Last week, Mayor Adams set an ambitious new goal in his State of the City speech: every student should be able to learn how to save and spend money by 2030. To get there, the city is taking an innovative and multi-pronged approach to give young people the tools they need to build healthy financial habits and set them on a path to success in adulthood.
This goal couldn’t be closer to my own heart. I moved to New York City as a young adult without a job and without any financial plans. My savings did not last long, and I ended up relying on credit cards and the money my mother and sister were able to lend me to get by. Thankfully, my mother instilled in me the meaning of hard work and sticking to your beliefs, lessons that helped get me where I am today as the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. But the fact is no one prepared me for the financial realities of adulthood. My ambition and determination to have a successful career were no replacement for having a strong financial plan.
Climbing the professional ladder wasn’t cheap either. From morning meetings over an expensive espresso to power lunches to build my professional network, I found myself spending more money and going deeper into debt just to keep up with my peers. While my finances have greatly improved since then – thanks to the help of my Financial Empowerment Center counselor – the bad habits I developed when I was young are still engrained in me, and I still make mistakes.
In November 2024, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection held a public forum to hear directly from young people, their families, and experts about the gaps in our financial education system. Like me, many of the people we heard from received no financial education in their youth and have relied on credit cards to make ends meet, underscoring how crucial it is that we fix these gaps in our system. The strategy Mayor Adams laid out last week will do just that.
First, working with Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, we will place Financial Educators in every NYC Public Schools district to support teachers, provide counseling, and lead financial and consumer education workshops. I know firsthand how easy it is to make mistakes simply because no one taught me how to manage my finances. In fact, it’s estimated that avoidable mistakes due to a lack of financial education costs Americans an average of more than $1,500 each year. These Financial Educators will help teach young people valuable skills today, saving them costly mistakes tomorrow.
Second, we will work with public high schools and identify local banks to participate in an In-School Banking pilot program. We know that nearly 10% of households in our city lack a bank account, more than double the national average. The lack of safe and affordable banking options forces families to rely on high-cost alternatives that can have cascading impacts on their financial health. In-school bank branches will help students learn how to build savings, budget their money, and expand the city’s safe and affordable banking options.
Finally, we are calling on the private sector and philanthropies across the city to help us teach students the ins and outs of managing their money and building savings to establish strong financial habits. We will work to build a new program to give more students hands-on experience managing their money and scale these individual elements as these initiatives grow and reach more students and their families.
The debt, the stress, the sleepless nights, and the sacrifices I’ve made as an adult to overcome the mistakes of my youth have shown me how important it is that I teach my own children how to save and spend their money. My oldest started high school this year, and I want her and all our children to learn from our experiences. That work should start now, when they are still young enough to avoid the financial pitfalls that you make when you don’t know how to budget or save. Our team at the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection works hard every day to make this city more affordable for working-class New Yorkers. These groundbreaking initiatives will ensure we set up our children to pursue their dreams and be financially healthy adults.
Vilda Vera Mayuga is the Commissioner for the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). Learn more about the city’s financial empowerment services at nyc.gov/TalkMoney.
