Your Rich BFF Vivian Tu Answers Personal Finance Questions | Tech Support | WIRED

48 Comments

1. 15:30 Having to budget for medical emergencies is a WILD concept.

2. If you have separate accounts, you can’t see when your partner is wasting money. Her advice on this makes no sense. If you don’t trust your partner, don’t marry them.

3. Basically, what I'm hearing here is that Americans need an emergency MEDICAL fund.

4. Really feel like I was robbed bc I didn't really get a full explainer in high school of where to go to find those labor stats. And I went to a decently funded school. Perks of being one of only a few minority in the school and probably looked at as a token, so counselors probably overlooked me thinking I'd get in anyways bc of being latino

5. When you rent, you do pay property taxes. They are included in their rent.

6. "renters don't pay property taxes" …… We don't think landlords pass those on..??

7. I want to be eloquent like her

8. the buy in 4 question is so real, vivian explaining why companies push split payments so hard made me rethink my cart

9. Why I never got married. Always keep finances separate! Nothing is more unattractive than losers asking for money!🥸

10. 8:55 or you could just grow a pair (or whatever the equivalent for women is) and just have enough discipline and self-control to not access your savings account unless you absolutely have to? I guess that's hard mowadays nobody has those?

11. those "affiliate websites" are just data miners. Do not use Honey or any of those

12. Learn the rules. Play game. Or, rewrite the rules of the game, eat the rich!… Or whine. Right? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

13. 16 dollar burritos, destination weddings… My european mind si not capable to comprehend this

14. WRT Saving for the future vs. enjoying life now, that answer was a bit complex. The simpler answer is to have a saving goal. At the bare minimum, you want a financial buffer (if you lose your job, how long can you survive on savings?) – lack one of these, and you should have your nose to the grind stone. You also need a saving goal, an amount you think you can keep in savings. Once that's full, do whatever you want, but don't touch your capital.

15. So true bestie

16. "Emergency Fund" just sounds like a lot of people aren't paying attention to life maintenance costs. Everything has maintenance. Everything. Your health, your kids, your house, your car, your friendships – every single one of the things you value has costs associated with maintaining them. This includes both the recurring costs to keep them in good working order, as well as the occasional incidents of failures that happen as a result of unforeseen circumstances.

    These things are part of your everyday expenses. Not counting them in means you're not calculating your expenses correctly.

17. my biggest problem with the 50/30/20 is that cost of living has risen so much that my rent alone is 48%

18. 18:03 That didn't really answer the question though. Do you break up with them or maybe just keep your finances separate? Can you attempt to help them and if so in what way?

19. Wait, the market for whine is not liquid? 😜

20. Honestly, this was a good summary for the research I did a couple months ago

21. 9:03 I heard a tip about making things harder. If you must have a (single) credit card, put it in the middle of an old ice cream tub filled with ice cubes then fill it with water and put it in the freezer. If you have to use it to buy something you have to wait hours for it to defrost and that time may help you rethink the purchase.

22. Regarding the installation payment, having worked in this specific department for one of the large retailers, I can also tell you that it pads their bottom lines. We didn’t charge any late fees or anything like that but the reason we liked offering it was because it buffed our sales numbers. Even though we haven’t collected the money for that purchase, it still is technically a sales. They can include that in their spreadsheets and report it to investors and the board saying that we got a sale even though we technically haven’t gotten the money for that sale yet. Also, in case anyone doesn’t pay on time repeatedly, we send their debt to collections and it’s all of sudden not our problem anymore. Again, even though this retailer didn’t charge any late fees or anything additional fees for providing the installation plan, it all still felt really icky to me.

23. Love your advice and the way it is delivered ❤❤❤❤

24. We can only split a 5000INR Purchase to EMI, In India

25. Sorry but isn’t all this just stating the obvious?

26. My problem with loud budgeting is that at some point my friends just stopped inviting me to things that cost any money at all.

27. I never heard the term loud budgeting but WAIT! Is it FINALLY socially acceptable to tell people you’re on a budget?! Finally! I’ve been waiting ages lol! 😅

28. ughh just shilling her own AI bs app

29. Wait! A chopped fingertip costs 16,000 usd? US healthcare is insane

30. Dang she didn’t answer mine:

    Why do all financial advisors tell me to use a slow investment but I see companies do short, high-yield investments and net them the money faster?

31. If you cannot trust your LEGAL spouse with your money, you shouldn't be married. Pre married couples shouldn't be combined at all.

32. My wife and I have an "mine, yours, and ours" bank accounts. I'm crazy and I itemize our transactions on the joint account (as well as mine) so we can see where we spend our money.

33. Question 1: How much do I need to be making to have a choice about which way to live paycheck to paycheck?

    Answer: We are not supposed to save money. We are supposed to generate income and turn it over to the Epstein owners.

34. Why is it a good thing to provide poor people with credit. I was technically poor, you know how I improved my situation, by never using credit. Never used buy now pay later, never will. Its expensive to be poor.

35. Love seeing a former wall street person larping with lefty ideologies 🤣 champagne, anyone?

36. She's great! Learned a few thing, thanks!

37. I don't agree with the emergency fund nonsense. Pay off that debt first.

38. Not buying a 5$ coffee and investing it into msci world for 30 years would end you up with almost 200k, just saying

39. I'm sorry but $16000 is ridiculous for a finger even after insurance

40. NEGOTIATE. Don’t trust your boss to give you a raise. Remember that most people are self-interested, and the one that cares most about your finances is you.

41. The fact that the tip of an index finger costs more than my masters degree is wild

42. Grossly disconnected

43. Seeing that 1 in 4 people dont have anything in savings makes me realize im very fortunate to have a 401k with a employer matched contribution, so knowing I set up said account just in time makes me very happy to know I've got time on my side, and I just turned 30 so I've got 35 more years before I get a great monthly payout that will only go up as I get raises

44. You will finance the burrito, and you will be happy.

45. I wonder how much her wedding ring costs and how that helps her personal finance…Meh advice. Plus she pushes products. This is just a sales ad.

46. Why not just encourage Honey?? 🍯

47. Nah I wish I could use Shop's 'pay in 4' everywhere. I live in deep poverty so it's my only way to buy some things. But Klarna won't accept me. Why would anyone complain about this?

48. 8:57 I appreciate the idea, but I hate the idea of locking myself out of an account with all my savings through not saving my password.