Passionate about finance, these 19-year-old S’poreans started a non-profit to help young people manage money better

Here’s a cool and trendy topic that definitely piques the interest of youths – finance.

In a hurry to gain financial independence, an increasing number of youths are delving into the adult world of stocks, trading and investment.

On one hand, there are tons of TikToks out there promoting the hustle culture and urging youths to start their financial journey young.

On the other hand, there are stories of people getting scammed every other day.

Making your own money and having control of it is an invigorating concept to youths, but not all are good at it.

Seeing this need to promote financial literacy, a group of 19-year-old Singaporeans started an initiative called the FinGeeks.

Who are the FinGeeks?

Comprising Visakan Swaminathan, Lai Pengchong, Gan Xin Xiang and Jillian Ashleigh Loh, the “FinGeeks” embarked on a journey to spread financial literacy amongst youth in 2020 with the help of the National Youth Council’s Young ChangeMakers’ grant.

They have since reached out to a total of 700 youths and covered topics such as budgeting, savings, insurance and investing.

The four youths told Mothership that despite discovering their passion in finance and economics through different means, it was this common love that led them to start FinGeeks.

“As youths, we started to think about how we can contribute to solving this issue and promoting greater social mobility.” Visakan pointed out.

“Of course, we have limited resources and capabilities as youths and I think education in terms of financial literacy was a great way for us to value add within our means,” he added.

In 2020, Visakan had just completed the CFA Investment Foundations exam and wanted to make the best use of these financial skills.

Lai highlighted that he thought of financial knowledge as a critical tool for youths to be prepared in adulthood.

“Why am I convinced? Because I saw how such awareness impacted my own life so much!”

He shared that economic concepts can influence even the smallest choices in day-to-day life, and that awareness is key to shaping spending habits.

Bonding over their passion for finance, Lai and Visakan started ideating together towards the end of 2020.

Gan and Loh were more than eager to join them on their mission to share financial knowledge.

How did the four of them become FinGeeks?

The name “FinGeeks” reflects the group’s geeky nature and interest in learning about finance and the world.

Starting off as a school project in 2020, the group taught lessons, crash courses and conducted workshops for students as young as 10 and as old as 35.

They even conducted overseas presentations in 2022, where they engaged in an interactive session in Tamil to a group of students in a government-aided school in India over Zoom.

“Despite the lack of initial reception, we were eventually able to draw in sizable audiences for our workshops and viewership for our online outreach,” the team said, adding that they were grateful to have received encouraging feedback from their participants.

Newer students appreciated various budgeting methods presented, while more seasoned ones were intrigued by quantitative methods to estimate risk, the team was glad to share.

“I feel that many online resources were not really applicable to students locally. They were geared more towards young working adults, with articles on CPF, credit cards and housing loans that easily bore youths who are still studying,” Gan lamented.

This is where the FinGeeks come in, as they try to dedicate a sizable part of their presentations on sharing these resources with their participants, so that the participants are more knowledgeable and equipped to use readily available financial resources.

Why is financial literacy important?

When asked why they felt so passionate about teaching youths financial literacy, Visakan pointed to the prevalence of financial scams in today’s society.

He felt that financial literacy would help prevent youths from falling into these traps.

On the other hand, Gan was shocked when he saw his friends’ frivolous attitude towards money.

“I was quite shocked to see some of my friends dropping a large amount of money on luxuries without sparing a second thought!”

Gan was concerned that if his friends continued to live paycheck to paycheck, they might not have any money left for emergencies.

“I had a friend who took Grab everywhere because he was too lazy to take public transport, even though he was still a full-time student on his parent’s allowance. Unsurprisingly, his allowance disappeared rather rapidly every month,” Gan said.

In addition, information or trends on social media might be misleading, and might influence youths to draw wrong conclusions.

For example, “shopping hauls” promote conspicuous consumption, and concepts like “cost-per-wear” give inflated estimates of how many times one might use an item to fuel impulsive purchases.

“FinGeeks isn’t a preacher of absolute frugality. But we do encourage our participants to break down financial decisions and to think clearly before a purchase which can help them resist the above temptations,” Lai explained.

Gan chimed in, raising the point that youths might be susceptible to peer pressure and influence. One might be pressured to use certain products or purchase certain items if they see their friends with them.

Lawrence Tan, Head of TOUCH Youth Enablement, TOUCH Community Services, also weighed in on the topic.

“Many of the youths today are not strangers to part-time jobs and earning an income for themselves to support their social activities,” he said.

However, this newfound independence might encourage youths to spend on their immediate needs and wants.

“Many of these youths are looking for jobs that pay more to maintain a lifestyle that they feel is on par with their friends. It is also getting more common for youths to spend whatever they earn,” he expressed.

He also mentioned that youths may be drawn to the concept of earning “quick and easy” money, without grasping the level of analysis and expertise demanded in investments.

Due to the low barriers to entry for investment, youths might be clouded by what is trending and become exposed to the risk of significant losses and potential debts.

Young ChangeMakers’ Grant

Remember the Young ChangeMakers’ Grant that helped kickstart the FinGeeks?

The team was awarded the grant in July 2022, and it wasn’t just the financial support that they appreciated.

The grant lent them credibility and allowed them to access mentors who gave them advice for their non-profit.

This enabled them to engage notable speakers for their workshops and run the events and workshops for the underprivileged.

Want to know how to manage money better?

Convinced that financial literacy is important? Good.

If you’d like to engage with other like-minded youths in this space or even help others out there to learn more about such concepts, here’s your chance.

National Youth Council’s Young ChangeMakers’ programme is partnering with DBS Foundation and MoneySense to invite passionate youths to form teams and develop programmes to help other youths, especially those from more underprivileged backgrounds, to gain financial literacy and wellness.

This partnership aligns with DBS Foundation’s aim to equip the community with future-ready skills and MoneySense’s aim to bring financial literacy to Singaporeans.

NYC will award up to S$5,000 for the implementation of each idea. DBS Foundation has brought two of its social service partners, Allkin Singapore and TOUCH Community Services, onboard as programme partners. Participating teams can choose to work with either of these to implement their ideas, or source for their own youth sector organisation partners.

DBS Foundation will also pair the teams with DBS employees, who will help guide and mentor them during the implementation.

An info-session will be held on Mar. 02 for interested youths to find out more about the Young ChangeMakers’ programme. During which, youths will get to hear from the Institute for Financial Literacy, MoneySense’s ground outreach arm, about how to manage one’s own finances.

They will also get to hear from DBS Foundation, Allkin Singapore and TOUCH Community Services, as well as youths from the underserved community to find out more about their financial challenges.

If you are keen to do your part to drive financial literacy and wellness among fellow youths, sign up for the workshop and sharing session on Mar. 02, 2024 (Saturday) here.

This article was sponsored by the National Youth Council and encouraged the writer to learn more about dollars and cents.

Top photo via FinGeeks