton, CEO and founder of financial services startup Securing Life Today, was inspired to create the startup during his time in the Marines.
Burton came to know that officers didn’t simply say “go” when teaching new recruits how to navigate across large swaths of land. Instead, they provided practice and tools to help the fledgling Marines reach their goal.
He wants to use the same approach for those who want to manage their personal finances.
Securing Life Today, a financial software tool, allows users to connect all of their accounts in one place. That way, they can track finances and achieve their financial goals - whatever those may be.
“I didn’t get into the financial industry to turn down people who didn’t make enough money. I got into the financial industry to help people with their money,” Burton said. “I was going to build something internet-based to where it could serve the masses. That the masses could utilize it and it could be a duplicatable, same-type-of-thing for everyone. Technology is for everyone.”
The company was launched in 2013 with $30,000 of his own money, after Burton said he grew tired of helping the rich grow richer working as a financial advisor for companies like Northwestern Mutual. With the goal of helping people stay on top of their accounts, Burton wanted to take his advising expertise and give those same tools to everyone.
Much of this stems from his upbringing in Southern California, struggling with low income and a single, working mother. He said the experience of always lacking and worrying about finances led him to try to better understand it for himself. And once he did, he began helping those around him, before making it his profession after the military.
People not profits are his main focus. While Securing Life Today has competitors like Mint.com, he said one of the main differentiators is that his company isn’t focused on collecting and selling user data. For most of its existence, Securing Life’s app and platform have been offered as a free service. That recently changed earlier this year, with the company now charging about $4 per month for access. However, Burton says this helps keep that focus and helps give customers peace of mind that their data is secure.
"We’re emboldening people with the right tools for success."
“We want you to focus on being in the right state of mind and secure, and just having the peace of mind to be able to do what you do without feeling intrusion,” Burton said. “Out of any app that you're using, what has the most potential to do damage and have the potential to change your life? It’s financial apps. We’re trying to help people work better with advisors, we’re very much giving people tools to allow them to work more as a team with their team.”
For a long time, Securing Life operated with only Burton’s initial investment. However, it has been able to garner attention from some big-name players, cross marketing with other financial service companies like TD Ameritrade and TurboTax. Securing Life has also recently worked with the HR staff of companies like GoDaddy and Samsung.
That’s part of Securing Life’s plans for growth. This year, the company landed an undisclosed investment from an angel investor based out of Charlotte, in exchange for about 12% of the company. Burton said this has helped them try to not only expand their individual user base, but also work with larger companies and corporations for them to implement with employees and create a “healthy culture for finances.”
“Any business that is currently successful, can they operate without a budget?” He said. “I think we, as consumers, can benefit from understanding that if businesses have to do that to grow their finances, why are we different?”
Burton said two of the biggest things individuals need help with in their personal finances is organization and budgeting. He said every user has the possibility to better grow and manage their assets. He emphasizes that Securing Life is not a banking app, it is the compass individuals need to reach their own goals.
So far, users are seeing success. Burton said that according to Securing Life data, the average user increased their savings by about 15% in one year. In addition, the average user freed up about 20% of the time they would normally spend on personal finances.
"This is such a new thing and there’s so much opportunity out there that we’re just getting started," he said. “And I’m not going to stop until we’re able to make a big enough dent in our society to where people have the necessary tools, and we can see an upward shift in general savings and in personal education of their finances. We’re emboldening people with the right tools for success.”
