Healthy Financial Habits for 2025 and Finding Your Ikigai | Pivot

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   Vivian Tu is the…

   1. KSKara Swisher0:00

      Vivian Tu is the host of the Vox Media podcast, Net Worth and Chill. She's also known as Your Rich BFF on social (laughs) media, where she's become a financial guru of sorts, dispensing advice and tips to millions of followers. Vivian, welcome.

   2. VTVivian Tu0:13

      Thank you so much for having me.

   3. KSKara Swisher0:15

      So, I love, I love, uh, y- there's been iterations of what you're doing for many years, and lots of newspapers I used to work for, all kinds of stuff, and I just love this kind of thing. But what you're doing is really particularly, um, (clicks tongue) y- you know, important for young people. So, if, if, for people not familiar with Your Rich BFF, can you explain what it's about? Um, and you have f- found a way, as m- many writers in this area do, to make it understandable and accessible, especially to young people. I'd love to know what you think traditional media gets wrong when it comes to financial literacy. So, explain what Rich BFF is, and then how, how is it different from previous iterations of this?

   4. VTVivian Tu0:52

      Yeah. I think for a really long time, a lot of us have just wanted to be heard, or even seen. Um-

   5. KSKara Swisher0:59

      Mm-hmm.

   6. VTVivian Tu1:00

      ... and traditional financial media has very much catered to folks who look like Scott and probably have-

   7. KSKara Swisher1:06

      Hmm.

   8. VTVivian Tu1:06

      ... as much money as he does. (laughs) Um, I joke.

   9. KSKara Swisher1:08

      Mm-hmm.

   10. VTVivian Tu1:09

       But transparently, like, it, it really hasn't offered much to women, to people of color, to young people, people who grew up low income, immigrants, anything of that nature. And it's really hard to find good reputable information in this space, because when you Google the words "Roth IRA," you get three million hits. And if you don't know what you don't know, you really don't know which of these links to even click. So, it's really hard to begin that journey, because jargon is so, um, rampant in the financial news media, that we're seeing in writing, on TV, everywhere. Um, but what Your Rich BFF does essentially is it is a financial equity platform that's breaking down this information for the next generation, so that everybody can have access to it and then implement it into their daily lives. It's actual, usable, actionable tips versus, "Oh, in theory, this could happen." It's, you know, "This is how you actually make your life better."

   11. KSKara Swisher2:06

       Mm-hmm. Okay. And, and talk about what, w- who are you aiming at? What does Rich BFF mean? Is it just, you know, 'cause it's fun on social media?

   12. VTVivian Tu2:14

       Yeah.

   13. KSKara Swisher2:14

       Or what's the, what's the concept behind it?

   14. VTVivian Tu2:16

       Yeah. The big concept behind it is, you know, my friends had come to me for this kind of information, for these tips, for this advice, and the whole premise, everybody focuses so much on Rich, but the real word that we should be focusing on is BFF. I'm not lecturing you like a college professor. I am not talking to you like I'm a parent. I'm not talking to you like I'm better than you, smarter than you, richer than you. I'm talking to you as a friend. What advice would a rich friend give you in this arena if they wanted to see you succeed, if they wanted to see you do well?

   15. KSKara Swisher2:50

       Mm-hmm. Excellent. Scott?

   16. SGScott Galloway2:52

       So, I, uh, just full disclosure, I love Vivian Tu.

   17. VTVivian Tu2:57

       (laughs)

   18. SGScott Galloway2:58

       I, I, I, uh, I don't know if you've noticed this. I'm not quite stalker level yet, but I'm constantly retweeting her stuff. I think you are a gift-

   19. KSKara Swisher3:06

       Stalker.

   20. VTVivian Tu3:07

       Call the FBI. (laughs)

   21. SGScott Galloway3:07

       ... to, I think you are a gift to young people.

   22. VTVivian Tu3:09

       (laughs)

   23. SGScott Galloway3:10

       I love your content. I love the optimistic tone you bring. You're like the first person under the age of, I don't know how you, old you are, 30? That talks about 1202. And there's this myth that you're not supposed to talk about money, which I think is nothing but an attempt by the rich to keep poor down, to create a sort of taboo, and I love how you're breaking that taboo. What I wanna do is repurpose a question we just had, because I got insecure that I didn't answer it correctly, so I wanna, I wanna give you a shot at it. But a gentleman in his 50s said him and his partner have saved some money, not a lot, but they're really risk averse, so they have it all probably in money market and they've missed out on a lot of returns. So, what would you suggest someone in their 50, or someone with a little bit of money that wants to start investing, what would be your asset allocation recommendation kind of loosely?

   24. VTVivian Tu3:59

       Yeah. I think with terms of like asset allocations, um, what I typically recommend is you take your age and you round to the nearest tens, so 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, um, and then you actually subtract by 10 again. So, this person is in their 50s. We are minusing that number by 10 again, so 40, and that is what percentage of your portfolio roughly should be in fixed income assets, whereas the rest of it should actually still be in, um, the public equity market, so stocks, uh, in particular. I recommend broader index funds through ETFs with the lowest possible expense ratios. Um, the reason I say this is just because now that they're in their 50s, even if they are feeling a little behind, they don't have to feel like the world is ending. Yes, they wanna do some sort of preservation of their existing wealth so that they're going to have money to draw from in their later years, but also still having more than 50% of your portfolio in the puc- public equity markets allows you to participate in that continued growth. Odds are good the second they turn 59 and a half, they're not going to need every single dollar in that account. Um, so this just gives them a chance to have a portion of their money continuing to work pretty hard while another portion of it is still set aside because they are getting closer to retirement. And the other big hot tip that I would encourage them to think about is catch-up contributions. Um, for everybody who is above 50 and starting to get a little closer to retirement, you can actually contribute more to your, um, individual retirement accounts, whether they be of the traditional or Roth variety, or your employer sponsored accounts than the average person could that's younger than that. Yeah. Um, and it just gives them a chance to literally catch up.

   25. KSKara Swisher5:44

       Yeah, maximize things like that on that, um, especially with matching stuff.

   26. SGScott Galloway5:47

       That was great. Thank you.

   27. KSKara Swisher5:48

       Do- Do-

   28. VTVivian Tu5:49

       Mm-hmm.

   29. KSKara Swisher5:49

       Yeah, yeah. So, what, when y- uh, there's gonna be big, obviously, the stock market's been on a tear, people are worried about it being on a tear right now.

   30. VTVivian Tu5:55

       Yeah.
2. 15:00 – 15:14

   Section 2

   1. KSKara Swisher15:00

      we'll talk about that next. All right, 'cause a lot of young people are trading in it. People can find you on social media @yourrichbff, and your podcast is Net Worth and Chill. What a good name. Thank you so much, Vivian.

Episode duration: 15:14