Priya Malani is a New York-based financial entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Stash Wealth, a financial advisory firm focused on high-earning individuals in their 20s and 30s. She is a certified investment advisor and previously worked as a financial advisor and vice president at Merrill Lynch.

Her firm Stash Wealth characterizes its target customers as “HENRYs,” an acronym meaning “High Earners, Not Rich Yet.” Her commentary on investing for millennials has appeared in a variety of publications including BuzzFeed, NerdWallet, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and PureWow. ^{1 2}

Background

Priya Malani graduated from Agnes Scott College in 2004 and earned a real estate certificate from New York University. ^{3 4} According to public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission, she was registered as an investment advisor with Merrill Lynch from 2006 to 2008 and registered again upon founding Stash Wealth in 2018. ⁵

She began her career at Merrill Lynch, working there from 2004 to 2009, and became among the youngest vice presidents at the company, working as an investment advisor to high-net-worth individuals. ⁶

Stash Wealth

Malani has said that she devised what would become Stash Wealth in 2016 after participating in an IBM focus group for its Watson artificial intelligence tools for financial advisors. She started Stash Wealth to serve younger individuals, many of whom lived in New York or other major cities, who are high earners in their 20s and 30s but need guidance on building long term investments. According to Malani, she built the company around clients like herself, stating that “I was my customer. I was a young professional and at one point I was making good money and wanted more to show for it. I was in New York as a 20/30 something. I was living a good life, but I wanted to live my best life, and to do that I needed to get my sh*t together…I hated the idea of budgeting because I wanted to be able to enjoy my money, guilt-free.” ⁷

She built the client base for Stash Wealth by offering free advice and seminars to her targeted demographic in New York. She has also built partnerships with traditional investment advisor firms to refer younger clients who do not met those firm’s income thresholds to Stash Wealth. ⁸

Much of Malani’s financial advice centers around urging individuals to begin investing early, often stating examples of the benefits of starting investing in the market at 25 instead of 35 and investing largely in low-fee index funds as opposed to single stocks. ⁹

Malani has written for BuzzFeed, NerdWallet, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and Pure Wow. She has also been profiled by Fortune, the New York Post, SiriusXM, Bustle, and Refinery29. ¹⁰

1. “Priya Malani.” CrunchBase. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/priya-malani-a402
2. “Priya Malani.” WikiHow. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.wikihow.com/Author/Priya-Malani
3. “Priya Malani.” The Org. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://theorg.com/org/stash-wealth/org-chart/priya-malani
4. “Priya Malani.” WikiHow. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.wikihow.com/Author/Priya-Malani
5. “PRIYA SURENDAR MALANI.” Investment Advisor Public Disclosure. Securities and Exchange Commission. Accessed October 16, 2023.  https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/individual/summary/4901157
6. Richardson, Lisa. “Starting Stash Wealth: How Priya Helps HENRYs Live A Five Star Life With A Three Star Price.” How She Started. July 20, 2023. Accessed October 16, 2023. https://www.howshestarted.com/stash-wealth
7. Richardson, Lisa. “Starting Stash Wealth: How Priya Helps HENRYs Live A Five Star Life With A Three Star Price.” How She Started. July 20, 2023. Accessed October 16, 2023. https://www.howshestarted.com/stash-wealth
8. Richardson, Lisa. “Starting Stash Wealth: How Priya Helps HENRYs Live A Five Star Life With A Three Star Price.” How She Started. July 20, 2023. Accessed October 16, 2023. https://www.howshestarted.com/stash-wealth
9. Stanberry, Lindsey and Malanu, Priya. “Reading This Will Make You Rich One Day.” Refinery29. March 23, 2016. Accessed October 16, 2023. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/how-to-invest
10. “Priya Malani.” WikiHow. Accessed October 15, 2023. https://www.wikihow.com/Author/Priya-Malani