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Global ambassador

Hans Patel

Leveraging financial literacy and labor economics to build a more inclusive community.

Hans is a student at Bergen County Technical High School from River Edge, New Jersey. In 2022, he co-founded Futures Financials where he now serves as the Chief Executive Officer where he himself started the 18 chapters that the organization has, raised over $40,000, and taught over 15,000 students globally. He hones in on the economics of labor where he serves as a research assistant at the Ethical Emerging Technologies Lab at Montclair State under Professor David Eisenberg and a researcher at Harvard University under Dr. Daniel Ebanks. He was also published in the Federal Reserve's Journal of Future Economists for his paper "Swiftonomics: Taylor Swift's Eras Tours Impact on the Economy."

Hans Patel, 2026 FinMango Global Ambassador
Hans PatelCohort of 2026
USA
Current Ambassador
River Edge, NJ
On financial health
"I used to think financial health was a personal failing. When I was admitted to my high school, there were students from all different counties from those with a well established curriculum to those with extremely poor funding. From day one, the effects were clear. During conversations the same financial literacy knowledge that one friend thought was 'too easy' felt impossible to another friend. Coming myself from a town and background that prepared me well for future financial independence, I was confused by this divergence. Through teaching financial literacy myself first through the financial literacy club at my high school to later starting Futures Financials, I saw how uncontrollable factors like incarceration, disabilities, income inequality, gender inequality were structural obstacles for many. In the future, I hope to fulfill my role of bringing communities together where we are moving closer and closer towards equality where no one is restricted by these factors."
— Hans Patel, on what financial health means to them
In their own words
01

Why this work matters to me

I used to sit at Dunkin' after school doing homework while my mother was serving customers each evening. Seeing the chaos of customers made me so curious, and eventually I started voluntarily helping coworkers with their needs after I finished all my homework for the day. During a hiring interview, someone was rejected because of their disability: blindness. Although they had the capabilities, the bias that was fit into everyone's minds overshadowed the skills that the applicant had. Later joining the EET Lab at Montclair State I realized that the American Disabilities Act was regularly disregarded especially by Fortune 500 companies with dedicated accessibility landing pages. This revealed the hypocrisy of businesses, and how far society is yet to be equal.

02

The biggest barrier I see

When we started Futures Financials, New Jersey was one of the worst states for regulating financial literacy education among students and still today only 30 out of 50 states mandate it. But the issue still within these 30 states that do require financial literacy is if that education is even effective in achieving the intended outcome. Yes and no. Although some students did have dedicated financial literacy coursework that taught them practical and actionable steps, the vast majority of students were taught classes that although briefly touched "finance" it was not as useful for the cause that these courses were created for. In my high school for example, students can achieve the financial literacy credit through classes like entrepreneurship, intro to research, economics, and even AP Government. While these courses are educational in their own respect and do partially align with financial literacy, the concepts discussed will not allow the students to build financially successful lives. It is loopholes like these that serve as a threat to our progress where in the chase to fulfill a requirement we lose the purpose that it was created for.

Their plan as ambassador

As an ambassador I want to build a bridge between my specialization in labor economics and my work in financial literacy. Through FinMango's extensive research I want to bring my conclusions from my ongoing research positions to write research notes and even draft full papers for the organization to bring awareness to the realities in one of the largest economic factors in the world. And with its focus on financial health, I want to focus on the youth bringing interactive lessons using TikTok references and relatable style of teaching where the students understand and start applying financial literacy into their lives as soon as possible.

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