Vivian Tu, the financial creator known to her fans as “Your Rich BFF,” says regular people should steal one particular habit from the rich.
The TikTok and Instagram star said she’s observed that rich people are willing to negotiate more than others.
“Rich people know the value of their business,” she told Business Insider. “They are willing to threaten to cancel their WiFi, their telecom provider, their streaming services. They are the people who are telling their lawyer that you took too long to do this, or your paralegal did a bad job. They go to the hospital, and they’re like, ‘Hey, I want to negotiate this bill.’ Nobody loves free stuff more than rich people.”
An Indiana University study found that Americans are unlikely to haggle over goods and services, with 95% of US adults opting to avoid bargaining in at least some situations. Among the possible explanations are that people think it’s not worth it, they feel powerless in the face of big corporations, or are unpracticed at having the direct interactions required to negotiate.
Tu, whose persona revolves around empowering people with financial information, says the best opportunity to apply this approach is when you’re in the market for commoditized products.
Say you’re buying a home or car. Don’t settle for the first interest rate or car insurance price you’re quoted. Go to multiple providers to get multiple quotes, and then pit them against each other.
To be clear, Tu isn’t encouraging people to be rude or unreasonable.
“You need to be pitting people against each other, because your business has value, and when you hardball-negotiate, you get the best rate,” she said. “But this is not my advice to be mean to anybody, especially people who work in service. That does not get you very far. And I think it just makes people hate you. So please be kind when you’re doing it, but don’t be afraid to be assertive.”
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