Long Hui Jiang is currently a sophomore at Brooklyn Latin School in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He attended a First Generation Investors course last winter. In addition to FGI and school, he enjoys participating in a mock trial related to advocacy and public speaking, as well as mentoring middle school students for the Specialized High School Admissions Test. In the future he hopes to attend college and pursue law school or medical school.
What has been your favorite part of FGI?
My favorite part has definitely been being able to connect with people through the FGI classes and finding out other peoples stories and where they come from and just being able to learn about other people and realizing that we’re all in this together and here to learn from each other. It’s really cool to be in the same room as people that are smarter than you and learning from them.
What was your biggest discovery or learning as a part of FGI? How did the program change the way that you had traditionally thought about finance and investing? How did it change your habits?
Being a part of FGI has really opened my eyes to the world of finance and marketing and investing in general, because being a high schooler I don't want to have to think about finances, it's really intimidating. But, I've learned about how the finance world is not as complicated and difficult as people think it is. For me, I’ve started to understand it more, and everytime I go to the store I am aware of the stuff consumers put in front of me and how I’m going to manage my finances properly. I’ve learned how to manage responsibility.
FGI is an organization supported by donors and almost all volunteers. What message would you send to those who have supported, or are considering supporting a program like this?
Well first of all I would just like to say thank you to the donors and people that have contributed to FGI putting out classes and events. It's just really amazing how I would have never known how to invest or taken the initiative, and I would have never taken this step to learn more about the world of finance and things related to that because, (1) I’ve just been intimidated and (2) there was so much stuff I needed to know. In reality, it is really simple and easy with the teachers that come in and teach the class about how we can understand the finance world and real world more realistically.
What are your future plans, goals, or dreams?
In the future I would definitely like to apply and go to college, so knowing about finances and loans and investments will definitely help when it comes to managing my tuition and how I will pay off the cost of college. Being able to have money invested and not just sitting in the bank account is going to really help in the future because it will be passively generated and that's something that I learned when I attended the FGI classes. I definitely want to get a higher education and plan to be responsible and stable. I would maybe like to pursue law school or medical school in the future. I think having my finances stable is going to make it so that I have less to worry about.
What else would you like to share?
The FGI class for me was really revealing into the world of finance and what it was about because it was my first ever exposure to stuff like that. It's just not something that people really talk about, because people only think about stocks and ETFs. It was really enlightening, and to do it for completely free.
