Seventeen-year-old Siddhi Tandon didn’t set out to start a financial literacy program. She was just trying to figure out what to do with her first paycheck.
Three years ago, the Lakeside School student had earned about $500 working as a camp counselor, and went to a Chase bank location to cash the check. After hearing about the different kinds of accounts she could open, she got her first sense of just how little she knew about money management.
“I realized this was going to be important in my life going forward,” she said. “This is such a gap and something I never learned in school.”
That experience — part confusion, part curiosity — pushed her down a financial literacy research rabbit hole. She pored over YouTube videos and articles that explained budgeting, investments, loans and the stock market. Then, last year, she decided to share that information with everyone else, starting an organization called “Cubs of Wall Street.”
Tandon now gives free financial literacy workshops to students at libraries and schools across Washington, reaching more than 4,500 students so far. She also authored a book released in February, “What I Learned About Money,” aimed at helping kids understand the basics of managing money early.
Her efforts reflect a broader gap lawmakers have repeatedly tried and failed to address in Washington. This year marked the third consecutive attempt to require financial literacy in schools; proposals with bipartisan support did not make it through the 2024 or 2025 legislative sessions, and again fell short this year. The issue has gained traction nationally, where more than two dozen states now require some form of financial literacy education, up from just five in 2018.
Her sessions are designed to meet students at different levels. Some arrive already familiar with investing concepts, while others are starting from scratch.
The lessons begin simply, covering how money is earned and what it means to budget, and then move to more advanced topics like investing and different kinds of interest. Tandon often uses examples that feel accessible to younger audiences — for example, comparing investments to collectibles like Pokémon cards that gain value over time.
She also introduces foundational concepts like the 50-30-20 rule, which breaks income into 50% needs, 30% wants and 20% savings. But she’s careful to frame it as a starting point, not a rigid formula.
“Budgeting is not simple. This is a really good rule to get kids started thinking about this,” she said.
Part of what makes the sessions effective, she believes, is that they’re led by someone close in age to the audience. Students are often more willing to engage, ask questions and see themselves in the material.
That relatability shows up in the kinds of questions she gets. In some sessions, students reference financial research or specific stocks. In others, she explains what a bank account is. The range, she said, highlights just how uneven access to financial knowledge can be.
Tandon’s own learning curve included early mistakes. She remembers panic-selling a stock during a dip, only to watch it rebound the next day, a lesson in how volatile markets can be and why long-term thinking matters.
Now, she shares those experiences openly, along with practical steps students can take, like opening a bank account, understanding taxes on a first job or simply thinking differently about saving small amounts of money.
“Every bank account started is a huge win,” she said.
While she continues to expand her program, Tandon sees schools as a critical part of the solution, and an area where more could be done.
“School prepares us to get a job,” she said during a TedX talk she gave last year about her journey to becoming financially literate. “But what it doesn’t prepare us to do is manage the money that we earn from a job.”
For now, she’s helping to fill that gap herself.
