Whitman Ochiai, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, thinks fellow teenagers need some financial advice, and he is giving it to any teen, or anyone else who wants to listen, for free.
Ochiai, a Great Falls resident, produces a weekly podcast with topics ranging from an introduction to taxes, to socially conscious purchasing, to tips for online shopping, and even a basic rundown on what the Federal Reserve is.
Ochiai, whose father is a surgeon and whose mother works for the federal government, got the idea for his podcast after the 35-day government shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019, the longest such shutdown in history.
鈥淭here were a lot of incidences and stories where people weren鈥檛 able to pay their rent. They weren鈥檛 able to buy food. They weren鈥檛 able to support their family. I was thinking, obviously I am just a kid, but by helping teach people about financial literacy, I could contribute to the solution,鈥� Ochiai told 海角社区app.
His podcast is called . It is free, and there are no advertisers. Ochiai said he has no interest in monetizing his financial tips.
The podcasts average two to four minutes each.
What is one of the biggest money mistakes Ochiai thinks teenagers make? Impulse purchases.
鈥淚t is really tempting to just buy stuff you don鈥檛 need because your friends have it or because you saw it in an ad. So before you buy something, think about whether or not you actually need it, and if you actually have a use for it,鈥� Ochiai said.
He has many uniquely teen-focused tips, such as contributing to a Roth IRA, whose retirement withdrawals are tax-free, but whose upfront contributions are not pretax dollars.
鈥淢any teens with a part-time job don鈥檛 earn enough money to pay federal income taxes anyway. So you literally get tax-free earnings,鈥� he said.
At school, Ochiai is the editor-in-chief for Thomas Jefferson鈥檚 Podcast Network, and president of the Fairfax County school鈥檚 Financial Literacy Club.
He also tutors middle school students and plans to pursue economics and computer science in college.
And his hobbies include hiking and singing Italian opera.
翱肠丑颈补颈鈥檚 is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play and SoundCloud.
