Why We Do It

The Root System of Resilience

At the Sequoia Financial Foundation, we believe financial literacy is not merely a skill—it’s a root system. It anchors individuals, nourishes families, and stabilizes entire communities.

Just as a mighty tree draws strength from its unseen roots and creates a family grove, so too does a thriving society depend on the quiet power of financial understanding.Financial literacy equips people to make informed decisions about budgeting, saving, investing, and managing debt.

Yet according to the 2025 P-Fin Index, American adults correctly answered only 49% of financial knowledge questions—a figure that has remained stagnant for nearly a decade. This knowledge gap isn’t just a personal inconvenience; it’s a national liability.

First Financial Coaching

The Cost of Financial Illiteracy: A National Drain

In 2022 alone, financial illiteracy cost Americans over $436 billion in avoidable expenses—from high-interest debt and missed investment opportunities to poor budgeting and emergency shortfalls. These costs ripple outward:

  • Families fall into cycles of poverty

  • Communities lose economic momentum

  • Governments bear the weight of increased reliance on social safety nets

Financial stress also correlates with higher healthcare costs, reduced workplace productivity, and diminished retirement security. In short: when people don’t understand money, everyone pays.

Literate vs. Illiterate: A Reversal of Fortunes

Consider two archetypes:

  • Amina, who learned compound interest in high school, tracks her spending, and invests early.

  • Derek, who never received financial education, lives paycheck-to-paycheck and relies on payday loans.

Over time, Amina builds wealth, avoids financial stress, and contributes to the economy through investments and consumer spending. Derek struggles with debt, misses payments, and may rely on public assistance. Multiply this scenario across millions of households, and the macroeconomic implications become clear.

The Dimensions of Wealth reflect our commitment to a broader, more resilient understanding of what it means to prosper.

Watch to Learn More

Wealth is more than a balance sheet. Explore seven interconnected dimensions that reveal what it truly means to live with prosperity, resilience, and a sense of lasting fulfillment.

Previous Slide Next Slide

Time

We think the dimension of Time is significantly underrated. All individuals, irrespective of their financial wealth, have exactly 86,200 seconds each day. The old phrase, “Time is money” is true: Work is the trading time for money. Retirement is trading money for time. Time wasted can never be replaced. Treating time as wealth is an ancient concept, but tends to be overlooked in today’s money-driven society.

Relationships

The relationships we have are also a dimension of overall wealth. If we have more time and money, we can build more and better relationships: with friends and family and others in our sphere.

Knowledge

Knowledge, and hopefully, wisdom, is a form of wealth in which we can give all we have away and still have what we started with. Money can help gain knowledge and knowledge about money directly translates into financial wealth.

Physical

There is of course physical health, or a healthy mind and body. A billion dollars doesn’t do you any good if you are dying of pancreatic cancer. Investing in our bodies, like investing in our mind, reaps greater rewards in all the other dimensions.

Spiritual

The wealth of our belief and contemplation of a higher power is the input to give us purpose and meaning. Purpose and meaning are the driver to the other aspects: it's one of the main reasons to do what we do, be it to grow ourselves to be the best individual we can be or fritter away our existence.

Love

Like wisdom, love is a form of wealth that we can give away and still have all we started with, or even get more back in return. Love is a divine form of wealth.

Money

Money is an inter-relator of the other forms of wealth. More money can lead to more time, which can lead to more learning, which can lead to better health, which can lead to a better spiritual life, which can give us the time and desire to love others and be loved.

Previous Slide Next Slide
Watch to Learn More

Community-Level Impact: Literacy as Legacy

Financial literacy is a force multiplier. In underserved communities, it can reverse generational cycles of scarcity. A 2025 study in the IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science found that lack of financial literacy was a key barrier to accessing federal recovery programs post-COVID—especially for small businesses in marginalized areas.

When communities understand finance, they:

  • Access capital more easily

  • Build sustainable enterprises

  • Avoid predatory lending

  • Create intergenerational wealth

Financial literacy becomes legacy literacy.

Education as Prevention, Not Remediation

Despite its importance, only 29% of Americans report taking a personal finance course in high school. The Council for Economic Education found that as of 2022, only 25 states required an economics class to graduate. This gap perpetuates inequality and limits upward mobility.

Junior Achievement’s survey revealed that 95% of teens believe personal finance should be taught in school. They worry about affording college, buying a home, and managing money. Embedding financial literacy into K–12 education isn’t just smart policy—it’s moral architecture.

Sequoia Financial Foundation’s Commitment: Planting the Future

We promote financial literacy because it’s the soil from which dignity, opportunity, and legacy grow. Our programs are designed to:

  • Demystify money, taxes and legal matters for specific constituencies

  • Equip families with budgeting and saving tools

  • Support entrepreneurs with financial planning

  • Partner with schools and other providers to embed financial education

We don’t just teach finance—we cultivate resilience.

We are ready when you are ready to get started.

Share your ideas, make a contribution, or help spread our message—every action grows the forest.

Get Involved