Financial literacy coach and ex-Wall Streeter Vivian Tu gives her 1 million TikTok followers an inside look into what it’s like to work with experts in the market.
Wall Streeters aren’t perfect when it comes to managing their own personal finances, but they do have a unique outlook on how to deal with money.
Here are three smart money habits that Wall Streeters have that we can all learn from.
1. They invest sooner:—
“People on Wall Street are more attuned to investing rather than saving,” Tu says. In 2020, CNBC reported that women are more comfortable keeping up to 70% of their assets in cash savings instead of letting the market work for them to grow their money. This mentality creates a gender gap in investing, and Tu urges women to start seeing things differently.
“There is not a savings account on the planet that can keep up with inflation right now,” Tu says. She adds that her Wall Street peers had the mindset of, “How can I put my money to work?” that many people can learn from.
Note that doesn’t mean we should all be putting every dollar in the market. Experts generally recommend building an emergency fund with three to six months worth of living expenses stashed in a high yield savings account before investing in the market.
2. They know the value of their purchases:—
“Most people think that Wall Streeters are dripping in head-to-toe Gucci, but they’re not,” Tu says.
Some Wall Streeters fall victim to lifestyle creep, the slow creep of expenses as you make more and get used to a more expensive standard of living. But Tu says the Wall Streeters who know better will treat their material objects as investments as well.
Take clothing, for example. Tu says that the richest brokers at her office would wear plain t-shirts or “cheap button-up shirts from a store down the street.” Yes, some people did own nice designer clothes, but she says they understood the difference between an investment fashion piece that genuinely made them happy, versus an item that simply showed off their wealth.
3. They’re generous:—-
Wall Streeters know how to make people feel special by treating them to gifts, meals, and surprises. They know that investing in relationships, especially professional relationships, can bode well for their financial future.
Tu tells Insider about an old manager of hers who generously bought people fancy lunches at random times. He told Tu on a regular basis, “Viv, don’t forget. You gotta buy them the chicken parm.”
She was confused at first, but she soon realized it meant, “You should treat people how you want to be treated.” Tu says this manager was everyone’s favorite person in the office and that coworkers dropped everything to do him favors. Even when tensions arose, everyone remembered his generosity by way of heaping plates of chicken parm.
Courtsy: Business Insider