Today we’re relaunching as BrightDime. We are still committed to partnering with companies to make financial well-being available to everyone. Our goal is still to provide a focused and highly personalized employee financial wellness program. We started down this path over three years ago as Canopy Financial and have learned a lot along the way. One thing we learned is how difficult it is to dislodge search results from the front page of Google. (More on that later.)
Why BrightDime?
We like the image of a bright future and the dime as a reminder that financial wellness should be available for everyone. That means starting small sometimes and not ignoring people whose net worth isn’t at least seven figures. In researching possible names we stumbled across something interesting about Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States whose profile has been on the dime since 1946. During his State of the Union Address in 1944 he proposed a “second Bill of Rights” that would emphasize economic security and independence.
Observant readers will note that the U.S. only has the single original Bill of Rights. Nonetheless, we think a lot of the ideas FDR put forward are worthwhile and align significantly with our goals. You can read the whole thing here if you’re interested. The core idea is that all people need the basics of a solid economic foundation to feel secure and independent. These include a home, medical care, education, the ability to afford food, clothing, and recreation, and “protection from economic fears.”
These are a lot of the same goals that we have at BrightDime. We want to work with people to help them build and understand a budget so that they can meet their immediate needs and plan for the future. To be a resource for first-time home buyers in navigating the murky waters of credit scores, mortgage applications, and closing costs. To help people understand 529 plan options so they can save for their childrens’ education effectively. We want to work with employers to make employee HSA and FSA options easy to understand so that seeking medical care isn’t daunting. Most importantly we want to be a trusted ally for the people we work with so that they never have to feel alone in making financial decisions they worry they don’t understand, or are unqualified for.
Why now?
Well, back to those search results. Searching for “Canopy Financial” brings up some pretty worry stuff. Especially if you’re looking for a financial wellness company to provide to your employees or if you’re curious about your new workplace benefit. We liked the name Canopy but the questions about any connections to those search results were unavoidable. For the record: no connection whatsoever. Don’t know them, don’t want to. We’ve been looking for the right name for a while, in fact. We think we found it in BrightDime and hope you do too.
Nice article!
Seems a smart move. SEO can be powerful and often very misleading.
Do you serve individuals or primarily large employee groups now?
Thanks, we’re excited to move forward with the new name. We partner with employers to serve their employees, so a little bit of both. From a business perspective we’d fall into the B2B category. But ultimately we serve each employee as an individual since everyone’s path is a little bit different.