So maybe we don't actually understand credit scores

In a completely non-scientific poll, I asked friends what held them back from gaining financial knowledge. And no, I didn’t mean budgeting because we get a lot of that information. I’m talking about additional financial information beyond budgeting such as investing, planning for retirement, taxes, etc. 

Many said that it was a combination of not knowing who to trust (valid) and not knowing where to start (also valid). One friend did say, “perhaps an overwhelming feeling of “what’s the point? I’ll always be poor/paycheque to paycheque” which I don’t have an answer for but I wish I did. 

I’ve also been thinking about financial education and where to start. I didn’t have a lot of financial education growing up. Any kind of education I have has come from diving head-first into finance writing and asking a ton of questions. Having great experts and editors has helped but not everyone can or wants to ask questions. 

That’s where a lot of tools and apps come in. I’m sure you’ve noticed the plethora of apps out there that aim to help people get a better grasp on money and investment. I decided I wanted to talk to a few of the people behind the different apps to understand their approach to financial education and how people are teaching themselves about finance so I decided to start with Jane J. Wang, the Toronto-based CEO of Optimity, a wellness app that takes a behavioural approach to financial and mental health.