I became a millionaire at age 27—these common money tips ‘need to die because they are keeping us broke’

By Vivian Tu

You’ve probably heard that millennials are the first generation to be worse off than their parents, and it’s true. If life is a game of “Guitar Hero,” previous generations played in tutorial mode, and millennials and Gen Z are playing advanced on an old broken TV.

Older rich people aren’t entering the job market now. They’re not starting from scratch in today’s economy. And that makes a huge difference.

So if you’ve ever felt like the deck is stacked against you, allow me — a former Wall Street trader, founder of Your Rich BFF, and the author of “Rich AF” who made my first million by age 27 — to validate that: It is, majorly. Things right now are way different (and way worse) than they used to be. Typical “money wisdom” just does not apply.

These are the tips you’ve seen online, read in old books, and heard from “financial gurus” (or from your parents). They need to die — because they are keeping us broke.

1. Just switch careers to make more money!

That’s infinitely easier said than done.

If a person grew up in a blue-collar family in Appalachia and moved to a mid-size city after school to work at Dunder Mifflin, what exactly is their path to, say, working at Google?

They don’t know anybody who does computer programming. They don’t live near a company where they can intern. Even if they got the degree or boot camp certification, how are they going to get their resume in the door?

They’re not. Google is going to hire one of the zillion people in their current referral chain. This paper salesman is going to be reluctant to up and leave their family and friends and that cute receptionist at work just to get a “better job,” even if they could stand to earn more money.

Jobs aren’t just about paychecks. They’re cultural, they’re local, and they shape our identity.

2. Just find a cheaper place to live! Get roommates!

First of all: What cheaper place? Housing prices have jumped a ton. Even if you’re renting, higher overall prices for landlords mean higher rent payments for you. And that’s assuming you’re in good enough shape to pass the credit check, have a job with a paystub, and aren’t given the runaround by shady brokers.

But most important of all is that homeownership has long been the bedrock of middle-class wealth-building, the most expensive investment a person makes and the one they count on to fund stability into retirement. Telling us to “find a cheaper place” is steering us away from a fundamental vehicle for amassing wealth.

Plus, changing where and with whom we live comes with an emotional and physical trade-off that sometimes we’re just not willing to make — nor should we be.

Finally, who’s to say I don’t already have roommates? Literally only about one in 10 young people lives completely solo. The rest are bunking with roomies, partners, spouses, or — yes — parents: One in three adults aged 18-34 still lives at home.

3. Just spend less on lattes and avocado toast!

Short-term small expenses aren’t keeping us from achieving our goals the way most financial gurus want you to think they are.

You might think about buying a house or paying off your student loans and be like, “F it, I’m never going to afford all that stuff anyway, so I’m at least going to get myself a nice brunch once in a while,” which is a pretty valid response.

But the reason so many expenses these days feel so much more out of reach than we’ve been taught they should be is because they are, thanks to inflation. This conniving force of darkness is pretty simple at a basic level. Inflation refers to the gradual increase in prices over time.

The problem comes when inflation gets out of hand — when average prices go up faster than average wages are going up. Economists generally consider a rate of around 2% per year to be “healthy” and indicative of an economy that’s growing steadily. More than that, though, can be bad news — and lately, that’s just what’s been happening.

4. Just relax! Money can’t buy happiness anyway!

Um, false. So false. Falser than you even think.

Back in 2010, a famous study concluded that people’s happiness increased in lockstep with their income — but only up around $75,000 per year. After that, it levelled off.

People love to throw this factoid around. It essentially meant money could buy happiness because it provided basic necessities and stability, but also that billionaires weren’t much happier than the rest of us.

Well, I hate to break it to you, but a newer study from 2021 found that the $75,000 figure is absolute bologna (even when adjusted for inflation). Turns out happiness continues to increase well past that threshold.

But “just relax” ignores our lived reality. The years in which we’ve come of age have seen a slew of cataclysmic events that destabilize markets: 9/11, the Iraq War, the 2008 housing crisis, Brexit, COVID-19, the January 6 insurrection, the FTX fiasco, and the 2023 collapse of major regional and national banks, just to name a few.

Anyone born from the ’90s onward lived through collective trauma — economic and otherwise. Call us coddled, or sensitive snowflakes, or whatever. But what we’ve been taught about “how the market works” do not match with our lived reality of how the market actually works.

It’s okay to feel a little spooked and unsure, and it’s okay to want to have money.

Vivian Tu is a former Wall Street trader-turned expert, educator, podcast host, and founder of Your Rich BFF. Her book, “Rich AF: The Winning Money Mindset That Will Change Your Life,” is a definitive guide to personal finance for the new generation. Follow her on TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Source: CNBC