This student teaches kids about how to manage their money

SEATTLE — 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 student at Lakeside School in Seattle 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 state, 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...