Teach Me Wall Street: Founder Spotlight

Annaline Dinkelmann is the Founder and CEO of Teach Me Wall Street, which offers students in grades 9 - 12 a number of virtual summer camp opportunities that teach them about Wall Street, finance, cryptocurrency, and more. 

What type of programs does Teach Me Wall Street offer?

Teach Me Wall Street programs focus on money, trading, and investing. We cover all the basics and advanced topics from a REAL WORLD perspective. We prepare students to make smart investment decisions so they can grow their money and plan their financial futures! All of our programs are live, interactive and are presented by seasoned professionals.

We designed our foundational program, Wall Street 101, to teach students about:

• Wall Street and the stock market works
• The players are
• How Wall Street affects their lives.

Our hands-on program, Trading & Investing, teaches students how to read stock charts, select the best companies and industries to invest in, and simulate trading in real-time. Students also learn how to manage a portfolio and grow their money.

Budgeting & Beyond focuses on personal finance. Students learn how to create a budget, manage credit, save for college, and handle other real-life money matters.

What do you hope students will gain from participating in these programs?

Schools don't typically cover many of the topics that I teach in my classes. I strive to empower students with real-world knowledge about money and investing. My goal? Helping students to acquire valuable life skills so they can create a budget, understand interest rates, use credit cards wisely, know investment basics, manage a 401K and more.

I think it’s very important that young people are equipped to enter the world prepared — from a financial standpoint — no regardless of their future career. My programs can help students achieve financial independence and success by giving them the knowledge to make good choices.

What inspired you to found Teach Me Wall Street?

After working for many years at a Wall Street firm, I left to become a day trader. I enjoyed it but missed interacting with others. So, I decided to turn my passion for the stock market and people into a walking tour company that focused on the business of Wall Street. My business was very successful, and before long, I started running in-person Wall Street related classes and workshops in addition to my tours.

People loved having a tour guide and teacher with a finance industry background. I was glad that I could successfully translate and help those in my groups navigate the world of finance. I could break everything down in a way that students, parents and teachers could understand, and everyone enjoyed what they were learning.

When Covid-19 hit impacting people's ability to travel to New York, I wasn’t sure what the future would hold. I also knew there were people very interested in what I was teaching but not interested in the hassle of traveling. I decided to turn my in-person classes, workshops and tours into virtual products.

Running Teach Me Wall Street as an online business gives me much gratification. I can engage more students compared to in-person classes, and now I can reach students all over the world!

Describe your role at Teach Me Wall Street. What does an average day look like?

As the CEO and founder of Teach Me Wall Street, there's no such thing as a typical day. I wear many different hats and handle multiple tasks. On days when I'm not teaching or running workshops, I'm developing lesson plans, activities, and media to keep my classes informative and fun. I also spend time developing and marketing my business — and talking to prospective clients about how our programs can benefit them.

Describe a challenging situation you faced and how you handled it.

When the pandemic brought my in-person tour/education business to a grinding halt, I made some adjustments and successfully took parts of the business on-line.

I built a new website, assigned new roles to people on my team, who helped with the conversion, and adapted my classes to fit a virtual on-line format.

The result was a very successful virtual summer camp that has since expanded to include many other programs throughout the year.

Share one of the most memorable or impactful experiences you've had as this company's founder.

My most impactful experiences are clearly those I’ve had teaching and inspiring students. I love when students come hungry to learn something brand new. Many are curious about how to trade stock and grow their money, while others want to better equip themselves for college or a finance career. Still others simply want to become more finance savvy.

As the classes progress, I see students grasping the concepts and gaining confidence with their new knowledge and skills. They engage in challenging class activities and independently bring related news and real-world questions to the forum. I’ve watched students who are silent observers at the beginning, blossom into active class participants at the end!

What’s most important and fulfilling for me is knowing that students who have taken my classes are better equipped to deal with real-life money matters and make smart investments and financial decisions.

Visit Teach Me Wall Street's website HERE or see their TeenLife listings HERE.