70% of college seniors with student debt say looming repayments will impact their career plans.The average graduate and oftentimes, their parents will endure 17 to 20 years of loan payments in efforts to become free from student debt. Our emerging workforce will comprise 75% of the workforce by 2025 making student debt a majority issue. Student debt isn’t just a financial burden, but it’s one of the biggest barriers to wealth creation in the modern workforce.In this episode, we’re joined by Laurel Taylor, founder and CEO of Candidly, to explore how addressing student debt is no longer optional. Laurel shares how her personal journey with debt led to a mission that’s already wiped out nearly $2 billion in liability and opened new pathways to first-time wealth.In This Episode You’ll Learn:Why student debt is now a business issue, not just a personal oneHow shame around debt stops employees from engaging in benefitsThe ROI companies are seeing when they address financial stressHow Candidly helps employers reduce turnover by up to 76%Laurel’s philosophy on risk, resilience, and the real cost of prideWhat it means to lead during wartime—and how her team stays agileHow AI is powering the next phase of financial wellnessTimestamps:00:00 – Laurel’s personal student debt story 01:28 – Why she founded Candidly 03:24 – The shame around student debt—and how it affects families 05:33 – Why debt is a workplace issue and not just a personal one 06:54 – What employers are missing in their benefits stack 07:46 – The staggering ROI of Candidly’s solution for employers 09:44 – Tax-free employer contributions and new retirement match rules 11:57 – How the sales cycle for Candidly evolved from 2016 to today 13:32 – Distribution through major financial services firms 15:01 – Laurel’s story of quitting Dell after one day 17:53 – “I have nothing to lose but my pride”: Laurel’s mindset shift 19:52 – How loss shaped Laurel’s perspective and mission 23:07 – Her framework for overcoming fear and taking risks 27:16 – Leading through chaos: student loan reform and AI adoption 29:40 – The real-time complexity of student loan programs 31:10 – Wartime CEO: how her team thrives through rapid change 32:36 – A three-week offsite to prototype AI-powered personalization 34:41 – Candidly’s next wave: AI + wealth creation at scale 36:47 – How to run a purposeful, high-impact team retreat 39:04 – Why ignoring student debt is no longer an option for CEOs 41:51 – Student debt and the retirement gap 42:56 – Candidly’s mission for the next decade: from debt to wealthAbout Laurel:Laurel Taylor is the CEO and Founder of Candidly. Laurel previously led a global business unit at Google and holds her MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an undergraduate degree from Texas State University.  Laurel has experienced, first hand, the impact of missing out on two decades of compounding interest on wealth while paying down debt, between she and her highly educated mother. Thus, her path and purpose to solve the student debt, savings, and retirement savings crisis was born. As the market-leader, Candidly has generated over $1.2B of student debt impact as a workplace benefit, serving thousands of employers with an average population of 22,500 employees, distributed by the largest financial services companies in the world.Resources & Mentions:Learn more about Candidly: https://getcandidly.comConnect with Laurel on LinkedIn:

Ver todos los episodios