Teenager Inspires Low-Income Students to Strive for Strong Financial Futures

A teenager hosted a free workshop to help underprivileged students get savvy with finances.

Ely Hahami, 16, witnessed the poverty that affects New York communities and felt inspired to create change in the Bronx and Harlem, where he played basketball. 

In 2021, Hahami founded a non-profit organization called Investing in Your Story, which provides access, resources, and instruction on financial literacy to minority, immigrant, and underserved students within New York. 

On July 16th, Investing in Your Story collaborated with community groups Inspiring Young Minds and the Academics Basketball Community of the Riverside Church to host a three-hour workshop for underprivileged middle school students in Harlem.

Hahami, who runs the Investment Club at the Lawrenceville School, said: “The session was designed to help prepare teenagers for stronger financial futures of investing and show them how they can grow an income to mitigate the effects of intergenerational poverty.

“Financial literacy is only one piece of the puzzle, but we, as a society, have to start building much stronger financial foundations for long-term success.

“Many minority communities don’t have access to banking resources and are often subject to unfavorable rates and fees. We, as teens, are the ones who have to make change within our own communities for economic empowerment.”

Students who attended the workshop noted a newfound knowledge of using stock sectors to diversify a portfolio and of financial terms such as PE ratios. Students further learned the causes of inflation and its impact on family budgets. 

They were also shown how to research and analyze historical returns of major companies, such as Amazon, Nike and Tesla – and even got the chance to dabble in a MarketWatch game where they could buy and track stocks with virtual cash.

Hahami’s next financial literacy workshops for 6th-8th graders will run on August 6th and August 20th.