NEW YORK (AP) — Are you intimidated by personal finance? Vivian Tu wants to help.
Tu is known for her TikTok account, “Your Rich BFF,” where she makes entertaining videos about personal finance. Topics include how to negotiate your salary and practical tips for dealing with credit card debt. Tu, who refers to herself as “your favorite Wall Street girly,” has 10 million followers on social media and has published two personal finance books.
Tu, born and raised in Baltimore, often connects her interest in personal finance to her upbringing as the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Her parents raised her to be frugal and appreciate money from an early age, but it wasn’t until a few years into her corporate career that she realized she had a passion for the topic.
Tu graduated from the University of Chicago and then began her career as a trader for JPMorgan in New York. After leaving Wall Street, she worked in sales at BuzzFeed for a couple of years. In late 2021, Tu started her TikTok account, which has 2.7 million followers to date. She got the idea because she was always giving personal finance advice to her colleagues.
She also hosts a podcast, “Networth and Chill,” and was recently appointed as chief of financial empowerment for SoFi, a fintech and banking platform. Her most recent book, “Well Endowed,” was published this month.
From avoiding overspending to starting your investing journey, here are some of Tu’s top personal finance tips:
Finances are one of the most important conversations to have with your significant other, Tu said. Talking about money as a couple can be intimidating, but it’s important for your future. While many people wait until they are engaged or married to talk about finances, Tu recommends you start as early as possible.
“Start early, start often. I always say you have to talk about money on the first date,” she said.
Tu recommends approaching the conversation with fun questions. One is “If I gave you $100,000 tomorrow to play your dream two-week vacation, what would you do?” If, for example, one person would rather spend the money on an expedition into nature and the other would rather spend it on an expensive resort, this shows a discrepancy in lifestyle preferences.
Conversations about finances can be fun and lead to insightful lessons about your partner’s financial values and goals. But money conversations don’t have to be intense from the beginning; they can evolve as your relationship does.
Overspending can stand in the way of saving for an emergency fund or, worse, get you into credit card debt. To avoid this, Tu recommends pausing and asking yourself why you’re making a purchase.
