A generation skilled in using artificial intelligence (AI) often struggles with basic financial concepts, such as distinguishing profit from cash flow or understanding compound interest, creating a critical vulnerability between technological fluency and financial regulatory literacy. While young professionals, entrepreneurs, students, and policymakers use AI to summarise research, build financial models, and suggest investment strategies, technology cannot replace human judgment, and without financial literacy, AI risks amplifying poor decisions. Public debate has overlooked whether citizens understand the financial implications of AI-driven decisions, and evidence suggests they often cannot. Real-world incidents illustrate these risks: in 2023, a Hong Kong employee was tricked into transferring over $25 million after a video call populated by AI-generated deepfakes; robo-advisor platforms have faced criticism for failing to protect inexperienced investors during market downturns, causing unexpected losses; and algorithmic lending systems at major financial institutions exhibited bias, offering less favourable loan terms to certain demographic groups, highlighting how opaque AI decisions can reinforce inequality.