Kayden Samuel, a 17-year-old senior at Forest Grove High School in Oregon, has developed a free personal finance app called MontoEdu that is now used by more than 5,000 people in over 10 countries. Samuel created the app on his own as one of several projects during high school, aiming to serve individuals managing their own money for the first time, such as teenagers receiving their first paycheck or adults who were never taught financial basics.
The app's relevance is underscored by Oregon's recent policy shift. In 2023, state lawmakers passed a law requiring high school students to complete a half-credit personal-finance course for graduation, beginning with Samuel's class, the class of 2027. The requirement addresses a long-standing gap: many students graduate without knowing how to manage money, a concern Samuel cited as motivation for building the app. "We spend years learning subjects in school, but a lot of students graduate without knowing how to manage their own money," Samuel said.
Beyond Oregon, financial literacy remains weak among adults. The FINRA Investor Education Foundation tested more than 25,000 adults and found in results released in April 2025 that only 27% answered at least five of seven financial-literacy questions correctly, largely unchanged from 2021. That means nearly three out of four adults failed to answer at least three questions correctly on topics like interest rates and inflation. Oregon's new requirement won't help adults who have already finished school, so Samuel built MontoEdu for them as well as for students.
MontoEdu offers more than 40 beginner lessons covering budgeting, saving, credit, and investing, and it saves each user's progress so people can learn at their own pace. The app also includes calculators for savings, interest, and loans, plus a stock market game where users practice trading with fake money. Recognizing language barriers, Samuel made the entire app available in other languages and added a built-in translation tool.
The practical impact is already visible. Aditi Sharma, a user from Massachusetts, completed the budgeting lessons and then reviewed her own monthly expenses. She discovered several underused subscription services, canceled two of them, and redirected another $20 per month into the savings calculator to see how much she could grow her emergency fund. Samuel plans to continue uploading lessons through his last year of high school and intends for MontoEdu, available at montoedu.com, to always remain free.
"A lot of people don't realize how much they don't know about money until they're actually making financial decisions," Samuel said. "By then, even a small mistake can end up costing them." As more states consider financial-literacy mandates, Samuel's app illustrates how peer-built, accessible tools can supplement formal education and reach adults who missed it.
