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Chapter 1: Why do women struggle to talk about money?
So, darlings, today we're continuing our Career Girls Guide, a series that is focused on giving you guys practical tools to navigate every stage of your career. Now, we've talked about how to get the job. We've talked about how to advocate for yourself. And now we're going to talk about what happens after the paycheck hits your account. Because managing money isn't just about budgeting.
It's about making decisions that give you more freedom, more confidence and more options in your career. Financial literacy shapes how you how long you stay, when you leave, and how boldly you bet on yourself. Now, to help us break this down, I'm joined by the incredible Vivian Tu, businesswoman, New York Times bestselling author, and founder of Your Rich BFF.
The Start With Yourself Tour kicks off on April 15th in New York City. Tickets are on sale now at emagreed.com. Hi, my darling Vivian. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. I'm so happy to have you.
Chapter 2: How can women negotiate raises effectively?
I cannot tell you. I have to say, I mentioned this to you briefly earlier, but before you came, I did a little like, you know, what do you guys want to know about, you know, finances and savings and taxes and investments? I have never had more people come back to me in a short amount of time than ever. So I'm just going to let the viewers decide what we're talking about today.
day because it's so wild how many questions people have about money. 100%. It's nuts. It just really kind of got me going. So listen, before we talk about money systems, before we talk about the strategies, I've been so fascinated as I've been doing my research on you with all that you've accomplished and all that you've done.
But your start was really interesting because I realized you actually got like familiar with money because of your parents and their inability to be able to do that for themselves. Will you talk about that a little bit? Because I think that people find it entirely fascinating that at this young age, you know so much, but it started early, right? Yeah. So my parents are immigrants.
Chapter 3: What is the importance of stability before wealth?
I was first generation, born here. I am the only child, only daughter, no pressure. And it really felt like my parents... felt like being in America was such a gift that they were just content to survive. They were going to work hard, put their heads down, and hopefully the universe would give them what they deserve. But we all know that's not really how that works.
We had to deal with the American financial system that included speaking to claims adjusters, the insurance people on the phone. It meant calling medical practices to be like, what is this on my bill? It meant trying to negotiate for raises and promotions. And the problem was English wasn't my parents' native language. And so all of a sudden I'm eight years old on the phone.
It's like, yeah, my mom definitely doesn't want to pay this on the medical bill. And I'm like, I mean- Amy, like me, like pretending to be my mom.
Chapter 4: How does lifestyle inflation impact financial progress?
And I feel like I learned very quickly what it really took to be a good negotiator, what it took to actually understand money. And I'll never forget this. When I was, I believe it was end of middle school, early high school, I went to the mall with a completely distressed jeans. They were more whole than jean. And I came home and I was so excited to have these.
And my mom found the receipt of how much they cost in the bag. And it turned into World War III. My mom was so angry with me. She said, you don't understand the value of a dollar. You have no idea how hard your father and I have to work to even like make ends meet, to make sure that you have a future that we're saving for your college education, that we can put, you know, put food on the table.
And all I could think as a young person to say was, well, you know, My friend got a pair too. And my mom looked me dead in the eye and she said, well, her dad's a lawyer and her family, like, you know, they're millionaires. We're not.
Chapter 5: What strategic financial decisions should women consider?
And it was a stark reminder that we all have different stations in life. And because we didn't have certain amounts of money, I couldn't have certain things. And I wasn't deserving of those beautiful ripped jeans. And I wasn't deserving of certain things. And it was... painful. I ran upstairs. I slammed the door, you know, angsty teen stuff. But I made a decision that day.
I was like, I'm going to be so good with money. I'm going to be rich. And no one is ever going to tell me that I can't have ripped jeans again. Wow. Yeah. I mean, that's pretty powerful stuff.
Chapter 6: What mindset shifts are necessary for financial success?
Yeah. And so what happened from there? Because I've kind of tracked your career, which is so interesting. And I think there's such a big difference between knowing about money and feeling confident with money. And it's interesting that that exposure, because for some people that can lead to such kind of like an inability to process money.
You're like, you've got all of these relationships that your parents hold of money and you take those on as your own, but you kind of did something very different. Like you decided to learn about it. And I'm like, I'm just very curious as to where that part of you comes from. I think it just came because of being in the right place at the right time, if I'm honest.
My parents instilled in me very early that in this country, education was really our biggest shot at socioeconomic mobility. If I wanted to have a great life, I was going to have to be a really good student. And I was, I was the valedictorian of my high school. I ended up going to the University of Chicago. It's an incredibly competitive institution and junior year rolls around.
Chapter 7: How can women foster open conversations about money?
And I'm like, oh no, what am I going to do with the rest of my life? I look around and a lot of my peers were recruiting for Wall Street jobs. I want to sit here and tell you it was this amazing vision that came to me. I know I literally was just like, well, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. And so I start doing the exact same things because I'm not a leader, I'm a follower.
And I start interviewing. I end up having the good fortune of getting an internship at JP Morgan on the equities desk as a trader. And after that summer, it was crazy. It's an incredibly competitive program. You get hired with a number of other interns, but you all know there's only one full-time seat. So me and two other boys were sitting there.
We're basically trying to elbow each other out for this seat. It became clear halfway through the summer that they weren't really gonna work on the desk. They bring in two more interns, so I'm now competing with two different people. At the end of the summer, five interns rotated through that desk, and I was the only one who got that final offer.
Chapter 8: What are the keys to achieving financial freedom?
And that's what we talk about Wall Street. Like, you eat what you kill. It's a dog-eat-dog world. I got that job, and it felt like all of the puzzle pieces clicked into place. Not only was I going to get that sexy job where I got to live in New York City and make good money, really good money, but I also ended up getting a mentor.
And I think that is truly the greatest thing that working on Wall Street ever gave me. My first manager, she was an Asian American woman. I worked with 30 plus other white men and her. And she was the first rich Asian woman I had ever seen in my entire life. Oh, it's amazing. And she would walk in to the office with a new designer bag every day.
She had these Gucci stilettos that would click clack on the marble. And she owned her apartment. She had a dog. Do you have any idea how expensive it is to have a dog in New York City? I knew she had money. And for the first time, I saw a lived reality where I got to be a winner. And that only furthered my desire. And she took me under her wing, taught me so many things that I know now.
But I feel so grateful because without her, I don't know if I would have this story. Do you remember how much money you were making in that first job? First job, I believe my base salary was $80,000 or $85,000. And the first bonus I got was $10,000. So it's a little under six figures. But to me, it felt like a lifetime's worth of money. I'd never seen that kind of money before. Of course not.
Never ever. All right. So you're at JP Morgan. At some point you move and you end up at BuzzFeed in some kind of sales role and you massively are able to like up your salary. The stakes get like kind of high. You know, when I left JP Morgan, I got into a huge fight with my parents because they could no longer brag to the aunties on WeChat about me working at JP Morgan.
And they were so against it. They were like... We got you this amazing education. And now you're going to go, what, like write quizzes for a living? Because I didn't even know what BuzzFeed was. Write quizzes. I love that. What kind of cheese are you? And it was so silly, but ultimately it ended up being the right move. And when I left BuzzFeed, I had made $625,000 that year. Wow.
And that's a ton of money. Ton of money. Because we're going back, what, 10 years? So this was... Six years after graduation, probably 2022, I was making killer money. I'm feeling really confident now in my finances because not only did I get the education... You were 22. Sorry, just to be clear, 2022. This is 2022. 2022, sorry. So I was... 27-ish, 26, 27, doing the quick math there.
But, you know, I just felt like when I got into this role and it became a sales role, it really was like, if I can write one more email, if I can out hustle the person sitting next to me, if I can stay just an hour later, I will make more money. There was a direct correlation with how hard I worked with what I got paid.
And I loved that because I felt like I had this confidence to be able to take a bet on myself and it ended up being the right move. I made all of that money, especially it came in chunky commission payments. It was a sales job. That's essentially what helped me buy my first home. It's really what helped me invest a ton into the market. And it has changed the trajectory of my life.
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