Everything changed for Yanely Espinal after graduating from Brown University with a full scholarship.
The Brooklyn native returned home in 2011 with $20,000 in debt from living expenses gone wild.
She was frustrated with her financial situation.
“It was extremely disheartening to be struggling financially and simultaneously have no clue what to do to improve the situation,” she tells The Post.
The daughter of Dominican immigrants grew up in Bushwick in a family with eight other siblings, she watched her family struggle — but money was never talked about, and it was shameful and taboo to bring it up.
Espinal started to educate herself in financial matters by reading books, blogs, listening to podcasts and documenting what she was learning on YouTube. She now has over 58,000 followers.
Espinal erased her debt in record time and changed her career path from public elementary school teacher to finance education.
She’s since branched out with her own podcast, a video podcast “Financially Inclined” in a partnership with Marketplace and a book, “Mind Your Money: Insightful Stories and Strategies to Help You Reach Your #MoneyGoals,” (Lioncrest Publishing) that takes you through the world of finance, money lessons and investing.
“I really wanted to make this book different from other personal finance books by centering my personal stories as a first-gen Latina, first-gen college grad and first-gen investor,” she says.
The book provides crib notes to all the major financial jargon, understanding the fundamentals of banking and debt, plus small steps people can take to improve their financial situation.
It’s a great read for young adults looking to learn the ropes — and even for older people looking to improve their finances.
Now, as the Director of Educational Outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance, a financial education advocacy group, Espinal has had a hand in moving legislation to teach personal finance in schools.
“To date, our team has been involved in the success of financial education bills being signed into law in states like Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Rhode Island, South Carolina and West Virginia,” she says.
The goal is to reach every public high school in America.