- 11 hours ago
Former Wall Street trader and personal finance educator Vivian Tu joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about personal finance best practices.
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00:00Hi, besties. I'm Vivian Tu, a former Wall Street trader, financial educator, and the CEO of Your
00:05Rich BFF. Today, I'm taking questions from the internet. This is personal finance support.
00:14User Chocolate Rain comments, it's very odd how these companies are almost begging customers to
00:20split payments slash buy in four, etc. Something is off. I hear you. Buy in four, after pay,
00:27like the Klarna conversation of it all, it all started from a good place. The background is
00:34these companies were utilized often to provide credit to underbanked communities. So people who
00:40couldn't necessarily get credit in the traditional way, they couldn't necessarily get credit cards or
00:44loans from banks, people could use these programs to purchase major things. Things like refrigerators,
00:50appliances, a new laptop for work, work tools. It started as a way to potentially help people.
00:56But obviously, capitalism sunk her teeth into it. And now all of a sudden, companies are saying,
01:01hey, you can split your burrito into four payments. Four easy payments of $4. Yes, burritos do now cost
01:07$16. If you can use them correctly, you're okay. But you miss one payment, and you best believe your
01:17credit score is going to get dinged. You are going to get charged interest. These are no longer safety
01:22nets, providing funding to underfunded communities. They are predatory. I do not use any of these
01:27programs. And I would encourage you to avoid them as well. This question comes from chaotic is taken
01:32pros and cons of joint bank accounts. This is a hot topic of mine. But I think the healthiest strategy
01:38most often for couples is to have a yours, mine and our strategy. Joint bank accounts are great because
01:44they make it really easy to split joint expenses. So things like paying for your mortgage or utilities or
01:50even date night and vacations. But a joint bank account also opens yourself up to a lot of risk.
01:57I actually know a couple that had a joint bank account. And one of the partners, you know,
02:01developed a pretty bad sports betting addiction and drained that entire bank account. But because
02:07he was a joint owner on the account, there was nothing that my friend could really do about it. So
02:12if
02:13you're opening up a joint bank account with someone, you have to make sure that you really,
02:16really trust them. They are financially literate and responsible. And I still encourage even great
02:22couples and great relationships to still have their own money because we all need to have access
02:27to rainy day funds. And I just think that it's so important, especially for women, to make sure
02:31that they have the money to leave a bad situation in case things go south.
02:36User Patricia Honda is tired. She says,
02:39What the hell is loud budgeting now? Y'all just be making stuff up. I'm tired.
02:43It's safe to say that a lot of people are feeling the burn in their wallets. Everything feels a little
02:48bit tighter from necessities, but also to just like going out with friends. And loud budgeting is
02:53very simply when you are transparent about your own money goals and what is available to you.
02:59So you have four friends getting married next year. They all want you to go to their destination
03:04bachelorette parties. They are all having destination weddings and destination engagement parties.
03:09It is okay for you to actually talk to them and say, Hey, I have some money goals.
03:14And if I'm being totally transparent, going to New York for your engagement party,
03:18Cabo for your bachelorette, and then Italy for your wedding is not in my budget.
03:23I'm currently saving for XYZ. I have to pay off this much debt,
03:27but I want to still support you and be there for you as a friend.
03:30Talk to me about what is most important for you and what I should really be present at.
03:34That type of transparency is entirely what loud budgeting is about.
03:37And it's just us being more honest versus going into debt for other people's major moments or to
03:44look cool or to do stuff just because. Finarius asks, how do you balance saving for the future
03:50versus enjoying life now? You have to build the infrastructure. So you take all the decision
03:55making out of your day to day. So when you sign up for your first job, they have you give
04:00them a
04:01checking account of where you want your paycheck deposited. But did you know, you can actually say,
04:05hey, I want 75% of my paycheck routed here. I want 10% here and another 15% here.
04:12This helps you really figure out what goes to taking care of future you and what you get to enjoy
04:16today. SeekingWealth underscore says, people really think skipping out on their daily $5 coffee will help
04:23them become a millionaire. I am kind of torn on this one. I agree. A $5 coffee every day for
04:30a whole
04:31entire year works out to be roughly a little less than $2,000. That's certainly not getting you to
04:36millionaire status in the course of a year. However, the behavior of dollar dribbling oftentimes
04:43can lead you to become less wealthy over the course of your lifetime. So what does that mean? If every
04:50day you buy that $5 coffee with intention and it brings you so much joy and it is the only
04:56thing
04:56empowering you to get to work, go get it. But are you also buying a croissant with that? And then
05:02are
05:02you also spending $15 on a salad for lunch? And oh, by the way, I didn't really feel like taking
05:08public transportation home tonight. So I took a rideshare. When you do these little things that add
05:14up over time, it can lead to less money in your pocket and less money, more importantly, in your
05:20investments over the course of your lifetime. When you are just spending mindlessly, it's not really
05:25adding to your life. You will actually end up spending a lot of your money and then looking
05:29back and feeling like you have nothing to show for it. So what I say is if you are going
05:34to make
05:35little purchases, buy yourself a little treat, do it with intention, do it with meaning. But in
05:40situations where you don't need to be spending certain amounts of money, you might be better off
05:45allocating that dollar into an investment account for yourself. That money doesn't go away. It just gets
05:50to take care of future you. June Crypto 3 says, $20,000 in student loans, still paying the price
05:56of bad decisions. I'm sorry that you are still paying off your student loans, but for maybe younger
06:02people who are considering higher education, what I really encourage you to do is actually go to
06:06bls.gov. This is the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They have an A through Z occupational handbook. So they
06:12have everything from accountant to zookeeper. Through every single one of these jobs, they'll tell you
06:16how much education you need, any sort of licensing requirements or graduate degrees or anything like
06:21that. Roughly what this job would make. Also what different sectors pay for that type of job. And
06:26that way you actually have a good gut check of will this degree and major give me the actual career
06:33that will fund all of the debt that I might need to be taking to actually get it. Todd Berry
06:38says,
06:39got this great Chrome extension that searches for discount codes when you shop online. It only takes an
06:44extra minute and it never ever finds a discount. Those Chrome extensions, more often than not,
06:49they won't really find you anything. But what I do think is real is going through an affiliate website.
06:55So things like a Rakuten, before you are going to buy something, they have a relationship with a lot
07:02of vendors where they're like, hey, if you drive us traffic, we will give you 10% of each order.
07:08And then
07:08they turn around and say, we'll give you 5% cash back if you route your order through us. Essentially
07:15you get to split that commission with them. So before I go shopping anywhere, I head to a site
07:19like Rakuten. I make sure that I see what sort of cash back I'm able to get. And then I
07:24use a rewards
07:25credit card so I can get cash back again, or maybe even travel miles. My money culture asks,
07:30what should I do first? Pay off my debts, save for an emergency fund, save for a house,
07:35or invest. Okay, this is the easy peasy way to go through the waterfall. First and foremost, you want
07:42to have an emergency fund. This makes sense because you don't want to get into more financial trouble
07:46if the wheel rolls off of your car or your roof caves in. What I personally like to do is
07:50say three
07:51to six months of living expenses in a high yield savings account if you're single, or six to 12 months
07:56of living expenses if you're ahead of household. Then we're going to pay off our high interest rate
08:01debt. So that's debt, anything above 7%, mostly credit cards. Once we have that all paid off,
08:07then you can start thinking about investments and saving for a house. So you can continue to pay your
08:13low interest rate debt while you start setting money aside for more liquid investments. Dry
08:17Entrepreneur 2342 asks, what systems do you use to stop yourself from dipping into your savings?
08:24I make it really hard for me to access my own savings. You can have part of your paycheck go
08:31towards a checking account, and then part of your paycheck go towards a saving account. So you can say
08:3690% goes to checking, 10% goes towards savings. Then make it some random password into the bank that
08:44holds your high yield savings account. Make it hard for yourself to get in. Make it so that you have
08:49to
08:49click forgot password and go to your email and get a special code and log in again. Because when you
08:56put enough barriers in between you and spending from your savings account, you don't feel like you
09:01have the right to dig into it. Okay, a Quora user asked, how can learning to negotiate effectively
09:06increase your overall wealth? Let me tell you one thing. Rich people love to negotiate everything.
09:13I'm talking medical bills. Fun fact, did you know 80% of those have errors in them? They go and
09:18they
09:18actually negotiate and say, hey, I didn't get these treatments done. Can I get a discount here? And
09:23they're getting them. On top of that, things that you get subscriptions for, so your Wi-Fi, your cell
09:29phone bill, all of that, you can negotiate it, especially if you have multiple competitors in the
09:34area. They want to keep your business and they are willing to offer you a discount or maybe a locked
09:39in lower rate for a period of time. You should be negotiating for a raise every single year, and you
09:45should be negotiating things that are big expenses for you, like rent, as well as what you would pay
09:51for a car, and especially when you go to make big purchases like a home. The easiest way to negotiate
09:56is to, one, do your research, know exactly what the market rates for everything are and where you
10:02might be able to find those discounts. Two, it's to really prepare and set yourself up for success with
10:07all of your information and then make a very clear ask and then stop talking. Most of us try to
10:12walk it
10:12back or say, oh, but if not, it's okay. Don't say any of that stuff. Just wait for them to
10:16respond.
10:16But more often than not, you'll actually find that many providers, many employers will actually meet
10:21you halfway. So once you actually get what you want, make sure that you deliver on your end of the
10:25bargain and continue being a great employee or being a loyal customer. This question comes from
10:30irrational underscore thoughts. One, are spending tracking apps really worth it? So it depends.
10:38Spending tracking apps are a great way to see what you're spending on. You can track it all
10:42you want, but if you're spending more than you have coming in the door, you're still going to be
10:47in a net negative. So what I really encourage you to actually do is build out a budget that you
10:52can
10:53live with and not be so tight on every single expense, but have categories. My favorite strategy
10:58is the 50-30-20 method. 50% of your after-tax take-home pay goes to needs. So things
11:04like your
11:05basic housing and transportation and groceries. 30% of your after-tax take-home pay goes to wants. So
11:11that's like getting drinks with your friends or going out to eat or going to a concert. And 20%
11:16goes to taking care of future you. I'm talking debt pay down and investing. On Reddit, user
11:23deepfunny5242 wrote a post about the huge impact of quitting social media on my finances. I could not
11:28agree more. And this is coming from someone whose entire career is on social media. But I feel like
11:34social media has convinced so many of us that we do not have a good life. And the problem of
11:39that is
11:40in our parents' generation, our parents would take their binoculars and look at the Joneses across
11:44the street and be like, ooh, the Joneses got a new station wagon. But now, instead of being limited
11:49to other people who are in your general income tax bracket, we have unfettered access to everybody
11:57on earth. All of a sudden, I can see what the inside of a private jet looks like. I have
12:02no business
12:03knowing what that looks like because I don't have private jet money. And all of a sudden,
12:07it looks like everybody's on vacation all the time, all at once. You're the only loser
12:11at home doing your job, working, living a normal life. But in fact, that's quite the opposite
12:16of true. I really encourage everyone to think about the incentives. If somebody is really
12:21hardcore promoting something, is it because they make an affiliate commission when you buy
12:27one? Cult following items. Maybe you don't need those things to be happy. Someone is just
12:31trying to sell them to you. Decentage1707 asks, how many different pots slash accounts do you put
12:37money into for saving? I have a big pot that is my emergency fund. I have a vacation fund. I
12:43had
12:44a home down payment fund. I bought the house. We have a family planning fund. In many cases,
12:49when you have your money at a high yield savings account, you're actually able to divvy up where your
12:55actual cash is earmarked without having to open a bunch of other accounts. And what I like to do
12:59is I actually label the names, including a dollar amount. So say, emergency fund, $10,000. And that
13:07way, if I see the dollar value slip below that amount, I can then top that account up because
13:12I know it needs a little bit more money. DependentTap8999 asks, how much do you trust generic AI like
13:19ChatGPT for financial advice? Point blank, not at all. Not only are these generic AI platforms not
13:26registered investment advisors with the SEC, but ChatGPT in particular recently just came out and
13:32said that they are no longer answering medical, financial, or legal questions. And my guess is
13:37it's because they ran out of arbitration budget. Listen, I think AI is truly going to be such a big
13:44help in the personal finance space. And that is why I built my own startup called Ask Dolly. You can
13:50check it out at askdolly.com. We are a registered investment advisor with the SEC. You can get on-demand
13:56personal finance knowledge 24-7. And then if you do ask an incredibly niche personal question,
14:02we connect you with a live human certified financial planner to make sure that you can
14:05get the financial advice you deserve, not just some generic AI slop. SamRC1987 says,
14:12I'm just a guy heavily banking on his Pokemon cards, Pogs, and Beanie Babies to provide his only
14:17shot at retirement. What I encourage people to think about when it comes to things like art,
14:22or collectibles, or even wine, your item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
14:29Do they have value as assets? Yes. However, you have to remember the market for collectibles,
14:37for art, for wine sellers, they're not as liquid as things like the stock market, or even crypto,
14:45or even real estate. There are only so many people who actually want collectibles. In some cases,
14:51if it's ultra rare, and there's a huge community and a cult following behind it, yes, you have
14:56assets, and they might be worth something. But they're really only worth what someone is willing
15:00to pay. And more often than not, in an economic downturn, people are much less willing to pay for
15:05collectibles, things like Pokemon cards, because they have to pay for things like food, things that
15:11are actually necessities. Inspector number 376 asks, how do you handle unexpected expenses when your budget
15:18is already tight? This is exactly why we need to have an emergency fund. I'll give you a story.
15:25When I had just moved to New York, I had a little bit of an incident with a bread knife,
15:30and chopped off
15:31the tip of my index finger. I went to the ER, the entire bill ended up being $16,000. Even
15:38after insurance,
15:39I still owed roughly, I want to say $1,300. The problem was, I didn't have that money. Oh, but
15:45wait,
15:45my emergency fund did. I had been setting aside money into an emergency fund, and that was able
15:51to cover my medical bill. Even if you don't think of your emergency fund as money you have access to
15:57today, it can bail you out of a really big, sticky situation. So when your budget is tight, what I
16:04encourage you to do is simple. Slowly start setting money aside. This can be $10 a month, $20 a month,
16:10whatever you have access to. Over time, that emergency fund will grow, grow, grow, grow, grow.
16:15And when you have an unexpected expense, you will have the dollars to be able to take care of those
16:20expenses and better take care of yourself. Ooh, this is a little bit of an old school question,
16:25but MDG Roberts One asks, is it a good idea to keep a cash stash around the house? Yes and
16:31no. No,
16:32because any sort of cash that is not earning you interest in a high yield savings account is
16:38essentially being eaten away at slowly by inflation and the cost of living going up over time. Yes,
16:44because in some cases, you will need cash. So when a housekeeper comes or maybe when you go to
16:51the neighborhood bodega and just want to buy a couple things, I think cash is efficient and
16:56effective and has a time and a place. But keeping too much of it at the house does not benefit
17:01you in
17:02any way. I probably keep $100, $200 in cash at the house, at my house, at any given time. Having
17:09the cash is helpful for my day-to-day life, but it doesn't leave too much out of a bank
17:14where I can
17:14actually earn more money on my money. A question from the UK personal finance subreddit. Any tips
17:20for handling a partner who keeps getting into debts? I think someone who keeps getting into debts,
17:27I think the word keeps is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the sentence for me. I don't
17:31think
17:31debt makes you morally a bad person. Many of us have debt, I have debt, but you have to have
17:37a plan
17:37to pay it down. And the fact that you have a partner who continuously keeps getting themselves
17:43into a bad financial position tells me that they do not value a dollar the same way you do. That
17:49they
17:49are not responsible with their money and ultimately will not be a responsible partner for you. And I know
17:54that sounds quite harsh, but I do not want your financial future to be jeopardized by someone
18:01who clearly isn't as responsible as they need to be to be in a relationship. Question from
18:07championok533. At what income level should someone start to consider a money manager slash financial
18:12advisor? At what level does it possibly pay for itself? You do not need a money manager or financial
18:18advisor unless you have a really complex financial situation. I'll give you two examples. So if you are a
18:23high powered attorney in a major city and you make $650,000 a year, you do not have a complex
18:31financial situation. You make your money in one place, you get a W-2 job from your law firm. You
18:36are an incredibly high earner. That number is huge. But because your money is coming in from one place,
18:43it's very simple, cut and dry. It's also very easy for you to perhaps invest on your own or utilize
18:50a
18:50robo-advisor because this is going to help you save so much money in fees. Human financial advisors
18:57and money managers more often than not charge 1 to 1.25% in fees every single year of the
19:03assets
19:04they manage for you. And over the course of your lifetime, that could be six, maybe seven figures.
19:08I really don't want to give up that much in fees. However, if you have an incredibly complex
19:14financial situation, let's use Drake as an example. This man makes money from album sales. He makes
19:20money from streaming. He makes money from touring, from merch. He tours in multiple different countries.
19:27So there's a ton of complication there. He has a very complex financial situation. And that is when
19:34a financial manager or a money manager or an advisor might make more sense. The next question comes from
19:41rude ad 7287. I'm in overdraft and can't get out. I would appreciate any advice. Simply put, it sounds
19:49like there is a discrepancy between income and outflow. Unfortunately, that really does mean you
19:55need to increase the amount of dollars coming in the door. So that means either getting a temporary
20:00side hustle, getting a higher paying job. It means perhaps even working with a family member to help
20:08put you in a position where you are able to have the cash to pay certain things down. Once you
20:13have
20:13more income coming in the door, it's also about tackling perhaps the existing debt problem you may
20:19have or the spending problem that you may have. If this is coming from a position of you're overspending,
20:25I think that's one conversation. You could consider things like credit counseling. You could consider
20:29things like debt consolidation. But if it's truly a needs-based problem, so you are in overdraft trying to
20:37buy groceries. You are in overdraft trying to pay for basic necessities. This is a very tough situation
20:42because I'm not going to sit here and try and pretend like you can budget your way out of poverty.
20:48You can't budget your way out of a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle. You actually just need to make more
20:53money. Regardless of where you live or where you are struggling, there are so many local resources that
20:58might be able to help you, whether that is a food pantry, whether that is debt relief in certain
21:04neighborhoods. In New York City, we have programs that can help eliminate certain types of debt.
21:09Maybe there are social programs, social safety networks that can provide you mutual aid. But
21:15please look into your local geography and what is available both to you from the community,
21:20but also the local government. NoCardiologist1407 asks,
21:24how do people get rich by faking being rich? They don't. You've heard of notable examples like
21:29Anna Delvey. Those house of cards always come crashing down. What I always say is that if you
21:35focus all of your energy on looking rich, it'll actually make you broke. More often than not,
21:40people who purport to have all of this money and live this crazy, lavish lifestyle are not doing
21:46that well. The richest people on this planet, you would never know. They would walk down the street.
21:50And I think it really comes down to being able to spend money on things that actually bring you joy
21:56versus spending money on things just to impress people. YJ Levgy asks, how can I keep my dad from
22:03being taken advantage of financially by family members, scammers, etc.? I love this question because
22:08I am a first generation daughter of immigrants. In many immigrant communities, there is this level of
22:16obligation to support family members. But if you don't set healthy boundaries, they are going to take
22:23from you until you have nothing left versus you being able to lift them up. What I encourage you
22:28to do with your dad for family is to not only maybe provide money and support in that way, but
22:34also
22:35provide support through the form of education, resources, and helping them help themselves.
22:40As for scammers, this is a more older generation, younger generation conversation. I actually force my
22:48parents to walk me through any sort of major financial decisions they're making because my parents were
22:56victim of a phishing scam. We have to make sure that we are protecting a generation that didn't necessarily
23:01grow up as natively on technology as we did. I think it's really important to have those conversations,
23:06let them know that they're not in trouble, but you want to help and setting them up for success so
23:11that your parents
23:12are more technologically savvy, that'll help prevent them from being scammed. Next question is from
23:17Resim. Is buying a home still worth it in 2026? What do you mean by worth it? If I'm being
23:24honest,
23:24right now it is cheaper to rent than buy in the vast majority of major metropolitan cities. However,
23:30when you ask yourself, is it worth it? I want you to think about a couple things. One, how long
23:35do you plan to
23:35stay in that residence? If you are not planning to stay for longer than five to seven years, at a
23:41minimum,
23:41you should not be buying because the frictional costs of buying a home, such as mortgage origination
23:47fees, paying for an inspection, the costs are very high. If you, however, are planning on putting down
23:53roots, you want to be there for a while, it may be a good idea. Keep in mind, when you're
23:57a renter,
23:58if something bad, terrible happens to you, your toilet starts leaking at 2am, that is your landlord's
24:03problem. When you own the home, that is now your problem. When you are a renter, you don't pay property
24:09taxes, but when you own, you pay property taxes. However, when you own, the big pro is that you're
24:15building equity. But what I always say is buying real estate now doesn't have to look like what it
24:21looked like when our parents did it. I know multiple people now who rent their primary residence,
24:27but actually have investment properties that they then utilize as part-time vacation homes and might
24:33rent out the other part of the time. They want to be able to buy a little piece of this
24:37earth and
24:38have it maybe for their future retirement, but they don't necessarily feel like the geography
24:43where their primary residence is located is a good investment market. So I would just say,
24:49get creative. Buying a home is not the end-all be-all. If you buy one, it doesn't make you
24:53a winner.
24:54Not having one doesn't make you a loser. You got to make sure you do what actually makes sense for
24:58your lifestyle. Dick Moss asks, turning 40 and realizing that I need to start saving for retirement,
25:03will I be okay? One in four people has zero dollars saved for retirement. So I don't want
25:10you to feel alone and I don't want you to feel embarrassed. Many people do not start saving for
25:14retirement until they're later in their life. However, I also have to hit you with the brutal truth,
25:19which is you will have to work harder than someone who starts saving for retirement in their 20s.
25:24You're going to have to put more dollars away and you're going to have to be a lot more
25:27deliberate with the investments you choose. And it is possible that you may not get to retire at 60.
25:33You might have to wait until you're 65, 70, maybe even 75. The honest truth is money doesn't make
25:39people rich. Time does. The earlier you start investing, the longer compound interest has to
25:45work. It's essentially like a teeny tiny snowball rolling down a mountain. The longer you have,
25:50essentially the bigger distance you have from the top of the mountain to the bottom, the more your money
25:53can grow. While you are not completely up a creek without a paddle, I would encourage you to not only
25:59really prioritize retirement investing, but once you hit age 50, make sure that you are maximizing
26:06those catch-up contributions so that you can actually play catch-up for a lot of those dollars
26:11that you may not have invested in your 20s and 30s. That's everything for today. I hope you learned
26:16something, and thanks for tuning in to Personal Finance Support.
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