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Courtesy of Vivian Tu
After making her first million on Wall Street, Vivian Tu (@yourrichbff on TikTok) realized that even the highest-earning traders lacked basic personal finance skills to manage long-lasting wealth.
Tu began making TikToks to share basic tips on personal finance and investing, but she quickly realized that young people are facing different economic problems than generations past.
"Personal finance, for a long time, has been very pale and very male," Tu shared with Business Insider in 2022 when asked why traditional personal finance tips just aren't hitting with millennials and Gen Zers. Tu makes it a point to talk to her followers like she's their "rich best friend," with relatable stories and perspectives that young people relate to.
According to Tu, there are four outdated pieces of advice that millennials and Gen Zers don't listen to anymore.
Tu says that older generations often forget that the cost of living is "exponentially higher" for millennials and Gen Zers and that the advice to get a second job won't fix larger systemic problems.
"When my parents went to college, tuition cost a banana, a quarter, and a handshake," she jokes. "But now, in order to go to college, at 17 or 18, you have to sign a binding piece of paper that says, 'I'm good for six figures.'"
The advice to "get a second job" falls on deaf ears when young people are fed up with how expensive it is to do the same things their parents did when they were young.
"I hate that advice," Tu admits. "I think older generations have peddled this advice that if you work your tush off, if you do all the right things, you'll achieve the American dream. But the American dream has changed."
In the same vein as the advice to get a second job, young people hate being told to stop eating out to save money. While some millennials and Gen Zers do cut down on eating out, they still prefer keeping a realistic amount of money set aside to eat out with their friends and simply enjoy their lives.
Millennials and Gen Zers are the generations that pioneered the Great Resignation, the movement that caused workers across industries to leave their jobs and demand more pay, more benefits, and better treatment.
Contrary to more conservative advice from older generations, the Great Resignation actually created the perfect climate to negotiate a higher salary or apply to a different company that may have been offering more money for the same exact job description.
"Being loyal doesn't pay," Tu explains. "If you stay at your job for too long, you may be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars because they know you're not going to leave. You can only save as much as you earn, but you can always increase what you earn."
Younger generations are often strapped down by student loan debt, but they're frequently told that all kinds of debt should be repaid immediately, or that all kinds of debt should be avoided altogether. Tu argues that we need to start normalizing debt.
Some kinds of debt, like student loan debt and credit card debt, might hold you back from achieving your financial goals if you ignore it.
But mortgages or business loans, on the other hand, can be beneficial in building the life that you want. "Even though rich people can afford a house in cash, they're still getting mortgages," she explains.
"When we lend money to poor people, we call it debt," Tu says. "When we lend money to rich people, we call it leverage. Debt is not morally good or bad. Just like an investment account or a savings account, debt is a tool, and young people need to learn how to use it."
This article was originally published in February 2022.
