WealthWise
About · The Founder · George Zhang

Meet the founder
of WealthWise.

George Zhang built WealthWise as a high-school senior, because no one was going to teach his classmates personal finance before they graduated and the rest of his generation deserved the same head start his parents quietly gave him.

George Zhang

George Zhang

Founder · Host · High-school senior

New York
Host, WealthWise Podcast
george@wealthwise.com
Listen to the podcastTry WealthWise free

The Story · In His Own Words

Why a high-school senior is building the financial literacy platform he wishes he had at fourteen.

My interest in finance started with reading. Bogle, Graham, Housel, Kahneman, Buffett's shareholder letters, the Fed's research, even the IRS publications themselves. The further I got, the clearer one thing became: understanding how money works is one of the most important skills a person can acquire, and almost nobody is taught it.

Being in high school didn't seem like a good reason to wait. Compounding, diversification, what a 401(k) match or a Roth IRA actually does - none of these ideas are out of reach at sixteen or seventeen. They just take curiosity and the patience to work through them properly. So I decided to make sure I had the fundamentals down now, not after I'd already needed them.

The podcast is how I keep going. Every episode is a chance to learn from someone who knows more than I do, and to think out loud about what I'm still figuring out. WealthWise grew around that: a curriculum, an AI advisor that cites its sources, a paper-money simulator and a research desk, all aimed at helping more people not only understand investing and personal finance, but genuinely enjoy it.

I'm under no illusion that I've figured it all out. I'm at the very beginning of building this knowledge, and that's the point. This is an intellectual journey I want to keep on for a long time, and I'd like to bring as many people along with me as I can.

I started WealthWise as an effort to bring financial literacy to my high school classmates before they graduated. Personal finance is one of the most important skills to acquire in life, but it is rarely taught in school. WealthWise provides a comprehensive curriculum to increase access to financial literacy for everyone.

George Zhang · Founder

In the community

Free sessions for the kids who
come after him.

Alongside the podcast, George runs free in-person sessions for younger kids in his community: budgeting games, the $20 plan, needs versus wants. Video from the sessions is coming soon.

George and a co-presenter standing with a group of kids in front of a projected slide titled Financial Literacy 101: How to Master your Money.
Financial Literacy 101: How to master your money. The group after a session.
George at the front of a classroom pointing at a slide titled Team Challenge: The $20 Plan, while kids at long tables raise their hands.
Team challenge: the $20 plan. Small teams decide how to split twenty dollars between now and later.
Kids seated at tables watching a slide with three coloured columns for needs, wants and savings.
Needs, wants, savings. The 50/30/20 split, taught with a projector and a room full of questions.
A classroom session with balloons on the tables, George presenting from a slide at the front of the room.
Session two. Balloons on the tables, questions on the screen.

Video from the sessions is coming soon

Timeline · Five Steps to the Platform

How George got from his first paycheck to a financial literacy platform.

  1. 2009

    Born in Shanghai

    Grew up between two countries, in a family that index-invested without ever talking about it at the dinner table. Now based in New York.

  2. 2023

    First paycheck, first questions

    Tutoring side-gig at 14. Realized no one had told me what a Roth IRA was, why credit cards rewarded spending, or what an emergency fund did.

  3. 2024

    Started reading the canon

    Bogle's Little Book, Graham's Intelligent Investor, Housel's Psychology of Money, Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow. Built a personal index portfolio with my first $2,000.

  4. 2025

    Launched the podcast

    Short-form and practical. 50 video episodes so far, covering budgets, sinking funds, pay stubs, credit scores, bank accounts, HSAs and FSAs, taxes, insurance, scams, mortgages, planning for a job loss, and the basics of investing.

  5. 2026

    Built WealthWise

    An AI advisor, a market simulator, a podcast, and a research desk - one editorial product for the financial literacy I wish I'd had at 14.

What I Believe · Four Principles

The four ideas WealthWise is built on.

Financial literacy is a civil right.

If you're going to be asked to opt in or out of a 401(k) at 22, you should have learned what one is by 18.

Treat readers like adults.

No streaks, no badges, no gamified savings goals. Just clear writing, real data, and the citations to back it.

AI should cite sources.

FinBot is powered by Claude and built to pull directly from SEC EDGAR, FRED, and the SEC filings themselves. If it doesn't have a source, it says so.

Short is better.

Podcast episodes run five to sixteen minutes. Concept pages are eight-minute reads. If it can't fit in a high-school lunch break, it's too long.

Join WealthWiseHear George on the podcast