FFG, iGrad Merge Under Aztec Umbrella

San Diego Business Journal Article by Jeff Clemetson, 6 March 2024. Read the article publication on SDBJ's website here.

Aztec Software is growing its San Diego footprint. The New Jersey-based educational software company announced last month it had acquired Financial Fitness Group (FFG), a San Diego-based provider of interactive financial wellness solutions and will merge it with its subsidiary iGrad – another San Diego company it acquired in 2022.

“Financial wellness was new for them, but they saw it as a need,” said iGrad President Rob LaBreche, of the 2022 acquisition. At the time, he explained, Aztec was a leader in adult education products helping people upskill to reenter the workforce with college readiness and the like.

iGrad was a good fit for the Aztec umbrella because its namesake product is an online tool to help students and parents better understand finances in general and specifically in how to pay for higher education. The iGrad tool is now adopted by higher education institutions, from community colleges to major schools like NYU, Harvard and Yale.

iGrad’s second product, Enrich, is a tool to help employees learn about finances and aid them in creating a long-term financial plan.

“Although we’re not financial advisors, our job is to give you unbiased information about understanding finances, things like credit score or setting up a budget,” LaBreche said, adding that client companies include Coca-Cola and Dell, as well as lenders and credit unions such as Cal Coast Credit Union – “a great client of ours who provide our product to San Diego State University students.”

A Financial Learning Tool for Advisors

With the FFG merger, iGrad’s web-based financial literacy platform is adding a FINRA-reviewed financial content provider that helps financial advisors and financial service firms attract, build, educate, and cultivate relationships with their clients by giving them more in-depth information than “average American would use,” LeBreche said.

FFG has a longstanding collaboration with Morningstar to provide a library of financial content solutions for financial advisors, including the U.S. Andex Chart, an in-demand financial illustration for advisors globally, which FFG has the exclusive right to reproduce and sell.

Although iGrad did not previously serve financial advisors directly, its platform did already count some financial companies as clients, such as Principal Financial Group and Franklin Templeton Investments, but those firms used iGrad to offer financial literacy to their end users, LeBreche said. “Now with Financial Fitness Group, we have a product that’s very, very strong – we think the strongest in the industry – for the employees of those financial institutions, financial advisors and the like.”

Shared Mission to Increase Financial Literacy

 “Financial advisors play a critical role helping individual investors of all ages navigate an increasingly sophisticated financial landscape, and their expertise is invaluable in helping clients make informed financial decisions,” said Joe Saari, founder and chairman of Financial Fitness Group.

Saari, who along with the entire FFG team will stay on at iGrad, added that the merger was a partnership “with a like-minded organization that shares our passion and values.”

Those values include a shared mission to bring financial literacy to the growing segment of U.S. adults living paycheck to paycheck who also lack a financial plan.

“The demand for financial wellness has a groundswell of interest,” LeBreche said, adding that the demand has resulted in “significant” growth at iGrad since 2014 when the company was the second-fastest growing company in the San Diego Business Journal’s annual list of fast-growing companies. “In 2009, companies thought financial wellness was a nice-to-have for employees, but now it’s become increasingly a must-have as an added benefit for employees.”

Aztec Software CEO Jonathan Blitt said that adding FFG to the iGrad team moves Aztec closer to fulfilling its mission to provide adults “with the tools to not only support their families, but also to create opportunities for the next generation.”

“Financial literacy is critical for adults to drive multi-generational change, and we remain committed to providing the resources that enable adult learners to succeed,” he said.

iGrad

FOUNDED: 2009

HEADQUARTERS: Cardiff By The Sea

PRESIDENT: Rob LaBreche

BUSINESS: financial technology company that offers artificial intelligence-powered financial wellness solutions to more than 600 colleges and universities, more than 20,000 employers, and more than 300 financial institutions

EMPLOYEES: 50

WEBSITES: www.igradfinancialwellness.com; financialfitnessgroup.com; www.aztecsoftware.com

NOTABLE: iGrad is one of three 2020 honorees in the inaugural Barron’s Celebrates: Financial Empowerment after being selected by a team of judges for its contributions to improving the financial health and security of Americans