Financial education, built around behavior change

Learn to manage money.
Actually change how you use it.

FinWise Academy combines behavioral science, structured learning, and practical tools to help U.S. adults build real financial skills they can apply to everyday decisions.

Join the waitlist See how it works
260
early users in our first testing phase
6
structured modules, about 35 minutes each
3
learning layers: understand, practice, apply
9:41●●●
Your learning path
Good morning, Sarah
U.S. Credit System
Complete
Credit Card Usage
In progress
Budgeting and Expenses
Next up
Continue: Credit Card Usage →
Day streak
21 days
Keep it going ↑
Action tasks done
4 of 6
One per module
A preview of the launch experience
The problem

Nobody taught us how money actually works

Credit scores, interest, budgeting, debt — most of us were expected to just figure it out. Today 1 in 4 U.S. adults has very low financial literacy, up from 1 in 5 in 2017. Here's what that gap costs:

F
The grade the average U.S. adult would get on money basics — just 47% of financial-literacy questions answered correctly, the lowest average in ten years.
TIAA Institute–GFLEC P-Fin Index, 2026
$948
What the average American estimates losing in a single year to gaps in financial knowledge.
National Financial Educators Council, 2025
11 hrs
Weekly time workers with very low financial literacy spend dealing with money issues at work — more than a full workday.
TIAA Institute–GFLEC P-Fin Index, 2026
+13 pts
The gap isn't ability — it's access. Adults who receive financial education answer 13 percentage points more questions correctly. That's the gap FinWise Academy is designed to close.
TIAA Institute–GFLEC P-Fin Index, 2026
How it works

Four steps from knowing to doing

Most financial content stops at information. FinWise Academy is designed to walk you from concept to decision to action.

1
Get your financial profile
A short quiz maps where you stand — credit, budgeting, spending habits, and goals.
2
Follow your learning path
Modules and practical activities, sequenced around your priorities instead of a one-size-fits-all curriculum.
3
Learn it. Then do it.
Short lessons end with a decision prompt and a concrete action task you can apply the same day.
4
See your progress
At launch, your dashboard will show completed lessons, action tasks, and how far you've come.
Coming at launch AI-assisted educational guidance, woven through every step. Join the waitlist to be first in line.
Learning modules

Real financial skills,
built one lesson at a time

Each module connects financial concepts to real decisions you're already facing — and ends with an action task you can do today.

🏦

How the U.S. Credit System Works

Credit scores, credit history, payment behavior, and how your financial decisions affect your long-term opportunities in the United States.

Tested with early users
💳

Credit Card Usage and Behavior

Statement cycles, utilization rates, APR vs fees, payment timing, and how to use cards without letting habits control your finances.

Tested with early users
📊

Budgeting and Recurring Expenses

Distinguish intentional expenses from habitual ones, identify recurring costs, and plan for irregular expenses before they become financial shocks.

Tested with early users
📋

Understanding Fees and Interest

Late fees, overdraft charges, unnecessary subscription costs, and the real price of carrying a balance month to month.

Tested with early users
🎯

Debt Education Strategies

Practical frameworks for evaluating debt decisions, comparing repayment scenarios, and understanding the real cost of high-interest borrowing.

Tested with early users
💰

Savings Habits and Goals

Building consistent savings habits, emergency fund strategies, and how to automate financial discipline into your daily routine.

Tested with early users
Pricing

Affordable for everyone
who needs it most

These are our plans for launch. Join the waitlist to get first access when enrollment opens — no credit card required.

Free
$0
Always free
Try the platform and experience the approach before committing.
Limited lessons on budgeting and credit basics
Basic budgeting tracker
Credit behavior quiz
Weekly financial tips
Join the waitlist
Best value
Standard
$99
per year · $8.25/month
Full access to structured financial education and practical tools.
Full learning track access
Interactive budgeting tools
Credit usage simulators
Debt repayment planner
Progress reports
Join the waitlist
Premium
$199
per year · $16.58/month
Enhanced educational support for people who want to go further.
Everything in Standard
AI-assisted educational guidance · coming at launch
Personalized learning action plans
Structured action and reflection activities
Spending-pattern insights · coming at launch
Join the waitlist
Institutional
$5–7
per user/month · volume pricing
For nonprofits, colleges, credit unions, and employers serving groups.
All Premium features
Partner reporting dashboard
Group onboarding support
Custom branding options
Contact us
Optional add-on
Educational Support Sessions

For users who want individualized educational support beyond the platform. Sessions are educational and decision-support oriented, covering budgeting, credit behavior, spending patterns, and financial habits. They do not constitute legal, tax, investment, credit repair, or regulated financial advisory services.

$49–$129
per session
Learn more
What users say

Real people. Real financial decisions.

From newcomers building credit history to families rethinking household budgets — FinWise Academy meets people where they are.

"During the first month, I found several recurring charges that I did not really need. After canceling those and being more careful with other expenses, I was able to save approximately $270 more per month. I started putting that money toward an emergency fund."
P
P.
New York, NY
"The result was that I was able to stay in my home. By getting a clear picture of my finances and changing how I managed my spending month to month, I found enough room to keep up with the rent and avoid the move I had been dreading."
D
D.
Orlando, FL
"Over the next few months, I became much more organized about what I owed. I stopped taking on new purchases that I could not justify, kept better track of the payments I already had, and started reducing the balances. The main benefit for me was having a method."
L
L.
Boston, MA

"I arrived in the United States without any credit history and had been turned down for loans and credit cards multiple times. Working through FinWise Academy's credit content over the following months, I was able to build credit history and obtain a U.S. credit card I had previously been denied."

T
T.
Philadelphia, PA
Our access policy

For every paid license, one free seat.

When someone pays for FinWise Academy, we give the same program to someone who could not otherwise afford practical financial education — through the community organizations that already serve them.

Paid license1 seat

An individual subscription or an institutional seat, paid by a customer, an employer, or a school.

Free seat1 seat

The full six-module program, at no cost, for a person served by one of our partner organizations.

Nonprofits

Job-training, financial-stability, and community programs.

Faith communities

Congregations and their care and outreach ministries.

Public libraries

Adult learning and financial-literacy programming.

Educational institutions

Colleges, alumni communities, and student-support offices.

Partner with usSee how the program works

This is how we grow: every paying customer extends the program to someone who cannot pay.

About the founder
Marcelo Augusto Falciano
Marcelo Augusto Falciano
Founder, FinWise Academy

Built at the intersection of financial behavior, education, and technology

FinWise Academy was founded by Marcelo Falciano, whose career has been dedicated to one question: why does knowing about money so rarely change what we do with it?

🎓

The idea started at Columbia University

During his master's in Instructional Technology and Media at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York, Marcelo dug into a question that had followed him for a decade: why does financial education so rarely change what people actually do with their money? FinWise Academy grew out of that graduate work — and was then tested with 260 early users across the U.S.

🏢

A decade scaling education technology

At Geekie, one of Brazil's leading edtech companies, Marcelo spent nearly a decade on large-scale implementation projects with schools, negotiating with institutions, and leading commercial teams — and was named the youngest Partner in the company's history.

📄

Published researcher on credit behavior

Co-author of "Effects of Credit Card Usage on Young Brazilians' Compulsive Buying" (Young Consumers, 2014). He's been studying why smart people make bad money decisions since long before founding FinWise.

🏫

Nearly 2,000 people reached as a volunteer financial educator

Between 2011 and 2014, while still in college, delivered 51 financial-education sessions reaching 1,858 participants across 28 institutions through the Brasilprev/Trevisan "Projeto de Vida na Ponta do Lápis" program.

Get started

Join the waitlist

Be among the first to access FinWise Academy when we open enrollment. No credit card required.

We'll notify you when enrollment opens.