WealthWise

Inspiration Financial literacy is an essential life skill, yet far too many young adults graduate without basic knowledge about taxes, loans, or budgeting. Recent studies show financial literacy in the US has stagnated at ~50% for eight years, and only 17% of adults took a personal finance class in high school. We saw an opportunity to build an engaging, actionable app to close this critical education gap.

What it does WealthWise is a personal financial assistant and financial literacy app designed to empower young adults who are entering the workforce. It teaches essential financial skills and helps them navigate taxes, expenses, budgeting, and investing. The app uses interactive calculators, a chatbot, and simple explainers to guide users through managing their money. By providing personalized recommendations and data-driven insights through machine learning, WealthWise aims to prevent debt traps and encourage financial independence.

How we built it We developed WealthWise using Swift and Xcode. The app features a user-friendly interface for navigating through financial modules like tax calculations, budgeting, and investing. We built a chatbot using an LLM to answer questions and offer custom advice. We incorporated machine learning models to recommend savings strategies based on spending patterns, leveraging sample user data.

Challenges we ran into One challenge was making complex financial topics accessible without overwhelming the user. We also had to balance personalization with simplicity so students wouldn’t get lost in advanced jargon. Integrating multiple financial tools (calculators, chatbot, recommendation system) into one cohesive app took significant testing and iteration.

What we learned We learned how important financial literacy is for long-term stability and how eager people are for tools that make personal finance approachable. We also gained valuable skills in integrating AI, building interactive UIs, and working collaboratively under tight deadlines.

What's next We hope to expand WealthWise by partnering with high schools and universities to integrate it into financial education curricula. We would also like to add real-time data connections, such as linking a bank account with user consent, to deliver even more tailored advice.