FinanceWise

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  Built to give people the financial guidance schools skipped and advisors charge for. Created by someone who had to learn it the hard way.

Inspiration

I started learning financial literacy at 16 because I was shocked that schools didn’t teach it—and even more shocked that many adults didn’t understand basic concepts like credit or budgeting. My passion only grew stronger over the years.

I graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2023 with a degree in Public Health. I originally planned to be a pediatric physician assistant, but COVID shifted my perspective on traditional healthcare, and I pivoted to finance. I bypassed prerequisites to take senior-level finance courses, but I wasn’t willing to take on more debt for another degree. Despite applying to hundreds of jobs, I couldn’t break into the finance field.

While tutoring high school students during college, I often taught financial literacy alongside school subjects—and that mentality carried into my work as a substitute teacher after graduation. I’d run financial literacy mini-lessons for students—throwing out candy to keep it fun. I later worked as a pest control technician and even built AI-powered training tools for my company, but my ideas were mocked and dismissed. On April 1, I was exposed to pure phosphine gas in a chemical explosion. I’ve had various ongoing neurological symptoms and pain every day since, with no known timeline for recovery.

But instead of letting it break me, I used this time to build something I’ve dreamed of for years. I created FinanceWise: a tool for people like me—those who never had access to a financial advisor but crave financial knowledge. I had no coding experience and discovered this hackathon four days before the deadline through a TikTok by CatGPT. I decided to try Bolt, and it changed everything.

What it does

FinanceWise is a free, AI-ready financial literacy tool that helps users:

• Learn the basics of credit, debt, budgeting, banking, and retirement
  
• Reverse-engineer life goals (e.g., save for a house, car, or emergency fund)
  
• Track progress and input personalized info like income and age
  
• Navigate clean, collapsible interfaces that break down key financial concepts
  

It’s designed to educate everyday users who don’t have access to a financial advisor—without selling anything.

How I built it

• 🔨 Built entirely in Bolt.new
  
• 🔗 Connected to Supabase for all static content (educational blurbs, dropdowns, goals, widgets, etc.)
  
• ⚙️ Modular tab structure for different financial themes
  
• 📊 Retirement widgets and budget logic handled via Bolt functions
  
• 🎨 Clean UI design with soft, calming visuals and collapsible info blocks
  
• 🧠 Prepped for future AI integrations like GPT-powered “Ask the Tool”
  

This was built with no prior coding experience in just four days, starting with the “Advanced Tips from Community Mentors” video on Bolt.

Challenges I ran into

• I had to completely restart my project halfway through because I didn’t structure the backend properly—mostly because I didn’t even know what that meant at the time
  
• I had zero coding knowledge, so I had to learn everything on the fly
  
• I struggled with prompting due to my knowledge barrier of how to make Bolt do what I was envisioning. It kept changing my UI/layout after I asked for something totally different
  
• After years of being mocked for my passion around AI and automation, staying mentally positive was a challenge—especially while recovering from a chemical exposure
  

Accomplishments that I am proud of

• ✅ Built a fully functional, scalable financial literacy app with zero prior coding experience
  
• ✅ Integrated a real backend with Supabase for future expansion and app store deployment
  
• ✅ Designed a visually polished UI that balances beauty and utility
  
• ✅ Created something I’ve dreamed about for years, finally brought to life in 4 days
  
• 🧠 Proved that with grit, curiosity, and AI tools, anyone can build something meaningful—even with zero technical background
  

What I learned

• That no-code tools like Bolt can unlock an entire world of opportunity
  
• How powerful Supabase is for real-time app infrastructure
  
• That it’s possible to pivot careers, teach yourself, and build something meaningful—even after trauma
  
• That the best tools are often built by the people who need them most
  

What's next for FinanceWise

• 🔄 Expand from the current tabs to include:
  
  • Tax guidance
    
  • Insurance breakdowns
    
  • Investment tips in plain English
    
  • Themed education tabs (Taxes, Lifestyle, Kids, Emergency, and more)
    
• 🧠 Integrate GPT-powered coaching for an interactive “Ask the Tool” experience
  
• 📱 Launch a mobile-first version and get it on the App Store
  
• 💵 Explore monetization through affiliate tools and a freemium tier—while keeping core content free
  
• 💡 Partner with educators or nonprofits to bring financial literacy to underserved communities
  
• 🌅 Build under my automation brand, Sunset Systems, to provide real impact through AI
  

The opportunity to expand and monetize this app is endless—but the mission stays the same: make smart money advice truly accessible to everyone.

Built With

• bolt
• english
• supabase