Peer mentors create safe space to talk and learn about money

“What about something on ethical investing?”  

It’s Friday morning, and the Merriman Financial Literacy Program peer mentors are brainstorming ideas for future workshops. 

Ethical investing, the cost of groceries, credit scores, credit card considerations. The list grows. As students themselves, the peer mentors have front-row seats to the myriad money issues that today’s students face — from earning money to budgeting, loans, credit, and yes, even retirement.  

Housed within Western Washington University’s College of Business and Economics, the Merriman Financial Literacy Program — made possible by the passion, vision, and support of Paul Merriman (’66) — is a financial education and wellness program designed to empower the Western community to confidently navigate their finances and improve their overall well-being. 

Peer mentors serve the program as one-to-one coaches; they also conduct workshops and represent the program at events.

Yousef Tirhi is a senior majoring in finance and entrepreneurship, originally from San Antonio, Texas. Involved in the Merriman Financial Literacy Program since its inception in 2024, Tirhi and the other mentors have noticed a couple of common themes among their student mentees. 

“People just have a lot of expenses and not a lot of income,” said Tirhi. “Obviously, as a student, I think that’s the hardest thing to balance, especially because people can’t really get another part-time job or a full-time job while in school.” 

Effie Brickell, a senior financial economics major from Olympia, has been a peer mentor since spring of 2024. She says the one-hour mentoring appointments — which are free, by the way — are customized to whatever the mentee, or client, wants to learn about.

“Empathy is huge here. And being able to say, ‘oh, I’ve been through this exact same thing, I’ve struggled with the same thing,’ makes [the client] feel understood,” said Brickell. “There’s a lot of shame wrapped up in this stuff, right? And I just try to create a really welcoming space where I’m like, you don’t have to feel guilty.”

Talking about money is hard, but the peer mentors make it as painless as possible.  

One of the first things Jeremy Case, a senior finance major from Grass Valley, California, who has also been a peer mentor since the program began, does first when meeting with a new client is to try to determine a person’s money personality.  

“We have a card game,” he said. “And our website iGrad also has a money personality quiz that you can take.”

The money personality quiz asks about financial behavior across a range of categories and helps people understand their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to money.

iGrad is a personal finance platform designed to promote financial literacy and wellness. It’s available to all WWU students, staff, faculty, and alumni at no cost.

Once they know if your money personality leans toward “future-focused” or “elusive” or somewhere in between, the peer advisor usually knows what the next step is.  

“From there, we launch into the meat of the meeting,” said Case. “And then as soon as I realize that they have a grasp on their immediate next action items, I like to introduce and recommend a retirement account.” 

Action is an important word there. Mentees always leave their appointment with a plan, including the steps they can take.

For anyone in the know, starting a retirement account when you’re young is crucial, even if you can only invest a few dollars.

Tirhi clears up a common misconception about investing: that you need to have a lot of money to get started.  

“I think a lot of people think they don't have enough money to start investing,” said Tirhi. “I think people have the impression that you need, like, a lot of money to begin investing, which isn’t the case.”

Depending on the fund, Brickell says the minimum investment to get started can be as low as one dollar.

“I think one of the most fun things is helping people open their first brokerage account,” said Brickell. “Because you know that every dollar that they invest now is going to be worth so much more in the future than anything they could invest in ten years, 20 years.”

Brickell says that understanding the principle behind this is critical.  

“Compound interest is one of the most important lessons people can learn. It can work for you or work against you,” she continues. “If you’re investing, it’s working for you. If you’ve got a credit card or some sort of loan, compound interest is hurting you.”

The Merriman Financial Literacy Planning peer mentors are available to the entire WWU community, and beyond. For free. Last year — their first full year — they helped about 60 people, but according to Peter Wagner, the program specialist, they have more capacity.

“We are ahead of the appointments we had last year at this time,” said Wagner. “And yet we have room to grow.” 

The four peer mentors at the brainstorming meeting are aspiring financial planners. One person not at present is their most recent hire, Jai Thomas, an elementary education major who will bring a different set of skills to the program and add new perspectives.

All four say being a peer mentor is a fulfilling job. Yes, it’s about educating people about money and finances, but really, it’s about helping people.

Steve Lee, a junior majoring in financial economics from St. Louis, Missouri, started as a peer mentor at the beginning of 2025. Now he’s getting paid to do things he was already doing on his own — learning and talking about finances.

“One moment that was really fulfilling for me was when I had a client who was using this brokerage account that charged a ton of fees, but they didn’t know about it,” Lee said. “I helped them move out of that and into a zero-fee account, potentially saving them thousands of dollars over the course of the next few years. That’s real impact!”

Brickell agreed, saying she is honored to do this kind of work.

“This is the first job where I’m truly making a meaningful impact on people’s lives, and that adds so much to the work for me,” said Brickell. “I was already kind of helping my friends with this stuff — I would sit down and talk to them about investments. And then somebody started paying me to do it!” 

The Merriman Financial Literacy Program is currently hiring peer mentors for next year.

Learn more about the Merriman Financial Literacy Program, book an appointment with a peer mentor, apply to be a peer mentor, attend an upcoming workshop, or look into degrees about personal finance and more in WWU’s College of Business and Economics.

Jennifer Nerad covers Western's College of Business and Economics and College of the Environment and for the Office of University Communications. Have a great story idea? Reach out to her at neradj@wwu.edu.