Ending the great daylight robbery

Michelle Pearce-Burke hit the

ground running. She hit the ground running so hard, that she’s basically a turbo-charged flying-machine now. We love that she created a low-fee investment platform for ordinary people, and can’t get enough of her business ethos.

Launching an investment platform, managing a team and being a fintech bad-ass...

Pearce-Burke co-founded the nowhousehold-name investment app, Wealthify. Let’s be fair, that takes balls. While heading up the investment team as Chief Investment Officer, she also held down the post of Chief Operating Officer too (!!!)

Six and a half years later, Wealthify is absolutely smashing it. The team have picked up more awards than you could shake a stick at, and they’ve swept more than 50,000 customers off their feet. Lordy. What’s most impressive about Wealthify is its super-low fees and tiny minimum investments, helping more people build up their finances.

With so much choice, we challenged Pearce-Burke to pick out the thing she’s most proud of. A tough question, but she gave it a good go. “There have been so many moments along the way that have made me proud of Wealthify and what we’ve achieved”, Pearce-Burke explains. “When I read our Trustpilot reviews or hear genuine customer feedback, it is nearly always overwhelmingly positive, and that makes me very proud of what we’ve built. When Aviva invested in the company in 2018, that also was also a good moment, as it brought a lot of praise and was a lovely external validation of the value of what we’d built”.

...In her twenties

What we love about Pearce-Burke is that she co-founded an investment firm at such a young age, and confidently led a team of investment managers. BAM! She’s exactly the kind of person we’d want to be our daughters’ godmother. Someone who jumps in the deep end. And someone who kicks the glass ceiling so hard that it sends tiny little shards floating up into space.

So, what’s the secret? Where does she get the confidence and drive? “I am eternally optimistic about what I can achieve”, she reveals. “This has downsides and can lead to me occasionally ‘biting off more than I can chew’, but it also means I get things done and am not afraid to do new things”. Perhaps that’s the beauty of starting up a business young, before working life and middle-aged men have worn you down into a husk.

“Setting up a business, I think this ‘can – do’ spirit is essential”, Pearce-Burke continues. “As there will be so many problems you encounter along the way which you will need to overcome”.

Pearce-Burke is a real pioneer in her field. And she’s not done. Not by a long stretch. When it comes to the future, Pearce-Burke had this to say, “Wealthify is scaling up fast at the moment, acquiring customers at a rate of knots. I can’t share anything too specific, but we’re building out lots of exciting new features and products, so watch this space!”. We will, Pearce-Burke, we will!

Michelle “Adios high fees” Pearce-Burke Wealthify Co-Founder & Chief Investment Officer