Dear FinLit Star,

Hi! I’m Neha Singh, a senior at Staples High School in Westport, CT. I became interested in behavioral economics after reading Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. In my junior year, I began to wonder how these concepts apply to young people, especially as we are exposed to a never-ending stream of digital marketing.

With the mentorship of my AP Economics teacher, I pursued an Independent Learning Experience that deepened my study of the intersection between behavioral economics and youth financial literacy. Youth Safe Spend grew out of this study. It combines the foundations of financial literacy and behavioral finance (with a focus on digital literacy and relevance for teens today), making it a great resource for youth to educate themselves in money management.

While I am working to spread this initiative in the Westport School District, I have also volunteered for the past three years at ASPIRE at the Family and Children’s Agency in Norwalk, CT. There, I created and led Count On It, a bilingual spin off of Youth Safe Spend that focuses on accessibility and effectiveness for these students.

You can request access to the Count On It program and my full ILE research on the Research and Programs page